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The Best Time of the Year to Kill a Trophy Buck, By Dieter Kochan
What is the best time of the year to kill a trophy buck? This is probably the most asked question for whitetail deer hunters. With work schedules and other commitments there is only a limited amount of time the average person can spend in a tree and people are looking to get the most “bang for their buck”. The answer, however, is not as clear cut as most people would want. Unless you are hunting with an outfitter who can tell you the best day or week based on years of experience on a particular piece of property, the specific area you hunt may or may not have subtle variations in deer movement. These differences can make trophy bucks more vulnerable during times of year that have not been specifically identified as “the peak of the rut”. Most of us don’t have the luxury of hunting thousand acre pieces of property. On a piece of property that size it is far more likely that the predicted “best times” will line up because every possible combination of swamps, bedding areas, food sources, and funnels can be most likely found on that property. On smaller pieces of property, you only have a snapshot of that overall picture and certain times of the year may be better than others. Here are some ways to make any size property work for you.
First you have to identify that a mature buck lives in the general area you are deer hunting and there is a reasonable possibility that the deer either passes through or actually lives on that property. This doesn’t have to be rocket science. It’s as simple as, “He is there when he is there.” If you think about that statement for a minute, all that means is that if you can establish through trail cameras or a yearly hunting log that a mature buck was seen in a certain area at a certain time during DAYLIGHT HOURS there is a reasonable predictability that he will be seen there again in the near future or following year. Even if that mature buck gets shot there was a reason that buck was using that area and most likely another mature buck will find that area appealing for the same reasons.
Trail Cameras
Trail camera pictures taken DURING the deer hunting season depicting impressively antlered animals in the middle of the night may do little to help you connect with a mature buck during the daylight hours. If those same pictures are taken pre-season or during what is normally referred to as the October lull, (early through mid October ) then there is a higher probability that those deer could be observed during daylight hours in the same location during the bow hunting season. If you can find pictures taken just after dark or before daylight you can use those pictures to establish where that buck is coming from or going to and place a stand in one of those locations. The gold mine of all trail camera pictures, are pictures taken during daylight hours. These pictures need to be taken advantage of immediately or logged for future years. Before the advent of IR digital cameras you could not put the camera near areas you actually wanted to hunt because the flash often caused more harm than good. Now with IR digital cameras you can get away with a lot more. It still appears that the deer are often looking straight at the camera, which is some what concerning. But if you are implementing the same measures of sent control as you would during the hunting season the impact appears to be minimal.
HUNTING LOG
The last thing anyone wants to do after sitting for 12+ hours in a tree is to take the time to write down the specifics of that hunt. When it comes to patterning mature deer movement through certain areas this can be the most important step you take during the day. The minimum things you log should include are: date, time of day, temperature, wind, moon, weather conditions, and specifics about what type of deer were viewed and direction of travel of those deer. Another often overlooked detail was how you accessed your tree stand. How you enter and exit your tree stand can have a huge impact on how successful your time in the tree will be. Almost everyone approaches their tree with caution but very few use the same level of “stealth” when it comes to exiting after a long day in the tree. It is often how you exit your tree that will have a huge impact on future hunts. Over the course of several years you will start to recognize specific patterns during times of the year that are less subtle than relying on just the moon phase or date to plan your hunting strategy.
CHANGES IN WEATHER
Weather is the trump card. Weather is the number one reason why no one can specifically predict the exact timing of the rut. Moon phase, latitude, photoperiodism , gestation periods and everything else that people use to predict the rut are all constant and predictable. Yet, there is not a universally agreed upon method to predict the whitetail rut. This is because daily weather conditions have a huge impact on what type of “mood” whitetail bucks and does are during a time when scientifically we should be able to pinpoint the exact peak of the rut. Your hunting log can tell you where to sit as well as were not to sit during certain weather patterns.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
In general, I focus my time during the first week of the season when there is a good chance that the bucks can be found on a “summer feeding” pattern where they are entering food sources before dark. That pattern will quickly diminish as food sources and available cover changes as we enter into fall. Unless you have large areas to hunt and you are not at all concerned about “burning” out areas. In the Midwest, it is generally not worth bow hunting until close to the last week in October (my start day is usually around October 25 in Wisconsin). During early October the majority of bucks confine their movements to the evening and the risk is just not worth the reward in terms of conditioning a buck that you would have a good chance to arrow later in the season. So, basically, you have one week early, when the season opens. Three to four weeks from about October 25 to opening day of gun season. And a possible, one to two weeks late season. That is a total of six to seven weeks where you have a legitimate chance at shooting a mature buck. Unless you are lucky enough to get that much time off work, you need to be able to predict when the best possible time is for your particular property. The area where my brother shot his 153'' buck a few years ago is generally very good the first week of the season in September; but, surprisingly not very productive during the rut. My father’s land is good in November but very poor during the early season. That is the reality about smaller pieces of property. We have areas we hunt that would not be considered a bucks “core area”. We almost never find quality sheds located in these areas. But, if you are in a tree anytime from October 25 through gun season, you have a legitimate chance at shooting a giant. Bucks use different areas for different reasons. When you hunt smaller pieces of property the likelihood that your hunting spot is a destination area is not that great. You just need to learn how and whey the deer are forced to travel through these locations.
Unfortunately, the answer to the question, “When is the best time of year to arrow a trophy buck?” involves a lot of time and effort. You need to do a tremendous amount of scouting and have to continue to gain permission in different areas because most pieces of property that the average hunter is able to hunt “don’t have it all”. But, wherever you are able to hunt make sure you take the time to keep track of every little piece of information you receive in an attempt to put yourself in the best possible situation in order to connect with a mature whitetail. There is no substitute for time in the stand. If you have an opportunity to sit In a quality location during an identified peak period, you have to get in the stand. If you want to consistently shoot mature deer, all day sits need to be your norm rather than an isolated event. There are no shortcuts or magic techniques. Do your homework, put in your time and you too can consistently score on mature whitetails.
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