During the early hunting season, bowhunters must effectively adapt their strategies to target deer during this period. The early season presents unique challenges and opportunities, making understanding deer patterns and behaviors crucial. To help my fellow hunters, I hope this article offers actionable strategies to enhance your field success.
Scouting Techniques
Effective scouting is the cornerstone of a successful early-season hunt. Start by identifying key areas where deer are likely to be active. Look for signs such as fresh tracks, droppings, and rubs. Early-season deer are often found in areas with abundant food sources, like acorn-rich zones or agricultural fields.
My Three Favorite Early-Season Scouting Techniques
- Use trail cameras to monitor deer movements and establish patterns. Pay attention to the time of day they are active and any changes in their behavior as the season progresses.
- From a distance, watch with quality binoculars or a spotting scope to monitor deer movements and observe bucks while still in groups and when bachelor groups begin to separate. My personal favorite are Vortex Viper HD binoculars in 8×24 or 10×24.
- Use a hunting app like HuntStand to help document all your findings while scouting. Adding waypoints of all your discovered sign and peak movement possibilities lets you map out a game plan for the best stand areas and how to enter and exit your hunting areas without spooking deer.
Stand Placement
Treestand placement is crucial for capitalizing on deer movements identified during scouting.
In the early season, deer frequent feeding areas in the late afternoon and evening. Position your tree stands or ground blinds to take advantage of these feeding patterns while maintaining a downwind approach to avoid spooking the deer.
Consider setting up natural travel corridors that lead to these feeding areas. Avoid placing stands too close to these feeding areas to prevent alarming the deer, and adjust your setup based on real-time observations from your trail cameras.
Calling and Attractants
Effective use of deer calls and scent attractants can increase your chances of success.
During the early season, deer are less likely to respond aggressively to calls than during the rut. Instead, use subtle calls, such as soft grunts or fawn bleats, to create curiosity.
Scent attractants like doe estrus or deer urine can help draw deer into your range, but use them sparingly to avoid over-saturating the area.
Recommended Early Season Deer Calls & Scents
An adjustable grunt call allows hunters to make soft grunts imitating a mature buck or the high-pitched bleats of does and fawns with an adjustable O-ring inside this call. These sounds can create enough curiosity from nearby deer to come into close range to investigate.
Non-estrus doe urine is my preferred scent for early season. Bucks are interested in finding out where does are hanging out, but they aren’t actively chasing or seeking just yet.
My scent of choice is Buck Bomb’s Doe “P”. This scent is ideal for the early season because it is a collection of fresh urine from does and young fawns.
Early Season Hunting Gear
Gear and clothing selection plays a vital role in early-season deer hunting. Since temperatures are typically warmer, opt for lightweight, breathable clothing that will keep you comfortable and reduce sweating.
Choose camouflage patterns that match the early-season environment, including green and brown tones, such as the Mossy Oak Terra Outland pattern that blends perfectly during the early season.
Favorite Early Season Hunting Garment: ScentLok’s Savanna series is always a favorite for my early-season hunting because it keeps me cool and dry during warm temperatures.
Favorite Insect and Tick Repellant: Ranger Ready Permethrin Insect and Tick Repellant is one of the best tick sprays I have ever used.
With Ranger Ready, I spray all my gear several hours before using it, and no ticks survive when coming in contact with my clothes. Each treatment lasts several days, so you can continue hunting without worrying about what is crawling up your leg.
Hunters who carefully implement these strategies often experience successful early-season hunts.
A few years ago, I arrowed a mature doe on the second day of the Missouri season, September 16th. The weekend after that harvest, I climbed into a tall ladder stand in a small patch of hardwood timber that served as a pinch point, funneling deer travel routes into a narrow path near my stand.
Late in the morning, I heard leaves rustling behind me and spotted a nice buck casually approaching the top of the narrow ridge. In a rush, I dug into my backpack for my grunt call and made a couple of soft grunts. The buck stopped, looked in my direction, and began heading toward me. He came straight to my ladder, but unfortunately, I missed him at just seven yards.
As he bounded up the hill, I quickly nocked another arrow and drew back, stopping him at thirty yards with a soft “batt” in my natural voice. This time, I hit my mark. The buck ran sixty yards before expiring at the edge of a small field—a reminder never to hesitate using a grunt call during the early season.
The early season presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities for bowhunters.
Bowhunters can increase their chances of success by employing effective scouting techniques, strategic stand placement, and the judicious use of calls and attractants. Coupled with the right gear and insights from successful hunters, you can make the most of the early season and set yourself up for a rewarding hunting experience.
Some of the links in our articles are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through those links, at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products and services that we believe in and have personally vetted. Thank you for supporting Bowhunting.com!
