Contributors to this thread:
What are your favorite tactics for the first two weeks of the season?
The first two weeks are probably my favorite time to bowhunt. In the mornings I like place myself in areas where I know the deer will be heading for some shade and a cool breeze. I.e. A valley or a west facing slope. Preferably with plenty of oaks. I don't worry too much about getting close to their beds in the mornings and I really try and stay away from the bean fields. Ido t want to run them off of those fields by walking in in the morning.
I usually only sit until about 8:30. Then, if the wind is right I still hunt a couple tree lines along the cornfields using the corn as my back cover and the space between the corn and the woods to move quietly. I keep the sun over the field shining into the woods.
In the evenings, for me, it's beans and water. I usually head out about 2pm and take a nap! Wake up at 3:30. No matter what, those first two weeks I'll be on the edge of a bean field with water within bow range during my evening hunts.
What am I doing right? What am I doing wrong and what can I do differently that may improve my odds?
Listen for bugles, call sparingly with cow calls and locator bugles, hunt active wallows, maybe do some glassing...
That reminds me Mike, what time are you picking me up in Sept?
I hunt my 80 acre food plot....alfalfa!
Public land adjacent to alfalfa fields in evenings. Put a couple doe in the freezer before most realize it's hunting season. Alfalfa is usually best draw for that last bit of September. These same little public access parcels are useless by second week of Oct when the general hunting population starts to scout them
I hunt the most secluded areas of the food plots or ag fields. I only hunt evenings early and mornings during the rut.
Minnows, then I switch to worms, then to shadraps.
The acorns don't surprise me at all. The alfalfa though is something I haven't thought of. I've just always figured green means go with beans and completely dismissed the other fields. (Aside from them bedding in the woods next to a corn field, which I think is more for escape than anything else).
I don't hunt until the rut. What a waste of time. ;)
Some of you are missing out on great sleeping in the tree time and huge mosquito bites! As well as lazy unhunted deer. I almost feel bad for you guys.
I'm with you CD. But then again I like less pressure and uncrowded woods. Everyone just forget early season. Complete waste; )
Woods brings up bachelor groups. Do these groups usually form during late season, say in January and stick together? Or later in the year?
Woodsdweller brings up a good point. From what I've seen, it's been one mature buck tagging along with one or two young bucks. They lead the way and he follows. I've not yet seen two fully mature bucks hanging together.
Woods, do you find that your bachelor groups are pretty predictable? I've noticed that the bucks by themselves are more predictable, keep a smaller core area and regular schedule. The groups seem to travel further and come out earlier before dark. I'm thinking it's because they feel there is safety in numbers.
My family loves and eats mostly Venison when I have a good year. We will consume 3 deer at the most a year. That early season lets me get the meat hunt out of the way and lets me see what is going on in the spots I hunt. It is a known fact also that the first couple of weeks of the hunt is one of the top times to get that trophy animal. But, to me, they do not look as nice mounted as they do when in full rut. I for one look forward to setting in an oak grove up in a tree with my recurve in my hand, hunting the whole season.
In all my years of late summer shining, glassing green fields, and trail cam inventory. It's quite uncommon to see mature bucks with younger bucks. They match up with their age class. Two years ago my friend had 2 young bucks and a 4 year old 11 pointer running together all summer long. He set up over the apple orchard on opening day. 2 hours before daylight these two came out with the big 11 right behind. The rest is history. I say it's uncommon because you are who you hang out with. Mature bucks are a different animal compared to the immature deer. Match that together and the bigger one makes the mistakes the young ones do. He developes those bad habits again, that he had learned not to do years before.
I hunt a small farm that holds bucks all summer long and into early fall. Minus last year because of a boss doe. Never mind that though. One year I had a year old 3 point living with 4 doe's. Then there were 2/2.5 years olds that were always together. The next one was a 4 year old 15 pointer that roamed alone and I ended up shooting him late September. Not one time did I see any of these bucks bed together. I knew if I saw the 3 pointer come out in a certain part of the field I knew the prime bedding was occupied by the older bucks. I passed the 10 and 7 pointer multiple times over the 2 weeks. And it happened the same way every time.
The night I shot the 4 year old. I noticed the tracks of the two 2.5 year olds had hit the field further down from the prime bedding. So I knew that the buck I was after had to of been in there and he was. I learned a lot about buck behavior that year and it answered a lot of my questions I had years prior.
I don't think bachelor groups are easier to pattern over lone deer. Early season is predictable because of food. As long as you don't pressure them they are as predictable as they were when you were watching them in the summer. Once the beans turn yellow, it's just about the time acorns start to drop and if they do. It's almost perfect timing for the deer. A lot of guys go crazy once the deer transition into their fall patterns and the bucks break apart. They lose the bucks and they only see the does. I've learned they are living right under our nose. They don't move much. They are up in there feet at their usual time. But they rarely break past their staging area. You must get in early and get in quiet and set up on that line. That way your able to shoot into it.
I know we all have our different styles and our own theories to the chess match. I'm happy it's like that. But to kill a big buck while sitting tight. There's really only one way. Especially once the pressure kicks into gear.
Noc, I understand the whole "birds of a feather" thing. I haven't seen that myself though. My two best examples are about 4 yrs ago I had a big mature 8 that followed a forky around. They would come out along a creek about an hour before dark. The fork was always in the lead and clearly felt confident and comfortable. The big 8 stayed back by about 30 yds. He was much more wary of his surroundings. I finally got a stand in the right tree on the last day of the hunt. Everything went like clockwork except for the fact that the big one held up just on the wrong side of my tree until after dark. The forky was out eating at 15 yds for about 20 of legal light. The eight stayed almost directly under my tree until it was too late to shoot him. I was in a pine so even though he was right there I had no shot.
In the second scenario, there was a group of three bucks that hung together. A small six, a basket 8 that was still in velvet and a big 9. He looked very old. They would bed in a small island of woods that was in the middle of a secluded field. Again, about an hour before dark, the first two would come out and eat their way toward me. The old guy stayed back until they had been out eating for a little while. He'd then follow them. We had the perfect set up one evening and I had a first time hunter with me, he was going to be the shooter. The first two passed and as the old guy neared his shooting lane I told him to draw. Halfway through his draw he touch off the release and sent the arrow skipping across the ground ten yds in front of us and damn near right at the feet of the old guy. That was the end of that.
I'm sure you're right in a lot of those situations. In my personal experiences however, I've yet to see two mature bucks hanging together.
Your observations and others don't lie crusader. I mean I've seen it quite a bit too. It's more rare seeing yearlings matched with older deer. A lot of times 1.5 year old bucks too. Most of the time i see it the way I explained above. Take it for a grain of salt. Good luck to you this upcoming season.