Bowhunting Archives - Page 59 of 66

19 10, 2015

Bowhunting Deer: Shooting At Twilight

admin2020-06-10T09:17:02-04:00October 19th, 2015|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting|Comments Off on Bowhunting Deer: Shooting At Twilight

TWILIGHT: the soft, scattered light that illuminates the sky when the sun is just below the horizon, either from daybreak to sunrise or from sunset to nightfall. In the afternoon when the sun reaches 18 degrees below the horizon the twilight's brightness is nearly zero and night begins. When the sun again reaches 18 degrees below the horizon the following daybreak, night ends and morning twilight begins. In either of the twilight periods, the first and last minutes of legal shooting time, light is flat and gray; trees and other objects are silhouetted against the bright skyline, and there are no shadows in the woods. While either twilight is prime time for bucks to move, it is a tricky time for hunters. [...]

12 10, 2015

Hunt The October “Mini Rut”

admin2020-06-10T09:17:02-04:00October 12th, 2015|Big Deer TV, Bowhunting, Deer Science|Comments Off on Hunt The October “Mini Rut”

Mike: I've read about an October “mini rut,” and I'm a believer. I've always had good luck seeing bucks on either side of Oct 15. A few years ago on October 11th, bucks were chasing everything that came into a field. A nice 3-year-old got in on the action. He actually did a lip curl for several minutes where one of the does had stopped to pee. Later, a second buck came along, trailing that same doe's path and stopping at the same spot for several minutes before continuing on the scent trail. Makes one wonder if maybe a few does do cycle a month early. Are you aware of any proof of this? Bob from WI Bob: Yes, every scientific rut chart/bar graph you’ll see will show that some [...]

4 09, 2015

Early-Season Bowhunting: 4 Top Spots for Trail Cameras

admin2020-06-10T09:17:03-04:00September 4th, 2015|Bowhunting, Deer Management|Comments Off on Early-Season Bowhunting: 4 Top Spots for Trail Cameras

If you’ll be setting out or moving cameras this weekend, try: A small clearing in the woods 50 to 75 yards off an alfalfa, soybean or clover field. Mature bucks like to hang up in these areas in late afternoon before moving out to a field at dark. Any bottleneck of thick cover on a deer trail that leads to or from a feed field. Back in the woods toward a bed area where two or more drainages with thick cover come together. Oak trees dropping acorns nearby make the set even better. Having spotted or photographed a big buck in a field or food plot, sneak in and set a camera on the nearest creek crossing, swamp edge, pond edge, etc. [...]

28 08, 2015

Bowhunt Big Deer: When To Crowd A Buck’s Bedding Area

admin2020-06-10T09:19:35-04:00August 28th, 2015|Big Deer TV, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, Deer Management|1 Comment

In late summer whitetails are genetically programmed to set up their home ranges near nutritious food sources and with heavy bedding cover close by. This way bucks can pile on the pounds (up to 20 percent of their body weight now through September) while only moving short distances. Finding bucks now is all about zeroing in on the best food sources. The top four: alfalfa, soybeans, clover and corn. If you have any of these fields on your land, or if the crops are planted on neighboring properties, you will have bucks in your woods to hunt. It’s fairly easy to glass, locate and pattern bucks that come to feed in the alfalfa and beans fields. But setting up to [...]

19 08, 2015

Should You Shoot Does Early In Bow Season?

admin2020-06-10T09:19:35-04:00August 19th, 2015|Bowhunting, Deer Management|2 Comments

If a big fat doe walks 30 yards under your stand during opening week, should you shoot it? This QDMA article makes some solid biological points about why you should, but the first comment that follows the article makes, I feel, an even better point about why you shouldn’t: ELPzee wrote: I'm still waiting until December to fill my freezers. Here's why. Pressure! If you shoot does early in the season you're pressuring your herd before the rut, reducing your chances of killing that monster buck. In regions where (hunter) densities are high and tracts of land are small…waiting to harvest does makes your land become a sanctuary, especially if you are surrounded by trigger happy hunters (on neighboring lands). [...]