Bow Jangles
New Member
I’ve got a few questions for you guys that have hunted snow and cold weather all of your lives.
Here’s the situation. I consider myself a pretty experienced whitetail hunter as I’ve been doing it my entire life. However, since I moved from SE Georgia to the Midwest almost 2 years ago, I’ve been reminded many times just how much I still have to learn. To say that the hunting is different here than it is in the pine forests of home would be a major understatement. I have wanted to hunt after a snowfall for my entire life and it looks like Thursday may be my first opportunity.
I live a little north of KC in Missouri and I woke up to about 4” of the white stuff this morning. They are predicting another 3-5” throughout the day today and another 2-4” overnight. We could wind up with around 8-12” on the ground before it is all said and done. Wednesday is supposed to bring very cold temps (15* for the high) and high winds out of the WNW (20-30 mph sustained).
Thursday morning is predicted to dawn clear and cold (3*) with light winds (5-8 mph) out of the WSW. The high temps are supposed to reach 25* and it supposed to be sunny. My thoughts are that the cold temps and high winds will keep the deer bedded down for much of the day on Wednesday and that they should move like crazy around daylight Thursday morning. I know that they will have to feed with it being that cold and that the daytime movement should be good.
The property is about 1200 acres and we have about 600 acres of beans, 300 acres of corn, and 300 acres of contiguous timber. There is a major timbered draw (approx. 300 yards wide) that runs N/S along the West side of the corn field (cow pasture to the west of it) and a secondary timbered draw (approx 100 yards wide) that runs E/W along the North side of the corn. The secondary draw divides the corn and the beans.
Our corn was harvested the week of Thanksgiving and the beans were taken out in early November. We haven’t hunted very much since the corn came out and when we have, movement has been pretty slow (very surprising!). I’ve never had the opportunity to bowhunt in conditions quite like this. Experience and logic tells me that Thursday should be good after the passage of a major front, but I could be dead wrong.
What are your thoughts?
Would corn or beans be more productive with snow on the ground (I’m thinking corn as we have a ton of spillage)?
Would it be wise to hunt Thursday morning, or would you spend this time scouting for obvious trails to LW on in the evening? (I hope the single digit temps don’t last too long!)
Would you hunt the edges of corn/bean fields, or would you try to position yourself in the timber between the crops and known bedding areas?
I am after a mature buck, but quantity is my focus on this hunt. I may actually take a doe, but my thoughts are that we still have a few left to be bred and that a mature buck would have a hard time not checking/following a big group of does. In my three seasons of hunting the midwest, I've noticed that bucks will a lot of times mingle with large groups of does during the late season. Is this a fair assumption?
Any thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks for helping a Southern boy out!
Here’s the situation. I consider myself a pretty experienced whitetail hunter as I’ve been doing it my entire life. However, since I moved from SE Georgia to the Midwest almost 2 years ago, I’ve been reminded many times just how much I still have to learn. To say that the hunting is different here than it is in the pine forests of home would be a major understatement. I have wanted to hunt after a snowfall for my entire life and it looks like Thursday may be my first opportunity.
I live a little north of KC in Missouri and I woke up to about 4” of the white stuff this morning. They are predicting another 3-5” throughout the day today and another 2-4” overnight. We could wind up with around 8-12” on the ground before it is all said and done. Wednesday is supposed to bring very cold temps (15* for the high) and high winds out of the WNW (20-30 mph sustained).
Thursday morning is predicted to dawn clear and cold (3*) with light winds (5-8 mph) out of the WSW. The high temps are supposed to reach 25* and it supposed to be sunny. My thoughts are that the cold temps and high winds will keep the deer bedded down for much of the day on Wednesday and that they should move like crazy around daylight Thursday morning. I know that they will have to feed with it being that cold and that the daytime movement should be good.
The property is about 1200 acres and we have about 600 acres of beans, 300 acres of corn, and 300 acres of contiguous timber. There is a major timbered draw (approx. 300 yards wide) that runs N/S along the West side of the corn field (cow pasture to the west of it) and a secondary timbered draw (approx 100 yards wide) that runs E/W along the North side of the corn. The secondary draw divides the corn and the beans.
Our corn was harvested the week of Thanksgiving and the beans were taken out in early November. We haven’t hunted very much since the corn came out and when we have, movement has been pretty slow (very surprising!). I’ve never had the opportunity to bowhunt in conditions quite like this. Experience and logic tells me that Thursday should be good after the passage of a major front, but I could be dead wrong.
What are your thoughts?
Would corn or beans be more productive with snow on the ground (I’m thinking corn as we have a ton of spillage)?
Would it be wise to hunt Thursday morning, or would you spend this time scouting for obvious trails to LW on in the evening? (I hope the single digit temps don’t last too long!)
Would you hunt the edges of corn/bean fields, or would you try to position yourself in the timber between the crops and known bedding areas?
I am after a mature buck, but quantity is my focus on this hunt. I may actually take a doe, but my thoughts are that we still have a few left to be bred and that a mature buck would have a hard time not checking/following a big group of does. In my three seasons of hunting the midwest, I've noticed that bucks will a lot of times mingle with large groups of does during the late season. Is this a fair assumption?
Any thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks for helping a Southern boy out!