The middle of October can mean a lot of things for hunters throughout the whitetail’s range. For the GrowingDeer.tv Team it usually means we start adjusting our hunting strategies. Along with testosterone levels rising, deer behavior and their preferred food sources are changing. With these changes it’s important that we adjust our approach to coincide with deer movement.

Swoops (pictured above) is a mature 9 point that Grant and I encountered opening day in a food plot. He is showing up on Reconyx trail camera images in an area dominated by oaks.

When season opens up in the middle of September we focus on food to cover setups. We’re usually hunting between bedding areas and an Eagle Seeds Broadside plot or a White Oak tree that’s one of the first to drop acorns in the area. Once October starts, more and more acorns have fallen and the deer spend more time in the timber. The disadvantage for us is nearly 80% of The Proving Grounds consists of timber and a large portion is oaks. This means acorns can be found in most places on the property. Instead of trying to find one tree the deer are utilizing, we must change our approach and start hunting bottlenecks and travel corridors. Finding a single tree that deer are using is almost impossible. Finding the bottleneck deer are using to get to those trees is something we can do!

Changing food sources during October is also something hunters in crop regions can relate to. A large portion of soybeans and corn will be removed during the fall causing drastic changes in deer movement. Successful hunters have to adjust their hunting strategies to correlate with the harvesting of crops.

Deer hunting strategies are ever changing throughout the fall. Don’t get caught using the same strategy throughout the season! It’s time to start focusing on hunting travel corridors and bottlenecks.

Daydreaming of whitetails,

Adam