Hunting whitetails in the early season can be challenging. Weather can be fickle, and deer movement often feels like all or nothing. Even so, early-season hunts can be rewarding, but you will have to work for it. I’ve been fortunate to tag a few early-season bucks over the years, and those hunts shared the same few factors that led to success.
If you are going to kill an early-season buck, you have to hunt him like an early-season buck. Travel corridors and midday movement are basically nonexistent at this point. Deer don’t move very far, and very few things will entice mature bucks to move in daylight. The challenge is getting everything to line up perfectly for your hunt. To do this, you have to cut through the noise and figure out where to focus.
Here are five factors that I pay attention to that help me find early-season success:
Good Stand Access
I don’t care what time of year it is or what part of the season you are hunting; to find consistent deer-hunting success, you have to practice good stand access. Laziness and ignorance are the two biggest killers of good access. You have to pay attention to your prevailing wind to prevent deer from smelling you. You need to utilize visual cover to keep deer from seeing you. And lastly, you need to move quietly. It all comes down to avoiding a buck’s nose, eyes, and ears. If you don’t, your hunt may be over before it even begins.
Current Food Sources
Deer are feeding heavily in the early season, and no matter where you hunt, food is going to be vital to your success. If you are hunting private land, food may come in the form of bait stations or planted food plots. If you are hunting on public land, acorns and natural browse will be your best bet. How do you know what food sources deer in the area are utilizing? Well, that just comes down to scouting. Get out there and figure it out. Don’t just go with an assumption.
Bedding Areas Close to Food Sources
Just as hunting appropriate food sources is vital to success, so is targeting the appropriate bedding areas. No two bedding areas are created equal. In the early season, the bedding areas to focus on are the ones that are adjacent to food sources. If you want to catch a buck moving during daylight hours, this is the only way to accomplish that. If the main bedding area is situated far from food, you will have to close the distance. Mature bucks won’t leave until right at dusk. You can’t afford to wait for him to walk 500 yards to your stand. He won’t make it in time.
Cool Fronts
An early-season cold front is better than a Christmas present in my opinion. Something about a 60 degree day when it’s consistently been in the 80’s really gets the deer moving. The last two early-season bucks that I’ve killed were during cold fronts. If you are limited on how much you can hunt, I would most definitely wait for a cold front.
Well-Planned Morning Hunts as Well as Afternoon Hunts
Conventional wisdom has never condoned morning hunts in the early season. Have you ever heard that you can’t hunt mornings in October? It’s a myth. I’ve killed several bucks on public land in early October on morning hunts. It can be done, but it has to be a well-planned hunt. The previously mentioned factors will come into play. Good access into an area where you may be able to catch a buck returning to bedding cover after feeding all night can be dynamite. By all means don’t forget about afternoon hunts, but don’t be scared to plan a few early-season morning hunts.
I’m excited to get into the woods this season and will definitely be employing these factors on my early-season hunts. The main takeaway here is the importance of attention to detail. You can’t count on consistent success from random hunts. You need a system. Practice good access, focus on appropriate deer needs, and capitalize on good weather, and you can easily be sitting behind an early-season buck this year.