Traverse City Record-Eagle

Dave Richey

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November 22, 2008

Dave Richey: Bagging second-season bucks

By DAVE RICHEY

The second firearm season is upon us, and many deer hunters are wondering where the animals have gone. What's that, you ask? The second firearm season?

That's right. The DNR tells us that 75-85 percent of the deer taken during the 16-day firearm season, which runs through Nov. 30, are taken Nov. 15-17. The rest of the month is the so-called second season.

It's not just cold weather and snow that makes hunting tough now. It means the whitetails are hard to find. They've been hunted reasonably hard for three days, and by Day 4 of the firearms season, any bucks and all does that remain are members of the survivor's club.

The dumb and unlucky deer fell during those first three days. Those that weren't shot heard the heavy crack of big-game rifles, and saw other deer fall. It was a quick survival course.

Surviving bucks and does learned to keep their head down, stay still, hang in heavy cover where most hunters never go and not to panic when sportsmen get close.

Bucks with massive headgear sometimes (not often enough to suit me) forget the big scare of the first three days of the firearm season. They get to thinking about those young does coming into their first estrus, and begin bird-dogging them around. More often than not, they meet up with a hunter who is dressed for bad weather and is willing to put up with cold and snow for just such an opportunity.

But, that kind of behavior isn't something we can count on. If such a thing happens, we should consider it a stroke of luck.

So, with this rhetoric behind us, and nothing but opportunities ahead, what should hunters know and how can they increase their chances of shooting a buck during this so-called second season?

Let's take a quick look at what a deer needs now, and what hunters need and what we should be doing to intercept a good buck.

-- Deer can go two or three days without feeding, but they need grub in their belly to keep going. Most deer feed heavily once the sky grows dark, and they are squirreled away in a little hiding-hole long before the sun rises on a new day.

Whitetails are never far from their winter food source, and that often is a standing corn field. Corn, during winter weather, provides two important things -- protein-rich food and cover.

The larger the corn field, the more cover deer have. Standing corn provides deer with cover, food and a hiding spot. Hunters usually find it hard to move deer out of a corn field. A well-controlled crowd of hunters consisting of drivers and standers can push a corn field, and make the deer move.

Deer feel safe and comfortable in the corn if they are facing just one hunter. One hunter on the largest deer track can go round and round all day without ever seeing the deer. Trust me, I know: I've played this solitary game too many times in the past.

Hunters should study a corn field by walking around it. Count the tracks going in and those going out, and it will provide some kind of an idea about how many deer are still inside.

-- Look for deer in pockets of heavy cover. Thick swamps or abandoned orchards often have enough cover to keep some of the cold at bay. Learn where these heavy and thick spots are, check the wind, and determine how best to move deer out to other nearby sportsmen. This is no time to be selfish; it's when hunters should work together.

Examples of other types of heavy cover are river and creek bottoms. They allow deer to get out of the wind. Creek bottoms twist and turn, and deer often bed down around a corner of the stream bed where the wind won't hit them. Marshes and cedar swamps offer great bedding areas, and such locations offer good thermal cover.

-- Sitting in a stand can work but it's not the best method unless the hunter is placed on stand and other sportsmen will try to drive deer to them. Deer won't necessarily move along the same trails they used earlier in the fall before the firearm season started.

Deer will often move through the thickest possible cover, and it's up to you to find such areas. Look for deer to use funnels which connect two heavy pieces of cover. A funnel may be narrow or 50 yards wide, but it will have thick cover at each end. Look for deer to sneak through such areas like a ghost, but remember that these animals don't have wings and can't fly. They have to leave tracks in the snow. Look for them.

Scout all likely areas, and check enough trails and you'll soon learn where deer travel. It may require an extra mile of walking, but it can lead to a buck. I know two men who are after a big buck, and they won't take a small deer because it's two miles in and two miles out. If they are going to work that hard, they want to drag out a big buck.

-- Driving deer is perhaps the best way to beat the odds at this late November man vs. deer match-up. Most deer drives are messy operations that do little except make too much noise. A good deer drive is a thing of beauty to watch as hunters gently nudge deer downwind toward waiting standers. Some people try to drive deer upwind or cross-wind, and such attempts usually fail.

A good deer drive requires three things: a parcel of heavy cover that is 100-200 yards long and no more than 40 yards wide. It must be laid out so it can be driven downwind. The third requirement is one of more good locations at the downwind end where a hunter can stand near a logical travel route through thick cover.

Such parcels of cover can be easily covered with two or three patient standers and one or two drivers. The standers must move silently and without talking to their stands at the downwind end, and remain quiet and motionless at key chokepoints. They must know they can't shoot back into cover where the drivers are coming toward them. Take a shot once the deer are away from the drivers, and the path is clear for standers to shoot. Cover with a lake or road on one side is very helpful.

The drivers wait until the standers are in position, and then they circle way around and get to the upwind end of the cover. Two men should spread out to where each person can see the edge of cover on their side and they can see each other.

They begin moving downwind in a slow, quiet manner. They take four steps, stop and stand still for 10-15 seconds, and then veer to one side or the other at a 45-degree angle for several steps, stop and pause for several seconds, and move at a 45-degree angle in the opposite direction, and go close to the edge of the cover and stop. Your partner will be doing the same thing.

Driven deer will slowly move ahead of the driver. If the hunter goes to the right, the deer will go left, and may come close to bumping into the other side-slipping hunter.

Downwind they come, a few steps at a time with frequent pauses. Be as quiet as possible. Remember the deer are trying to stay away from the moving hunters, and will try to let them pass by. The zig-zagging path each driver takes cuts off any chance of deer escaping behind them.

The deer must keep going downwind where all they can smell is the drivers trailing behind. Only one person can be the drive-master, and he should know the land being driven. He knows where deer will head when they run out of cover, and that is where the standers are placed.

When the drivers are within 60 yards of the standers, one man can caw like a crow. This alerts standers that the drivers are getting close and the deer are even closer. Often, when the deer burst out of cover, they are easily seen by drivers and standers.

It's always an exciting moment when a buck bursts out, and often the animal will be within 10 yards of the stander before he sees it. Keep in mind that the drivers are behind the deer so wait until the deer gets off to one side and in the clear before shooting.

The secret is to have a half-dozen or dozen key spots to drive, and do them right. No one should utter a word within 500 yards of where the drive will take place, and the standers must know where to go, and not leave until the drivers come out. Silent and motionless standers will shoot deer if the area is chosen well and holds deer.

I learned this mini-drive technique 45 years ago while hunting deer near Flint. Trespass wasn't a problem back then because deer hunter numbers were much lower and times were much different. Now, state and federal lands are the best spots for deer drives.

This technique is made to order for the firearm season's second hunt. It's the one sure way to take late-season bucks, but you either play by the rules or your efforts may be in vain.

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