A few of these I knew others I didn't.
Whitetail Deer Hunting Tips and Facts for a Successful Hunt
The number one factor in hunting success for big bucks is how you access your stand. Entering quietly is critical, so in the morning wait until there is enough daylight that you can see so your approach is quiet. Enter via low ground, ditches and streams.
1. Find a property with little or no hunting pressure.
2. Learn the travel patterns of the deer on the property. Start as soon as the deer hunting season ends, record rubs, scrapes, feeding and bedding areas. Once the snow hits the ground, the trails are all laid out so you can record travel routes and intersections. Mark them on your GPS and transfer them to google earth on your computer.
3. Deer beds can be found in these three main areas :
a) Stands of evergreens.
b) Dense, low-lying thickets bordering wetlands and swamps.
c) Hardwoods ridges with a good view of the surrounding woods.
Use topographical and aerial maps to aid you in locating these areas.
4. Set up your stands in the spring. This is a good time to clear your shooting lanes.
5. Look for a stand near the hub of intersecting trails that will be predominately downwind.
6. Stay at least 80 to 100 yards away from a bucks bed.
7. Locate food sources that are near their bed. Find the sheltered water - these water sources include streams, lakes, beaver ponds, small springs.
8. Bucks move from bedding locations toward food sources each evening and the opposite is true in the morning.
9. One big advantage of hunting transition routes in the afternoons is the possibility of catching a buck that doesn't typically reach the field edge before sunset.
10. Deer research clearly shows that deer are more active the last two hours of daylight than the first two hours of daylight in early fall ( September to mid/late October). After the end of October, movement patterns reverse, indicating the greatest daytime activity taking place in the first two hours of daylight.
11. If your hunting area has oak trees, set up near their travel route to them and the does, followed by the bucks will be coming into feed on their favorite food, acorns. You could also place your stand in one of those oak trees on the down wind side of the trail.
12. During afternoons of the full moon, deer seem to rise from their daytime beds early and randomly. Try arriving at your stand an hour or so earlier during the first days of a nearly full or full moon.
13. Quarter Moon. Many bucks are taken during this phase.
14. Bucks spend 50% of there life bedded.
15. Note the weathers affects on deer movement:
(a) Barometric pressure. Whitetail deer will increase their activities before and after weather fronts. They will feed most when the pressure is between 29.88 - 30.29 in. ( 100.9 - 102.6 kilo pascals ) regardless if the pressure is rising or falling. Whitetails are most active right before rain or snow storms as well as just after them. Low barometric pressure will reduce deer activity.
(b) Air temperature. This has a big affect on deer activity during daylight hours. Deer will be most active when the air temperature is between 25-35 degrees F.( -3C to -1C ).
(c) High winds. Deer activity is greatly reduced when winds are consistently above 10 m.p.h ( 16 km/h ) throughout the day.
(d) Humidity. A whitetail smells best when the humidity is between 20% to 80%. If it is extremely dry, raining or snowing, a whitetails ability to smell is decreased.
16. Practise scent control when ever you are in your hunting area. Don't leave any of your scent behind.
17. When scouting, checking your trail cam or setting up stands, do it during the mid day hours to avoid spooking deer. Check your trail camera no more than once a week, ideally every two weeks. This is when you want to swap out memory cards and install fresh
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