Bowhunting Whitetail | Lull before the Rut

“The Lull Before the Rut”

After the first week of bow season the deer activity starts to dwindle for most all hunters. This is the time that a lot of hunters are scratching their heads trying to figure out where all the big bucks went. It becomes a frustrating time to be in the hunting woods until the pre-rut heats up around Halloween. So where did they go? They didn’t go anywhere. The warm weather may have the deer whole up in a cool hollow during daylight hours and they will only move at night. It is all about survival, deer are trying to add body mass for the cold winter ahead, to move unnecessarily during the heat of the day burns body fat so they lay around all day and move when the cooler night time air keeps them from burning much needed fat for the winter. Remember Mature Bucks didn’t get to their age by accident!

Whitetails Love Acorns!

Acorns are a whitetails preferred food, so if your intent about hunting the lull before the rut get into the woods and find a good mast crop of, preferably white oak acorns on the ground and get a tree-stand up over them. An oak tree laden ridge is a great spot to setup to catch mature bucks during the lull and during the midday. Find the best spot between the food and their bedding area. Trying to stay closer to the bedding area than the dinner table will pay bigger dividends. The mature bucks figured out real soon when the bowhunting whitetail season started, that its not safe to wander around during daylight hours. So if you’re only hunting mature bucks, here’s one of my bowhunting whitetail tips for the October lull…..Go Fishing! If there’s any hunting pressure where you go bowhunting whitetail, then you can bet that in most cases, the big bucks in your area are bedded down an hour before light in the morning and won’t expose themselves until it’s too dark to shoot.

Whitetail Movement during the ‘Lull’!

So doing intensive scout and preparing for the upcoming rut or going fishing during the October lull is a great way to keep you from over-hunting your area until the pre-rut kicks in for bowhunting whitetails. As long as you’re not on a field edge or in an open woods, but rather between a couple bedding areas with good cover, you will increase your odds at a mature buck.

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Bow Hunting News | Bow Hunter Shoots Friend

“Bow Hunter Shot While Hunting”

While scanning through Bow Hunting news I ran across a bow hunting accident story about a Byrnes Mill Missouri bow hunter that shot his hunting buddy with a arrow, in the face while out deer hunting the first week of the October druring Missouri archery season. This bow hunter claims it was an accident but knowingly pointing a bow with an arrow nocked, then coming to full draw and pointing the weapon at your friend or hunting partner than accidentally touching the release has way to many steps to be considered an accident.

The article states while out on a bow hunting trip the 15 year old victim drew his bow and pointed it at his buddy but had no arrow nocked just before alleged felon drew his bow with a nocked arrow and shot him in the face. That is different than drawing and pointing a nocked arrow at someone knowing that a bow is a weapon and it is deigned to kill!! I wonder what was going through this guys head just before he pulled the trigger on his release?

“Keep Bow Hunting out of the Press!”

I am an avid archery hunter and live for this season every year. Bow hunting kind of fly’s under the radar without this kind of hunting accidents occurring. This kind of bad press is going to give the gun control fanatics and anti hunters more ammunition to slander the hunting world. They will thinks it is time to start banning bows and arrows. Oh WAIT A MINUTE, bows and arrows don’t kill people, people kill people!

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Bow Hunting | Opening Day Archery Hunting

Early Season Bow Hunting Strategies

Bow hunting early season can be challenging because of the heat. The warm temperatures is something bowhunters have to become used to if they don’t want to give up a good part of the early season. Early season bow hunts require some strategies we can apply to succeed when the temperatures are far better for swatting mosquitoes than hunting. Deer are somewhat predicable the first week or two of the season although the weather may alter or delay when and where deer move, it will not totally eliminate the need deer have to travel at least short distances as they head for the dinner table. So that means they are bedding close to their preffered food source.

How Heat Affects Deer Movement

Remember deer are wild animals that have to eat to survive, sooner or later every evening and morning they will have to move to find food. When whitetail deer shed their summer coats, they are physically prepared for colder weather even though the seasonal temperatures don’t cooperate for them. This is why deer movement is slim, so they tend to arrange their patterns so that they don’t have to move any more than is absolutely necessary. From past experience deer will bed very close to their food and water source is early bow season. Placing a stand between their late summer bedding area and the food of choice is the best thing you can do.

Control Your Scent

Scent control is a major problem when hunting in the heat. Make sure you keep the wind in your favor because if they smell you your early season is generally over. Keeping your clothes scent free and clean should be your top priority in early bow season for scent control. Scent free containers along with odor killing soaps, detergents and field sprays should be things every bowhunter uses to cut down and eliminate human odor. Not only do I spray down before I head to a tree stand I will spray again or use field wipes that I carry in a zip lock bag after settling in my stand.

Don’ forget practice makes perfect as far as target shooting your bow. When selecting an ambush site make sure that the deer have a secure place to bed far enough away from your stand so that they won’t see or hear you entering the area or climbing into your stand.

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