The hunting season is right around the corner! This is an exciting time, but it can also lead us into a mad dash to get all the last-minute improvements done before we back out and turn it over to the deer. Be sure to add these items to your list to improve your chances at a successful and enjoyable hunt this year!
Final Deer Corridor Check
Typically, we want to have our deer travel corridors built in the winter or spring before green-up and leave them to become deer highways by fall. However, all it takes is one tree to fall in the wrong spot and suddenly that corridor is blocked, potentially ruining your hunt to come later in the year. While it may not be necessary to check every trail you have made, be sure to inspect those final approaches near your stand locations. Falling limbs also tear down mock scrapes or block waterholes and a few minutes of maintenance can save major disappointment when you show up to your stand in late October.
This work does not come without risk, however. Spooking deer or leaving scent for your target buck to find later can quietly hurt your hunt too. Be sure to have rubber boots, gloves and don’t touch anything unnecessary. Also, make noise – this might seem counterintuitive, but having a chainsaw or ATV idling can be a good way to not jump a buck as you slink in and give him a bad memory of that spot on your property.
Bonus scent tip: time this work to be done just before a rainfall to help wash away scent.
Hunter Access Prep
Having the right access is the first step to any habitat and hunting plan, but if that access isn’t properly prepared, it can spoil a would-be successful hunt in a hurry. When confirming your hunting access routes, be sure they are cleared, sticks and overhanging branches are removed so that there is nothing you must (or are tempted to) touch and leave scent behind.
Certain types of ground cover can also need additional work. If your access is grass or other herbaceous growth, you may want to spray it with ground clear to get it down to dirt for the season. This will eliminate that morning “crunch” of frost and reduce the ability to leave scent behind.
Camera Sets for the Season
Summer scouting and in-season intel are different. Habitat types, food sources and travel patterns change as summer fades to fall. That open bean field edge that delivered those beautiful velvet buck pics will not necessarily help you encounter him on a mock scrape back in the timber later in fall.
Be sure to make those camera moves now (with corridor checks is a great time. This is also the time to ensure you have fresh batteries and SD cards. Don’t forget also to set those soaker-cams – sets designed to sit all season and provide feedback for future years. This is the perfect place for your older SD cams to continue being useful to your hunting goals.
Final Food Plot Booster
Did your summer planting of fall food plots go just as planned with great rain? Or maybe you didn’t have the catch you were hoping for? Either way, take a look at top-dressing your plots with cereal rye just before the season starts and give those nitrogen loving plants the shot they are looking for by adding on some coated urea (46-0-0) just before a good rainfall. This process is quick and easy and can be a real plot-saver.
Another quick improvement is to cut narrow trails with a string trimmer or walk-behind mower that lead deer through your plots to the point where you are able to intercept them from your stand.
Neighbor and Buddy Check-In
Love them or hate them, we all have neighbors that we need to work with to have a successful hunting season. Ideally, your neighbors are as wild about habitat and hunting as you are and you can strive to meet the same goals together. But, if you haven’t been in touch with them since last season, now is a good time to strike up a conversation or share a pic or two of some local bucks. You never know when you might need something from them (like recovering a big buck that jumped the fence) and it is easier to make that connection now than when your season is riding on their willingness to be cooperative later.
This is also a good time to check with others who hunt the same land you do. Maybe they aren’t as serious about hunting but providing them with info that may help everyone’s hunt is worthwhile. This year, we have a nice buck on our land who busted off the right side of his whole rack. If someone put him down by mistake (which is possible if they only see the left!) everyone in camp would be disappointed. Or perhaps there is a recognizable buck that you all can agree needs a pass. Feeding your buddies this info (without being too pushy and taking the fun out of it) can help everyone enjoy future hunts that much more and reduce that bitter taste of disappointment at the end of a blood trail.
Conclusion
No matter what you do or don’t get done before the season starts – be sure to enjoy the fall and the start to the hunting season. There is something different to see in every day, so be present in the tree and take in and enjoy those hunts by yourself or with others!
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