Monday, September 6, 2010

Early Season Buck Hunting Tips


Most of you guys who are always looking for buck hunting tips are good hunters. You practice shooting your bows and make sure you have everything in tune before the season. However, when shooting your bow well before the season starts, you're building up all this adrenalin and when opening day of bow season comes, you want to hunt hard like my neighbors. You're going out every morning, every evening, taking your showers and doing your scent control, getting up early and going to your best stands. If you happen to see a mature buck on opening day, you get pumped! You don’t even want to go to sleep that night. All you can think about is getting out there and having that buck walk within shooting range. You want to get to him before someone else gets a crack at him because after all, you want to be the first guy among your buddies this year to get a nice buck.  Buck Hunting Tips

Buck Hunting Tip #1

When you hunt day after day after day, and you’re not seeing your buck, you start second guessing your stand location, you start guessing your theories, and your set-ups. Even though they were okay, you were just making your move too early on a big buck. It's still hot out and mature bucks do not move when it's hot, especially when it’s hunting season. You can’t force the issue. Pace yourself.

Buck Hunting Tip #2

You only have 1 or 2 days at the beginning of bow season to shoot a mature buck while he is still in his summer pattern. After that, they go very nocturnal. This is called the October lull. There’s nothing you can do about it. If you really need to enjoy the outdoors this time of year, you’re better off going fishing.

Buck Hunting Tip #3

Here’s what I do during the October lull. I spend as much time at home with the family as I can.
The only bowhunting I do is with my daughter in one of our doe harvest food plots on the weekend. Then when Halloween comes, I can be in my treesaddle almost everyday during the first 2 weeks of November which is the best time of the season to shoot a mature buck.

Don’t be the guy who over-hunts through the month of October. You’ll burn out your stands, burn out your wife and family, and just when the hunting gets good with the pre-rut, around halloween, your wife turns to you and says, “You’ve been out hunting everyday for the last 30 days. It’s about time you stayed home and spend some time with the family.” This can lead to you having to go shopping or finishing the honey-do list while your buddies are out seeing and shooting big bucks during the pre-rut.

The best buck hunting tips for shooting big bucks every year is all about off-season preparation, and knowing when and where to pick your spots during the season. Other than luck, it takes understanding whitetail behavior, developing a plan, and hunting with confidence. Buck Hunting Tips