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Bow season fat approaching
MN Hunter
Member Posts: 2,299 ✭✭
Hello, the bow season here in minnesota is coming quicker than I can be ready for. My question is, what have you guys used to keep/attract deer for early season? I'll be hunting by a corn field on 1 side and I believe beans on the other. We only have 50 or so acres of wooded type cover inbetween, if that matters. I'm going on my 16th year of whitetail hunting without getting one yet, so I'm open to any suggestions or ideas (some call it desperation [:D])
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I've hunted deer since I was 12 but only took up bowhunting last year using a handicapped permit and crossbow. The only changes I made was stand position and my first bowhunt was 11 minutes from climbing ladder to arrow strike.
The area you describe would be a gold mine in some pars of the state. In NW WI we plant beans just for food plots in places. Here in SE MN we see what you describe all the time.
Trail cameras & scouting are key! Also find the oaks... especially white oaks. When the acorns hit the ground, you should be in the tree!
Hello, the bow season here in minnesota is coming quicker than I can be ready for. My question is, what have you guys used to keep/attract deer for early season? I'll be hunting by a corn field on 1 side and I believe beans on the other. We only have 50 or so acres of wooded type cover inbetween, if that matters. I'm going on my 16th year of whitetail hunting without getting one yet, so I'm open to any suggestions or ideas (some call it desperation [:D])
I would call that very desperate!
I don't use anything here in IL because we can't. We used to be able to use mineral/salt, but not any more.
I used to use Deer Co-Cain (NOT to be confused with Deer Cain) and the deer would dig a hole the size of a bushel basket in the ground. It didn't "hold" them there, but they would frequent the mineral site enough to harvest a few each year from it.
I have used the powdered Come er Deer back when we could use it. Liked the liquid too. I used a squirt bottle up in the tree & would keep a good scent trail going with it. Deer would eat &/or lick the foliage under me where I sprayed it.
If you have land with cover between planted farm land, nothing more should be needed. Find the travel patterns where deer move into the cropland and setup your stand(s) in a suitable spot. Make sure you're not spooking the deer out of your place while you're getting to the stand. Determine which way the wind is most like to blow so you can locate downwind of the most likely travel path.
I've hunted deer since I was 12 but only took up bowhunting last year using a handicapped permit and crossbow. The only changes I made was stand position and my first bowhunt was 11 minutes from climbing ladder to arrow strike.
The beans are farm planted, the corn is left behind garbage. This is public land, that the public doesn't know about (we have only seen 2 people in 3 years during late muzzleloading)
@dcso. This is west of the cities about 40 miles..a small hick town nobody has ever heard of. We have taken 1 basket buck so far..but that's it. I was just down in Rochester and the surrounding areas for work. I checked out a few leases while down there..I am quite envious. Hopefully the housing market gets better in the area so I can move to the bluffs!
Bam, thank you..good info and certainly something I will entertain. And yes..laugh all you want [;)] people do look at me funny when they see the 3 elk I have got, along with my mounts from Argentina. For some reason the ))?,;:/($@ whitetail has eluded me...
It sounds like you should have everything you need right there. Are you seeing deer that you can't get shots on? If you have deer sightings and deer sign on the ground, then you should be able to find them in 50 acres. How much are you hunting? No offense intended at all, but I hear guys complain sometimes and then I find out they only went out once or twice all season. Bow hunting is time intensive.
My best early season advice is to figure out where they are traveling and be there. Early season is my favorite time because the deer are just doing their natural every day thing. If they aren't walking by you in the early season, then you're in the wrong spot.
Later during the rut, all bets are off. A good spot can be totally cold or a cold spot can all the sudden be filled with deer. Not so early on.
Good luck!