Deer season has just came to an end. For some hunters, it was a banner season. For others, it was not so good.
Some hunters are trying to piece together what might have went wrong, as they chow down on a warm bowl of tag soup instead of a steak. But rather than wallowing in self-pity, we need to be out scouting, getting ready for the possibilities of what next year will bring us.
This is particularly true when trying to pattern a big buck. Walking through the bedding grounds of a mature white-tailed buck just a few short weeks before season begins will all but guarantee that you will not see that buck while hunting. If the area you are hunting has a lot of pressure, big bucks will only take so much human intrusion before they find somewhere else to hang out.
This time of year makes it easy to locate trails that deer often use to get from feeding to bedding grounds no matter how dense the area might be. These trails could change as the food sources change in the summer, but the trails they use to leave their bedding grounds will not change and eventually the trails to the food sources will come back around to their fall patterns.
Hanging stands near bedding areas now will yield more chances at bucks when season opens rather than hanging stands over food sources.
Not only are trails more visible, but so are buck rubs. Bucks leave good signs behind as they polish their antlers and get in some practice fights with small saplings. A rub tells a lot about the bucks in the area and their routine.
Rubs are one time when size does matter. The bigger the diameter of the tree the rub is on, the bigger the buck that made that rub. Big bucks will rub small trees, but small bucks do not rub big trees. When you find a tree of at least six inches in diameter, you can be sure a mature buck made that rub.
Bucks are known to rub trees in the same area from one year to the next. Often, bucks rub the same tree year after year. Hunters who know where rubs were located in previous seasons can use this to their advantage (as long as the buck who made the rub is still alive). Hang a stand before rubs start appearing to ambush a buck as he comes to renew his rub line.
By learning to interpret rubs, hunters will be able to tell where bucks are eating and sleeping. If the shiny side of a rub is facing a dense thicket, then that’s more than likely where the bucks are breeding. If the shiny side of the rub is facing a food plot, clover field, or other source of food, that’s probably where they spend the night eating. Set up and hunt accordingly.
Once you locate good locations for a stand or ground blind, winter is the best time to get them in place. Bucks will notice anything out of place, and a new stand or blind is certainly out of place. By making these changes to their landscape now, the deer will have plenty of time to grow accustomed to them.
Preparing shooting lanes is also something that should be done now. By doing this task now, deer will also have plenty of time to get use to the alternations to their cover. Creating shooting lanes is not something that only archers should be concerned with. More than once, I’ve missed a shot opportunity because the deer was behind coverage that was too thick, despite my target being close. Remember that the smallest twig can send a slug somewhere other than where you want it to go.
Another thing that can be done at this time of year is to look for shed antlers. Finding sheds will give you a good idea of what deer survived the season, as well as the winter. Not only is it a good scouting tool, but it’s also fun.
Winter is the very best time to find the clues left behind by deer, so you can pattern their movements during hunting season and not their summer patterns. It’s also a great time to check out new ground you’ve never hunted before. So get out and do some scouting when the time is right.
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