Whitetails is the “kwaziest’ animals…
Being already 13 days into the Mississippi Bow Season, a lotta beasts have been stuck, downed, shucked, chopped-up and freezered. Due to having to make an unexpected, long drawn-out residence move, I haven’t even been out into the woods yet. Too much packing stuff, then moving the same stuff; now, I’m faced/burdened with unpacking, settlin’ in, getting services and utilities switched over. The only way I’ll ever move again is due to an eviction notice, armed and hostile sheriff’s deputies at my heels, and/or the county coroner taking out my mortal remains! Primary excuses aside, the extended rains here (Central Mississippi, 45 miles north of Jackson) have made gettin’ in and gettin’ out of hunting areas tough, if not impossible. Still, tho, I’ve heard of some successes. Stand and blind hunting in hardwoods where the acorns have begun to fall, in and near standing and partially harvested crop fields, over food plots,and the tried and true “easing and slipping” (aka “still hunting”) along and near well travelled game trails (catching ‘em going and coming) have worked. It is still too early to hunt scrapes (natural, buck made ones and artificial scrapes created to lure and hold a buck in decent bow range). We’ll get into the creation of artificial scrapes later when the older, more mature does begin to come into estrous. In this area, that can begin as early as mid-November (usually with the full or “Harvest” moon), but is more likely to begin a month or so later, with the December full moon. Besides this year’s moderate to skimpy acorn crop, abundant browse is all over, everywhere. A few persimmons have ripened and dropped, green leafy forbs-watered by the unseasonal rains-are still actively growing all over, as are honeysuckle, greenbrier, blackberry and dewberry (favored by deer as much as the proverbial “mule eatin’ briars”). Food is everywhere. The deer folk don’t need to travel far to fill their paunches, then settle back down to bed and chew their cud. My personal, all-time favorite bow hunting method is trail watching, along the most well-worn trails, between bedding and known feeding areas, often referred to as “staging areas”. Deer seem less alert going and coming than when exposed in open food plots and fields, or when picking up acorns-requiring a lot of head down postures. Other favorites are near mature soy bean fields, machine cut corn areas-before the exposed, unshucked corn kernels swell and mold. I know, too, of a persimmon tree, that every time a ripe ‘simmon plops to the ground, several deer race for it. Colder weather will ripen them even more, but, this sweet-if often fairly bitter-fruit bounty won’t last much longer. Wild pecans are another favored carb and protein source, as is your granny’s turnip and mustard patch! In short, hunt ‘em where you find ‘em. Ask rural mail carriers to clue you in if and when they see a particularly good buck or a concentration of does, yearlings and fawns-which they often do on their routes. UPS and FED-EX deliverymen, too. Heavy use, even by the does/yearling/fawn contingent may mean a good buck is nearby-or following “the crowd”.
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