Bow Hunting Texas Whitetail. What Have You Learned?

[lovemylegacy]

At feeders?

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I think its irrelevant. The point is deer can learn or be conditioned to what a hunter does or doesn't do. Feeder or not.

For the record, I do not hunt feeders.

[mikemorvan]

Patience is a virtue

[Aggies96]

Checking camera cards 1st thing has probably cost more people mature bucks than anyone could fathom. Ambush predators that announce their presence before hunting an area would starve if it weren't for grocery stores. They prioritize looking at pictures over a successful hunt.

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True statement. Now that I'm using mostly cellular cameras during the season I don't have to encroach into the area ahead of a hunt. The standard cameras I do have I won't check till I'm leaving. I'm lucky enough to be able to hunt nearly every weekend during the season so I can take what I see on the cards into account the following weekend. I've seen mature deer enter a feeder area exactly the way I do when I check those cards with their nose to ground. They aren't dummies.

[Texas Grown]

What I have learned is how to be patient when deer hunting. It has carried over to my patients with people. And I thank the Lord for teaching me this lesson.

The fish are biting, and there's hogs to be kill-t. Gotta go!

[Bone Thug]

I agree with most comments about different hunting styles throughout the state. In the same breath, hand corn is better than any feeder. I don't care where you hunt in the state. Most of my setups are now 150-200 yards from a feeder. A 1 gallon bucket of corn and some sweet feed is thrown 20-40 yards in front of set up. I will have more deer hit that feed than the feeder. You may have mature bucks at the feeder, but like some have said. He still has you patterned and he knows what goes on an that feeder in the fall, and he knows that box is there. Get out of the box! There is a time and place but we have gotten way to comfortable.

The past 4 years have been a game changer for me. I consistently see mature bucks that none of us have on camera. 700 acres with 20 cameras and still no pictures. They pick up on the camera too. Back off the feeder a little ways. Get in tight! You don't have to see 100 yards in every direction.

Wind is important. He was there and bailed, but he walked out so you wouldn't know.

That what I really like about Texas hunting is how different it is from one area to another.
My experience is the complete opposite from what you described. We’ve been on this low fence lease for 10 years. Every mature trophy has been bow killed over a feeder and pretty much every one was out of a box blind. It’s the best and most successful means in killing mature bucks for us.

We don’t have any trees of any size so it’s really limited on options outside of a “box” blind.

You can’t play the wind every time cause the deer come in from all directions. The box blind really helps containing your scent to a minimal. It just flat out works for us and pretty much everybody else we know.

[Landrover]

..........it ain't the Midwest and it's hottt!

[jerp]

Yeah, saying “just play the wind, period” is fine if you can set up in a spot where it is impossible for them to come in from downwind. How are you gonna do that in a big mesquite flat where they come in from all directions? The deer “play the wind” too and they are a lot better at it than we are.

[ByronB]

That what I really like about Texas hunting is how different it is from one area to another.
My experience is the complete opposite from what you described. We’ve been on this low fence lease for 10 years. Every mature trophy has been bow killed over a feeder and pretty much every one was out of a box blind. It’s the best and most successful means in killing mature bucks for us.

We don’t have any trees of any size so it’s really limited on options outside of a “box” blind.

You can’t play the wind every time cause the deer come in from all directions. The box blind really helps containing your scent to a minimal. It just flat out works for us and pretty much everybody else we know.

I have to agree with this entire assessment. Even when I hunted South Texas we arrowed mature bucks on feeders. We had hand feed spots as well to utilize. I have hunted the Hill Country the last eight seasons and all of our mature bucks....6-8 yrs old + have been arrowed off of feeders. I change tactics if it is called for.....acorn crops. Sometimes they will not come to the feeder so..... I have patterned the deer for years literally by watching them from my Krivoman. I have a tripod set up about 60 yards from my pen on a funnel the deer ( and hogs ) move through. If I have any type of west wind then I do not hunt my Krivoman.

[Gumbo Man]

There are a million stupid rookie mistakes. The most common mistake I see seasoned hunters make is hiw they get out at dark.. banging around, shining a light everywhere. That stand just went cold.

This. I’m fortunate enough to live close to my hunting property and being self employed I can hunt pretty well every morning of the season if I want to. With that said I rarely hunt the evenings. To much can go wrong for me. Blood trail through my deer woods after dark with lights. I hate busting my deer out leaving the blind. Mornings just work better for me.

[DesertDug]

That sometimes it takes 6 years to get first one

[Dirty Kev]

Never mistake them not caring for them not knowing. I've observed up through about 3 years old, and some bucks even later they'll let you make mistakes and still be regulars, but don't mistake its not that they don't know you're there, its that they don't care you're there. Then that switch flips, and they start caring, and the game changes. The problem is you may have unintentionally educated them for 2-3 years without knowing it because... heck they kept showing up. Then around 4 or 5 they ghost you every sit.... well they probably know the clues of you being there better than you do. I had to learn this the hard way. Ironically pigs taught me the lesson. I would have pigs like clockwork... I would go sit... no pigs. Day after, pigs again. This is when I stopped sitting for pigs, and just stalk them after they arrive. They had become experts on checking my set. I can't quite do that with deer, but I use the lesson learned. Deer frequenting sets learn to check them, and monitor them. So I try to think of curveballs or miscues to throw them off. Sometimes its taking a different road in, getting their earlier or even later. I think most 4-5 year old bucks have the hunters patterned better than the other way around. So don't assume just because you have 6 2-3 year olds in front of you that your target mature buck "just didn't show up this morning"... its likely the 6 know you're there, they're just too dumb to care

I'd agree with that, especially the part about 4-5 YO bucks having the hunters patterned better than the we have them. My wife says that our dog can pick out the sound of my truck when I'm still a half mile away from the house, even in the middle of the city, and will head to the front door to wait for me. You better believe that deer, whose sole purpose is to survive, can hear you driving in and have associated what time your coming, the noise of your vehicle, closing doors, opening gates, etc with you going to sit in a tree.

[jshouse]

a lot of killing big bucks is plain luck. be in the stand, be quiet, be patient, those are things you can control.

you cant always wait till the perfect wind, like some have said, in most areas here there are so many deer they come from every direction, unlike the midwest where i hunted and the deer came in on trails that looked like they were made by cows.

i have had cameras going on 3 properties for almost 10 years now, on feeders and bait piles, and could probably count on 2 hands the number 1030am-230pm mature buck pictures i have gotten. if i rifle hunted i would probably sit longer but when i'm bow hunting a 25y radius around my stand, if they arent on my camera then i dont have a shot at them and dont want to be out there mucking it up.

i prefer an elevated blind, always felt like their eyes found me way too easy when i was on the ground with them.

[powderburner]

We quit using timed feeders 10years ago.
We hunt the edges and keep the primary areas nice an quite
Personal thing here... We will every doe that snorts and stomps around. I want the ones that do not care around. Dumb and Slutty. The bucks will find the does when the time is right. (small place south texas)

[piercebronkite]

Lots of great info in this thread. Few things I have learned and Im still learning.

Upon entrance of my hunt properties (small properties) Im very intentional about my presence and noise. Im trying to be stealthy as possible. When I pull up to the gate I make sure the chain, lock and gates dont make any noise. I also have all my gear ready to go and Im not fumbling in the truck or truck bed looking for gear. Get out, go and be quiet. When walking to my stand Im very intentional about my foot steps and only use a red dim light as well.

Not deer related but hogs know the smell of dead hogs (blood) and will avoid that area for some time.

[BowhunterB]

I've been thinking alot about this lately. If you took the feeders away, how would you hunt?


Pretty basic, I think you would have to hunt travel corridors on creek bottoms and shallow draws and natural openings and wait for something to walk by. Thats about the only game plan a person would have. Maybe if a big river bottom was near find an group of producing oaks and hunt the acorns but after those are gone, your options are real limited

Yeah, that is about it. And not many oaks in deep South Texas. The other issue is visibility. There isn't a good way to get in the air in a large part of South Texas and hunting on the ground doesn't allow you to see very far, which brings the wind into play. If you are bowhunting and just hoping for something to walk by, it's tough. You can hunt trails but there aren't as many well defined trails but the food sources aren't specific without feeders. Water might be the best bet.