as usual on point w info w out beatin around the bush and tryna sell us products... only thing sold for free is your pure knowledge of hunting. thanks dude
Anytime and I appreciate it! I try hard not to push products because that's not what most hunters are looking for, they want strategies on how to be successful in the woods, not the latest and greatest hunting gear. Good luck!!
Great detail and information man! You put some serious time into this video...we all appreciate that. The illustrations are a huge help to new and experienced hunters alike. Good luck this season!
You Sir are a breath of fresh air. Solid information and your content is will thought out. Enjoy all your content. Need to get you down to Tennessee to have a look at my 50 to 90 acres
Thank you Doug! I really Appreciate it and we'll keep the videos coming. At the moment I currently only travel around Michigan, BUT sometimes when the family travels I like to schedule a property visit near where we are going since I am already going to be there. So if there's any good state parks / campgrounds near you, we might be able to figure something out.
Your video is spot on (pun intended) regarding setting up on down wind side of community scrapes and doe bedding. Been practicing this last few seasons and taken some nice bucks. Thanks for putting this together in comprehensive video. (and sharing it) Those that try this will increase their harvest. Thanks again.
Great info .being a giant blacktail slayer for over forty years your spot on just would add the nastiest steepest in accesable area hold that daylight buck longer
In my area of New Jersey I normally see that the more mature bucks start to show-up on my property around Halloween. It is during this time that I am able to keep several of them around for days if not weeks and months primarily due to my habitat enhancements. Best of luck on your hunts! Cris
Halloween is a great day to be in the woods! I’m not sure what it is about that day but it always seems like the deer are running around like crazy on October 31st. Someone must have just pulled the trigger on the rut starter pistol. Being able to hold those neighborhood bucks for that long is a testament to the hard work you’ve put in on your property! It gives you more control of the local bucks as well. Keep up the great work! Good luck Cris!
Really great explanation of Pre Rut hunting. I consider myself still a beginner and truly appreciated the visual display of how the deer travel, the explanation of downwind movement and purpose. Please keep providing videos. Perhaps a video on your methods and opinions on doe/buck grunts and using rattlers. Thank you very much
Glad those helped! I'll try to insert more visuals like that when it's appropriate. I am a visual learner too and seeing things laid out like that helps me retain the information much better. Good luck this season!
Really enjoyed this video. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. This info is spot on and even though i have been deer hunting for 38yrs i still learned things and it made me think about better stand locations.
15:53 I can speak from personal experience that rain helps a lot. It cover some of your noise, kills most of you scent and to some degree helps camouflage you better. Every time it rains I’ve always bumped a deer. Last weekend I just so happen to across a mature buck heading in my direction. It was within bow range 20 yards. Unfortunately it wasn’t in season yet but still really cool to see.
Great advice! After using cell cameras for a few seasons I can say it's very evident when the rain stops as all of the cameras start sending pictures of deer movement. It's like clockwork, all the cameras all at the same time.
Superb info. The problem I have is I can not access half of my farm. There are bluffs that drop deep into a creek that wraps the property lines. I have to pray for a nw wind to even hunt. It’s a rough part of the state. Bucks get very big and stay nocturnal on those inside corners. I like to make a scouting push right before a heavy rain so it will wash the scent away.
I've hunted a similar property in Southeast Ohio and I feel ya. Sometimes there is only one way in and you need that perfect wind in order to push in deeper. At least you are able to access and hunt those premium Northwest winds! Good luck Jay!
Thanks Scott! The young bucks are getting anxious up here as well. Normally the younger bucks get feisty about a week before the older ones. I feel like the older bucks just shake their heads at those little ones thinking "amateurs.."
Great information! Was scouting for scrapes and rubs this morning and bumped a spikey boy right in an apple grove thats on the edge of a thicket with a couple quad trails around it. Rumor has it theres a big boy in the area. I didnt find any scrapes on the edges of the thicket and didnt go into the thick for fear of bumping the big boy.. Theres a depleted patch of corn about 500 yds away and a stream running through the outside of the thicket. I set my blind at an intersection of the quad trails and between the apples and the corn.. Brushed it in and left post haste. With that spike in there is it probable that the big dude will be asserting his dominance and passing through there to keep the spike in check from breeding his does? And getting a feed in the same movement.
Yeah there's a decent chance if you think that is a social area that the more dominant buck will show up and push the little guy around. Sometimes I even see the younger, year and a half old bucks picking the fights and the older bucks just seem annoyed and push them away. Pretty funny to watch. Either way they are both in the same area at the same time, so if it's a good area I would set up there, wait for the right wind then go in.
Thanks for the tips. I hunt SELP and it's typically a zoo. Haven't been seeing deer since bow opener, but I'm getting closer given I'm bumping deer near my stand spots on entry/exit.
That can be a pretty good area. You definitely want to try your best to avoid deer on the entry and exit when possible so that you don't contribute to pushing them off somewhere else. But sometimes it happens and just try to learn from it, everyone bumps deer from time to time. And it's really tough to say exactly why the deer have been absent where you're hunting, it could be a number of reasons.. they could be on the acorns, so many acorns this year. They could be getting pushed by other hunters causing them to get into the thicker cover earlier than usual.. or maybe a combination of a few things. Either way find those doe family groups and you'll find the bucks! Good luck Geoff!
I’ve had a huge buck that was liked by my trail camera every morning between 5:15 and 5:45 for a week during the third week of October in NC. A larger buck came in and my target buck came in 20 minutes behind him. For the last 3 days, I have not seen either. The pre-rut is just starting to come in and I’m thinking both of them are out of pattern now and searching. Thoughts?
Hard to say for sure without knowing the property, locations these deer were traveling, but they could have been on their bed to food pattern and now that the pre rut is kicking in they are carving out their spot in the neighborhood and out cruising those perennial scrapes near doe family locations. Finding those perennial scrapes is huge during the pre rut. Finding the does and pinch points near does is crucial during the rut.
If you do; I would use a backpack blower (if you have one) on a windy day or prior to a rain. Also, do it mid day...at least a week or more prior to your first hunt. If it is a secluded area with very little human intrusion; just leave them and do your best to get in there quietly. My two cents and worth what you paid for it! Lol. Good luck this season!!!
Good question. I normally do most of my trail clearing around labor day. Leaf Blower, chainsaw, herbicide, garden rake.. I get a nice path to each one of my stands. But like you noticed, now the leaves are coming down. I also have an area I access full of hickories, those shells really crunch when we walk on them, even when going slow. So depending on the weather and if I think I'll be hunting soon I MIGHT go in and quietly rake the leaves off a trail. If I do this I am going in during a good rain. That way the leaves are wet and don't make any noise. Also the rain is loud enough to mask any noise I do make. The rain should do a decent job washing away your scent as well, it won't get all of it but it will get a lot of it. Just know that any time you go into your property for any reason, you're risking leaving scent behind and educating the deer that you were there. Some deer are more cautious than others and you don't want the buck you're after to have any idea you're after him.
So I do not do much rattling at all. I should probably do a video on that. It definitely works for some people in some areas but where I hunt bucks will not come into rattling. To really simply it, everyone rattles so if a deer is aggressive and comes into it, he's already dead. Also there's not a ton of older deer around us, there's likely only 2 bucks over 3 years old on the property, so when an older buck hear's rattling and he's not a part of it, he knows something is up and just goes the other direction. I'm sure there are instances where it would work, but where I hunt most of the time rattling would do more harm than good. hope that makes sense..