It doesn’t have to be all ghouls and ghosts this Halloween for hunters out there.
Instead of roaming the streets covered in sheets and cheap plastic masks, let’s go back to where we want to be: the woods.
Hunting in late October and early November is a unique time that requires unique actions if you’re going to bag the deer of your dreams.
Here’s a few tips to make it happen.
Find The Right Target
Depending on your area and the weather, you may want to target something else this Halloween.
Nowadays the weather is warmer so you often have bucks on the move earlier in the day. At night, it’s smarter to figure out where all the does are hanging out and hunt there.
Obviously this can change if you are experiencing a cooler period than normal so you should do a little research to figure out the proper movements and activity levels of deer in the morning so you can respond best at night.
Find Water
If you’re hunting in the evening, try to find a source of water to set up near. This is useful if you can’t find any clear transitions or just aren’t comfortable hunting from them. (We’ll get to transitions in a moment.)
Water is going to be very important during these times for both bucks and does. This is even more important with the warmer than normal weather during November.
Bucks and does are simply more active during this time and thus require more water. But don’t just look for any water, look for the signs of movement near the water. The more signs you see the more the deer use this water source.
Find Food
We already talked about finding water. But you also want to find where the deer are eating. Once you find the right water source with signs of action, you’ll want to look for the same signs of action but near food. This will usually be in a place that is higher than the water source; deer tend to want to eat acorns and such higher up so they can see threats, like you, better.
This leads us to…
Transitions
Deer are going to be on the move a lot around Halloween. Often there will be the spot they feed, the spot they drink, and the spot they hangout.
When you find the place they eat and the place they drink, you have a huge advantage over them.
Instead of taking a shot at one of these spots, find the places that connect them. Deer will travel on safe, high ground areas between these spots often. If you’re set up in these transition spots you’ll have access to both groups.
Sleep In
You don’t need to be up and out by 3 am to have a successful hunt this Halloween. At night, the bucks and does are very busy. This usually means the mature ones you want to bag will rest up a little bit before going on the move again, like 9 to 10 am is when they’ll start. This means if you don’t want to waste your time, you too should plan for a later day.
This Halloween, when others are out ghost hunting, we can be real hunting. And it’s a special time, hunting during Halloween. It is a moment between two types of seasons and you must adjust for both in order to have your best chance to catch a buck. It’s a truly fun experience if you’ve never done it.
But it is safe to say, once you start hunting on Halloween, you won’t be trick-or-treating ever again.