Whitetail hunters — myself included — are always looking for new deer hunting tips to help them bag a buck, especially when we find ourselves still empty handed past the mid-point in the season. Who wants to end the deer hunting season with an empty freezer?
One thing I have learned after decades of hunting is that white-tailed deer are fairly predictable. Each deer is different, but all deer are the same. Here are a few deer hunting tips to help you bag your buck.
Deer Hunting: Tips to Remember
First off, my first deer hunting tip is to know the area that you are hunting. In fact, learn everything you can about your deer lease or public hunting land and the deer that live there BEFORE the hunting season starts. A successful deer hunt starts weeks or even months before you climb into your stand. Learn where the food and water are located, and then learn where the deer travel going between them.
Next, know when the rut occurs in your area and hunt during that time. If you do nothing else, this would be the best deer hunting tip I could give a hunter. It is during the rut that bucks cover large amount of area and present themselves for harvest.
Bucks that are normally in your hunting area may move off, or they may stay put, but there is a good chance that you will see bucks during the rut that you would never see during any other time of the year.
Tip Your Hat to High Quality Food
Winter is a nutritionally stressful time of the year for whitetail deer. When it gets cold deer need to eat. Period. Cold fronts really impact deer movement, so my next deer hunting tip is to hunt the weather to your advantage. Whitetail will forage before a cold front arrives, but after it has been bitterly cold for several days deer must be up and moving and eating, especially if it’s been wet too.
Again, when cold weather sets in, get in the woods and look for roaming deer because they will be hungry and on the move.
Late Season Deer Hunting Tip: Go Mid-Day
My last bit of advice is a late season deer hunting tip that can really pay off when times get tough: Hunt during mid-day. This is the exact opposite of what most hunters would be doing in the field. By late season, deer will have patterned the hunters, so if you want to cross paths with a big buck then you need to mix things up.
During the frigid, late hunting season, whitetail conserve body heat by waiting to forage later in the day. Hunting the mid-day period could put a really nice buck in front of you. If you look back through history, many big bucks have been harvested during the middle of the day.
Deer Hunting in Perspective
There is no quick-fix when it comes to deer hunting tips that will absolutely assure you of tagging a deer, but the best thing you can do is learn the area you hunt, hunt during the peak of the rut and be in the field when whitetail deer are moving and feeding. All of this tips the odds in your favor.
For hunters looking for even more helpful hunting techniques, make sure to check out these other deer hunting tips too. Good luck, and send me a big buck photo when you get one!