Whitetails love to roam the points and strips of trees and brush that border rivers and streams and grain and hay fields nearby. One November long bow hunter Luke Strommen scouted such a series of points on his Montana ranch and found them torn up with buck sign. Major doe trails wended into the woods from fields to the west and south. The timber patches were littered with rubs and scrapes. Strommen could have hung a stand in any tree and seen deer, but he’s better than that. And he knows he has to be for 15-yard shots at bucks with his stick bow. He poked around and found the perfect ash tree near the nexus of the trails and [...]

This is gonna be the best weekend of the season so far, so plan to be in a tree as many hours as you can. With cooler temperatures and high-pressure across the country, bucks will start moving in preparation for the rut. October 20 is the kick-off of the hard pre-rut every season, and so some serious rubbing and especially scraping are set to kick in. While bucks have been making sign right along, they are going to really get after it now, with the days growing shorter and the temps cooling down. I bet you find some big, fresh scrapes. While I don’t like this full moon nearly as much as the one that will illuminate the rut next month on November [...]

One mid-October morning in Montana, I froze as an 8-pointer trotted toward me through the woods. He was moving fast, trying to get back to his bed along the Milk River before the sun got too high. Something flashed behind him—a 10-pointer pushing 150 was bringing up the rear! I was hunting on the ground, and the wind was right. Those woods were flat as a pool table and pretty open, but I wasn’t too worried. I let the bucks come close and step into the ditch in front of me. When they disappeared, I drew my bow and stepped out from behind my hiding tree. The 8-pointer popped out on my side, and I ran an arrow through his [...]

Many corn and soybean fields will be cut this weekend and in the coming days. The days immediately after a farmer cuts those crops are awesome for hunting. The sudden change in habitat will force the deer to move around a lot, as they settle into new bed-to-feed patterns. The animals will seek out alternative food sources (acorns and browse) in nearby woods and thickets. Any bucks that bedded out in the stalks will transition to new bedding thickets. Hang a tree stand 100 to 200 yards off a freshly cut field, in a timbered draw or on an oak ridge and you will see lots of movement as deer sort things out. Even if you don’t kill a buck, [...]