I am often asked a simple question from hunters of all ages and skill, “What is your best hunting advice?”
“Did you see anything this afternoon?” questioned a camo-shirted hunter, while I was filling my pickup with diesel. Before I could respond he added. “I didn’t go out. It was just too hot! Deer probably weren’t moving anyway. It’s supposed to be cold this time of the year, or, at least cool. I hate hot temperatures during the hunting season. When it gets hot I would rather stay in camp and watch football.”
“Should have gone! I saw seven bucks including a monstrous ten-point. It may be hot for this time of the year, but I guess at least some of the deer like it that way.” I then added, “Supposed to go to raining later this week. Always welcome rain!”
Spying opportunities.
“Not me! Deer don’t move in the rain, so I probably won’t go out. Never have seen deer move during the rain.” I smiled at his comment as I recalled one of the handsomest bucks I have ever taken, shot on the Sandstone Mountain Ranch near Llano, Texas during a pouring rain storm! Maybe the primary reason he had not seen deer move during the rain was, as he stated, he had never hunted while it was raining.
I got tickled by the fair-weather hunter’s comments. Apparently he looked for excuses not to go hunting and why he had not been successful in taking a deer. Something told me too, his mind was made up and he was not about to change it.
No excuses.
As a wildlife biologist/manager, hunter, writer and television show host, over the years I have been in more than a fair share of hunting camps. I have encountered numerous, not sure I would truly call them hunters, such as the person just mentioned, who looked for excuses not to go hunting. “It’s too cold!” “It’s too hot!” “It’s snowing!” “It’s raining!”, “Too many acorns!”, “The moon is wrong!” “Wind is blowing too hard and from the wrong direction!”, “It’s the middle of the day, the deer don’t move but early and late!” The list goes on and on! Does stating such profound statements make them true? Me thinks not!
I get to hunt a lot for procuring footage for tv and generating content for the likes of Sporting Classics (Check out our “Campfires with Larry Weishuhn and Luke Clayton” podcast) and others. Even though I do a great number of hunts each year, I NEVER get to hunt as much as I really want to.
One of the things I have noticed in visiting many hunting camps, especially for deer, most hunters hunt early in the morning and late in the afternoon. During mid-day they are back in camp watching tv, eating, visiting and even sleeping. Me? I like hunting all day long, regardless of the weather, moon phase, status of the rut or a host of other “factors.”
I love the fact most hunters do not hunt during mid-day. When they’re resting during this period, it gives me access to pretty well all the property hunted. And too, I will let you in on a little secret: I have taken my best antlered mature bucks between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm, as mentioned when most hunters are back in camp.
I particularly like hunting all day when there is a full moon or no moon at night. But regardless of the moon phase or time of the year, I like hunting deer all day long. Most deer may move early and late, but that hugely racked buck just could like moving around during the middle part of the day.
Does mid-day movement by mature bucks naturally occur, or, something we have taught the deer because that is when most hunters are back in camp? Why they move mid-day, especially mature bucks, to me is immaterial! What is important is that some older bucks do indeed move during the noon hour.
While hunting in Kansas with Stan Christiansen, an old friend and outfitter a few years ago, I shot a near Boone and Crockett record book buck at 11:30 am. I was seated next to a barbed wire fence overlooking a long narrow food plot. The buck emerged out of the dense creek bottom we were watching. He walked along the edge of the field, weaving in and out of cover. Finally, he stopped and gave me a shot at a bit over 300 yards. I had practiced that shot many times at the FTW Ranch’s SAAM ranges with my Ruger American .270 Win/Hornady American Whitetail combination. The deer went down at the shot. Mid-day hunting had proved successful once again.
On another occasion it was hot even for South Texas’ famed Brush Country. The temperature hovered above the century mark. The mid-December temperature was nearly unbearable, thankfully the wind was blowing, at a steady twenty miles per hour, with gusts to twenty-five. The stout south-wind made the temperatures bearable.
Despite high winds and furnace-like temperatures, I grabbed my ratting horns and headed toward the back part of the property. It was ten o’clock. Two hunters in camp proclaimed I had been out in the sun too long. Another hunter simply proclaimed me an idiot.
Smiling, I headed to the brush. First stop, I set up crosswind from a dense thicket where I could see any deer approaching, regardless of the direction. I had hardly brought the horns together, just started meshing them when the first buck appeared. He looked like a three-year old with about a mid-140’s ten-point rack. At his heels came a second ten-point, this one possibly four years of age and a little bigger.
I kept rattling. During the next ten minutes I “hit the horns together” and rattled in eight bucks. When the action slowed, I moved a quarter mile into the wind and again found a stand near a dense creek bottom thicket. There I rattled up six more bucks, including one I almost shot. He had twelve long typical points, with main beams spread about twenty inches. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I looked at him a bit closer. He could not have been over three years of age. I could only imagine what he might look like in three or so years into the future!
The third stand I only rattled in two young bucks. Fourth set-up, three bucks charged in at the same time. Watching them, I nearly missed seeing a fourth. He came warily, slipping in. He was thick of neck and tarry-hocked. No question he was mature, at least six years of age. Inside spread was w-a-y past his ears. I could see eight points and possibly “trash” around the bases.
Up came my Ruger No. 1, .270 Win. Took him squarely through the shoulders. He went down before I could reload. I could hardly wait to show those in camp. But then after doing some thinking and noticing it was only 1:30…I decided to stay out until dark. If asked when I took him, I decided to tell them at sundown. No reason to spoil a good thing. Kind of liked having the entire property to myself, during the mid-day.
This leads to a question I am often asked, “What is your best hunting advice?”. My reply is always the same, “Go hunt! Don’t look for excuses not to go hunting, simply go hunt!!” To me that’s the best hunting advice there is!
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