Late season help

[Joel]

I have sort of a plan worked out and I want to know if I'm crazy or if it might work. About a week and a half ago I set up a ground blind in a pretty good spot with vines and stuff in the background to hopefully help it blend in. Thirty yards in front of the blind I dumped 100 lbs of corn and set up a camera. It took about three days for the deer to find the corn/get used to the blind.

I checked the card after three days and had 15 pictures of crows eating corn, well and a squirrel. I dumped another 50 pounds and checked the card three days later and had 120 pictures of deer and noticed fresh tracks EVERYWHERE around the corn and within 10 feet of the blind. Probably 6-10 different does and 3 different bucks, one of them a pretty nice 8 point (nice to me anyway). I just checked my card again and dumped some more corn, had 240 pictures of deer within the last three days. The problem is they are all after dark except one- a doe showed up at 5:02pm a couple days ago.

The buck I'm after was there at about 6:20pm two days ago and I think I'm within a few hundred yards of his day time bedding area. I've only sat in the blind once so far for about four hours and the buck has been back so I don't think he's onto me yet. There are a bunch of nice rubs within 100 yards of me also. I'm pretty damn excited and this is about all I can think about right now. I've never used corn or a camera until now and wow I got pretty good results.

I'm a little new to strategic deer hunting because I've always just picked a good spot and sat there for hours and hours hoping to see a deer. My plan is to get there tomorrow afternoon around 2:00-2:30 and sit and wait for him to show up. I'm hoping he'll come right before dark since we have a cold front coming in tomorrow night.

Think it'll work? Any ideas or suggestions?

Here's a couple pictures of him:

 

[Bigslam51]

IMO your going there and checking the camera TOO much. Dump 200 pounds of corn spread so you don't have to keep going in and dumping 50# at a time. You also have no daytime photos of the buck, so maybe he is on to you and is only coming out after dark because he knows you won't be there. This late in the season the deer are very paranoid.

 

[brock ratcliff]

The only thing you're missing is COLD. When it gets nasty cold, deer will come in with daylight if the weather turns. Be patient, give them a little time to get used to the set up. They will come...

 

[Joel]

Thank you both for the advice. I should probably be staying away for longer periods of time, and I will now that I know there's some deer activity. I do have a pretty good, quiet way in and out, have been doing it around mid day and have not bumped any deer yet. Today was nice because it was raining so hard I was able to sneak in pretty quietly and get out quick.

Cold weather would be nice. I think I'm just gonna try it tomorrow evening and see what happens. If I don't see the one I'm after, I'll wait a week or so before trying again. Hopefully by then it will be nice and cold and they'll be more comfortable.

 

[Bigslam51]

Like Brock said, the cold weather is essential. The high temp where I'm at is supposed to be 23 degrees on Christmas eve, I'll be hunting.

 

[Rutin]

Huge cold snap later this week, I would wait for that. Go in tomorrow while its raining and dump a bunch of corn (rain will help with scent) then stay out! Stay out for 5-6 days and then just go in and do a hunt. Don't check your card until after the hunt. No point in going in to check the card only to hunt it the next day.

 

[Joel]

I'm going to wait. 60 degrees here almost and 20 mph winds. I would like to get it done before muzzleloader season if possible but today's not looking so good.

 

[Joel]

I checked the weather this morning and after much debating I decided to go out tonight. Did not get my buck but what an exciting hunt. I had 3 turkeys hang out in front of the blind for about 10 minutes, saw a red squirrel beat up on a gray squirrel and had a group of about 6 does within 20 yards around 4:00pm and then a couple deer off in the distance after that. One doe stood at 30 yards with a perfect shot for about 20 seconds and then walked off slowly.

Deer are smart. They were out looking for food, they knew the corn pile was there but they didn't come near it. I'm gonna stay out of the woods for at least a week now I just couldn't take it today, I had to try. Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[Joel]

Well so much for staying out of the woods for a week. It's Christmas day, I'm of work, little cold today, nice wind in the right direction... I'm going this evening to get my deer that I have named Rudolph, lol. Hope he shows up!

 

[Outdoorsfellar]

Good luck ! You should have no problem seeing ol Rudolph coming in....lol

 

[Lundy]

A few thing that I have observed over the years where I hunt.

More is not always better. If you dump out a full bag or multiple full bags of corn the deer have no incentive to visit the corn during daylight. They can just as easily wait until after dark and go and chow down, there is plenty of corn there for them to eat. If I had to spread the corn manually (no feeder), which I like much better than a feeder, I would spread 10-15 lbs scattered out every morning and put out none in the evening. If a deer wants corn they know pretty quickly they need to get there before it is all gone. I use feeders to do this for me because the land I hunt is 1-1/2 hrs away from me.

Piles are not what I like. I really spread the corn out over pretty large area. It makes them work harder to eat it, it gets the deer out of those highly competitive situations where they are bunched up and allow more deer at one time to visit without the big fights, and the amount they consume is much less at any one visit. Deer are browsers and feel more comfortable walking and picking some kernals hear and there instead of standing at a pile. This also provides you with a lot of options (angles) for shot opportunities as they walk around you spread out area.

Cold weather is your friend but not required to have deer visit everyday.

The effectiveness of corn will vary based upon the areas available food source. Corn put out in corn field country is not nearly as effective in areas with no corn piles for miles around. They still work in the corn field areas but need to be in the middle of the thickest cover you have available to be most effective.

Corn access, how do the deer get to your corn pile. Do they have to come out of cover and walk open areas to get to it? Or is it in cover and the deer can approach under cover at all times. If open area it is much harder to get a mature deer their during daylight than one that is in thick cover.

If I had to choose between put out more and visit less often or put out less in the mornings and visit more often I would put out less everytime.

Wind direction. If the wind is wrong to hunt your pile, stay home, period.

Just my opinions for where I hunt, yours may vary.

Good luck with Rudolph!

 

[Joel]

Good points there Lundy, I appreciate it. I think the area the buck beds down is about 300 yards from the corn pile, though not a straight shot and there is thick cover all the way from him to the pile (if that is in fact where he's been bedding, not 100% sure on that but maybe 90%). The pile is 30 yards from the front of my blind. The blind and the corn are sort of in the open as far as not real thick but I feel better about the area now since there were several deer browsing around the area two days ago almost 2 hours before dark and they all seemed to be pretty relaxed. These were small younger deer though. Probably another 40-50 yards past my corn pile is about a 3 acre overgrown field that I think most of the smaller deer and does are using for a bedding area, past the overgrown field is about 200 acres of corn/bean field. I have a trail that is about 400 yards (north) straight into the woods where my blind is. The patch of woods I'm in is about 40 acres and we have 30 of it.

So, I park in an area that the deer are used to hearing vehicles and walk straight to the blind and only when the wind is blowing my scent away from the blind, corn and bedding areas. So far I have only entered the woods 4 times over the last 2 weeks to get to this and set it up initially. The wind is typically coming from the West and blowing straight onto the front of the blind, with very little chance the deer are going to be behind the blind because of the landscape. I try to slip in and out quickly and wear rubber boots.

Kind of what I'm hoping for is the small deer will come into the area to feed just before dark and one of the smaller bucks I have photos of will follow. HOPEFULLY, "Rudolph" will see or smell what's going on and come in to chase away the smaller buck. I've got three separate photos of him fighting other bucks on top of the corn pile so I think he is the dominate one in the area and doesn't like the little guys messing with his women or food.

What's interesting to me, if this is his bedding area, is he's been staying in a fairly small strip of thick pine trees and thorn bushes, probably 75' wide and 4-500 yards long that sits between a grass field and a corn field. It's a small area, but no one ever goes in there due to how thick it is- seems a perfect hiding spot for a big buck. When we first got snow this year, I noticed some big tracks that went from a field, into the woods and straight towards the pines. All along the trail were dozens of rubs, some on some 4-5" diameter trees. Once he's in the woods he has a real nice thick trail that goes back toward the pines so I would almost bet money that's where he's hiding out. Getting pictures of him on the first night deer showed up to the pile sort of confirmed this theory.

If this doesn't work the next step is to move the camera closer to his hideout and see what times he is going in and out, then set up a stand and try to catch him on his way to dinner or on the way home in the morning depending on what times he's showing up. I'm afraid if I do that I might be too close and move him out of the area right before muzzleloader season and never see him again. So, for now I'm sticking with plan A. I won't be shooting anything but this deer from the blind. If it doesn't work, I'll try again with the stand after muzzleloader season if I can get him on camera.

Thanks again for the tips guys! Hearing ideas is helping me put everything together.

I'm headed out here in a few minutes to sit until dark or until Rudolph hits the ground.

 

[Joel]

No Rudolph sightings tonight. A small 6 point came in around 5:00 and that was it. Did get some new trail cam photos with a few bucks I hadn't seen before.

 

[Joel]

Got a nice picture of him at 6:00 so that gives me a little hope, getting closer to daylight.

 

[hickslawns]

Any chance of cutting him off on his way to the corn? Does he appear to be coming in from same direction all the time? Are we talking every night or just once or twice a week?

 

[Joel]

Any chance of cutting him off on his way to the corn? Does he appear to be coming in from same direction all the time? Are we talking every night or just once or twice a week?

Edit: just looked back through pics and he was there:

6:33pm 12/17
2:52am 12/18
6:28pm 12/19
10:00pm 12/23
6:01pm 12/24

Camera wasn't there on the 20th or 21st.

He has always been facing the same direction in the first picture of him, and it matches up with the area I think he's bedded in. I should have tried to see where his tracks were coming from the couple times we've had nice snow but I haven't yet.

To make matters worse, the camera hasn't been reliable. I saw a buck at 5:00 tonight and he hung out for a couple minutes. Two nights ago while hunting I saw two squirrels fighting, 3 turkeys eating and a doe stop to take a bite but none of those pictures are on there.

 

[finelyshedded]

A few thing that I have observed over the years where I hunt.

More is not always better. If you dump out a full bag or multiple full bags of corn the deer have no incentive to visit the corn during daylight. They can just as easily wait until after dark and go and chow down, there is plenty of corn there for them to eat. If I had to spread the corn manually (no feeder), which I like much better than a feeder, I would spread 10-15 lbs scattered out every morning and put out none in the evening. If a deer wants corn they know pretty quickly they need to get there before it is all gone. I use feeders to do this for me because the land I hunt is 1-1/2 hrs away from me.

Piles are not what I like. I really spread the corn out over pretty large area. It makes them work harder to eat it, it gets the deer out of those highly competitive situations where they are bunched up and allow more deer at one time to visit without the big fights, and the amount they consume is much less at any one visit. Deer are browsers and feel more comfortable walking and picking some kernals hear and there instead of standing at a pile. This also provides you with a lot of options (angles) for shot opportunities as they walk around you spread out area.

Cold weather is your friend but not required to have deer visit everyday.

The effectiveness of corn will vary based upon the areas available food source. Corn put out in corn field country is not nearly as effective in areas with no corn piles for miles around. They still work in the corn field areas but need to be in the middle of the thickest cover you have available to be most effective.

Corn access, how do the deer get to your corn pile. Do they have to come out of cover and walk open areas to get to it? Or is it in cover and the deer can approach under cover at all times. If open area it is much harder to get a mature deer their during daylight than one that is in thick cover.

If I had to choose between put out more and visit less often or put out less in the mornings and visit more often I would put out less everytime.

Wind direction. If the wind is wrong to hunt your pile, stay home, period.

Just my opinions for where I hunt, yours may vary.

Good luck with Rudolph!

Excellent post Kim! Great advice from many years of observance after trial and error.

Good luck with that buck Joel! He looks like a nice one. Keep doing what your doing then go in for the kill. Sounds like it might happen very soon! Good luck!!!

 

[hickslawns]

Sounds pretty consistent to me. Brock argues deer to be some of the most random animals. I would have to agree and I don't have near the knowledge he does. My personal opinion is we can't "predict" or "pattern" them, but I feel we can find some deer with tendencies more predictable than others. With the cold and corn available, I think you have a decent shot at Rudolph. I am no expert. Not one to hunt over bait so I have zero experience in that department. Sure does seem like his tendencies are putting him pretty darn close to your area though. Good luck Joel!

 

[Joel]

Thanks again for the help guys. I have to try to get back to the real world for a couple days but this deer will be on my mind for sure. The deer have just about demolished the corn pile over the last couple days so I need to get a couple more bags. I think I will try spreading it out over that area a little bit this time, and maybe do 20 lbs. Seeing a buck in daylight yesterday-and him not seeing me- from my blind at 25 yards has got me excited. It wasn't the deer I was hoping to see but I think I might get my shot. If not, I'm having a blast just checking the camera and seeing deer on my evening hunts. I'm self employed and this time of year is a little up and down with the work load, so I should have plenty more chances. The weather forecast looks goofy for the next week or so too, but this is Ohio.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I'm about to try to do the same thing you are doing with Rudolph with the deer I call Captain Jack for muzzleloader season in hopes my wife can shoot him. In all the years of running cams over corn, I can count on one handle it would have resulted in me killing a mature buck. I do not like to sit directly over the bait site, but position myself 75-200 yards off of it depending on terrain and cover. The strategy for Jack is to maintain the same central bait site I used year round, but I'll drop 75 pounds of corn spread out over a big area (50'x50') about 4-5 days before muzzleloader. The area I picked is in a nice travel corridor between his bedding area and my sanctuary that I can cover with a muzzy from the ground blind that will be 75 yards away. We'll be 150 yards from where I've been getting tons of pics of him minutes before legal shooting light in the AM, and less than an hour after legal light in the evenings. I believe getting as far from the main feed site towards their bedding area is really the most effective way to go about this.

I've never been successful at this game, but have had some near misses. We did the same sort of thing on a deer back in 2009 that my wife should have killed, but he caught us in an awkward position for her to shoot and it cost us. We were 100 yards off the main food watching the pinch point leading from where he was staying, to the corn. A nice cold snap with plenty of snow was a blessing and it nearly went as scripted.

Conversely, hunting directly over the corn has cost me some opportunities. In 2008 I was hunting a buck I called Deuce who was a steller 3.5 year old. I started a late season bait site in an area that gave me great access of northerly winds and the entry/exit route was flawless. I spent 52 hours in a stand in January in brutal cold conditions, snow, sleet, you name it and never saw him. Several nights he was coming in 15 minutes after I left and the only night I didn't hunt in a 14 day span, he showed up with 5 minutes to spare. It was 15 degrees and snowing sideways. After some late season scouting, I realized had I just moved 100 yards, I would have seen him at the very least. The pictures of him showing up so close to shooting light kept me in that stand, but it was the wrong move for that particular deer and situation. Just some food for thought.

So my advice would be to do some scouting and see if you can't back off that corn 75-100 yards into a nice travel corridor or staging area and kill him there. I'd also limit the trips to the cam unless access is super convenient.

Good luck with him! This is a fun