Category: Deer Hunting

At what point is it too cold for ideal deer movement and hunting? And at what point is it too cold for hunters to be able to stay in the woods and pursue the deer? Today I am going to address both questions to help you in your late season deer hunting no matter where you live. 

What should you be looking for in a good deer processor and why does it matter? On this episode I share what sets apart a good butcher from a great one. And I will give some insights into what identifies a bad one as well. How you process your meat and what you do with it will impact you for months, maybe years to come, so it is important to do it right. 

What do you do when you make a big mistake field dressing a deer? Or how do you salvage, and field dress a gut shot deer? On this episode I am going to give you some insights and guidelines to help save as much meat as possible and help make the best out of an unfortunate situation. 

Why and how do you hunt deer with a shotgun? This is a beginner’s guide and provides an all-round understanding of the shotgun hunting landscape including different levels of shotgun hunting, types of guns and ammo, slugs vs. buckshot, how to get ready for your first deer hunt with a shotgun and much much more. 

How early should you arrive at your deer stand in the morning vs. in the afternoon? The answer is almost never as clear cut as people want it to be. But that is always the reason so many hunters have such limited success. On this episode I talk about several of the factors that impact when deer will be in front of your stand and when you should get there to hunt those deer.

Rain may have little effect on deer movement, or it may have drastic impact. If you can determine how the weather will impact hunting, you can develop a strategy for how and when to hunt whitetails when it’s raining. Can you hunt deer effectively in the rain? The answer is both yes and no, depending on the circumstances. 

Deer need to eat, mate, and move, period. They can only sit for so long and do not like to miss meals. So while light to moderate rain may impact their movement briefly, they will eventually shrug it off and begin returning to their normal patterns if it continues for any period of time. Severe weather is another story though.

When the weather turns very bad with heavy rain, thunder, gale force winds, blizzard conditions, they will usually sit and wait it out. This type of weather is rarely sustained for very long and once the weather breaks the deer will be up and moving again, perhaps more so than usual trying to find food to make up for missed meals.

So hunting light to moderate rain can be fruitful, particularly if that weather has continued for a few days and the deer have normalized their routines based on it. But really bad weather is not worth hunting in. EXCEPT for possibly hunting the ending fringe of that weather so you can be in the woods still and ready for when the weather breaks and deer movement ramps up.

The gear that you hunt with and the length of time you spend hunting in the rain are also major factors. If your gear is reasonable, you spend short stints in the woods, and you hunt advantageous times of day or before/after incoming fronts, then you can be very effective hunting whitetails in the rain.

I have had significant success hunting both does and bucks on rainy days. But the story is always the same, even after being in the woods for 12 or more hours, deer move very little during severe weather and are quick to get up when the sky clears.

Oftentimes a hunting blind is both cheaper and more comfortable than quality rain gear and I recommend that option when practical. But you can get away with poor quality rain gear and an umbrella if your plan is to wait for the weather to break in order to take down the umbrella and hunt afterwards.

The biggest issue people tend to have with rain gear is sweating and getting soaked over time because even Gore-Tex does not breathe when one side of it is soaking wet. All of the pores in the fabric become saturated and vapor cannot pass through. So, hunting in the rain for long periods of time with a rainsuit on is not a great idea. This makes using a blind even better because you do not need to worry about getting wet. I tend to keep one or two blinds up all season as options for wet days for this very reason.

The bottom line is if hunting in the rain isn’t fun for you, then don’t do it. If you are not enjoying the hunt, then save it for a day when you can enjoy it. Listen to this entire podcast episode to learn more.

Can you age deer that are walking in front of you while hunting? How do you age deer that are up on the move or down on the ground? On this episode I tackle these questions, but I also address the much larger question of SHOULD YOU try to age deer at all.

Trying to age deer has been picking up speed and gaining momentum as of late. People want to know how old their deer are and use that information to affect their decision to shoot or pass in favor of another opportunity at that deer next year. There are three things that are very wrong with this line of thinking.

First, deer biologists tend to have a less than 20% accuracy rating when it comes to aging deer. If the pros can’t do it well, hunters don’t stand much of a chance. After year two, this becomes very difficult, to the point of it not even being worth trying to get an exact number of years for a deer living or dead.

Second, the age of deer is just one more mostly irrelevant variable that causes hunters to overanalyze a situation, likely causing more missed opportunities due to analysis paralysis. Hunters need to evaluate a very short list of variables before taking a shot, such as, is the deer legal, is it large enough to be worth what it costs to butcher it, is it a deer I would like to shoot, is it close enough and at a feasible angle. Then they need to setup and take a shot before they lose their opportunity.

Third, the idea of getting another shot at the deer in the future is an utter fallacy in all but some fantasy land states and enormous ranches. You must assume the deer will be shot by someone else by the end of the day, and you must be ok with that, knowing you want and can reasonably expect to harvest a deer that is better. If you feel bad when you find out another hunter shot the deer that evening because you hoped to shoot it next year, you are out of touch with reality and are not weighing your opportunities effectively.

So, the bottom line is, there are some ways to judge whether or not a deer is mature and viable for shooting that I discuss in the podcast episode. However, generally speaking, the age of the deer does not matter and should not even be thought about. Instead focus on the more important points and make fast decisive decisions that provide you with the time and confidence to take an action you will be happy about after the fact.

Should you be using a tree saddle? Is it really better than hunting out of a deer stand? On this episode I talk about the pros and cons of tree saddles and address the specific situations where tree saddles are indeed the best option, when they are an equal option, and when they are not the best option. 

Tree saddles provide unique flexibility and functionality compared to climbing stands and sometimes hang on stands. They enable people to hunt new locations and single attempt locations easier than any other in-tree option.  This is a big benefit to public land hunters and some private land hunters with a lot of acres available. They are both comfortable and light weight, enabling you to cover a lot of distance much easier than with other options.

This has caused tree saddles to gain a lot of popularity and use among celebrity hunters. However, they are not always the best option for hunting in a tree. In fact, usually they are not. Most hunters simply do not hunt like this. Most tree born hunters spend a lot of time scouting, studying how deer use an area, improving the area for deer movement, adding attractions, and picking a very strategic tree that they hope to use for years, maybe even generations to come. Tree saddles do not shine in this situation, in fact they take more work and effort than a long-term dedicated stand.

So, deer hunters with perennial spots and stand locations do not gain anything from tree saddles, generally speaking. The hunters that do benefit are the ones going deep into public land or hard to access private land, those changing spots mid-season, or perhaps just hunting a place once. This is not an insignificant number of hunters, but looking at the big picture, the majority of hunters gain nothing from saddles. But those who do benefit greatly tend to be very vocal and hold some of the loudest microphones in the industry.

So never accept the next hunting fad without evaluating the merits, especially when all the famous people jump quickly on the bandwagon. Yes, saddles are outstanding for some hunters, but for many they are not the best tool for the job. Are they right for you?

Listen to this whole podcast episode to hear about their pros and cons and when they may be a good fit for you and your hunting situation.