First Evening Hunt!

It is Sept 29th the third weekend of the Minnesota Archery season and my first opportunity to get into the woods for an evening hunt. The temperatures are swing from the high 30s to the high 50s and the wind is blowing aggressively from the Northwest. In this video the deer are very tentative and cautious for a couple of reasons; the wind makes it very difficult for them to hear and my scent is traveling in their direction. However, there were no shortage of bucks as I had 6 different bucks come through, all but one within 30 yards.

How Can You Judge Distance?

There are two methods I use for helping me keep my bearings on distance when in the deer stand; one is for the open field and the other for the woods. Open field, to help me calculate distance in an open field I will place 7 dead sticks (standing straight up) every ten yards (starting at 20 yards) at 90 degrees (3 sticks) and +/1 45 degrees (2 sticks each). This will give you a wide range and a pretty accurate idea of your shooting range in front of you. You can even place scent on the sticks at 25 yards to help attract the deer. When shooting into wooded areas I will use the same pattern as I use for the field, but instead of sticks I will use white spray paint. Make a large mark that is easy to see approximately waist height.

Where Are The shooters?

This is a good question, but the answer is simple if you understand Whitetail Deer. To start with, as soon as the bucks start to rub off their velvet they change their patterns, so you may need to move your cameras to find where they are during the day. Try the corn field edges especially where you have acorns dropping into the corn or beans. To find the big bucks focus on the food source and areas of the most dense cover such as; swamps, thickets, standing corn…

The Evening Pictures & Video!