By Michael Veine
You cannot consistently harvest target deer if they don’t move during daylight. Hunters can boost their odds for success by using a strategy that focuses on attracting deer to their setups during hunting hours.
Many hunters and land managers excel at the attraction part of that formula, and they get tons of trail camera photos of dandy bucks. But unfortunately, most of that movement often occurs during darkness. That can be frustrating, but typically, most of those situations can be improved with some savvy hunting strategies. Read on for tips to dramatically increase your deer sightings, success rate and the overall enjoyment of the hunt. Oct. 5 was a gorgeous day in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The sun was shining through a clear, blue sky, with a warm, gentle breeze slightly ruffling the brilliantly colored maple leaves. I was hunting one of my favorite stands at my big-woods hunting property and really enjoying the sights, sounds and aroma of my favorite time of year. Although the conditions were ultra-pleasant, many would consider a warm, bluebird day during early October to be less than ideal for deer hunting. That was not the case, though, as I began to see deer movement within minutes of climbing into my tree stand.This spot is named
Hemlock Ridge, and it’s an awesome stand for many reasons. It flanks a swampy,
brush-choked stream bottom and overlooks a large maple/hemlock ridge that juts
out from a large cedar swamp. A small yet painstakingly well-kept food plot
beckons deer there and is planted in Imperial Whitetail Clover and No-Plow. A
combination of hinge-cut trees and the thick quagmire of the stream bottom
effectively blocks most deer movement behind the stand (downwind). The tree
stand is also well hidden high in a cluster of cedar trees, so deer rarely pick
me off from my hide. My entry and exit trail is also well laid out, taking me
to the stand with little if any disturbance. One of the best features of this
stand is its remoteness, as it’s at the back of my land, with vast, lightly
hunted woods and swamplands adjacent. The surrounding thickets are well shaded,
which deer love during warm weather, and they also provide thermal cover during
frigid conditions. The deer love the area even more because I have a large (5-acre) food plot a short
walk away. It’s a nearly perfect setup because deer can get to it quickly from
their secure bedding areas, and they feel safe there during daylight. My big food
plot sees activity mainly during low-light conditions, but those small plots in
thick cover see action all day. My profession as a Great Lakes charter captain
affords me plenty of time off during fall, and I take full advantage by hunting
a lot at my deer camp, which is more than 300 miles from my home. When I arrive
at my property for a hunt (usually two weeks), I focus on two factors when
deciding where I’m going to hunt: I always consider the wind, but controlling
hunting pressure is equally as important.
I look
at five and even 15-day wind forecasts and note in my hunting log what winds
are predicted and where I plan to hunt five to 10 days out. Of course, I update
those locations as forecasts and conditions change, but I’m always thinking
ahead to wisely spread my hunting pressure to the maximum. I’ve exploited and
greatly enhanced certain topographical features on my land with habitat
improvements and access routes. My strategy was to segregate my property into
sectors where various deer family groups can set up favored core areas for
their home ranges. My property has super thick cover throughout, with food
plots interspersed, so deer don’t have to move far to satisfy their needs.
Hunting different deer family groups at various parts of my property helps me
control the impact of my pressure. A property must have plenty of thick cover
with close food sources for this strategy to work. Many times, I’ve seen the
same deer come and go from a food plot several times during a hunt, which
really shows they are bedding close by. The thicker cover you have on your
property, the better. If your property doesn’t have enough bedding and hiding
areas, you should consider creating it. I had most of my property clear-cut and
select-cut years ago, and the areas regenerated with thick, ideal deer habitat.
Research with GPS-collared deer has shown bucks will avoid a hunting stand for
an average of three days after it has been used. After five days, deer usage in
that area returns to normal. Studies have also shown that deer don’t leave
their home ranges because of hunting pressure. Rather, they just move to nearby
heavy cover during the day and only move at night in areas that have not been
pressured until they relax or perhaps forget about what spooked them days earlier.
When I strategically rotate my hunting pressure from one area (deer family
group) to another on my property, I’m essentially hunting fresh deer all the
time. I also hunt the front of my property the first days of a hunting trip. At
those spots, which are closer to my cabin, I can enter and exit areas without
disturbing the deer at the back of my property, thus keeping those deer family
groups clueless of my activities until later.
Of
course, that means I must set up lots of stands so I can optimally hunt any
sector of my property in almost any wind direction. It was a lot of work
installing 30 stands, but my high degree of success made it worthwhile. Back to
my Hemlock Ridge hunt. A trio of does and fawns peace-fully chowed down on my
food plot, but they eventually simultaneously pivoted to the northeast, with
their ears cupped forward. Soon, they turned and ambled off to the west,
looking back over their shoulders. Five minutes later, the object of their
attention emerged from under the canopy heading toward the food plot. His left
antler was a typical four points, but the right antler was just a knobby
protrusion with a non-typical cluster of points jutting up a few inches from
his skull. The deer was big-bodied, though, and I judged him to be three years
old. In my hunting area, where deer numbers are relatively low and hunting
pressure is sometimes high, a 3-year-old buck of any size is a trophy,
representing the upper 10 percent of the buck age structure. Deciding to shoot
him was a no-brainer. My arrow found its mark, and the deer died within 10
seconds of the hit. I recovered him hours before dark and extracted him with as
much stealth and as little mess as possible, gutting him 3/4 of a mile away.
After processing that deer into venison, the next day, I rested the back of my
property for a week. I have dozens of hunting spots on public land, which let
me further spread my hunting pressure. On my property, I don’t save any
specific spots for the peak rut because most of the hunting setups there are
prime locations, given enough time between hunts. I have a few public spots
that I save for peak-rut buck activity because they are so remote and hard to
access that I only want to hunt them when conditions are prime. I really enjoy those
public land hunts in the big woods of the Upper Peninsula because of the extreme
challenge.
To hunt
there with any degree of consistent success requires constant scouting and a
willingness to go the extra mile. It’s a different brand of hunting, which I
thrive on. In fact, I hunt about half the time on public land these days, and
every time I hunt off my property makes my land that much better because of the
lower hunting pressure there. Like many other folks, I have neighbors with
stands set up along my property boundaries. I still occasionally hunt those
areas, mainly because I had stands set up there before they arrived. But
because my neighbors overhunt their stands and don’t pay strict attention to
wind directions, those areas do not provide hunting opportunities as good as
those on other parts of my property, so I largely avoid them and try to attract
the deer to locations where I’m more in control of hunting pressure. I hunt my over
pressured borders when I know the neighbors haven’t been around for a while.
One more note on controlling hunting pressure: Some days, the wind will be
gusty or switching directions, which makes effectively hunting any stand
undetected a low-odds affair that typically results in educating a lot of deer
and little chance for success. On those days, I might not hunt deer. Instead, I
will go to public land and do some bird hunting, scouting or water fowling.
Sometimes,
avoiding your deer hunting spots for a day is the most prudent strategy for
future deer hunting success. Eight days after killing that freak-racked buck, I
returned to hunt the back of my property. Again, I witnessed midday deer
movement minutes after entering my stand. This time, though, a spike buck was
the first visitor. Fifteen minutes later, a second buck emerged from the swamp,
splashing along until he also put his nose into the food plot. This buck looked
like a big-bodied 2-year-old. A few minutes later, I heard the telltale
splashing sound of another deer approaching and both of the other bucks took notice
too. This deer was bigger, with a nice rack and plenty of body size. He was
also limping badly, but I saw no visible injury. After counting his points
(eight) to make sure he was legal under Michigan law, I turned a broadhead
loose on his lungs. He belly-flopped into a puddle some 60 yards away, and when
I walked upon him, I counted my blessings.
Only one
to two percent of hunters in the U.P. kill the legal limit of two bucks in one
season, and the percentage of hunters killing two adult bucks during the first
two weeks of October is minuscule. I was fortunate, but my good fortunes were
largely because of how I manage my hunting pressure and a good dose of habitat
work. Incidentally, that buck was limping be-because he had busted a hoof,
which I had never seen before.
