whitetail help

[treeclimber]

Ive been seeing a few nice whiteys on my trail cams, whats the chance that they will stick around till september?

[goatdancer]

Whitetails are very smart. They know when hunting season starts and manage to disappear into thin air........

[bowhunterbruce]

whitetails like most critters get there copys of the regulations a week before we do.
goodluck
bruce

[huntwriter]

Ive been seeing a few nice whiteys on my trail cams, whats the chance that they will stick around till september?

That is probably the most asked question I get on my deer hunting seminars and courses.

My answer: I don't know because the correct answer depends on two major factors.

One equation to the question, and the most important one is food. Not just any food but the preferred food. Preferred food is any food that is high on nutrition such as agricultural crop like corn, beans and such and preferred woodland food sources such as oak, berries, wild clover and such.

Whitetail deer movement is solely governed by food. Food is the catalyst of all deer movement. If a preferred food source is gone deer will alter their travel pattern. To find out if the deer in your area still will be using the same travel routes as they do now you have to find out what their preferred food source is and then figure out if that food source is still available to them in September or is there a more nutritious or new preferred food source emerging in September.

What the preferred food sources are can vary from area to area. It is up to you to find out what the deer in your area prefer to eat and when that food is available to them and for how long.

The second equation to the question is hunting pressure. Whitetail deer are very territorial and despite popular believe they do no vacate an area all together because of hunting pressure. However, they will alter their travel pattern drastically and if need arises will travel only at night. (becoming nocturnal). If that is the case then you need to find the escape routes deer use to evade hunters and the staging areas where they hold up until nightfall.

I could explain to you how to accomplish that but it would take up to much space here. Heck, I have written dozens of articles on that subject alone. The solution is to scout, scout and scout some more until you know every stone and tree in your hunting area. And the time to do that is right now. Not a week or two before the season opens.

Good luck.

[Wild one]

I would say it is worth a shot but I would not say it is a suer thing .It all depends if the feed is still on the same travel rout and if they are not disturbed too badly till then.

[hunter1947]

There is an excellent chance the will be there come sept ,WTD are territorial ,I give it a 5 out of 10 they will be in the area come sept..

[GoatGuy]

They'll be in the area, just a matter of finding 'em.

[Islandeer]

Well now, are these prime mature whitey bucks? Likely not. If so though the only chance they will be there on the opener is if they have had no pressure.

Your trail cam counts as pressure to a wiley whitey. BUT, if you have found a spot where your buck has the staples,food,drink,cover and escape, and don't mess things up who knows. go with your gut and giver. :-?

[brotherjack]

They'll be in the area, but you need to nail em early Sept; once they get even the least bit rutty, their patterns will change.

[bearass]

Maybe if you told us the exact location we could give a better answer,Ha Ha just kinding .

[treeclimber]

thanks alot guys, I'll be there opening morn

[huntwriter]

Well now, are these prime mature whitey bucks? Likely not. If so though the only chance they will be there on the opener is if they have had no pressure.

Your trail cam counts as pressure to a wiley whitey. BUT, if you have found a spot where your buck has the staples,food,drink,cover and escape, and don't mess things up who knows. go with your gut and giver. :-?

Whitetails are staunchly territorial. Even mature bucks will NOT leave their territory because of hunting pressure. All they do is hide out in the thickest cover available and only come out at night. In addition they may change the travel route slightly but they NEVER leave their territory. Deer are great at figuring out places hunters avoid.

I shot my biggest whitetail deer buck in a heavily hunted Illinois state park right next to the parking lot in a thick bramble bush. No hunter ever thought of it that a buck would seek refuge that close to human activity. Another buck in the same park I shot on a tiny island in the middle of knee deep flooded timber. The buck knew that the average hunter would not go to the trouble of wading through flooded timber until I came and then it was to late for him.:mrgreen: Neither of these bucks has left his 2000 acre territory despite hundreds of hunters in the area.

Food is what changes deer movement drastically. Even during the rut when bucks do not eat much, food remains the number one factor because the does are where the available preferred food is and the bucks will be where the does are.

The thing with trail cameras is that if you use them sparingly and only for a very short time deer will ignore them. If cameras are left in place for an extended period of time (more than three days) deer will take objection to being "flashed" at every night and they will use a different trail that can be close to the original trail or some distance away from it, depending on the terrain, structure and available cover.