Hunting Pressure: Key to Big Bucks
How Hunters Can Reduce Hunting Pressure and Increase Deer Sightings
Editor’s Note: A deer hunter who consistently takes big bucks has to know those trophy bucks’ thoughts and determine what the buck will do before he does it. White-tailed deer more than 2-1/2-years old have gone to school on deer hunters. They’ve studied the hunters’ habits and schedules and have become masters of hunter evasion. “We had a group of wildlife biologists and deer hunters hunting a certain piece of property for several years and studying the deer there,” Dr. Grant Woods of Reedsville, Missouri, one of the nation’s top deer researchers, says. Woods’ team of wildlife biologists and deer hunters had set up hunting areas in grids to determine who hunted where over several years. “We learned that deer set up travel corridors to avoid places where the team was hunting. These deer managed to outsmart these trained wildlife biologists and some of the best deer hunters anywhere.” The older the buck, the less likely that you’ll locate him where you expect to see him, if that’s where all other hunters hunt. A hunter needs to understand the effects of hunting pressure and learn where a buck retreats when he experiences that hunting pressure.
You can reduce hunting pressure by decreasing the number of hunters who hunt any given piece of property or the number of times each hunter goes onto that land. However, our experts have some creative alternatives to reduce hunter pressure on the land you hunt. Bob Foulkrod of Troy, Pennsylvania, a nationally-known bowhunter who’s been featured on many TV shows and videos, suggests that, “I talk to the landowner with posted property and convince him I’m not the type of hunting slob who has caused him to put up the No Trespassing signs. Then I may gain permission to hunt posted property no one else can hunt and develop a deer-hunting hot spot by simply being courteous to the landowner, and you can too.”
Dr. Causey recommends you may want to specify the times of day the members of your club hunt to help reduce hunter pressure. “If for instance, your hunting club imposes a rule that all hunters must be in the woods before daylight, not leave the woods until 10:00 am, must be out of the woods by 10:30 am, can’t reenter the woods until 2:00 pm and then must wait to leave the woods after dark, the club drastically will decrease hunter movement in the woods and hunter encounters with deer. I believe reducing the amount of vehicular and hunter activity during specific times can reduce the amount of pressure the deer feels.”
Tomorrow: More on How Hunters Can Reduce Hunting Pressure and Increase Deer Sightings |