Hunting Limited Resources
Filed under: Ask Grant, Hunting Tactics
I hunt in a no baiting area of the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. We have some tough winters and the population appears to be generally low with us seeing deer about once in every four hunts. The only concentrated food source is an oak ridge that runs along the road through the park. That ridge is littered with sign, prints, rubs the size of your thigh, scrapes as big as cars, etc. There appears to be more sign than appropriate for the number of deer around. Cedar and pine thickets are nearby, but most of the area is dogwood and thick. I’m curious what you would focus on when the deer are all spread out, seemingly constantly on the move and difficult to pattern. Jeremy
Jeremy,
I grew up bow hunting in the Ozark Mountains. The habitat quality was very poor and deer populations were very low. I would go weeks without seeing a deer and years without a shot opportunity. I learned that the only way to see fresh deer sign and deer on a regular basis was to hunt near necessary resources that were limited in distribution. This meant hunting ponds during periods of drought, active scrapes (these stands were usually only good for a hunt or two), acorns when the crop was sparse and I could locate a white oak tree that produced acorns, etc.
As I’ve matured as a hunter and am able to hunt areas with much higher deer populations, I still prefer to hunt resources that deer need that are limited in distribution. As a manager, I develop small ponds, food plots, areas of cover, etc., to create hunting locations that may provide the limited resource depending on the year or time of year. For example, currently is it extremely dry at The Proving Grounds. If it doesn’t rain a bunch before season begins, the small ponds I’ve created will be great hunting locations. During periods of normal or excessive precipitation, there are enough springs, puddles, etc., that deer don’t visit the ponds on a regular basis.
Hunting limited resources is a very successful technique!
Growing Deer together,
