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Early season, is it to hot?

I wish we had an early season in AL. Our season doesn’t come in until Oct 15. It usually is still warm down here at that time, but they have moved off of the easily patterned summer food sources. No matter the weather though, I’ll be in a tree on Oct 15 with my thermacell.
 
I rarely hunt mornings til late October. But, if temps are unseasonably warm, mornings early season can be productive. It seems the bucks dilly dally around a little longer, in the morning coolness and stay in their bed later into the evenings when it is hot for that time of year. Deer are deer and have to eat and drink regardless of temps, so all else equal, I don't let the heat stop me.
 
In the past I have rarely hunted mornings early season(September here in NC) - but this year I am going to give the mornings a good try and have picked out some good morning spots...The mornings are definitely cooler than afternoons so should make for some good deer movement and like Davet said they still gotta eat, drink, etc...
 
Longbowwally said:
In the past I have rarely hunted mornings early season(September here in NC) - but this year I am going to give the mornings a good try and have picked out some good morning spots...The mornings are definitely cooler than afternoons so should make for some good deer movement and like Davet said they still gotta eat, drink, etc...
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I have always found access in the mornings to be the hardest part. I just purchased a kayak so I am going to try to use it to backdoor some bedding areas. I’m also going to try to use the kayak on Saturdays to “hunt the normal hunters” and sneak into secluded areas in anticipation that deer would be pushed into those areas from normal hunter road/trail access.
 
Kurt said:
I was stationed at Ft. Bragg in NC so I did get "enjoy" chiggers for a little while. I'd get bit up some, but I had a friend named Tom who was heavy set and hairy as hell and the chiggers did love him. They'd tear him up. That's one little bug I was happy to leave with you all.
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Never fails anytime I take shortcuts through fields I get chiggers all over my feet and ankles.
 
About 10 years ago some of my family from Florida came to visit and one evening we decided to go run some trotlines and campout on the riverbank. Well one of them had to go handle some business, so he took a roll of toilet paper and took off into the woods. Next day we had noticed him scratching some but didnt think nothing about it, that evening he asked us about this rash on his legs and stomach and it was the worst case of chiggers I'd ever seen! He must of sat right in a chigger nest, bet he had 100 bites, got him some bleach and had him take a bath and that cured that. He's fair skinned and red headed so the bites were super noticeable. He still talks about it everytime he comes to visit lol
 
I’ve killed 10 in the SE with temps being 95+ my best bow kill for Ga came on a 98 afternoon I killed a doe at 99 hottest I’ve ever hunted.
 
My favorite time to hunt early season before the crowds come out,I like morning hunts best heat is not a issue
 
I like early season...

1. Less guys in the woods on public lands
2. Deer are still on a pretty natural pattern for the first few weeks
3. Got a chance at getting one in velvet yet the first couple weeks in WI
4. Any time in the woods is good time. Can’t see em and shoot em from the couch
5. The thermocell and some bug spray keeps the skeeters manageable
6. Fall in WI is beautiful, Just can’t wait another month to get after it.
 
Usually the first 2 days of Michigan's bow hunting season I will hunt the mornings but after that it's usually just evening hunts till later in the month of October. The evening hunts I will sit earlier though cause even in the heat I've seen deer movement or managed to shoot a deer.
 
I'll be out regardless if it's hot or not. If the bugs are bad I'll spray down for them and head out. I love bow hunting to much to let some warm weather stop me..
 
dpierce72 said:
Great video!

I hunt early season and believe that if you can catch a buck BEFORE the acorns drop, you have a great chance at establishing a reliable pattern. Clearly, the earlier season opens in September, the better the odds of this working in your favor.

Things I hate more than hunting the early season heat are
  • mosquitoes
  • chiggers
  • poison oak/ivy
  • ticks
  • snakes
BUT ...I'm still after 'em!
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You forgot spiders. I was in the woods on a test climb last month and after five minutes, I was bitten in the back of my leg. I wear long pants now.
It is almost completely healed. There were spider webs everywhere I turned.
 
bj139 said:
You forgot spiders. I was in the woods on a test climb last month and after five minutes, I was bitten in the back of my leg. I wear long pants now.
It is almost completely healed. There were spider webs everywhere I turned.
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Ugh ...And if I was typing this the last couple days, I might say the heat IS THAT BAD too. Good grief there is a lot NOT TO LIKE about summer!

I had two snake encounters saturday - Cottonmouth and and rattlesnake!
 
I have videos of deer on their feet (and have seen it personally) above 100 degrees. They have to move sometime. They may not move far, and it may revolve around water, but they will move.
 
I don’t care hot or cold, if it’s deer season, it’s deer season! I’m gonna be hunting
 
fbwguy said:
I don’t care hot or cold, if it’s deer season, it’s deer season! I’m gonna be hunting
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Yep

Can’t kill from the couch, or atleast I can’t from my city slicker house



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yall can't kill 'em from the couch but we sure did whack our first doe last year from my back window. It was probably the easiest hunting experience my oldest daughter will ever have in her life. We had four does that frequented our back yard and she got to watch one evening from the air conditioning as I sent a luminok down the stairwell and out the back window. It was her first time witnessing a harvest and I think she was just as pumped as I was watching the glow pass through both lungs and stick in the dirt. She had just come inside the front door from being out at the grocery with Mama. She may have been standing there with me at the top of the steps for 2 minutes total.

Not a couch shot, but 2 minutes from the air conditioning isn't bad either. :)
 
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