Deer Hunting Hacks for Locating a Big Buck
By Buckmasters
When it comes to scouting for whitetails, good places to start include obvious trails, pinch points and heavy cover, but if you find these things around food and water sources, you’re golden.
Food and water sources are the keys for locating whitetails. Just like humans, deer always need food and water. The hard part is determining which food and water sources are appealing at a given time of the season.
During spring and early summer, it is obvious that whitetails have a virtual buffet of food to choose from. Honeysuckle, briars, muscadines, agricultural fields ... the list goes on. However, as summer peaks and vegetation begins to dry out, whitetails tend to bounce around to the few food sources that remain palatable.
Depending on the weather in a given year, you might have luck with a good acorn crop, which will draw and hold deer in hardwood bottoms or on oak flats and ridges. As summer food sources continue to dwindle and acorn crops are gobbled up, you can still find deer moving in and around the areas they used to frequent, but the activity will not be consistent, nor profitable for hunting purposes.
That’s one big reason fall and winter food plots can make such a difference.
We shouldn’t make the mistake of applying human traits to whitetails, but one thing we have in common is we tend to take the easiest route to any goal or destination. Add in a whitetail’s need for safety and security and you can start to picture where they’re most likely to travel when moving to and from your food plots (or any food source).
You can even cut paths from their bedding areas to the food sources to encourage them to go where you want them to. Place game cameras on hot food sources, and on other food you expect will become important later in the season.
Patterning hotspots of deer activity will help you pinpoint the best stand locations and keep you on the deer throughout the entire season.