Conditioning Deer
Filed under: Ask Grant, Hunting Tactics
Most of our main food plots have large tower blinds overlooking or directly in the plots. Needless to say, these stands are the main stands for the majority of the hunters. With that being said, they generally do not get hunted outside of the weekends. When exiting the stands, someone either drives through the field to pick up the hunter or the hunter gets out of the stand and deer scatter. If this only takes place on the weekends, does this still dramatically affect how the deer use these fields? Our fields are on strip pits and our main road system runs through every field. Based on the terrain, we don’t have any other choice. What are some suggestions when faced with this dilemma? Mark
Deer, especially mature bucks, readily adapt to avoiding threats such as the presence of hunters. I suspect the mature bucks in your area will simply adapt to using the plots at night. Some bucks may adapt to using the plots during daylight on weekdays. If that’s the case, such a pattern would be easy to detect by using a trail camera with a time lapse feature.
I would strongly suggest hunters are dropped off and picked up at the blinds by a vehicle. I would also suggest that fields are not hunted if the wind direction is not favorable for hunting that location. Once deer pattern hunters, the odds of harvesting a mature buck in that area are substantially decreased.
Some hunters at your property can capitalize on mature bucks patterning the tower stand hunters. I would look for staging areas or other features where the majority of hunters don’t travel on the property. In other words, use the knowledge that mature bucks are patterning the majority of hunters on your property to pattern the mature bucks. It’s the old surprise attack strategy.
Growing Deer together,
Grant
