Tips to Improve Whitetail Deer Hunting

via Habitat Improvement
and better tactics.

A little about me.

Path of Least Resistance my cousin, Tim, and I both love deer hunting. So decades ago when we lived around the corner on our parent's adjoining farms we discovered that we could steer the deer via making deer paths. We simply had to ensure the path we made was a better path - a path of least resistance compared to their natural deer paths. We did that with a PTO driven Bush Hog on my parent's loader tractor. And it worked VERY well - typically the deer started using our path of least resistance within 24 hrs of when we made it.

Set up a PRIVATE all you can eat buffet with LOTS of food choices NOT just a single food choice. Private so the deer feel safe to eat there during daylight hours. If your all you can eat buffet is a wide open field viewable from several houses and every car/truck coming down the road then once hunting pressure starts the deer will not be very likely to use it during daylight hours - while they may well still use it in the dark. There are two DIY food plot seed mixes/recipes from 2001 and 2004 - each of which worked well if you scroll down past the list of tips. Personally I would NOT purchase ANY seed mix which contains Ryegrass. Winter Rye is good/fine. Ryegrass is a noxious and potential invasive WEED in a foodplot - it greens up fast but is of low value to deer so that tells you something about any company that puts it in their seed mix.

Ensure they have Water they can access in PRIVATE even if they have plenty of nearby water out in the open. If you will provide water they feel safe accessing during daylight because it is in cover then it may just surprise you how much they will use it. I favor finding a low spot in the woods - a spot that during wet seasons pools water but during dry seasons does not have water there. I use lenghtwise split HDPE 55 gallon drums and via digging sink them into the ground in that wet spot so the rim is at the soil surface. I want them to be naturally filled as much as possible. I found from hard experience they would tend to float out of my hole during wet spells - so I now put a large rock in them as a weight and that has completely stopped the floating out issue/problem. And yes I put a "critter stick" in them so any little critter or bird that falls in has a way to rescue itself and get out rather than drowning because it cannot scale the slippery HDPE sides. The critter stick needs to be longer than the "tank" so it can touch the bottom at the far end and stick out over the top edge on the opposite end of your "tank." I do NOT want the "tank" very deep - because if a fawn steps into it I don't want the fawn to drown because it cannot get out. I like to have two barrel halves duge in fairly close together end to end - so that one water source has close to fifty gallons of water. And while MOST years I never put a drop of water in my in the woods water source because Nature keeps it from going dry - I have had two recent Falls where I needed to put a LOT of water in it to ensure the deer always had a PRIVATE water source. One particularly dry Fall I had to add 90 gallons - another particularly dry Fall it took 260 gallons (which strongly suggests more deer were using it.) Especially when it gets dry - WATER (in a private place they feel safe accessing during daylight) is super important for deer and other wildlife. And yes I filled it right during hunting season - I checked it as Cowboy Jack - I filled it as Farmer Jack and TrailCam photos showed deer drank out of it within hours of me filling it even during hunting season in this HIGH hunter pressure part of Michigan's Zone 3. Most often TrailCam photos show does and fawns using the water source. A number of 1.5yr old bucks also show up on TrailCam photos. It has been a lot more rare to see older bucks using the water source even when other TrailCams indicate they did get close enough to notice it. If the does are there - the older bucks will be coming to check on their state of estrus during the rut.

Roles you play matter. Stay in character in each role you play where you hunt. Don't be sloppy in any role. When I am being Hunter Jack the deer have EVERY reason to fear me - they should avoid me - so as Hunter Jack I need to ensure I do NOT leave my scent where these cold tracking deer (as good or perhaps better than a bloodhound) can figure out my pattern(s) even if they are doing it a day or two AFTER I am not on stand. Yes I need to be that kind of careful. I need to ensure that my stand choice that moment does not have my scent - even my intentionally reduced scent - wafting right into a bedding area or wafting right across a trail or trails the deer may approach that area on. ---- But there are other roles I play when I candidly am NOT the least bit careful about not leaving scent. I am a colt starting horse trainer - and in the role of Cowboy Jack I am OFTEN - many times a week riding trails around and through my woods - the deer get used to seeing Cowboy Jack riding a horse and sometimes ponying another horse or two off the ridden horse. Yes if they get surprised they may run off a bit. But they also have MANY times just stood and watched me ride by - sometimes within 50 feet of them. I check my water source in the role of Cowboy Jack on his horse. I change my TrailCam batteries as Cowboy Jack who rode in on his horse - and only left human boot scent between the saddle bags on my horse and the TrailCam - NOT a big trail of human boot scent. When my water source needs filling during a particularly dry Fall a 55 gallon drum/barrel of water and a 15 gallon Carboy of water are ratchet strapped into the loader of my diesel tractor and I fill the water source using two siphons in the role of Farmer Jack - who is always driving a noisy diesel tractor so they can move out and not get startled in the core area of my woods where I want them to feel safe. They can hear and smell when Farmer Jack is present and when he is leaving and that is exactly how I want things when I am playing the role of Farmer Jack. The Farmer Jack role is also used when topping off weeds so they do not go to see in my clover plots in the woods. Another role is Lumberjack Jack - noisy smelly chainsaw work and if I am walking in or pushing a wheelbarrow in because it is too wet to drive the tractor in then I have something playing loud on my phone to give the deer plenty of warning that Lumberjack Jack is coming - again not wanting to startle them in the core area where I want them to feel safe. Basically I am training the local deer that Cowboy Jack, Farmer Jack, and Lumberjack Jack are safe - you don't really need to worry about their scent - their scent may actually mean buds or leaves on a tree top is now down at deer height OR water is available. And then as Hunter Jack I am doing my best to ensure my scent path and scent cone emanating from me (despite all my careful scent reduction efforts) does not mess up future hunts by teaching deer my pattern(s.)

Don't bump deer going in NOR coming out - be that careful in how and where you enter and how and where you exit. Make it your goal to not bump any deer going in nor coming out. Make your route in and out dead quiet as possible. And whether the ground is quiet or covered with crunchy leaves - mimic how deer walk - take a few steps (3-5), stop and look around a bit (count to 15-30 not always same count), take a few steps, stop and look around a bit. Sound like a deer moving in instead of sounding like a human (apex predator) moving in. Deer stop to eat a little here and there while travelling PLUS stop to look for predators. You mimic how they move so your movement sounds like a deer moving.

Use the Farmer bump when you pretty well know you will bump deer on the way out after an evening hunt because your only access is across a farm field which deer eat in every evening. Drive a diesel tractor in - does not have to be as large as most farm tractors - needs to sound like a diesel tractor - needs to move slow like one - and park it out of sight of your stand - then drive it back out when you get off the stand - yep, you will bump the deer but they will forgive the Farmer Bump while you will make them VERY wary if you bump them as a Hunter walking out from a hunting stand.

Make a visual barrier so that you cannot be seen by deer as you move into your stand. Sound like a deer when you walk that path where the deer cannot see you. ---- Visual barriers around a small woodlot or around your small portion of a larger woodlet can GREATLY increase deer travel in that small part of the woods - they feel safer if there are several ways in and out but the sight distance is serious cut down. Our 3-1/2 acres of woods which is part of a larger woods with parts owned by several neighbors has a tractor path just inside our border which is planted to several types of clover (linear food plot) then a visual barrier hingecut which is getting thicker and thicker as the years go by and I keep working to maintain and improve it. Inside that visual barrier is natural food year round and water available all but during frozen times of the year and COVER. Yes make the interior of your little part of the woods a place that at any time of day or night a deer can go to eat, drink, or sleep - and feel safe while doing so.

Mind the wind - the wind changes during the day - the wind changes because of topography - the wind changes because of barriers such as woodlands - LEARN to pay attention to the wind - LEARN to ensure that you scent does not get carried to the deer you are trying to hunt while you are moving in, on stand, or moving out. Mind the wind. Some claim "forget the wind, just hunt" but are you as meticulous as they are in your scent reduction regime? Probably not. Mind the wind.

Help the deer feel safe and the deer will go there more often and more likely during daylight. Make the deer feel unsafe and they will go there less and perhaps only in the dark. Ponder hard on how you make the deer feel unsafe to be where you hunt. Ponder even harder on what you need to do to make the deer think there is NO predatory threat while you, an apex predator, are hunting them. Full-time predators are not successful by hunting sloppy and leaving clues that tell their prey they are in the area hunting them. And if you want to be a good deer hunter (part-time predator) you have to be even more careful especially if you have only a small area to hunt - you just cannot afford to tip off the deer that you are hunting them. You have to let them feel safe from predators so they will frequent your small part of the woods during daylight (hunting) hours - because it really does not matter how many deer use your land in the dark - it matters how many use it during hunting hours.

Calls can work

Sometimes being quiet is best

Sit BEHIND the tree

Open up the canopy - Let sunlight hit the ground

Cuddelink cuts down trips to TrailCams

Two DIY food plot mixes/recipes from 2001 and 2004 both of which worked VERY well in Michigan

In May 2001 - Jack Griffes and Tim Neil worked out this "recipe" and planted it in a "lots of daylight reaches the ground" meadow in a woodlot in Ingham County, MI. We were amazed to have deer eating Canola/Rape in this food plot in the woods while the corn was ripe in the fields bordering that woodlot. It was a PRIVATE all you can eat buffet.

Whitetail deer food plot mix - Griffes/Neil version (2001 prices)

Seeds designated as "raw" are NOT coated with the inoculant they require to do their BEST - the others are rhizocoated (inoculant coated)- you can buy inoculant for the raw seed - we did not though it is cheap - we figured we had enough inoculant coated seed to pull us through but it is possible that we don't have the proper inoculant for the raw seed on our coated seed - we should likely look at that aspect more carefully in the future and advise you to now. Remember that this planting was designed to grow in the Midwest - in mid-Michigan - if you live somewhere with a vastly different climate you may need a different recipe we ordered from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply PO Box 2209 Grass Valley, CA 95945 toll free ORDER line (888) 784-1722 www.groworganic.com 43,560 square feet = One acre (thinking that maybe if you aren't a farm boy or girl you may not have that tidbit of info permanently etched in your memory) we planted a 1/4 acre clearing in a mixed hardwoods woodlot (sunlight must reach the ground for the food plot to grow) -- we broadcast planted (with a strap carry broadcast seeder) the seed very thick after bush-hogging, plowing, discing ---- if we had drilled in the seed we probably could easily have planted one acre --- if you broadcast you MUST plant thick Rape grows fast - is favored as food for whitetail deer and seemed to act as a nurse crop for the legumes as well. When they come eat rape while ripe corn is in the field right next door you KNOW it has draw power. The various legumes reach peak draw power (their highest palatability) at differing times - to "keep 'em coming" to this high protein feast. Chicory is a high mineral herb - we included it in our mix because it takes lots of minerals to make a nice set of antlers. You can use "Roundup" to kill existing weeds, then wait a couple weeks and broadcast (or hydroseed should be better) without tilling if tillage equipment cannot get on site. So if you are interested in improving your deer hunting prospects now you have our recipe - put it to use. Then please let us know how it works for you by emailing your results to jsgriffes@yahoo.com --- Thanks.

Rusty's Mixture from August 2004

- received the following email from a fellow Michigander that has been working on food plots in his area - quoted in its entirety below.

---- begin quoted email - including Rusty's Mixture" ----

"I found your website yesterday when I was searching with Google to find out more about Canola (Rape) seed. I have experimented with several food plots on our hunting property in Alpena County for about 3 or 4 different planting seasons. So far, the plot that has worked best for us was Whitetail Imperial No Plow (the deer ate it right down to the soil) legume mixture. I believe that the key to No Plow's success is the fact that it is a "mixture" of legume types/flavors. At the same time, we planted the regular Imperial Whitetail Clover (basically one clover type) and the deer hardly touched it whereas they whacked the No Plow mixture. Again, I believe that this is back to flavor preference thanks to soil pH. With a mixture your odds are better that there will be at least on flavor that the deer prefer given you unique local pH. I am convinced that soil pH causes each plant type to taste more/less bitter to the deer. And this is why the deer tear up food plots in one locality but completely skip it in another. I know when I eat, I always prefer what tastes best and I'm sure that the deer prefer taste in addition to protein content. Certainly there are other factors too such as soil type (sandy, loamy, wet, dry), overall climate, length of growing season, other local agricultural crops available for browse, etc., etc., that also factor into a particular food plot success too. Experimentation is 100% the key.

My latest experiment is listed out below (dubbed 'Rusty's Mixture'). My goal is to create a 'salad' of different flavors to sample to improve the overall draw of the food plot.

Rusty's Mixture (the following mixture is per acre; amount in parenthesis is for my 4 - 5 acre plot):