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OCTOBER- strategies that REALLY WORK

Iowabowtech's answer was excellent!

Of course October bow hunting has to be over the top, it's freekin' hard!!!!!!!!!! Hardly anyone I know has a solid approach (other than luck- which we all need).

My biggest reason for NOT HUNTING OCTOBER was to save my November stands (which I still will) BUT now I'm trying to get some stands that are pretty much dedicated to this tough time right by my house here.

If I only had one property to hunt with limited stands- I truly believe hunting in October does you more harm than good IMO, especially if you're hunting food plots and kicking deer off food- mature bucks and seeing them- say "Bye-bye".

I know a small handfull of guys with a sweet and proven october strategy for MATURE bucks and the above answers make me think there's a few more. Any more suggestions?!?!?! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
I decoyed in a shooter a couple years back in WI on October 2. He and another buck were coming out into a beanfield in a really tricky spot (wind-wise)so I backed off of that a couple hundred yards into a tree line. Faced the deke at their entry point. The one buck came out solo that evening. Fed in the field for a little bit, then I grunted at him once. He snapped his head up and trotted into the decoy. His exit path was shorter and, um, a little more difficult for him...

Date was Oct 2. In WI, mid- to late-September is when bachelor groups are breaking up. Bucks relocate and encounter other deer they haven't "played" with in velvet. That's my theory on the decoy thing.

Killed my biggest buck last week of Sept in MN. on an oak flat. Simple bed-to-feed pattern. But as others point out, it's a tightrope walk. Kind of swinging for the bleachers. You fall short of the fence, better play in another ballpark for a couple days... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Kind of swinging for the bleachers. You fall short of the fence, better play in another ballpark for a couple days... </div></div>

Well said /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif

I've watched deer literally walk around the combine and head over a few rows several times over before the field was finally complete. That last pass can be a real eye-opener, pheasants deer, rabbits, coyotes...all in the same spot...WHY? well the obvious answer is food, coyotes there to eat the others so factor him out, why besides food though? SAFETY. It would be damn tough to go undetected through 15,20,80 acres of dry standing corn (while using the wind) to get to a mature buck. When they're holding in the standing corn, it's because they know they're safe.

If there is other standing corn adjacent to the field that's being harvested, you can just about bank on the deer heading that way. Find the right timber line 'pinch-point' between two standing corn fields (with one that's being harvested) and you might have a good chance at seeing a big one.

I don't have much land to hunt so I spend my early Oct days shooting does over hay fields.
 
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