The Oaks Have It, The Whitetails Love It..., in Field Journals

After watching, waiting, and scouting all summer long, the season is finally upon us. Tomorrow is opening day, do you know where you going to be watching the sun come up? I know where I’ll be. There is a sweet little spot where a thick bedding area opens up to large oak flat. The beauty of this spot is the fact that it is on the tip of a peninsula, surrounded by marsh and thick cover. The deer ease in out of the bedding areas and feed most of the morning on the sweet acorns from the numerous white and black oaks.

Why have I chosen this spot over the thirty other places I like to hunt? The answer is simple, scouting. I’ve been paying close attention to the times and locations I see deer in the field and when they show up on my trail cameras. We keep a corn pile out in a safe zone on our property with a trail camera set up on it. This way we can take a “deer inventory” of the farm. I’ve noticed the bucks have decreased their activity over the corn, and wondered why. It didn’t take long to figure out they are feasting on the bumper crop of acorns. High protein and sweet taste will always draw the bucks as they try to bulk up for the coming mating season.
There are two key factors for hunting this location: wind and approach. A perfect wind will blow my scent out to the open water; a moderate wind will blow away from the bedding area to the feeding area. The deer will have to pass by me before they can smell me. The approach will be a sneaky slow walk through a gap in the cover. It’s not uncommon to jump deer on the way to this stand, but they normally blow out away from the bedding areas and head to the fields, only to come back a few hours later.
Another few thoughts/tips that have made me choose this area, the moon and weather. Tomorrow will be a perfect morning hunt, with the moon in transit (directly overhead) at 7:48 am. This is the time when the deer typically feed more. Also, we’ve had rain all day today that is supposed to continue through the night. The deer will typically feed less and wait until the rain stops. According to last night’s trail pictures they fed heavily up until the rain, and then they stopped coming. The rain is supposed to stop early Friday morning before sunrise. So all in all it should be a magical morning to be in the woods. Good luck everyone, I hope you’ve put a lot of thought and planning into your hunt!