Hunt regardless of the weather

Check out these bucks; They’re all standing up at once
illustration/photo c. Dave Richey Outdoors / I65DESIGN+MEDIA ©2012

Millions of deer hunters are found across this great nation of ours, and we all seem to have a different philosophy on deer hunting. We seldom agree on wildly varying topics.

Some hunters refuse to hunt various wind directions. Anything from the east is normally bad. For years, October featured south and southwest winds and then west and northwest, and by December we were hunting northwest, north and northeasterly winds.

All the climatic changes we've seem to have produced more hot, dry weather, and the drought we've experienced this year has burned up many food plots or farm fields. It's still a bit unclear what we will be dealing with this fall, but all of us will probably dealing with freaky weather changes.

If we can’t change the weather, learn how to work with it

So, do we worry about it or allow nature take its course, and we deal with the changes as necessary?  My though is that we deal with the changes as best we can because we can't change the weather.

My philosophy is that a deer hunter won't get much hunting in if they stay home whenever there is a bad wind. I hunt but switch from an open tree stand to an elevated and enclosed coop on such days. A few stands are set for an east wind, and they are in demand when the wind goes sour.

I strongly advise hunters to make certain there are a couple of stands, whether elevated or on the ground, that allow us to cope with and hunt on an east wind.

Many are the deer hunters who believe they should only hunt during the dark of the moon. Others only hunt the week before the full moon, and others never hunt during a full moon.

There are those who believe in hunting around the Harvest Moon, the Hunters Moon, the Rutting Moon, and some who will only hunt just before the second full moon after the autumnal equinox. The nice thing about living in a free society is each of us can indulge in such pleasures that make us happy and perhaps more productive.

I personally don't care which day of the week it may be, which way the wind blows, what the moon phase happens to be, or anything else. I find it difficult to kill deer while sitting in the house rather than be out hunting.

There are others who place great emphasis on hunting the rut. Little do they know that the 10 days before the full rut begins, deer go through the chasing stage or the pre-rut. It is a wonderful time to be hunting, regardless of the moon phase or wind direction. Just hunt with the wind in your favor and forget everything else.

The rut is pretty much at the same time in Michigan

Many feel the rut begins Oct. 20-25, and that is the beginning of the chasing stage, and it will last for about 10 days before the full rut begins. It's possible to find many people who would disagree on when the rut actually begins.

The peak of the rut in northern Michigan where I hunt will occur on or about Nov. 3-4, and it is winding down by the Nov. 15 firearm season opener.

There are numerous variations, depending on where you hunt. Weather conditions and people pressure can alter these dates a bit.
Some hunters are addicted to the Solunar Tables. These tables, first invented by John Alden Knight many years ago, are based on the sun and moon and their effect on tides and the earth. They contend there are normally two minor and two major periods most days when fish bite, and when wild game move about.

Some sportsmen hunt according to the Solunar Tables and kill deer, and I know other folks who hunt whenever they can, and they also have good hunting success while hunting outside of these major and minor periods.

Nothing is 100 percent but hunt when cows are standing up

One time an old Florida cracker took me fishing. We poked around because he told me the fish aren't biting and the deer aren't moving. Two hours later cattle along the St. Johns River began getting to their feet.

"Let's go fishing now," he yelled, tossing a small baited jig into the water. We caught lots of fish while the cows were up, soon the cows laid down and the fish quit biting.

"I've watches this phenomenon for many years," he said, "and there is a correlation between standing cows, biting fish and moving deer. Fish and hunt when the cows stand up."

I've hunted many years with some poor and some great success. Good hunting habits bring wonderful hunting success, and simply being afield whenever possible is a good reason some people are more successful than others.

I forget about all this other business, and go on doing what works best for me. That means that I hunt whenever possible, and try to hunt every day of the season.

Take the normal precautions with the wind, stay downwind of the deer, and it becomes fairly easy to build your own deer-hunting success .... at least during normal weather.

The jury is still out on how future weather will affect hunting.