Hunter06FlKy

i was thinking of trying this in the morning on the opening weekend of bow season. i plan on hunting on a travel corridor in the afternoon and evening but i'm not sure what to do in the mornings. i don't really want to go back towards the bedding areas along the travel corridor and scaring the deer and screwing everything up for the afternoons. would it work to still hunt along the edges of the corn around watering holes, mineral licks, and feeding areas? or do ya'll have any better suggestions? if you do they would be much appreciated.

PA Bow/Flinter

I don't think I would still hunt on opening weekend because you would prolly leave a lot of scent around that could scare the deer away. Maybe if it was raining where your scent would be erased then maybe, but I think if I were you I would keep looking for a place to put up a morning stand because the deer should be easy to pattern and at complete ease.

Hunter06FlKy

i do have another spot that overlooks an area where a few trails converge but those trails are mainly used by does. but i guess bucks may be more likely to be around does now than later in the season until the rut.

MOTOWNHONKEY

If you don't want to scare deer than stay out of them feed fields. That's more than likely where they will be. Find a good spot between the feedfields and the bedding area. Then hunt by them fields in the evening. Still hunting in these temps. will place your scent all over. JMHO

Hunter06FlKy

the stand location that i was planning to hunt in the afternoon is along a rubline that a buck has been using for the past few years and there were still signs of where he had rubbed from last year. this is along a well used trail that goes from the feilds where they eat to the bedding areas. should i hunt on the trails away from the bedding areas in the morning and then the trails from the bedding area in the afternoon?? or would it matter. i'm just worried that i wouldn't get to my stand location in the morning before the deer start to leave the fields. mostly because i would have to go past the the areas they feed in. should i just try to get on stand really early in the morning and stay on stand until midmorning and then come back later. or just stay on stand all day?

MOTOWNHONKEY

It just depends on how long you like to hunt. This time of year I would hunt to about 11am then come back at about 5pm for the evening hunt. Once activity starts up I hunt longer, lot's longer. In the morning I would hunt close to the bedding areas because that is where they are going to be heading to after a quick morning feed. Don't get to close to the bedding area though. In the evening I would pick a diffeent spot about midway between the bedding area and the feed field. This way you will see deer before it gets to late. After the does come thru be still and start looking for monster buck to follow. Good luck man.

Hunter06FlKy

that's a good idea motown but i don't think there are any trees that i could get my climber into up towards the bedding area. most of the trees are white oaks that aren't growing straight. most of them that are straight branch off 10-12 feet from the ground. or they're just to big around. i don't have a ground blind either. there is a spot that has some trees that overlook a large depression in the ground that deer sometimes use when they're scared from the feeding fields. or they go past it. would this be a good place to go in and sit in the mornings if the wind were right? if i could find adequate cover of course.

MOTOWNHONKEY

Don't ever underestimate ground hunting. I usually have 3 tree stands up and about 6 ground spots I use every year. You can literally have deer 10 feet in front of you when ground hunting. The biggest buck I have taken was a 8 yrd shot standing flat on my feet on the ground. I show some of my buddies spotsI ground hunt and they don't believe it. You get good at taking deer on the ground and a tree stand will seem like a picnic.

Hunter06FlKy

so do you think i should try finding a spot near the bedding area to set up in? most of my hunting has been from the ground actually and i got my first deer this last season from the ground. but i was using a gun though. i would bet that using some 3-d camo would help if foilage were still on the underbrush right? maybe i'll try that in the morning and use my climber in the afternoon.

max the dog

Are we talking Illinois here? If so I wouldn't worry too much about spreading your scent around on bow opening weekend. There is a lot of hunting time for the deer to get over it not to mention how much scent is spread around by the harvest. The 80 I hunt is half corn that ajoins another 120 acre block of corn to the south. The stuff is pretty thick and offers everything a deer could possibly want. Cover, food, and a small ditch of water right in the middle that seperates my property from the neighbors. My biggest problem is with the deer not leaving the corn. They will spend weeks in it nonstop and not move unless somebody pushes them out of it. We've tried pushing them out in a drive and when we can get it to work had huge numbers jump out. The problem is that a drive in standing corn is darn near imposible if you only have a few people. If you get on your knees and look straight down a row you can see the deer a pretty good distance off but if you look across the rows you might be able to see 10 or 15 feet. Maybe half that if you're standing. A very still deer could escape detection just a few rows away and be gone in a slit second if you do spot them.
Give still hunting a try, you won't do any lasting harm and you could suprise yourself a nice deer. Here's a couple hints of advice; Use the rows to see a deer a distance off and then move 3 rows to the side to stalk within 30 yards of the deer and still hunt the rest. Even on an otherwise featureless cornfield the deer will still like to bed down on the high spots. Plan a route to get there that won't cross too many rows, crossing a row is very noisy. The second most commen animal in a cornfield is probably a raccoon, consider using that as a cover scent. On odd shaped cornfields there is always small sections where no corn grows. While I've never found deer to bed there they do use the open area to pass through it because it's easier to move through than cross the rows.