For most areas of North America, the archery opener is a period when mature bucks leave their bachelor groups to begin a three- to four-week period of solitary living. The rut is yet to come. Food, water and sleep are a whitetail bucks main objectives. Mature bucks sleep through the day and feed at night during this period of preparation. This fall literally millions of eager bowhunters will begin their season with high hopes of tagging a white-tailed deer. Yet less than one in 1/10 will even see a mature buck within the first two weeks of the season, much less get a shot at one.

The chances of a monster whitetail buck drifting under your stand on opening day may seem about as good as your odds of Michael Moore wandering under your tree-stand. There are no sure bets when it comes to fooling big whitetails, but there are ways to stack the odds a bit more in your favor.

Scoring early on mature bucks may seem like a near impossibility. Their nocturnal and timid behavior creates a test of skill for the best bowhunter. Yet, if you take a closer look at the nature of the beast, a habitual and sometimes predictable creature emerges.

Hunters who come to terms with the ways of the whitetail, eventually, if not consistently, drop the hammer on an early season monster. If it wasn’t for the rut, most hunters could forget ever shooting a trophy class whitetail deer.

All whitetail bucks sense that the physical and exhausting demands of the rut are coming. A 250-pound buck in early October is likely to weigh less than 180 pounds by the end of the rut. So the survival value of food, water, and rest can not be overstated.

If you identify then locate the active food source of an early season buck, you’re halfway to home base. Grain fields and acorns may seem ideal, but if they are not mature enough for the deer’s liking, other lush vegetation near creek bottoms, ridge lines or meadows may be the forage of first choice. Because the bucks can chose from so many food sources, it’s not a good idea to assume they’re hit ting the local acorn or grain cafe.

Because bucks are reluctant to travel long distances early in the year, they usually favor one area for bedding and feeding. If you have a pretty good idea of where the whitetails are bedding, chances are the main food source can be found somewhere close by.

Sift through the possibilities until you find an area littered with fresh tracks and large droppings.
Once you find the food source, you must correlate the buck’s movements between feeding and bedding habitat. Any daytime travel is likely to be brief and at the final minutes of legal shooting light. You must take a stand where the buck is likeliest to be in the brief moment prior to darkness.

The home range of a buck during early fall is much smaller than at any other time of the year, and as indicated before, a buck’s bedding area is generally close to his food source. Set up near the bedding zone along a route the buck is taking to its food source. Set up as close as possible without alerting the buck.

During a dry fall when water is scarce, bucks are likely to head directly for water before feeding. Deer rarely feed without water in their stomachs, for it’s essential to their digestion. Many hunters fail to recognize the influence that water has on deer behavior. In dry years, those hunters are usually playing a sad tune prior to rut, complaining about the apparent absence of mature bucks.

Where possible, deer simply pause to drink while en route to feeding areas. They may pause at streams, ponds or puddles, anywhere where water accumulates along the route between their bed and forage. A tiny pocket of water can be adequate, but where none exists, the deer must first travel to a water source then head for food. During dry years, hunters who wait in ambush near food are apt to see little, if any, buck activity. This is due to the simple fact that the mature bucks are still watering during the brief period of legal shooting time. By the time such a buck is finished watering and heads for food, shooting light may be long past.

After you find a buck’s water source, look to the nearest bedding area as the likely daytime location. From there, put your plan into action, but take heed. If a buck detects you along its travel route, your done. Find another buck or find his alternate routes.

Mature whitetails rarely ignore the danger in anything out of the ordinary they might smell, see or hear. When setting up along a buck’s travel route, it’s imperative to enter and leave the field quietly, by a route that conceals your presence, with a wind that drifts your scent away from the bedded buck. If the wind is blowing toward the buck’s bedding area, consider waiting for another day to scout or hunt that particular trail. If you are careless in your approach, chances are you won’t even know you’ve spooked the target buck.

Predicting a trophy buck’s next move may be one of bow-hunting’s toughest challenges. Like all animals, they feed, water, and carry on the daily functions of life. Hunters who are able to capitalize on the whitetail’s early fall needs may look forward to an exciting opening day. The ability to understand a deer’s basic needs and predict its likely behavior ultimately dictates the level of success you will experience in the field this fall.

Field-N-Water wishes all bowhunters a successful and rewarding fall deer season.

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