Saturday, November 25, 2006
Unseasonable Weather Hurts Deer Hunting
So maybe there is something to all this global warming business. It seems as if our weather patterns are changing, and if our recent weather is any example, global scientists may be right.
This has been a most unusual late fall. We normally have snow on the ground by now, and although we’ve had some and it has melted, the weather has been holding in the 40s and 50s. East winds are common, and with the warm weather and minor disturbance of firearm season pressure, the deer are still reluctant to move.
A look at the weather forecast offers little encouragement for deer travel to change much, at least through mid- to late-week. The coldest temperatures through next Thursday are supposed to appear on Thursday with evening temperatures dropping to the high 20s.
That is hardly cold weather, and there is nothing about 28-degree temps that will make deer move. We can hope and wish for lower daytime temperatures, but there isn’t any in the forecast
A high of 20 degrees during the day and colder than that at night, and several inches of snow, would help. It doesn’t look as if anything approaching cold and snowy conditions will appear until sometime in mid-December, if then.
The weather this next week is supposed to be rainy. That won’t make deer move, and the only thing it does do is muddy up my roads. Now, having griped about the weather as everyone else does, the opportunity to keep deer hunting is still available.
Most evenings the deer fail to move until right at the end of shooting time or after dark, but on the rare occasion, some animals do move during daylight hours. It’s not something anyone can build a hunting trip around, but that is the primary reason those who can do so, hunt every night.
One thing hunters can do, and it requires quite a bit of work, is to develop hunting sites in several different locations that can be easily accessed and hunted when the wind is right for that stand. I know a few people who have two stands set up in key locations.
One will work if the prevailing wind is right, and the other stand will work best when the breeze blows from the south or east. A friend of mine has such a set-up, and his key ace-in-the-hole tree stand is good only on a south, southeast or southwest wind.
It’s close (within 100 yards) of a house and paved road, and on a south, southeast or southwest wind, he can be in the stand in two minutes. He climbs up, sits down and gets ready. The deer always head north, and cross the road to feed. A south or southwest wind puts those animals right in his lap providing he sits still and doesn’t move.
The deer, if they catch his scent, never do so until they are well past him and slipping past the house. Any human odor is apparently associated with the house, and it doesn’t affect deer travel.
Establishing such hunting locations is never easy, but natural barriers, such as roads and houses or fences, can be used to your advantage. Deer often circle, and may try to pick up your scent from downwind, but there are times when one of these natural objects can work to your advantage.
I have a high fence that surrounds my ranch, and one of my coops on the east side of the property is within 20 yards of the fence. It’s a great spot to sit on a west wind because the deer seldom go behind the coop because it is too close to the fence. Another high coop works in much the same way when the wind is from the south. The deer come from the south, move into the open to the north, but seldom walk behind the coop.
It should be stated that movement and noise cannot not be made because deer are a bit spooky under such conditions. Think about it now, and if you can use any such barrier (lakes and rivers serve the same purpose) plan now to build one or two in a new spot.
Recognize that it can only be used at certain times. Planning ahead for next years deer season, and such variable wind conditions, can be a smart move.—The Whitetail Wizard