Spooking deer happens in many ways. Seeing hunters walk in the field. Hearing hunters walk or talk. Ground scent left behind during the trek in or out. Direct wind scent straight up the nostrils. These and more apply hunting pressure to deer.
As deer hunters, we have many resources and knowledge at our fingertips. Therefore, it’s possible to hunt at specific times when the data shows it’s better for success and spend less overall time in the field. That in turn applies less hunting pressure to local deer.
In short, decrease the number of sits, increase the odds of seeing deer, and apply less hunting pressure in the process. Some of the following tips are data you can collect anecdotally. Others revolve around whitetail research. Still, others are what I call “common sense data.” Regardless, as the cliché saying goes, hunt smart (not hard) and your deer season will likely be better.
1. Stop Hunting Bedding Areas and Food Sources
Deer follow lines of movement. This is true for morning and afternoon patterns. Generally, of an afternoon, these are A to B to C transitions. (Think of bedding areas as A, staging areas and transition routes as B, and food sources as C.) Of a morning, it works in reverse.
Of course, deer spend most of their daytime hours in or close to bedding areas. They spend the bulk of nighttime hours in or close to food sources. Dawn and dusk are spent traveling between the two.
As such, most hunters attempt to hunt quite close to bedding areas or overlooking food sources. The orthodox approach is to hunt closer to bedding areas during morning hunts and closer to food sources during afternoon sits. Why? Point A (bedding areas) and point C (food sources) are congregation points. Deer gather and spend significant amounts of time at each endpoint.
That can bode well for seeing deer, but getting in and out of the field without spooking deer is very difficult. For example, if hunting around bedding areas, getting out of the treestand after a morning hunt can prove difficult. Walking in to hunt a bedding area in the afternoon almost never works. Likewise, if hunting around food sources, walking in before daylight will likely scatter deer like a covey of quail. Walking out after an afternoon hunt comes with significant pressure risks, too.
So, if a hunter shouldn’t hunt a bedding area fringe or food source, where should they go? Between the two. Hunt staging areas and transition routes. Deer pass through these and don’t congregate. That translates to an easier entry or exit with lower odds of spooking deer.
Key Data Task: Chart bedding areas, food sources, and the trail networks for the property on an aerial map or hunting app. Study aerials, and identify promising staging areas and transition routes.
2. Sit the Property’s Boundaries (Not Interior)
It’s simple math, but walking farther into a property increases the risk of alerting deer to your presence. Therefore, on most hunting properties (barring an oddly designed property layout), hunting the fringes of your hunting land, and leaving the interior alone, poses less odds of alerting deer to human intrusion. Of course, be mindful of property lines, and don’t crowd your neighbors.
Key Data Task: Understand how deer maneuver the property. Learn the trail network and intercept deer along the highest-odds trails.
3. Study Target Buck Trail Camera Daylight Appearance Timestamps
Mature whitetail bucks don’t all walk with the wind straight into their face. If they did, they’d all end up on the West Coast sunbathing in California, Oregon, or Washington. That said, they do use the wind to their advantage.
It starts in their bedding area. Generally, deer bed with the wind at their back, and tend to bed on leeward, or downwind, sides of ridge lines. Furthermore, if deer have food sources available in multiple directions, it’s common for them to choose the direction (and food source) that allows them to keep the wind in their favor.
When traveling to and from bedding areas and food sources, it’s routine for bucks to benefit from the wind. It might be a quartering wind, or a more direct wind, but it’ll be carrying scent from directions deer anticipate the greatest likelihood of danger (human presence or approach and other predators).
Because of these factors, hunters should study target buck trail camera daylight appearance timestamps. Using a historical weather data tool (such as Weather Underground), plug in the date for the trail camera photo. Then, scroll to the same time (hour) the photo was taken. This is the wind direction the buck had when it triggered the photo.
Over time, you’ll notice some bucks only move through certain areas with specific wind directions. Usually, this is due to bedding area selection (based on wind direction) and whether the wind is right to travel a certain direction during daylight, or not.
When you learn what winds a deer prefers, you can wait until these directions materialize. (Rather than wasting time on winds they won’t daylight walk with.) Of course, the wind is likely in their favor, so it requires implementing the “fringe” or “just-off” wind direction strategy.
Speaking from experience, I’ve used cameras for nearly 20 years. In that time, I’ve captured millions of trail camera photos and thousands of unique bucks on camera. In recent years, I use approximately 50-60 trail cameras each season. All said, most of my biggest bucks were harvested with the help of the above strategy.
Key Data Task: Look up wind direction associated with each daylight trail camera photo timestamp for mature bucks.
4. Hunt Off-Peak Times (for Minimal Hunting Pressure)
Most deer hunters head afield on gun season openers, and maybe muzzleloader. Of course, some sprinkle in a crossbow sit here and there. They do well to hunt the bow opener. But most don’t hunt off-peak times. Therefore, hunting at times when few other hunters do so is an excellent play. Examples include on weekdays, during early archery seasons, late archery seasons, the pre-rut, and the back half of the rut.
Key Data Task: Study state wildlife agency reports to gauge when hunters spend the most time afield in your state.
5. Hunt Peak Deer Movement Times (of the Year)
Deer movement slowly ramps up throughout summer, early fall, and peaks during the rut. Bucks cover more ground just prior to and during the rut. Hunting when deer are covering more ground can increase odds of encountering a target buck. Likewise, sitting out lower-odds days minimizes pressure and “saves” your property for the rut.
Key Data Task: Contact your state wildlife agency. Ask them for the peak rut dates for your county.
6. Hunt Food Source Peaks
Whitetails are concentrate selectors, meaning they consume the best parts of the best plants they can find. They target the best available food as these become available. Therefore, each food source has a peak, so to speak. Just take white oak acorns dropping in early fall, freshly shelled cornfields, and other food sources, as examples.
To that point, recent research shows there are correlations between rain events and spikes in soybean consumption approximately 24-48 hours later. Theories suggest that higher water content makes these plants more attractive, and therefore, deer target these more.
Key Data Task: Contact your state forester and/or biologist. Ask for peak dates when certain popular deer food sources tend to enter their prime. Then, find these on your property, and you’ll have a good idea when deer will target these areas.
7. Sit Stand Locations with Productive Trail Cameras
Some might not view trail camera photos as data, but they are. Therefore, if a hunter captures multiple daylight appearances at trail camera locations, it might be time to move in and hunt the deer. Of course, other data can be gleaned from trail cameras, too. And today, most cellular trail camera apps can crunch that data, and help interpret the information behind the photos.
Key Data Task: Deploy trail cameras in a consistent, effective manner. Save all buck photos and analyze these accordingly.
8. Hunt Overlooked Public Land Spots
Recent research conducted on public lands suggests that hunters are predictable. They rarely hunt right along roadways. They hardly ever hike more than ¾ mile to 1 mile into the tract of land. Instead, they hunt 200-800 yards from the truck and call it good. Obviously, most public-land hunters make their stand somewhere in the middle third of that spectrum.
Because of this, hunters who play off that can set up outside of the typical range of stand location distances (from the truck). Instead of hunting within that middle third, savvy whitetail enthusiasts can focus on the two ends of the spectrum. Either hunt very close to parking lots and roadways or hike 1 mile or more back into a property.
Key Data Task: When scouting, try to determine where other hunters are going. Avoid these areas and focus elsewhere.
9. Let Hunting Pressure Work for You
Of course, hunting pressure isn’t all bad. Hunters can also let hunting pressure work for them. For example, during peak hunter days (i.e.: gun season, firearm season openers, during the first weekend of other popular seasons, etc.), hunt escape routes. These can produce results. If you know the property, and how deer traverse it, you can set up along trails that deer use to evade incoming hunters. The key is to be set up hours before the pressure starts, though.
All things considered, hunters do what they can to minimize hunting pressure. But when pressure arises, use it to your benefit. Deer hunting is situational and understanding the nuances of it are crucial. Check the right boxes and kill more bucks.