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John's Journal... Entry 171, Day 2

ROAD MAP TO WHITETAIL RENDEZVOUSES

Road Maps 3-5

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bagging a deer can be relatively easy. All you have to do is have a deer in your sights, know that your scope is accurate, make a steady squeeze on the trigger and permit your bullet to do the rest. But finding a white-tailed deer often can be difficult, although it is the most-plentiful game animal in North America. Here's some routes to follow that will direct you to a whitetail rendezvous this winter.

ROAD MAP #3: Hunt the most-productive terrain for your area. Oftentimes in hunting as in traveling, the most direct route to your destination may be through unfamiliar terrain.

"Terrain is a key factor in locating deer," Nate Dickinson, with New York's Department of Environmental Conservation, says. "In many parts of N.Y. State, the southern slopes of hills and mountains will be where most of the nut-producing trees can be found. And since these trees produce some of the most-favored food of the deer, sportsmen in our region will do best to hunt the southern slopes. But bowmen will look for some open areas too like old farmsteads that may have abandoned apple orchards on which the deer can feed. Current topo maps available from sporting goods' stores and the United States Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) will be an immense help in spotting desirable deer terrain."

According to Ron Fowler of South Dakota, "Shelter belts (windbreaks) provide both food and cover for whitetails on the edge of agricultural crops in South Dakota. So this should be some of the best terrain in our state for the hunter." In the Deep South, the edges of soybean fields and river-bottom swamps are good places for the deer hunter to travel. Horace Gore of Texas Parks and Wildlife, suggests, "Breaks in the terrain like fences and the lanes on either side of the fences will direct the hunter to more deer in the wide-open spaces of the West and Midwest."

ROAD MAP # 4: Discover the deer's preferred food source in a specific place, and take a stand close to that food source.

One of the primary routes many hunters take to deer follows a path to the deer's preferred food source. The whitetail needs 10 to 12 pounds of food per day to be satisfied. "Even deer within a state will have different, preferred food sources, "Dr. Ross Shelton of the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service comments. "The time of year and the availability of that preferred food often determine that preference. For instance in my area of the South, the deer seem to prefer persimmons, crabapples and sloes (a type of plum) during bow season in the early fall. But later on in the year, a deer in this same region will favor the white oak acorn. In parts of the state where there is no wild fruit growing, the deer's favorite food may be something entirely different. So the best information available to the hunter -- no matter what part of the country he plans to hunt -- is to find out what the preferred food is in the area he plans to hunt during the time he wants to hunt."

ROAD MAP #5: Determine if the preferred food source in a specific area is being utilized by the whitetails.

Knowing the favorite food assures the sportsman that he is on the right trail to deer. His pre-trip is over, and now the hunter is ready to travel to the woods to try and locate this food which may be agricultural crops, nuts, leaves or shrubs. Then when the food is found, the hunter must decide if there are deer in the area and if they are browsing on the food he has located.

Dale Sheffer of the Pennsylvania Game Commission explains, "Hunters can look at small trees like red maple, black cherry or young oaks in our region and determine whether or not deer are feeding on this type of browse. First look to see if the trees and shrubs have had their branches chewed-off. Rabbits often will utilize the same food source as deer. But the rabbits will cut the small branches off squarely as though with a pair of scissors. When a deer feeds on trees and shrubs, it chews and tears the ends of the branches, because a deer has no front teeth on its top jaw. If acorns and nuts are the preferred food, a hunter has to know how distinguish between squirrels and deer feeding on the nuts. Sometimes squirrels will chip the shell of the nut away to get to the sweet interior meat. But deer most often will plop the nuts in half to squeeze the meat out of the shell." And the hunter may be able to see leaves nipped on shrubs like blackberry and Japanese honeysuckle. In some places, deer select crops to feed on rather than wild food. For instance, abandoned apple orchards in New York may be excellent places to find concentrations of deer, while in the West grain fields are invaded by deer in winter. In the South soybeans draw large numbers of whitetails.

TOMORROW: ROAD MAPS 6-8

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about ROAD MAP TO WHITETAIL RENDEZVOUSES ...

Day 1 - Finding Your Deer
Day 2 - Road Maps 3-5
Day 3 - Road Maps 6-8
Day 4 - Road Maps 9 and 10
Day 5 - Road Maps 11 and 12


John's Journal