What to do around standing corn?
 

Alright, last year the farms I hunt planted beans, which was nice because I could watch the deer in the evenings and knew where the big ones were hanging. This gave me a few great opportunities and boosted my confidence. Well this year the farmers planted corn and I'm looking for suggestions on how to handle this during early season hunting.

I know deer will hang out in the standing corn so I'm wondering if I should hunt the edges where the fields meet the woods to catch them coming and going. Another idea is that there is a pond in the middle of the field with corn all around it. I was thinking of setting up a ground blind made of corn stalks and hunting around the pond.

Other than basic scouting, inside corners and that sort of thing do you guys have any other suggestions on how to deal with deer in standing corn?

Thanks.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

I think you are better off using the coming and going theory. Try and find a place for a stand that overlooks 3 or 4 different trails coming into the field.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

I agree with deer-slayer on this one. Here in NW Ohio we hunt small woodlots with agricultural field surrounding the woods. I absolutely love it on the years where the crop rotation has corn around the woods. Find the trails coming from the woods to the corn and you will be set. Corners and inside "L" corners are usually great. I have one woods thatI hunt that has an L shaped corner and I live for the years that corn is the crop that year. I have killed several deer there. That corner is a major runway when there is corn. Another great thing is that the it is on the west side of the woods and it is a lower spot then the rest of the field, so in that corner the corn is usually alot thinner and alot shorter than the restof the field so you have numerous shot oportunities and and you can really see the deer moving around. I think that if you pinpoint the trails you are in for a dynamite season. I am really primed for this season because 4 of my woods I hunt ( including the one I just talked about) will be in corn. My heart is pounding right now just thinking about it!! Good luck.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

My neighbor was telling me how you can stalk deer on a wet and windy day in the corn fields. The deer do love to hang out and sleep. It provides good protection. On a wet and windy day you can slip through the rows quitely undetected. Poke your head in a row and look both ways before stepping through. If you see a deer make your adjustments accordingly. I was told you get shoot them at point blank while they are sleeping. Never tried it but it sounds plausible to me.

Good luck.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

hey fieldmouse's idea sounds like some fun but the deer dont know you are there so it is kind of easy[&:]i think i would like to try it sometime. as fare as what you mentioned solax, set up where they are going in between 3 trails or more if possible. get them going to bed in the morning.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

I have to deal with this situation as well! I would setup a treestand near thier trail's leading into the corn ,deer tend to follow easy trails that are already there for easy walking,there will probably be more than one so find the most traveled and get ready for them to return to the bush. It's great for early season hunting that there's a pond in the middle but as the season moves on the deer will frequent the pond less and less .

nubo

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

Thanks guys. The only problem with this is that the side of the field where the deer usually enter the farmer only owns about 40 yds in to the woods. Now I did set up there last year and arrow a nice buck.

Fieldmouse, I've tried that idea and gave it up, I am really bad at stalking and just never saw anything until it was too late.

Proff, you're cracking me up, sounds like you're ready to go. Good luck.

Thanks for all the help guys.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

Corn, corn you say? I would rather hunt a corn field any day! :)

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

Do you see the deer in the am or the pm at the edges of the corn? What time is the best to hunt it if they bed there?

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

Corn fields can be a big problem because of the deer staying in it during hunting hours. But the're also a big draw to the deer. Finding the best entry/exit routes are your best bet. I was surprized several years ago when I was sitting on the edge of the woods bordering a cornfiled and watched deer ENTERING the woods in the evening! MAKE EVERY ATTEMPT TO BE THERE when the corn is being cut. For the first few days, the woods will be flooded with deer trying to reacclimate themselves to living in the woods again.--and the fields will be magnets for them as they look for all the missed corn on the ground.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

I agree with what has been mention, however, if you have an early opening season and it is hot and dry, don't ignore the pond in the middle of the day and in the evenings.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

Solax,

You can up your odds tremendously by creating a path into the corn before it gets to tall. Walk in cutting a path about 3 feet wide for about 25 - 30 yards. When you get in about 30 yards make a fork and exted each leg out about 30 yards. This will give the deer a place to enter the filed and give them 60 yards of easy walking before they get into the heart of the field. I do this every year and I can't tell you how many deer I see using the path. It looks like cows are walking into and out of the field. I set up 20 yards to either side of the entrance, depending on the wind.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

02bhntn, THAT'S THE TYPE OF TIP I WAS LOOKING FOR!!!!:D that sounds like an excellent idea, the farmer might not like it to much but if he says anything I'll just say "How much corn would the deer I'm taking eat?" (He's family anyway so I can get around that) Anyway, that sounds like an awesome idea. I'm gonna have to try it.

Thanks again, everyone.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

First of all, I would rather hunt corn over beans any day of the week. I have seen that corn will have deer coming to it long after it's been harvested(as long as it hasn't been plowed under). Deer around my area will continue coming to it into late Dec. Where as if there were beans there, once the beans are gone....so seem the deer are too. Deer will not only use the corn for food, but for really good cover too.

Secondly, what I have done with corn in the fields is to mow a path around the field about 3-4 feet wide. Especially if it butts up to a slough or woods. Not only will you find it a great path to walk out to your stand nice and quiet, but the deer will start using this path as a deer trail not more than a few days after you mow it. If the deer don't intend on going into the corn field for food or cover, they like us, like to walk somewhere where it's easy walking as long as they feel comfortable. I have shot many, many deer just walking down the path that I mowed right to me. They nibble on the corn stalks right next to the path and make their way to where ever they are going to or from. A bush hog pulled behind a 4-wheeler works great!! Try it out.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

You are not talking about cutting the corn I hope! If I did that to a corn field I might as well kiss my hunting areas goodbye.[:o]

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

If the Wisconsin season opens sept 18th will the corn be ready or should I use my other stand location in the pines? When does the corn die and do they eat it while it is soft or wait till it gets hard?

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

It really depends on where your hunting and how pressured the deer are. One thing is pretty certain, I dought I would hunt in the corn off of the ground. The bucks are likly to get down wind of you before going to the pond. They will also smell that you have been in there safe zone and abandon it except at night. Most of my hunting in Iowa or Illinois would put me on the edge of the feild. I would walk the entire perimeter of the feild the day I was going to hunt and set up on the biggest track, not the most tracks. The big bucks travel alone early in the season. Here in Wisconsin on most of the farms I hunt I would abandon the feild all together and look for where the bucks are bedding and set up near there, unless you are reasonably sure they are bedding in the feild.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

We hunt corn every year. Do what most have mentioned. They'll troll just inside the woods, around the corn in strips between woods, and spend a lot of time IN the corn. We find trails coming and going and hunt them. Look in the corners, low hidden spots, ditches cutting through the corn.. all sorts of places. Try to be in the woods the day the corn is cut. It's wild. As some one mentioned,... for the first 3 or 4 days after they cut there's tons of activity. I went out last week on a crop damage permit. I set up in a hedgerow/ditch that cut the back of a corn field off from the front. About the witching hour deer started popping up everywhere. Most came from the corn. If there are any grassy areas in the corn void of crops... they'll visit them. Your pond sounds like a winner too. I don't think I'd be stomping a farmers corn down......even a relative. They take their crops and right to quiet enjoyment seriously. Even a relative can get ticked... why bother pushing it. You don't need to.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

Hey I suck also at everything except sitting high in a tree. I would atempt it because it sounds interesting.

Where I hunt the first ten rows are striped clean by the deer coming and going. A little trail won't hurt a thing.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

The farmer whose land I hunt on is a Dairy farmer and he does a lot of corn sileage each year. The first thing he does each fall, is take the first 5 or 6 rows off each corn field. For some reason farmers do that anyway, but this farmer, after telling him how much it boosts our success rate, makes sure he does it first thing so that we can shoot more deer. This provides a great area for them to be out and feed but also to give you more visibility and shot opportunities. This way he harvests the corn without you having to cut it down. This way everyone wins.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

NEWSHOOTER, the corn should be ready for deer to use by then, unless it's been a really bad growing season. And the deer will keep using it until the farmer cuts it, which is usually anywhere from early to late fall. Some even keep some (I imagine for the deer to use) into the winter. I'd say that deer will more or less be using the corn fields from the time it grows kernels, to the time it gets cut (and even for a while after it's cut).

peashooter

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

You're right. I'll talk to him first and it shouldn't be a problem. He had a crop damage permit last year and I took a number of does off of his place. If it seems that by taking down a few rows of corn I could be saving OTHER corn for years to come by taking a few deer I'm sure he'll be all for it.

One thing I kept from you guys is that one of my sweet spots near a field has a lot of over hanging oak limbs. This year the farmer left about 60 yds from the wood line to the edge of the field and it's nothing but clover growing there. That's gonna be a NICE spot. I'm sure the deer will be working that clover. I was mainly asking how to hunt other parts of the farm.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

Newshooter,

There is a period of time when the tassle of the corn stalk starts to darken. That's when the plant is starting to die and the corn cobs start to ripen. The corn itself takes on a sour taste. Taste the corn. You'll see what I mean. The deer don't like it as much then, but will still use the corn field just as much because of the cover that it provides. The deer will start to again hammer the corn after this period because the corn is starting to harden and the taste is starting to come back. They like it when it's young and juicy(sweet tasting) and then when it starts to harden.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

Keep in mind the areas you seen deer moving last year. They have been useing these same runs all year and will tend to continue to use them when the corn comes.

Dont cut down the corn. Its easier to deal with it than to find another place to hunt. If it was your field have at it, sounds like it would help.

RE: What to do around standing corn?
 

All,

I am not advocating going into a corn field and cutting any corn without the permision of the farmer. I don't cut anything. Before the corn gets high and tassles out I simply walk in the corn and bend the stalks to the left and or right to create a lane for the deer. Once you create the lane the deer will clear it out for you. At the edge of the field you need to make an obvious hole into the field. I simply step down on the stalks to make a three foot opening in the edge into about 10 feet or 4 rows. This gives the deer a sensec of security and ease inwhich to enter the field. I sthen walk into the field pushing them aside. The deer will do the rest.