Early Season Whitetails
Summer is ending, and fall is beginning. That brings the leaves changing colors, browning of the corn and soy bean fields, and deer season upon us. For us here at Created Outdoors, it’s time to take the Elite Archery bow, and Thorn Broadheads to the deer stand. Early season can be under estimated. The warmer weather seems to turn most hunters off.
In the early deer season, patterning is essential to success. Created Outdoors staff utilize the Moultrie cameras for assistance in scouting and patterning deer. They are easy to use, and the quality is second to none. Cameras will give you a visual inventory of the deer that you have in the area with a digital time stamp. The Moultrie slogan is “Don’t just take pictures, gather intelligence.” With the Moultrie Mobile App, it is easy to set up, and allows you to share photos with your hunting buddies.
Boots on ground is always a great way to get some key information as well. Pay attention on your way to and from the stand for tracks, scrapes, rubs, and live deer up on their feet. This will give you an idea of deer activity near your stand, and whether you need to adjust fire and move your stand if it is mobile. If you use permanent stands, there are things that can be done to avoid pattern changes in your deer herd. We use Oak Ridge elevated blinds here at Created Outdoors. So, we suggest some hinge cutting to provide cover and food for deer, and Domain Outdoors food plots nearby.
Watching deer from a distance with a spotting scope or a good pair of binoculars will allow you to see what trails they are taking into the fields to feed, and exiting the fields returning to cover. Also, seeing how the deer normally interact with each other makes it easy to identify when they are nervous. The deer act differently early on, as bucks are usually in bachelor groups, and does are usually in family groups. This also means that they are still on a feeding pattern that most likely; is somewhat predictable.
Viewing deer body language and behaviors from the stand is important. These key indicators will tell you if the deer are comfortable at your stand site, or weary of your set-up. Try to have stand sets that are not silhouetted by the sky line. If you are a silhouette to the deer, then every move that you make stands out like a highlighted scripture in your bible. Using the Oak Ridge blinds will avoid silhouetting and help muffle any noise that you make as well.
Spray down liberally with scent eliminator. It is easy to sweat early in the season as the temperature is warmer, but doing something is better than nothing. Keep scent eliminator in your hunting pack, and spray down in the stand if need be. Using a scent free deodorant will help, it’s also a good idea to keep one of these in your hunting pack as well.
Bruce King Created Outdoors Staff
Success isn’t just harvesting deer. Just being in the stand and having that intimate time with God in his creation is always rewarding. Psalm 42:1 states “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you O God.” We do however, hope this helps some with your early season harvest of your target deer. Remember to send photos of your time afield, any prayer requests, or inquiries to book us for speaking events to the email addresses below. Until next time, God bless.
Evan Gersper
Created Outdoors Staff