ORIGINAL: Vabowman
Hunter 59 good response!! now for the rest of you....if you hunt the midwest, then tell me how the deer movement is...Oct, Nov, and Dec....this had nothing to do really with big bucks as to who has them and who doesn't...it has something to do with how well they move, put it this way for example...tonight was the first time I have seen an antlered buck while bowhunting since Nov 13th...I have bowhunted at least 10times or more....in fact I have only seen 6 deer since Nov 13th.. and Im hunting mostly high pop. areas..it's typical for Va every year...does this happen in the midwest?? I realize they are not in every woodot and behind every tree, just tell me how they move through out the season..
I hunt in Jersey Co. Illinois. My family owns 365 acres with halfof it in timber and the other half in corn and beans. The area is hunted very heavily by gun hunters, but recieves very little archery hunting. There are several times (especially during the week), that I am the only one bowhunting here.
This year was not a good year for deer movement in our area IMO. Even the deer hanging in sheds during the gun season prove that. I still did manage to get a crack at a P&Y class 8 pointer, and saw 3 others that would go over the course of nearly 2 months, however I spent more time on a stand not seeing a single deer than any of my previous years.
In early October I focus around the bean fields and if the corn is cut head there. If the beans are still standing then I am able to see a bunch of deer, but if they are already out then it becomes hard to find the deer. They head to the neighbors food plots and off our land. Towards the end of October I will usually tend to see some bucks cruising through the cut fields (corn more so than beans). The temps are usually very high, and the most activity I see during this time is the first hour of daylight, and the last 15 minutes or so in the afternoon.
The greatest amount of movement I see throughout the year is usually inthe first 2 weeks of Novemeber from about 7 A.M.-8:30 A.M. Our shotgun season rolls in the Fri, Sat, Sun before Thanksgiving and then again the following Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun after Thanksgiving. For the next 2 weeks after this I have found it very difficult to hunt, as every deer in the county has been alerted. Right around Christmas, nearly all hunters are out of the woods again, and if you find what thedeer are eating then you can have very good luck setting up on food sources in the afternoon.
I have hunted all day during the rut before, and I can count onboth hands the amount of deer I have seen between 11 A.M.and 2 P.M.over the last 4 years.