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The best deer hunters in the country (known and unknown) all have a common thread. They are students of the deer and the forest, and they never stop learning. As such, they are constantly experimenting with new and advanced deer hunting tactics.
To learn some of these secrets (and share them with you), I called a handful of the best deer hunters I know. This is how they find success season after season.
Advanced deer hunting tactics
Store and analyze photos from trail cameras
Mark Drury from Drury outdoors has taken more big deer than most. His approach is proven and the process he uses involves storing and analyzing a lot of camera data, especially historical information. Since 2007, he has saved every trailcam photo of a troubled buck.
“Keep trail monitoring photos in an organized manner so you can easily review them in future years,” says Drury. “Bucks are incredibly common from year to year. Study your photos throughout the year to formulate patterns using individual dollars or areas. [Over time you’ll build] a database that helps identify patterns in future years as crop rotations, weather and the moon in future seasons reflect past conditions. It takes a lot of time to collect and study, but it will save time in future seasons.
Think like a buck (not a deer hunter)
Grant Woods from Growing deer TV is one of the country's most renowned deer scientists. He seems to get into the minds of whitetails and understands what they do and why they do it. To that point, he emphasizes that we should make hunting decisions based on what deer do, not what we think they are should Doing.
“One problem I've seen is that hunters make their formations and tactical decisions based on human thoughts,” says Woods. “The hunters I know who have had repeated success filling tags in a variety of conditions and habitats always think like a deer. They consider what deer need that day, and what deer will avoid.”
Treat each adult buck as an individual
As Paul Beasley, co-host of “Canada in trouble'TV, says, hunters are creatures of habit. “The longer we hunt on a property, the sturdier our hunting setups and entry/entry/travel points become,” he says. “We tend to rely more on what has worked before, and while deer in general also tend to gravitate to the same trails, food sources and choke points, it has been my experience that mature bucks should be treated as individuals and taken accordingly. must be hunted. .
“The buck I shot this year illustrates my point. We have hunted this same 100 acre property for over a decade and have always taken deer from the same 50 by 80 yard area. Throughout the spring and summer, this buck worked perfectly in that area, but as hunting season approached, his behavior changed. His on-camera appearances began to fall off. So I tried to put up more cameras and discovered he hadn't gone anywhere. He just used different parts of the building.”
Beasley killed that buck on the second afternoon of the season. He shot from a setup his crew had never harvested a dollar from.
“By paying attention to this individual buck's behavior, and not just doing the same thing that has always worked, I was able to give him my tag,” Beasley says.
Evaluate every move
Often deer hunters do things without thinking. We react, instead of making decisions based on logic. HeadHunters TVs Nate Hosie agrees and says we should hunt smarter, not harder.
“Growing up, I always thought the more I was out there, the better my chances were,” he says. “It's not entirely wrong, but as I've grown as a fighter I've learned to choose my moments to strike. Wind, temperature, time of year, trail cam information, [and more] now go hunting. The less I go in and out, and the more likely my attempts are, the more success I achieve.”
Go all or nothing with odor control
Rick White has been a fixture in the outdoor industry for years, and he suggests hunters take an all-or-nothing approach to scent management.
“One of the biggest things I try to teach people is to always go to the woods as odor-free as possible,” he says. 'Always play the wind. Never deliberately hunt a stand in bad winds. But also know that deer don't always enter where we want them. So if you're not going to follow every step of odor elimination, save your money.”
Read next: 15 odor control strategies that actually work
Go unnoticed
It sounds like rudimentary advice, but even experienced hunters make blunders that get them seen, heard and smelled by deer. It is something that we must constantly keep at the forefront. Will this access route cause deer to see me? Will this exit route blow odor into a sleeping area?
Bone collector Co-host Nick Mundt knows deer hunting like no other. As a former deer hunting guide and current major deer killer, he emphasizes the importance of remaining undetected when going in and out of your hunting spots.
“Never think the wind will just work,” he says. “Always know that if the wind is wrong, they will arrest you. It dictates every sitting.”
Kill a buck early (before the rut)
Aaron Gaines from Ani logic advises hunters to kill a target buck as early as possible. The early season and pre-rut provide opportunities to chase bucks consistently.
“This is when he follows a pattern and is most predictable,” says Gaines. “I use the most recent information from cameras for this. I am very disciplined in chasing the right wind. If it's daylight and I have the right wind, things usually go well.
Read next: Why the last week of October is the best time to kill a big buck
Make a plan and execute it
During the rut, whitetail bucks appear to travel on loops. These aren't rumors or some lame joke from your grandfather's hunting diary. That comes straight from a deer biologist. More specifically, former CEO of the Quality Deer Management Association and current HuntStand biologist Brian Murphy.
“The biggest piece of advice I've learned over the years is to develop a plan and stick with it long enough that it has a reasonable chance of success,” says Murphy. “In other words: informed optimism. The hunters who have done their homework and maintained a positive attitude, often after several dismal outings, are ultimately the most successful. Since we know from research that bucks often take a few days to complete a loop within their home range, it's not surprising that it takes perseverance to increase your chances of getting an opportunity.”
But move when necessary
Nathan Mrnak, COO of Basecamp Leasingis a diehard deer hunter. Every year he spends many days in the field. He emphasizes that it is okay to deviate from your original plan and take a step.
“Selecting a stand location can be one of the most difficult decisions when establishing a mature whitetail,” he says. “I've had many first chinks that ended with my target buck just out of bow range. Seeing his exact route provided the final bit of information to move a set just 50 yards to capitalize the next sit. This has worked time and again on large timber.”
Be timely in your tactics
The most fundamental element of deer hunting is hunting deer where they are. For this you need up-to-date information.
Own the seasonal art Helin knows this well. “Find where the bucks want to be at the right stage of the season,” he says. “Food sources during the early season, transition areas during the pre-rut (between field and litter and collection sites), funnels and fringes during the rut (especially all day or mid-day), and back to food sources in the late season. ”
Act differently all day
During the rut, many deer hunters choose to sit all day. Whitetail traits Land specialist Ben Harshyne does that too. However, he changes things up.
“I grew up hunting in one stand all day,” he says. “Over time I've learned that deep wood and thick cover provide a lot of action in the morning and afternoon, but often get cold in the evening. In the afternoon, shift focus to cover and edges of the hunt near food sources or along lines of travel leading to food. Not necessarily the actual food edge, but close. Is it close to food and still wants to eat – and the money knows. Few stands are productive all day, so refine your late-day action to find food-related coverage.
Be appropriately aggressive
Big killer Jared Mills has shot many large whitetails. He says don't be afraid to be aggressive, but do it at the right time.
“I think most guys tend to be too conservative when hunting a target buck, staying on the margins and only going out when conditions are perfect,” he says. “That's fine if you have all season to hunt, and the odds of it being killed by a neighbor are slim, but that's a very rare scenario for most of us. Although the chances of encountering a target are small enough, we make them even smaller by not coming after him. Of course, be smart about your hunting, but don't sit around waiting for the absolute perfect time to move in or you'll likely miss an opportunity.”
Keep hunting
Finally, just keep hunting. You won't always kill a deer on opening day. It could just be a closing day. So keep chasing and don't give up.
“Have patience and perseverance,” Helin concluded. “The entire season can change, and it can all happen in a short minute. Stick with it and never give up, but never get lazy either. Always follow the same regimen from day #1 to the end.”
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