Opening day of hunting season is full of festivities, but also some negatives that could affect your hunt.
Waiting to hunt late in the season could mean bad weather that hampers travel. It could also increase deer sightings due to the need to feed.
Deer hunting vacations are integral to a lot of deer hunter’s lives. They work all year long, and constantly look forward to their one week off during deer season. Oftentimes, they cash in during opening week. But is that the right decision?
There are two sides to every story. For whitetail hunters, the same is true on whether to plan a hunting vacation for the opening days of the season or postpone until the closing days. Good arguments exist for either option. Analyze the good and bad of each. Consider personal hunting style. Then, the choice should be clear.
Your public hunting area has both positive and negative qualities depending on whether you hunt the opener, or wait until the closing days.
Opening Days: The Good
First, the good news about opening day. You get the jump on unpressured deer, especially for a firearm season. With advanced scouting, monitored trail cameras, and prepped ambushes, you just might score at dawn. Opening day shines as the best opportunity to waylay a buck still feeling the confidence of a noticeably quiet woodland.
Of course, plans can go awry. Your buck might have taken a detour for acorns at sunrise, but opening day brings with it another bonus—other hunters. Yes, it can be a good thing. Hunting partners and hunters on neighboring hunting properties can’t help themselves and will pressure deer as the hours and days pass. This felt pressure creates new movement in area deer.
Understanding where deer feel secure prompts hunters to set up in funnels, runways, and corridors deer use to escape danger. The HuntStand app can help thoroughly vet terrain features as potential escape routes and sanctuaries. You might get a shot at a deer boldly following a calm pattern. Or, you might get a chance at deer sneaking or fleeing from surrounding hunting pressure. This can be a great—albeit unpredictable—way to score, so have treestands set beforehand for this event.
Finally, opening weekend equals more hunters in camp and that equates to more help if you do tag out early. Friends, uncles, and aunts might be available to assist with deer removal and processing. Plus, it’s just fun to spend time with fellow hunters.
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Hunting the opener has good and bad qualities, but one good aspect is the fact you might catch deer still on a preseason routine.
Opening Days: The Bad
Although you might get the jump on deer opening morning, don’t expect the good times to last. The opener has negatives. Deer sense hunting pressure quickly. How fast deer adjust to hunting pressure varies, but it’s a sure thing.
On public lands, it could even begin days before as deer sense the increase of truck traffic and setup of hunting camps. Even best laid plans can go to pot immediately. How often have you seen hunters out bumbling through the woods the day before deer season? Deer can’t ascertain if the human presence equals danger or a casual hike, but anything out of the ordinary usually raises red flags. They vamoose.
Another negative about opening-day hunts is finding a hunting property. Not only have many properties been outright purchased and closed due to strict deer management, but even those where door knocking sometimes gains permission likely have opening-day hunters. Community friends, family, and even the landowners reserve the opener for personal hunts. The enthusiasm of opening day also means public lands will bulge at the seams with nimrods from every corner of America, particularly in hot whitetail states like Ohio, Iowa, and Missouri.
Your HuntStand hunting app does offer assistance for both the positives and negatives of the opener. First, if your plan crumbles after sunrise, open your app, and begin virtually flying over the property for your next move. The 3D Map features give you a quick flight over the area to reveal rugged areas deer might escape to. Verify it with a quick overlay of topographical lines to confirm your hunch.
The Hybrid map overlay reveals how close you are to roads and busy trails to further help you escape hunting pressure. If you’ve upgraded to Pro Whitetail, utilize the Whitetail Activity Forecast to help zero in on peak daily movement teamed with weather information to boost confidence in your next ambush move.
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Hunting pressure could force bucks to hide out and avoid you after opening day and late in the seasons.
Closing Days: The Good
Does the opener bring apprehension? Maybe the closing days of the season work better for your schedule? Don’t fall into despair over a closing-season hunt. There are some positives.
For starters, in most states with an extended season, you can expect fewer hunters afield. Fewer hunters equals less hunting pressure and that could mean deer slowly transition back to normal. Several GPS deer studies indicate deer quickly return to normal patterns, oftentimes within days, once hunting pressure wanes. Patterns discovered prior to the opening of the hunting season may re-fire.
Another benefit is that some closing days of a season overlap the end of the rut. It’s not uncommon for bucks, especially mature bucks, to slip up during their last effort to breed an estrus doe. They know the end is near and go into overtime, even abandoning their core area to get the job done. A bruiser never seen during preseason scouting could show up. Pay close attention to the nationwide Rut Map in HuntStand Pro Whitetail to identify all phases of the rut, for every corner of the country.
Late hunts also include more wintry weather. That can be a good thing in that worn-down bucks need calories. When deer sense bad weather, it can provoke a quick flurry of food plot foraging leading to success. Use HuntStand for hourly forecasts on when to be hunting to expect this benefit. Sometimes all it takes is a slight shift in the temperature to bring it from cold to frigid, and bucks will reluctantly get on the move during shooting light.
The ability to gain hunting permission can also open during the final days of deer season. Once the customary hunting crew completes their venture, some landowners don’t mind allowing others to hunt. If they complain about too many deer, offer to trim some does and it could lead to a repeat visit next season.
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Lots of hunters often defines the opening of most hunting seasons. Even so, that can lead to spooked deer, which might bump one your way.
Closing Days: The Bad
Like most things in life, bad things might follow the good. You still have some adverse elements to contend with in the late season, beginning with the fact that deer are wiser. Your hunt will typically require a dose of ninja moves combined with luck for a mature buck to cross your path. Living bucks have escaped the best hunting tactics of your brethren for weeks or months, and unless a romance sparks, they’ll continue to use a covert lifestyle to survive. Hunting near bedrooms, and even the occasional deer drive, might be your only success option. Continue to run cellular trail cameras and don’t get lazy about camera placements, as you might capture a daylighting buck with a short window of opportunity to punch your tag on him.
You don’t need Elon Musk smarts to do the math on the population difference between the opener and closer. According to information from the National Deer Association, approximately 4 million whitetails make their way into butcher paper and vacuum bags each year. A hunt in the closing hours of the season simply equates to hunting fewer deer. Expect fewer sightings that might be brief at best. Don’t let your guard down until the buzzer sounds.
Finally, waiting longer, especially in northern portions of whitetail country, increases your odds of inclement weather. A paralyzing winter storm could shut down the area with blinding snowstorms and freezing rain for several days. Use your HuntStand app to monitor the forecast for any dangerous winter weather. Despite what your predatory instincts are telling you, a deer isn’t worth frostbite or ending up in a ditch (or worse).
Each period of the hunting season has debatable attributes. Compare them to your vacation time and hunting style to determine if you need to be in the field on the opener or wait it out for a season-ending event.
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