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John's Journal... Entry 219, Day 4

FIVE MOST CRITICAL INGREDIENTS TO BAGGING A DEER WITH A BOW

Mark Drury

Editor's Note: Almost every bowhunter I know considers one of these five ingredients-the wind, the availability of food, the rut, the weather and hunting pressure-as the most-critical element of successful bow hunting. However, you really must take into account all five factors if you plan to back a buck with your bow. Here, five of the nation's most successful bowhunters pick the ingredient they consider most important to their success and explain the reasons for their selection. Mark Dury of Columbia, Missouri, the president of Drury Outdoor Productions and the creator of M.A.D. Game Calls, hunts each year in five to 10-different states attempting to take trophy whitetails with his bow for his company's videos.

I believe weather influences deer movement more that any other factor. Where I hunt most of the year in the Midwest like Missouri, Illinois and Kansas, deer move more often because of weather patterns than for any other reason. Many bowhunters believe the peak of the rut provides the best time to take a trophy whitetail. However, if you hunt in the peak of the rut and have really bad weather, you still won't take a mature whitetail. But if you hunt before or after the peak of the rut during favorable weather patterns, you can bag the buck of your dreams. I like to hunt on days when a high-pressure system begins to move into my hunting area and when temperatures reach lows in the 20- to 30-degree range and highs in the 40- to 50-degree range.

Anytime you can hunt just ahead of a cold front coming in after a warming trend, you'll consistently see and take more older-age-class bucks. One year, the area I was hunting in Illinois had a record warm front during bow season with temperatures in the 70s. When the first cold front moved in behind the record warm front, the deer experienced a shortage of food, the deer had to move a lot to stay warm and find food. Weather conditions affect all deer equally-both bucks and does. Therefore, when you hunt a cold front, you'll not only see more older-age-class bucks moving, but you'll also spot more deer of every age class moving.

You'll find the two best times to take a buck with your bow occur just before a cold front moves in and a day or two after the cold front moves out, regardless of whether you hunt in the prerut, the rut or the post-rut. By timing your hunting days according to weather patterns, you drastically can increase your odds for success, especially on trophy bucks. Try to eliminate the worst days of hunting when the odds are against you. Then you'll spend more time in the woods when your chances are better for success. Hot weather is the worst weather condition to hunt for a buck. Deer react to weather conditions much like humans do. During hot weather, our bodies heat up quickly, so we don't feel like moving around much and look for shady, cool places to rest. Deer feel the same way, and they don't move around often during hot weather.

But, imagine how you would feel if you stood outside during cold weather without any warm clothes. You would have to move around a lot to stay warm and alert. Deer follow the same pattern. I think deer feel the same way humans do under low-pressure fronts. When a low-pressure system moves in on cloudy, overcast, muggy and dreary days, you usually don't want to go outside and move around much. But when a high-pressure system comes in with clear skies, plenty of sun and a light breeze, you want to go outside and do something. Once again, I believe deer feel better and walk around more on days when a high-pressure front has moved into an area than on days when a low-pressure front is in the region. I'm convinced that deer will move just as much on extremely-cold days as they do on moderately cold days. However, when you hunt on very cold days, with sub-zero temperatures, you won't feel like standing in your tree stand comfortably for an extended period. But, I believe deer will move regardless of how cold the weather gets.

To learn more about master deer hunters, click here for John Phillip's deer-hunting books.

TOMORROW: HANK HEARN

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about FIVE MOST CRITICAL INGREDIENTS TO BAGGING A DEER WITH A BOW ...

Day 1 - Brad Harris
Day 2 - Ray McIntyre
Day 3 - Will Primos
Day 4 - Mark Drury
Day 5 - Hank Hearn


John's Journal