If you haven’t harvested a buck yet, don’t give up hope. It’s time to both go out and make something happen, or prepare for the second rut.
From the reports coming in, this is one of the worst big buck seasons ever. Of all the people I know of, only one has put a tag on something bigger than they had ever seen before. Although the beginning of the regular season has been slow, that doesn’t mean it won’t pick up. The second rut is right around the corner and should have bucks moving again during daylight hours. While waiting for it to kick in, you can try your luck at bush whacking one. Chances are, that’s your best bet for the next week or so.
I’m happy to say, the only monster buck that I have seen taken so far this gun season, was taken off of the land I’m working on for my guide service. I didn’t take it myself and couldn’t be any happier that he was harvested by one of the farmers that own the property. Mason White, better known as Butch, was the lucky hunter that I’m speaking of. He has hunted all his life and this is his biggest buck yet. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
As most know, growing food plots is one of the best ways to lure deer out of hiding during shooting light. Most agree with and support those that plant plots; although I have heard it straight from an environmental officer’s mouth that he wished they were illegal. I didn’t ask why he felt that way, but I can speculate that he was comparing plots to a bait pile. The truth is, they couldn’t be more different, in the way that the deer are affected by them.
Butch put in the plot he was sitting by two seasons ago and both years’ nice deer were taken close by it. The fact that neither deer were in the plot when they were taken means little. They were both in sight of it and the reason for this is because they had made the area their core, because of the nutrient rich plots. Bait is typically used just to attract deer and rarely benefits the animal nutritionally. Plots, on the other hand, are a key in producing large, healthy deer. They also attract deer and tend to increase deer numbers on your property. For this reason, I feel plots are a good idea. When it comes to bait, I guess I’m not against it, because nearly everything can be considered a bait or attractant. Seriously, what is the difference between hunting over an apple tree or a pile of apples? The end product is almost the same, other than a pile of apples isn’t renewable like the tree. The only issue we as hunters need to be worried about is passing chronic wasting disease from deer to deer. To date, I haven’t seen anywhere near enough data supporting a real danger to our herd. You need to have wild cases of the disease spreading, or an outbreak having taken place before ending supplementation, in my mind. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the health of our deer herd, but I believe removing life-supporting feed has done more harm than good.
Baiting and supplemental feeding are similar, but quite different also. Just think about this. Ask yourself the question, what was our turkey and deer population like when we were allowed to feed the animals? I can bet you would say they were much higher. I have found many turkeys that have starved over the winter and lay under their last roost tree. I never saw this when we fed them. Everyone that did feed had a ton of birds on their property and shortening our fall season was never even a worry. Look where we are now. Dwindling deer and turkey numbers have been reported in many areas and not much more to blame other than a lack of food and predators. You do the math, it’s pretty simple. Animals are starving to death now because our state refuses to acknowledge that chronic wasting disease isn’t an issue at this time. I’m not saying that it doesn’t pose an issue just that it doesn’t at this point in time.
If you aren’t lucky enough to have food to hunt over, you only have two choices: wait for the rut to kick in again or get out and still hunt, in an attempt to bush whack one. You will see scrapes opening up again real soon. This indicates that the first wave of breeding is over and the second is just starting to heat up. Scent drippers are super effective at this time. Use doe estrous in combination with dominant buck urine. They drip at sunrise and sunset, conditioning bucks to check them while it’s still light outside. Midday hunts are best now and will be for at least the next week. Cruising bucks will frequent the scrapes midday also and tend to be quite aggressive. Grunting at a cruising deer typically puts them in your lap, so I highly recommend learning how to, then using one. Most of my bucks have come into a grunt call and I wouldn’t think of hunting without one now.
The other option you have is burning boot leather and covering some ground. This is commonly called “still hunting” and is mostly done on more open areas. I prefer bush whacking, which is stalking the thick swamps and bedding areas. I prefer to do this when it is or has been raining and wear appropriate clothing, as to reduce as much noise as possible. Move as slow as you can and cover little more than a couple hundred yards an hour. Look at every brush pile, fallen tree top or log and inspect it thoroughly for moving ears or racks. Your shot will typically be close, but may have small obstructions, so I recommend using a heavier brush gun, preferably something in the .30 caliber and above range. A muzzleloader is also great for brush hunting. You may remember one of my past columns which featured a sapling with a .50 caliber hole in it. The sapling did little to the bullet’s flight and the deer on the other side reacted to the shot and expired no differently had it not been there. Be ready to react, things may happen fast, but also take your time and make a good shot. Remember a shot can never be taken back, so make the best and safest one possible.
Good wishes, and to one lucky farmer, Butch whacked bucks are surely the best!