When to hunt if not September..

[LiftAndShoot]

Hey guys -

So, opening day likely wont be huntable for me this year. The wife's due date for our little girl is the 6th of September. I'll be off work for 2 weeks around then and helping out as much as I can (while apparently sleeping exactly zero hours). The beginning of October is likely off the table for me. I will still be able to get down there and bait up, change cameras, and maybe cut a little, but the early season doesn't look promising for venison in the freezer. That said, the entire season isn't a wash.

Here's my question; if you were going to face down a scenario of, 'no early season hunting, but your location wont get any pressure,' when would you target your spots and hunt hard, assuming you may have a month or so? I'm eyeballing mid-december into the new year, but I say that based only on my experience coming from FL. Don't know that it's applicable out here...

-LaS.

[Laner7]

My favorite time of hunting is between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's when the rut takes place for us around where I am and weather is starting to get colder. That would be the month I'd take off, if I where you.

[LiftAndShoot]

I think I can probably manage that. I think I'm going to get one good stretch this year. Maybe some after the new year into Feb (if the season is open that long?). If I keep cutting and making land improvements into mid/late September, is that a bad call?

[Razrbk89]

If I knew the deer were totally unpressured in an area that I was hunting, I'd feel most confident in late January (if I was strictly bow hunting). Early season is probably slightly more predicable than late winter as far as figuring out where a buck is using, but food really concentrates them in winter time in my area. A good food plot or wheat field corner on one of those snowy cold fronts in late January is a great place to be up here!

[Big pig]

Late October And early November.
Before the bucks get crazy.
That is true on all the places I hunt.

[baldybarton]

I'm in the same boat. My wife is due August 20th. I will probably try to focus on mid November.


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[flinger]

A lot depends on what part of Texas and what county your in. Usually around Burnet county the best is during bow season, the next bet would be the end of bow season to the first week off rifle season.

[Laner7]

I think I can probably manage that. I think I'm going to get one good stretch this year. Maybe some after the new year into Feb (if the season is open that long?). If I keep cutting and making land improvements into mid/late September, is that a bad call?

I don't think its a bad idea. A lot of people don't want to pressure deer (which I agree with) but im on our property pretty much 24/7 working or riding around/ hunting and we have oil field on our property driving around and we still see deer every set.

[Shane]

If you're going to miss the early season, you need to hunt the rut. That said, make your setup attractive to does, and when you get there to hunt during the rut the bucks will come to find the does. Keep it well-fed and lightly pressured before then. Do what you can to make sure that the does won't be coming in from downwind of your stand/blind. Set up with a natural barrier to the predominantly downwind side. Block downwind trails with downed trees, fence panels, barbed wire, etc.... Those smart old does will bust you every time if you let them come in downwind.