Their behavior is affected by the fullness of the moon which serves as a night lite for them as they search for food. Hunt the wind: Take the wind into consideration when you set up the ground blind or the stand. Early season begins in the first week of September and lasts through few weeks of October. Aug 26, 2020 - ⋆ Those who have taken the time to research population control, wildlife management, and lands stewardship understand that responsible controlled hunting is needed for effective population control. What makes things even more confusing is that most of these arguments seem valid in different scenarios. They are not using the AG fields and the vast open spaces that they did early in the season. So, if you are going to attempt a spot and stalk, you better be downwind. Only attempt a morning hunt if you can set up and access low impact stands close to bedding areas without spooking deer. Learn how your comment data is processed. Ask people with more mud on the boots and you will be greeted with a bunch of differing opinions. As the days get cooler signaling rutting season, bucks begin their pursuit of does, increasing your chance of spotting one using specific mating calls and techniques. Deer WILL move around just before sunset and right after sunrise. You will stay nights aboard our luxurious 70 foot yacht, and during the day we will use multiple methods to hunt. Depending how late you get out there, a night vision scope might be a worthwhile investment. Blacktail deer are not large; live weights for mature bucks normally run 120 to 140 pounds. So they will be extremely cautious and make every attempt at avoiding high pressure hunting sites. However, if you plan on bringing home a trophy black-tailed buck, it is best to start scouting in the months of July and early August. If they detect your presence, their patterns will change completely by the time you set up the stand. Welcome to the premier group for blacktail deer hunting enthusiasts. Try to identify as much as you can from the trail cam pics. This is called the Rut. Keep an eye on the thermometer and the barometer. We have found that the best time of year to hunt these trophies is from November 15 through December 15th. Then utilize that information to be in the stand at the right time and in the right place and more often than not, you will have a successful hunt. A rising barometer is usually coupled with a drop in temperature. The reason why the deer use a feeding site routinely is because they feel safe. In the North, the Rut is at its peak in the first part of November following which there’s a lull. Today, we know a lot more about these shy animals than ever before. 2M Hunting provides the guided hunts on exclusive private ranches of the Central Coast of California and offers the world class Tule Elk, Blacktail Deer hunting, Rio Grande Turkey hunting… Sometime during the day they will often emerge from a … Columbia blacktail deer are my favorite big game animal to hunt in North America. Once again, this seems to be more subjective than anything else. This gives you at least one good week of. Find a spot where they will be most vulnerable. Though it is best to hunt during days when the wind is calm, if that is not possible, make sure to keep downwind of their tracks and trails. Did we ruffle some feathers? Use a scent removal mechanism and try to be as scent free as you possibly can. And camp out in some timber close to this. Deer prefer the smorgasbord of younger and tender shoots of alfalfa and clover as they are more nutrient dense. What if you only have a week during the mid-season to hunt? It is still one of the best deer hunting rifles out there. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. (drumrolls)…’It depends’. This is one of the best times to tag a buck mid-season. You need to understand that in the late season, you are up against the smartest (or the luckiest) deer of the lot. We might strike out for new territory. For the hunter, this period represents the best time to harvest a buck, as deer become more active during the daylight hours, making them easier to spot and kill. Located in beautiful Southwestern Oregon, we hunt areas located in the Cascade, Siskiyou and coastal mountains as well as the foothills surrounding the beautiful Rogue Valley. Mature bucks in particular are easier to find during these days than early in the season. Similarly, an increase or a drop in barometric pressure tends to draw the deer out towards feeding sites. Moon Data Rise: 8:01 AM Set: 5:58 PM Overhead: 1:00 PM Underfoot: 12:29 AM Moon Phase 2% Waxing Crescent Major Times 12:29 AM - 2:29 AM 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Minor Times 8:01 AM - 9:01 AM 5:58 PM - 6:58 PM Deer Hunting Day Rating Better Time Zone UTC: -8 But if the buck shows up in the cam at 3 am in the night, you’d probably have to cover some ground to get as close to the bedding site as possible. While a few blessed big game hunters have reported being able to snag a blacktail buck in the open during the early morning period, but these bucks are usually not fully matured. What direction is the buck coming from? However, you’ve got to adapt to the changing deer behavior by implementing what a lot of hunters call ‘pre-rut’ hunting tactics. Anything lower, can dramatically decrease your chances of spotting a deer on the move. The rest? Light rain concealed what little sound remained. Also, some of my best mid-day setups include multiple stand locations that allow me to slant more towards morning or evening hours, while still hunting the same movement that is supported by both water and mock scrapes. When you do get the chance, make sure you shoot the deer in the proper region. Monitor weather conditions: Remember what we mentioned earlier about cold and windy days being the best days for hunting deer? According To Doctor Sheppard A cold day is the perfect and the idlest day of hunting when the sky is clear and wind velocity is high. Big bucks are incredibly smart animals and the only way that they got that big is by avoiding hunters like you who’ve been glassing the area season after season. Stand placement will be critical as you do not want the deer to pick up your scent before you start hunting. There are many advantages of hunting early season. Whitetail research has advanced by leaps and bounds in the recent past, thanks to bug-sized GPS devices. If you have hunted the parcel before then you should have a pretty good idea of where the buck rests. Figure out a way to get downwind and as close to the deer as you can before you take a shot. Deer behavior is influenced by hunting pressure. During some phases of this season, some deer might even wander off into open areas in broad daylight. The latter part of the season often coincides with pre-rut, and the archery and muzzleloader hunts often fall during the peak of the rut. However, plan on long days and long nights of scouting if you plan on spotting one during times of peak activity. So rather than trying to find the best time of the day to hunt deer, try to understand deer behavior and the pattern changes that occur with different seasons. But if you are a savvy hunter, you can put this phase to good use. You are in it to hunt an animal that has a much superior olfactory sense than you do. So only use this as a last resort. This means that the deer are still using the same timber trails that they did when you were scouting before the season. And there are few things that impact this movement, other than pressure. So piggyback with someone experienced until you get a hang of things. The deers habits are highly dependent upon time of year, snow fall, rut activity and area. For example, swapping the bow for a muzzleloader setup that extends the reach and allows them to target the deer from long ranges. The 7 Best Days of the 2020 Whitetail Deer Rut. Their habitat preferences make them even harder to spot as they move swiftly and quietly through the dense forests of the northwest almost completely undetectable. Grab your calendar. Never make the rookie mistake of shooting the first deer that appears. Densely packed rows upon rows of corn aren’t the easiest to navigate through nor spot an animal easily. Okay, so deer are crepuscular. That’s your best chance of tagging it. Now booking! But why the moon? It’s the most predictable time of the day to see deer. The most common way to hunt deer on the island is the "spot and stalk" method. A lot of hunters get hung up over the right time of the day to hunt and overlook other factors that might be equally important. If it’s close to daylight, you are in luck, as the bedding site cannot be too far away. But before you go all gung-ho into strategy, let’s take a moment to understand the changes in deer behavior during these months. Mid-season is when most hunters experience the melancholy of dwindling deer sightings. Respect it. As soon as bow hunting season begins in most states, there are hordes of bow trotting hunters and their hoodlum buddies in the woods trying to shoot everything that they are legally allowed to. By observing their pre season habits, you are … Okay, so deer are crepuscular. Many blacktail deer fell to that rifle, ... (you can thank Savage for rifles having great triggers these days.) Follow the tracks and take a crack the moment you set eyes on it. I’d made no secret of my urge to still-hunt alone on the approach but Paul, my hunting buddy since adolescence, reined me in, promising better country up high. For some of us, that might be an outfitted hunt at a fabled deer destination like Illinois, Kansas or Texas. Move perpendicular to the rows, checking to your left and right when you enter each row. This works exceptionally well especially if the deer are behaving too skittish. Not all blacktail deer are migratory. Not the easiest of variables to conjure. And death. If you are careful enough, you can sneak in from the direction of the food source and set up a stand somewhat inside of the woods. Others might spend that week in the same camp they’ve been returning to year after year. Deer Hunting Day Rating Best Time Zone UTC: -8: 12/15/2020 Sun Data Rise: 6:52 AM Set: 4:45 PM Day Length 09 hrs. Oh wait, there’s taxes too. Given their preference for tangled cover, blacktails are among the hardest of all deer to hunt, and a trophy blacktail or Sitka deer is one of the great prizes of North American deer hunters. You have to be downwind when you enter and leave the blind as well as when you move. Many a time, you will only see a part of the deer. It’s when their eyesight is most effective. If it all boils down to the last few hours of the season, where you have nothing to lose, then it’s time to bend the rules a little. If a steep drop in temperature is predicted, it might be the window that you were looking for. One of the greatest advantages to this strategy is that you’re likely to get closer and longer looks at a species of deer that seems almost magical in its ability to escape our attention. Time of Year: Blacktail deer can be hunted in most areas from early fall to mid-winter. But what if you can’t afford to be choosy? However, due to their keen ability to elude even the most skilled hunters, be prepared for long days and every type of weather condition if you are serious about catching one of these pacific ghosts. The breeding season is when the does go into Estrus (heat) and the bucks get locked down, skipping food and even water, following the doe all day to breed. The harvest limit is 4 bucks per person, one buck per tag. This makes day time the least productive to hunt. By observing their pre season habits, you are more likely to track one down during open season. Deer WILL move around just before sunset and right after sunrise. In fact, many experienced hunters call it ‘The second rut’. As the digital backbone to the hunting and fishing industry, Sportsman Tracker is dedicated to creating great hunting experiences for sportsmen across the country. WHERE THE DEER ARE. At least for some part of the season. There’s no hunting pressure to alter it. Having been fortunate to hunt around the world for a living, I’m convinced that consistently putting a tag on a mature black-tailed buck is one of the most challenging hunts there is. There are many ways that might help you put an end to that mid-season lull, once and for all. Here is a guide on tracking in the woods. Concentrate all your efforts towards the first and the last few minutes of the day. And death. The biggest bucks are the last to leave. You may not rack up record-breaking trophies using this method. Naturally, the deer prefer to sit out the warmest hours of the day in the shade, moving around only in the late evening or night. Guaranteed tags! During extremely hot days, blacktail bucks will often retreat back into the woods to bed down before sunup. CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. Barometric Pressure: Experts say the best hunting times for deer is when the barometer reads between 30.00 – 30.40. The large bachelor groups of bucks are starting to break up to establish dominance as they approach the rut. Many have been shot at multiple times and survived. Sometimes, peak conditions for deer movement and our allotted hunting time don’t coincide. How then does a rookie hunter fill their tag without numbing their butts all day? Stick to a distance and glass the travel routes. There’s a reason why those hours are called the ‘magic hours’. Reserve the all-day sits for the Rut. Try and detect the direction that they come from: Most new hunters jump in glee at the sight of the first buck in the trail camera, completely ignoring vital clues that the pictures can provide. In southern states like Mississippi, it can extend all the way into January. Location: Black-tailed deer prefer the thick brush and woodland forests of the Pacific Coast from central California to Alaska. But without making it sound like a sermon straight out of the national geographic, this is what it all boils down to. While blacktail inhabit many different habitats in Western Washington the industrial logging areas and the clear cuts they produce offer the best chance to find one of these illusive deer. They will feed, drink water and head to a bedding site close by which makes mornings a great time to hunt. But they get undone by the hunting pressure created by their neighbors. That’s because deer behavior patterns are extremely predictable. And the answer is…. Well, sorry to disappoint you. Solunar Calendar: Black-tails are nocturnal in nature, making them most active during the hours between dusk and dawn. Evenings are the best time to hunt, as the deer will return to the feeding site like clockwork each day. The best hunting spots will be reserved months in advance. Bedding sites will be close to food and water, unless they are pressured into moving to remote locations. Some have already transitioned to their fall ranges. Call it the pre-rut blues or the October lull, how do you make the most of the time in the field if you can only hunt mid-season? Call the boss. No matter what the conditions, deer move best early of a morning and late of an afternoon. The fact is that despite the numbers and the sightings being low, mid-season can be as good a time as any to hunt whitetail. Crunchy ground became soft, the grass wet and flattened from recent snow. You have come to the right place. These are deer that have been harassed for close to two months. Many a time, you will find that the does and the fawns are the first ones to leave the fields when they sense the machines. Even better if you are close to an agricultural area with abundant crops. Is there a specific hour on the clock when deer magically turn active offering every hunter in your team a dream broadside shot? But it is entirely necessary that being a hunter you should be aware of the best time of day to hunt whitetail deer. By the way, the days are considerably longer during early season which makes it possible for you to put in more hours. Cold, overcast days are best. Morning hunters won’t be dragged dead to an afternoon hunt. That … However, if you plan on bringing home a trophy black-tailed buck, it is best to start scouting in the months of July and early August. Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. Or during early season? The only reason that they’d probably break the routine is to quench their thirst or to relieve themselves. Many solunar forecasting services choose the new and full moon periods as the best times to hunt, however, during these periods, major feeding times are always in the middle of the day and deer are often nocturnal. Mid-day watering holes. Like an edge of the antler or a curve of the leg. In some states though, you can find hunters in the woods as early as August. I grew up hunting blacktails, and have hunted them in WA, OR and CA, from the coast to the Cascades summit. In most peoples hunting timing calendar, spooking deer for 2-3 weeks during early to mid October, would include major portions of the rut. Sitka Blacktail Deer hunts. The perfect example? But it’s definitely better than numbing your backs in all day sits, spotting nothing. They do move around and feed during the day time too. Sitka Blacktails offer a unique hunting experience and Prince of Wales Island is the best place to get your trophy. These dramatic temperature variations have an effect on blacktail movement. The only thing that you need to do is ask the farmers when they plan to harvest the crop and find a suitable place close to it. Even if you can’t see the deer, you can always find telltale signs of deer activity, like scrapes and rubs on trees. 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