THREE QUESTIONS FOR OPENING DAY
Article by Sam Curtis, excerpted from Field & Steam Magazine August, 1999
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How will opening day hunting pressure influence whitetail movement?
Consider the Hunters
* Fish and game department statistics show that hunting pressure is usually greatest on opening weekend.
* Most hunters key in on the easiest access points to local whitetail habitat, so the areas surrounding these places will be saturated with hunters.
* Most hunters will concentrate their hunting on wooded, riparian habitat, hedgerows, and brushy cover.
Consider the Whitetails
* The deer have not been hunted for almost a year.
* It takes a few days for whitetails to settle into their hunting season habitats. On opening weekend a whitetail's principal reaction is panic, not cunning.
* Whitetails will flee from areas where hunting pressure is greatest. They're likely to seek security in open spaces where they have good visibility and from which they can escape quickly if a hunter approaches. But they will not abandon their established home range.
Consider your Tactics
* Avoid areas of greatest hunting pressure. Let other hunters drive the deer to you.
* Ask yourself where a deer would go in its home range if it were being heavily hunted in all the places it usually seeks cover.
* Position yourself in a field, on an open hillside, or in a forest opening where hunting pressure may drive startled whitetails. Consider hunting from a tree stand at the edge of one of these openings.
* Don't move. The deer are going to be on the move, driven by hunting pressure elsewhere on their range. Be patient.
How will the weather influence whitetail whereabouts?
* The weather on opening day or the day or week before opening day is unlikely to cause any major shift in whitetail concentrations. But long term weather patterns over weeks or months prior to opening day can make a big difference in where deer will congregate on their home range.
Hot and Dry
* A prolonged period of heat and drought may dry up water sources, desiccate natural and cultivated food supplies, and make temperatures and insects intolerable for deer in many parts of their home range that they typically use during an average year.
Cold and Wet
* If the weather leading up to hunting seasons consists of below-normal temperatures and above normal precipitation, water and food sources for whitetails may be plentiful where usually they are not. But higher elevations, where deer often flee from the heat, may already be blanketed in snow.
Moderating Factors
* When faced with weather extremes, you'll need to look at your hunting ground's landscape for features that will help moderate those extremes and attract deer.
Elevation
* As you gain elevation, temperatures tend to be cooler and precipitation tends to be greater. During hot, dry spells, deer move higher. When it's been cold and rainy or snowy for weeks, they're usually at lower elevations.
Aspect
* A landscape with many hills and valleys, ridges and canyons facing in different directions helps moderate any weather extremes by offering protection from heat, cold and wind. Whitetails simply move from one aspect to another, looking for microclimates.
Cover
* Forests and brush offer protection form wind, rain, snow, sun, heat and cold. Think about how whitetails will use cover in light of the prevailing weather conditions before opening day.
Have you considered Sex?
* Whitetail bucks and does often behave differently in their use of habitat, in their reaction to disturbance, and in their response to the rut.
Use of Habitat
* Because of the demands of protecting and feeding their fawns and building up their own body fat for winter, whitetail does usually occupy habitat that offers the best blend of cover and food in close proximity. Bucks before the rut hang out on the periphery of these prime areas, where the topography may be more demanding and where food and cover is often more widely separated.
Reaction to Disturbance
* Does are very flighty on opening day, especially in the teeth of heavy hunting pressure that has been absent in their lives for many months. So, you'll see many does, fawns and young bucks racing about opening weekend. Mature bucks become mature by not moving much. They're quicker to understand the meaning of the opening day hullabaloo. When they move, they're likely to travel short distances and then hunker down and hold tight. When you spot a buck, watch his movements carefully, then scour every foot of the area for one hundred yards beyond where you saw him disappear.
Response to Sex
* Even mature bucks get careless during the rut. They're constantly on the move looking for does, while does move much less than usual. The closer opening day is to the height of rut, the better your chances of bagging a big one.
