The Right Place at the Right Time

by Greg Enders

Time in the woods is a huge part of being a successful hunter, but many fail to put themselves in the right place at the right time. Here are some experiences that may help increase your chances this fall.

Hunting from your favorite stand early and often from September to November will always decrease your chances. I believe each time you sit in a stand you are educating bucks going in and out. The first and second sits are typically your best opportunities. It rapidly deteriorates after that for a quality buck. Once a mature deer knows he’s being hunted, he vanishes. Worse yet, you spook all the does and ruin the chase phase from the area completely. Many hunters don't spend enough time planning entrance and exit routes to and from their stands. This mistake can affect an entire hunting area, not just your stand location. Many hunters focus on hunting signs, such as rubs and scrapes. Most of this activity is at night or by passing deer during the pre-rut /rut phase, therefore you will not ever see those bucks. The exceptions to this are consistent fresh scrapes around the hot food source or large tracks around the perimeter of major bedding areas.

Many of us also have a tendency to hunt on the fair weather days of late September early October. Over the course of the last five years my buddies and I have scored on three of our personal best bucks on cold, windy and miserable afternoons. Just prior to a major front when the barometer is falling, it seems like big deer let their guard down and move during daylight. Two years ago on November 19th, I called a friend and told him that the deer would be moving early and often. They were forecasting a big cold front with high winds, sleet, and snow possible. As we arrived around 3:00 p.m. we hurried to the tree stands overlooking a four acre food plot. The wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour out of the northwest and the temperature was dropping fast. We were only in our stands about forty minutes when a bruiser jumped the fence, walked briskly parallel to the food plot, hit a scrape and presented a beautiful 15 yard broadside shot. A perfect shot followed by a fifty yard dash and crash into the brush. The first 160" buck ever arrowed on our property fell victim, the hunter being in the right place at the right time! That same night three other bucks trolled by within shooting range, one of which was a 140" we passed on. The following two weeks the weather turned mild and none of these bucks were seen in the area, despite the rut. Hunt the beginning of fronts or that first calm sunny morning after a couple of miserable days and your odds should definitely increase.

Last year we were scouting our property on November 1st and noticed some big tracks crossing the gravel road after a rain storm. We went in and hung a stand just fifty yards off the road. On the morning of November 3rd it was calm with blue skies and temps in the mid twenties. We climbed in to the stand just off the gravel and by 7:40 AM a doe and two fawns crossed the road and wandered right under my feet. Around 8:15 a spike buck ran across the road only to be followed by a tall, heavy nine point. As luck would have it those tracks on the road allowed me to have a great season.

There are many things a hunter can do to increase the chances of having a successful hunt. Remember to spend less time hunting the same stand, hunt before and after the cold fronts, and be more observant of your hunting property to increase your chances for success.