4 Deer Hunting Strategies To Master This Season

Ground and Pound on Windy Days

White-tailed deer depend on each of their senses for survival. When mother nature takes one of those senses away from the deer, you should take advantage of the opportunity.  For instance, if a deer’s sense of sound is taken away due to high winds, they will not be able to hear you walking through dry leaves or corn stalks.  On unusually windy days, it will affect deer movement patterns, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be in the woods hunting.

During windy days, deer will not be able to hear you coming, but they’ll also have a harder time spotting your movements.  As the wind blows, the saplings, leaves, corn stalks, and tree branches sway from side to side, which makes it more difficult for the deer to pick out danger with their eyes. The noise generated by blowing winds decreases the deer’s ability to hear you and other predators and your scent is harder to pick up from because it gets diluted much quicker.

If you find yourself yearning to be in the woods during a windy day, use this time wisely for spotting and stalking, as well as still hunting through the timber.  It’s also a great time to learn more about the area that you’re hunting and discover new hunting spots.  Just don’t forget your weapon during a windy day walkabout because its a great time to sneak in close to an unsuspecting buck!

Tips for hunting during windy days:  Go slow, scan the horizon from a distance, and everywhere in between.  Look for areas that deer can bed down in that will keep them out of the wind. This might be the backside of the hill from where the wind is coming from, behind a large rock or downed tree, or a depression in large open terrain.  Don’t walk aimlessly through the area, walk with intent and only after making sure you’ve thoroughly scanned the area for bedded deer.

The Bump and Dump Hunt

One of the riskiest, yet most rewarding hunting tactics for an aggressive mobile hunter.  The Bump and Dump!  This tactic is performed just like it sounds, you bump a buck out of his bed, then set up shop hoping that he returns to his final resting place.

You first need to understand why mature bucks bed in certain areas.  It’s not because it’s close to the best food or it’s the most comfortable place on the mountain with the prettiest view.  NEWS FLASH – Bucks choose bedding areas to ensure their safety.  Through years and years of survival, they’ve found the best places to stay alive.  So what happened when you bumped the buck out of the bed?  He slipped away and survived, just like he’d done hundreds of times before.

When he comes back, this time you’ll be ready.  So, as soon as you bump a buck out of his bed, go ahead and hang your set-up, whether it be a mobile hunting treestand set-up, just climbing sticks and a saddle platform, or a cumbersome climbing stand.  Settle in for the evening hunt and stay alert because he might come back in a couple of hours.  If not, he should eventually return.

For the next few days, get into your stand early, I’m talking really early, up to an hour before daylight!  Big bucks often enter their bedroom just as the sun begins to rise, so be ready.

Stop Hunting and Spend the Day Scouting

If you’re like most hunters, you don’t have a lot time to hunt throughout the season, so not hunting may sound like punishment, but it’s more like an investment.  As I’ve gotten older and gained more responsibilities, my free time to hunt is more limited.  However, I don’t just go hunting, I only hunt when the conditions are right.  MY goal is to hunt to kill, not waste time.  So, instead of hunting, many days I’ll spend scouting instead.

When things aren’t going well in the stand or their trail camera photos aren’t showing me what I’m looking for, I’ll spend time moving cameras around or walking different properties in search of fresh sign.  Maybe you’re in an area that you can scout from behind the glass, which can be very boring at times, but even more rewarding.

Focus on Fresh Sign

Time and time again, the obvious is ignored and we return to old habits and comfortable situations.  The same applies to deer hunting.  We see a fresh deer sign but refuse to capitalize on it. Thinking that it’s only a matter of time for the bucks that you’ve seen cruising on the other side of the field make it to your side is foolish.

Go where the deer are and follow the fresh sign.  This might be a change in food sources or fresh rubs and scrapes.  The best fresh sign is visibly seeing deer in an area, such as a buck chasing a doe during the rut.  When the sign is there, so should you!  Don’t be afraid of tearing down your treestand set-up and moving it mid-day to capitalize on an opportunity.  Human nature is lazy, and I’ve talked myself out of moving spots so many times, only to be kicking myself in the butt when things went exactly as I expected but I was too lazy to move.

Thankfully, mobile hunting techniques have made it much easier to change hunting spots, especially for saddle hunters!

Get out there and hunt!!!

These four tactics might be out of your comfort zone, but they’ve helped hunters fill tags from across the county.  You just have to be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and give it a shot.  In fact, you should master each of these strategies this season!