Editor’s Note: Between the cover where deer bed down, and the places where they feed, big bucks are on the move and more vulnerable then.

Study the Weather

The weatherman may provide the best information for hunting when the hunting pressure is at its lowest ebb. Most outdoorsmen won’t deliberately go to the woods when they know bad weather is coming. However, sometimes deer will feed and move more frequently ahead of a storm front than any other time. For the woodsman willing to brave the weather, a big buck may be just ahead of an impending weather change.

Once the storm does hit, the fair-weather hunter definitely won’t go into the woods. But this may be the most opportune time for you to find your big buck for the season. Briar thickets, blown-down treetops and any other type of heavy cover may provide a refuge for the whitetail during the storm. In most regions, the very-best time to take a mature buck is to go to the woods wearing a rainsuit, while rain still is pouring down. Get into your stand. As quickly as the rain stops, either nock an arrow and attach your mechanical release if bowhunting or have your gun at the ready and expect a buck to appear at any moment. Hunters who stay in camp and don’t go to their stands until after the rain stops may miss their best chances of bagging their bucks.

Use Other Tools to Predict Deer Movement

Using onX maps (https://www.onxmaps.com/) and the Drury Outdoors DeerCast app
(https://deercast.com/) have become the gold standard for learning up-to-date weather conditions, deer-movement patterns, a deer’s primary feeding times, barometric pressure, moon phase and other algorithms to help you predict the most-productive stand sites to hunt from each day, and when your chances should be best for seeing a buck.

Stand Still and Watch the Brush When Stalking

“By walking up to a brush top and standing there looking at the brush top for a long time, a hunter often can spot a deer in the bed,” Edwin Hitt of Laurel, Mississippi, explains, “Even if you don’t see the deer, but he sees you, he’ll get so nervous, he’ll start to quiver. Finally he’ll bolt from cover, and you can take him.”

For many sportsmen, meeting Mr. Buck is a chance happening. And, the odds are most often in the deer’s favor. However by understanding deer, their movements, their habitat and the effects of hunting pressure on them, hunters can more accurately determine where to meet Mr. Buck.

To learn more about hunting for deer, check out John E. Phillips’ bowhunting book, available in Kindle and print, “Jim Crumley’s Secrets of Bowhunting Deer” at http://amzn.to/XYTCEY and soon to be available in Audible. You may have to copy and paste this link into your browser. (When you click on the book, notice on the left where Amazon says you can read 10% of the book for free). To see more of John’s deer books, visit www.amazon.com/author/johnephillips.