Early Season Bowhunting

Early season bowhunting (for this article’s purpose we’re referring to seasons in the Northeast opening in September) is a great time to take a buck while he’s still in the transition from his summer to fall pattern. The bucks are somewhat predictable at this time of year and they may even be hanging around other bucks when the season opens.

At this time of year in the suburbs I have the most luck setting up along trails leading from early morning feeding areas to bedding areas. In most cases, the big bucks will filter in just as day begins to break or shortly there after. Younger bucks tend to follow the does and I usually see a few does filter in and then the 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old bucks behind them. The older bucks – 3 1/2+ year olds – may be trailing behind these deer or could be doing their own thing and still in a separate bachelor groups before they disperse and go their own ways.

Early season is also a good time to harvest does in overpopulated suburban areas. In most of these areas doe tags are liberal – in the suburbs of CT where I hunt they are virtually unlimited. There are a few reasons to take does out in the early season. First, fewer does means that the bucks will have fewer females to chase around during the breeding season. This means less use of a buck’s valuable energy required to make it through the tough winter months ahead. It also keeps bucks on the move in search of estrous does which means that hunters have a greater chance at crossing paths with a mature whitetail. In addition, the earlier hunters harvest does, the more food will be available for the remaining deer in the area for the remainder of the year, increasing their chances of making it through the winter.

Think about this – the average doe consumes about 6 pounds of forage per day. In 2008, I took 3 does in September which equates to a food savings of 1,098 pounds of forage ( 3 does x 6 lbs of food per day x 61 days prior to the rut = 1,098 lbs of forage saved) for the remaining deer prior to the rut. If a small group of hunters takes ten deer from a property in the beginning of the season you can save the remaining deer 3,600 pounds of food prior to the rut – the same, if not greater, amount of food that would be provided to the deer by a one acre food plot!

In addition, taking out excess does provides the bucks with more forage for antler growth and brings the bucks closer to reaching their full potential. A buck does not reach skeletal maturity until 4 1/2 years of age. After a buck is 4 1/2 years old it then has the opportunity for its rack to reach its full potential. If you want to shoot big bucks – big is left up to the hunter – you must pass on younger bucks and allow them to grow. Many hunters tell me if they pass on a particular deer someone else will shoot it. That may be true, but the deer has a greater chance of surviving than it does of being killed by another hunter, dying from disease or being hit by a car. Big bucks are rarely seen and hard to come by because they are masters of survival. They don’t stick around long enough to find out what that strange smell is when something just isn’t right, they hide in thick cover, and will quickly become nocturnal when over hunted.

In my experience, I find that the bigger bucks in the suburbs tend to stick to the thickest cover. These deer are hard to hunt simply because its hard to get close to them. Early in the season it is possible to see these deer move during daylight hours as they usually are not nocturnal at this point. I shot a 3 1/2 year old 8 pointer on September 29th at 6:00pm as it moved through a bedding area and passed by my stand at 22 yards. I had chosen a “bottle neck” in the bedding area and set up a stand with the wind in my favor. The deer slowly fed by me and never knew I was there. It was also the first time I had hunted this stand – the less you hunt a stand and the less you disturb an area the greater your chances. Always practice scent control on your hunts – wear scent free clothes, rubber boots, and spray yourself liberally with scent elimintion spray.

During the first week of October I was hunting a second bedding area that was covered with thickets and impossible to enter without the deer busting you. I found a favorable wind that blew my scent parallel to the bedding area and put myself in a tree in the narrowest point in the bedding area. I was only able to get about 10 feet off the ground with my climber, but the tree offered me plenty of cover and the deer never saw me. I watched the bucks come out of the bedding area and even work scrapes inside the bedding area. The would come through the pinch point and then present me with 10 yard shot opportunities. The bedding area was to my left and to my right were acorns and beechnuts which the deer loved to feed on. It was a perfect ambush site for a mature buck. One afternoon I watched a forkhorn come out and then looked further into the thicket to find a mature 8 pointer working his way out. He followed the script and walked right by my stand. I passed the deer because I was waiting for a 5 1/2 year old 10 pointer I had seen, but my strategy worked regardless.

In the early season, seek out pinch points in deer bedding areas with food sources nearby. Know where the deer are going to travel too and put yourself ahead of them so that they are forced to cross paths with you. Many times these areas I hunt serve as bedding areas only while the leaves are up. Once the foliage falls to the ground the deer move and you might have to change your tactics. Follow the deer and you’ll find the bucks.