I'd set up my treestand in a soft maple at one end of an oxbow of the creek separating the property I was hunting from the huge picked cornfield on the other side. From that vantage point I knew I'd have a shot at any deer leaving the brushy bedding areas on the hill in front of me and moving down to feed in the field.
Now, however, as the buck ambled slowly down the hill in my direction, pausing to nibble at a leaf here and there, I was trying to persuade myself that the inevitable was not about to happen. "He won't come this way," I told myself, "Even if he does, I probably won't shoot. It's only my second day out and I know that big buck is around here somewhere."
These bald-faced lies were part of a trick I'd come up with to combat the attacks of buck fever that get worse instead of better the longer I hunt deer. If I could convince myself I wasn't going to shoot I might not get nervous until it was too late to miss.
It worked. As the buck passed within 15 yards of the stand I drew quickly and shot. He covered the last 100 yards from the stand to the cornfield in a few seconds, collapsing at the edge of the cornrows I'd known all along had to be his final destination. This buck, like all the cornfed deer I've shot, was sleek and fat.
Aside from hunting bucks during the rut, hunting in and around cornfields is the best way I know to take a midwestern whitetail during the archery season.
Deer have probably been raiding cornfields in the Midwest ever since the first corn plants arrived here via trade well over a thousand years ago. The wholesale conversion of the prairies to grainfields in modern times, however, has made corn the food of choice in the so-called Corn Belt states. Here in Iowa, for instance, 85 percent of all deer feed on corn, which makes up between 40 percent and 55 percent of all whitetail food in the Midwest. Deer feed on various parts of the plant throughout the year, beginning with the whorls and stalks in July after the plants reach three to four feet in height. Later, the deer will feed on the cornsilks, the leaves, and the ears themselves.
Estimates of deer damage to farmer's fields vary because it's difficult to isolate damage done by deer from that caused by other wild animals, but farmers in Wisconsin reported an average of $438 in deer damage per farm in one year. An ongoing study by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources suggests that deer damage to crops looks worse than it really is. Even so, local damage can be severe, especially when corn is planted along a narrow ridge surrounded by timber. By far the heaviest feeding activity takes place within 20 feet of the field's edge.
What does the whitetail's love of corn mean for midwestern deer hunters? First of all, more deer to hunt. Deer herds in the Corn Belt are booming, due in part to the availability of corn as an energy-rich, high protein winter food. Well-fed does regularly throw twins and even triplets, while poorly nourished deer may actually abort their own fawn or have only one. So long as midwesterners grow corn, the deer herds should grow too.
Expanding deer herds have led to extended seasons and liberalized bag limits in parts of the Midwest as well. My state recently added 23 days to the season and allowed a bowhunter to buy a second tag for antlerless deer. There's a whole generation of hunters and farmers out here too young, like myself, to remember when successful hunters had their names printed in the local paper. Bowhunters especially are finding access to prime private hunting land becomes easier as farmers worry increasingly about controlling the numbers of deer helping themselves to their crops.
Finally, the whitetail's corn diet means that anyone hoping to take a deer during the bow season will have to learn how to hunt cornfields. Like it or not, that's where the deer are going to be. Not only do they feed in the fields, but when the corn is tall, from mid-July through harvest in October, deer will use the plants for cover as well as food. A wildlife biologist told me recently: "As far as deer are concerned, timber and corn are the same thing." Radio-collared deer have been found to spend up to three days at a time in standing corn without leaving the field. After the harvest, deer patterns change. Any good strategy for deer hunting in the Corn Belt requires a different set of tactics for early-season hunting while the corn is standing and late-season hunting after the harvest is in.
With deer spending days at a time eating and bedding in standing corn you won't see too many if you take a treestand in the timber. There are a couple of tricks you can try while the corn is up, however. Try setting a stand in a tree right at the edge of a cornfield; since deer feed along field edges primarily. Some hunters dig pit blinds along field edges if there are no suitable trees nearby. Second, bowhunters where I live make a point to be in their stands before 8:00 a.m. on the last Saturday in October when pheasant season starts. They're counting on hordes of Opening Day hunters pushing through the standing corn and moving deer out of the fields and into nearby woodlots. Similarly, find out when the fields near your stand will be picked and plan to spend the day there. Every year my farming neighbors tell me about the big bucks they see running in front of their combines as they harvest the corn.
Hunting deer on foot right in the standing corn makes an exciting change of pace from treestand hunting early in the season. Called "cornstalking" by some "stalking the rows" by others, or sometimes just "going in after them", the tactic works best on a windy day when the deer won't move around much.
Dressed in quiet, camouflaged clothes, start at the downwind end of a cornfield at one corner. Peek down the first row as if you were sticking your head out an apartment door and looking down a long hallway. When you're satisfied there's nothing in the row as far as you can see (usually 30 yards or so, sometimes less, depending on how clean the rows are) step over and look down the next row. Binoculars can be a big help in picking out pieces of bedded deer among the cornstalks; many hunters don't realize what a valuable aid a good pair of binoculars is to their eyesight at short distances.
You'll find it's easy to walk quietly through cornfields. Very little actually grows between the rows if the farmer has been diligent with his chemicals and cultivating. Most of the time you'll be walking on bare dirt. What noise and motion you do make will be masked by the swaying, rustling stalks all around you. Walking across the rows, you'll find deer trails through the corn, nibbled ears, even beds where the stalks have been knocked down. You'll find plenty of sign of the coons, pheasants, turkeys, jays, and squirrels that help themselves to the field corn as well. Once you've reached the last row, mark the point that represents the edge of your vision, stalk up to it, then start back across the field.
When you do spot a deer, figure out which way it's facing and back off three or four rows. If you've spotted a doe, and you're hunting bucks, you can probably sneak past her if you use the wind to your advantage. If you have spotted a buck, move quietly up the row using gusts of wind to cover any sounds you make. Once you've stalked within range, you'll be faced with a deceptively difficult shot.
The vitals of a bedded deer present a small target even without three rows of corn waving back and forth between the deer and the hunter. If you do make the shot, you'll have pulled off one of the most difficult of all big-game hunting feats--stalking a whitetail buck in his bed.
In wet years a few fields may remain unpicked all winter. Then, you can enjoy the challenge of stalking the rows throughout the season.
Once the harvest is over, the whitetail's routine changes to what we think of as "normal." They bed in one spot and move out to feed late in the afternoon, returning to their beds in the morning. Then, taking a stand sometime in between the beds and the feeding areas becomes productive. One of the frustrations of hunting near cornfields is that preseason scouting when the corn is up may not tell you much about how the deer will act once the crop is in. A woodlot that shows little sign of deer activity may be full of fresh tracks and droppings come November. If I find even a little bit of sign on established trails in September I'll bet that deer will be using them regularly later on. The best time to scout the woodlots may well be after you've filled your tag. The deer's patterns should remain the same from year to year provided the farmer plants the same crops again.
After the corn is in deer will come the fields later so as not to expose themselves in the open during daylight hours. There are a couple of important exceptions to this general rule, however. Deer frequently become active for a time around noon. Just yesterday I drove past a picked cornfield and counted five deer feeding near the edge. I checked my watch; it was 11:56 a.m. Deer will also lie up during a storm and begin feeding hungrily as the front passes, regardless of the time of day. Even so, I like to set my treestand back in the woods some distance from the field where I think the deer are going to feed. That way I stand a much better chance of getting a shot in good light and still have enough time to track my deer before dark.
The stand at the edge of the oxbow I mentioned earlier guards a natural funnel between the area where deer bed and the cornfield. Even though the oxbow has been dry for two or three years now deer still skirt it on their way to the fields. In the same way, they'll cross a fence at the same low spot every time even though they can easily jump the fence anywhere along its length. Such a low spot makes a good stand location in farm country, as do creek crossings.
Being in the right place at the right time won't do you any good if the deer know you're there. Although a treestand keeps you above the deer's line of sight, and to some extent keeps your scent away from their keen noses, deer can smell you even if you're up in a tree. For several years I didn't believe this was true until one morning I watched a doe walk slowly up to my stand in an oak tree along a fenceline. She jumped as if she'd touched an electric fence at the same moment I felt a gust of wind at my back. Since then, I've always tried to have two stands to hunt from, one that will work well in a northwest wind and one for a south wind.
Even if there's no wind at all, air currents can still carry your scent to the deer. In the morning, the sun warms the air and it will rise up the hill, carrying your scent with it. Late in the day, as the air cools, it will flow downhill like water. Therefore you should try to position yourself uphill of deer in the morning and downhill in the afternoon.
There is one more way deer can smell us, which has nothing at all to do with the wind. If you've ever watched a lost dog put its nose to the ground to find your scent and trail its way back to you, you can appreciate the "footprints" we leave behind us for deer to smell. Wear rubber boots and try not to walk across or, worse, along trails you plan to hunt. I learned this lesson from another doe, this one with two fawns in tow. All three deer had passed directly beneath my stand and were feeding contentedly when the doe reached the spot where I'd crossed the trail walking in. Suddenly, she put her nose to the ground, stamped, snorted, and led her fawns bounding away through the woods.
Despite making mistakes like that one from time to time, midwestern bowhunters enjoy a high success rate--around 33 percent in my state, for instance. Plan to hunt the cornfields early and late, from a treestand and on the ground, and you'll have an even better than one in three chance of dragging home a cornfed buck this fall.
There is no better camouflage than being quiet, keeping the wind in your face, and avoiding sudden movement. Nevertheless, matching your pattern to your surroundings will help you remain hidden from sharp-eyed deer. Hunters already accustomed to dressing like trees should consider trying to look like cornstalks when hunting deer in the fields. Vertical camouflage makes sense in standing corn--waterfowling patterns designed to blend into cattails should work equally well in corn.
Trebark Khaki a tan version of the famous bark pattern, matches dried cornstalks nicely. The traditional brown duck hunter's camouflage also makes a good choice for hunting in standing corn. The tan background closely approximates the color of dried stalks and the black and brown spots blend well with the broken patterns of light and shadow among the standing corn. Cabela's Brush and Western patterns look good in cornfields, too.
Some experienced cornfield hunters prefer all-white coveralls if there is snow on the ground. They believe white gives them an advantage up close, since bedded deer will be looking up at them and a dark camo pattern would stand out against a gray sky. Hunters hesitant to wear all white might want to look at some of the predominantly white "snow" patterns on the market, like Trebark Snow or Cabela's new Horizon pattern. These light patterns can prove surprisingly effective in a treestand if the hunter is silhouetted against the gray winter sky.
Even if you don't wear camouflage clothes, hide your face, since your head will move continually (albeit slowly) as you watch for game. Headnets work, but they sometimes obstruct vision and I don't like they way my breath condenses on the netting and makes the mask wet when I'm already cold. Recently I discovered Bear Camolite powder, which I find to be more comfortable and less shiny than camo creams.
Where to Get Product Information:
Bear Archery, 4600 SW 41 Blvd. Gainesville, FL 32601 (Camolite Powder)
Cabela's, 812 13th Ave. Sidney, Nebraska 69160 (Horizon, Brush, Western, Cattail and other patterns)
Trebark, 3434 Buck Mountain Rd., Roanoake, VA. 24014 (Information on Trebark Snow and Khaki patterns)
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