Noland Outdoors

The End of Deer Season is a Time of Sadness, Happiness, Reflection, and Relief

Jason Noland                                                                                  January 2010

 So deer season is almost over.  Whew!  Looks like I'm going to survive another one with my job, my family, and my senses intact.  That's always good.  The anticipation and excitement that was felt a short time ago will now be replaced with a mixed range of emotions.  It's the same every year too.  Part of me is sad to see deer season end while another part of me feels relief and happiness.  Relief that I can wind down and not constantly game plan and worry about where, when, and how I'm going to bag the next buck and relief that I can finally relax and rest on a weekend without my nose to the proverbial deerhunting grindstone.

  For some hunters, deer hunting is just a hobby and they go when they feel like it.  Not me.  It's something more than that....it's fun and passion and all that, but it's like a job in a good sort of way.  I feel obligated to go even when exhausted.  I mean we only get 3 1/2 months a year.  I ain't going to get one sitting at home.  So I press on, even when I'm tired and not feeling well and the temperature outside is in the teens and this nice warm bed feels sooooo good.  But I go because I know if I don't I'll feel guilty about it later.  But the end of hunting season gives me a mandatory and guilt-free break. 

  Now don't get me wrong.  I DO love this sport.  And as soon as it is over I immediately feel a sense of sadness and reflection in addition to relief.  That's because I know I'm a long way from being able to go hunting again and that I'll have to endure a long, hot Alabama summer to get back to it.  As the last hunt winds down and I sit in my tree and watch the sun set on the last day, I reflect on the season that has been and how fast it all seemed to go by.  I'll give thanks for the blessing that I've been given that allows me to do what I love and I'll pray that the following October finds my family and me in good health and me in a treestand to resume the hunt once again.

Get There Early and Stay Late

For Early Season Whitetails

Jason Noland                                                                                      June 2009

(The author, above, with his early season whitetail)

  I couldn't believe my luck.  There I sat in my Ol'Man treestand on an unusually warm October afternoon (even by Alabama standards) and I had just arrowed my best whitetail buck to date.  And I hadn't even really gotten settled in yet.  No sooner had I pulled my bow up and unhooked my pull-up rope, then there he was feeding on acorns.  It all happened that fast, which was fortunate because I never had time to get "buck fever".  As often as not, when I succumb to that ailment my arrow doesn't find it's intended mark.  This 35 yd. shot was straight and true, however.

  After I composed myself and called my half-disbelieving buddy Goose on the radio, I glanced at my watch and noted that it was barely past 2pm.  I felt fortunate that I hadn't wasted any more time than I did trying to pick the perfect tree, for a delay of another minute would surely have cost me.  As it was, however, I had proven to myself once again what I had already come to believe.  It is never too early to get in your stand, even in the early season.

   This hunt was far from an aberration for me.  In fact, it was more the norm.  During the course of my 20-plus seasons of hunting whitetails with a bow, I have taken far more deer "early" rather than "late".  A number of factors may contribute to this, including the fact that I just can't wait to start hunting...why wait?  As the old addage goes "you ain't gonna kill him sitting at home".  But having success while the sun is still high in the sky is no fluke.  The first week or two of bowseason is definitely one of the easiest times of the year to encounter deer because they are still in a somewhat daily pattern and have not been disturbed by human (hunter) activity.   And if you can find a hot food source that the deer are coming to on a daily basis, then your odds for success are pretty high.  Unlike later in the season after the woods are full of hunters, deer won't neccessarily wait until late in the evening to feed.  Having a water source nearby also enhances you odds of success.  In fact, most of my hunting is done near river systems and creeks so having an available water source nearby is probably something I just take for granted but it should never be overlooked.

   I have also come to rely on checking those guides that indicate animal activity as it relates to the moon phases.  For example, during a full moon or a new moon phase I try to make it a point to hunt during the midday hours because, sure as shootin', the deer will be feeding during these times.  I had heard and read about moon phases for years but never paid them much attention but as the years went by I learned that there was indeed a reliable pattern there. 

   Weather always plays a factor whenever you head afield as well, but it probably plays less a role in the early weeks of bowseason than it does later on as the season shifts towards winter and cold fronts become more pronounced.  As long as it's not a monsoon or a severe thunderstorm brewing, then weather won't have an effect on my decision to hunt or where (except, of course, wind direction).  Warm weather at this time of the year is to be expected and it doesn't hamper deer movement now as it might later in the season when the deer are covered in their winter coats. 

   And contrary to a popular belief, hunting food plots in the early season can be just as productive, if not more so, as hunting over acorns.  I have taken more than one opening day deer over a green field well before dark.   A lady I know took a P&Y buck in a green field at high noon during the first week of bowseason a few years ago.  We were all thinking at the time "Who bowhunts a greenfield in the middle of the day at this time of year?"  Well, she did and it paid off big.  The rest of us would have waited until much later in the eveing to venture out.  It is universally accepted by most hunters that acorns are a deers preferred food but I believe they, like us humans, like variety and will still visit a succulent green patch quite often, even with a good acorn crop.  And sometimes it's easier to pinpoint a deer in a select greenfield than it is over acorns, especially if the woods are covered with them.

   Of course, many times you'll head out early in the day, bake in the sun and provide a big, tasty meal for the mosquitoes and not see a thing and you'll wonder why you didn't listen to your buddies who called you crazy for leaving the camphouse so early when you could have stayed in and watched the last half of the football game on TV before heading out.  But that's just hunting.  If you're rewared just 1 out of every 10 times that you head to your stand extra early, then, in my opinion, it's worth it.  If I had always waited until later in the day to head to the woods during the early season, I would now have less antlers on my wall and fewer memories to go with them.