Bowhunters get first shot
With mature bucks more predictable in early fall, archers have the advantage
Bowhunters took the field Saturday and provided the proverbial kickoff for Texas’ longawaited white-tailed deer season.
The archery-only season looks promising so far, with timely spring rains greening up much of the state with a flourish of forbs and good habitat conditions. The early cool weather has deer on the move.
The statewide archery-only season runs through Nov. 6 before giving way to the general season the next day.
This year, hunters may find more of those deer a little long in the tooth, though.
“From a statewide perspective, hunters might expect to see a higher proportion of bucks in the 6½- to 8½-year age classes as a result of above-average fawn crops in previous corresponding years while other age classes reflect a more even distribution,” said Alan Cain, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s whitetailed deer program leader.
The state’s white-tailed deer herd began a rebound from the 2011 drought with bumper fawn crops from 2012-14. Texas averaged 47, 49 and 42 fawns per 100 does in those respective years, a boom from the 29 percent fawn crop in 2011.
Archery hunters, as well as hunters benefiting from the early season dates provided by the Managed Lands Deer Program, got the first shot at these older bucks before hunting pressure alters their behavior.
A recent deer study conducted in Delaware sheds light on the possible role that age plays in the habitat bucks choose to avoid that pressure during hunting season.
The project, a collaborative effort between the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife and the University of Delaware, affirmed what researchers and hunters alike long have suspected of older, “wiser” bucks.
Over the course of four years, researchers put GPS collars on 18 bucks and 41 does of various ages in Sussex County, a mostly agricultural region with a mixture of upland forests, wooded wetlands and developed areas.
When lumped together, the data from bucks of all ages showed they were generally more selective of habitats than does and avoided roads, though little difference was seen in the hard-to-hunt wetland areas.
But when those bucks were split according to age — younger than 4½ and older than 5½ years — the data showed a stark contrast. The older bucks stayed in the swamps during hunting season. They avoided croplands and inland forests.
The younger bucks did neither.
Texas and Delaware are obviously different. But the notion of older bucks utilizing wetlands during hunting season is applicable to any landscapes that are harder to get to and therefore less pressured.
Each individual deer is different, and so is each property. That’s why Cain stresses the importance of hunters patterning their deer.
Bucks are transitioning out of their seasonal routine, finishing the disposal of their velvet and drifting from the gang of bachelors they’ve hung with all summer.
The rut hasn’t brought its influence yet, though. Bucks are easier to pattern around this time, giving early bow hunters a distinct advantage in harvesting mature deer.
“While archery hunters have the challenge of getting close enough to deer, they probably do have an advantage over rifle hunters,” Cain said.
Hannah Richardson, 25, uses that advantage on the land she hunts in Kimble County.
“During archery season it’s mainly deer coming to food,” said Richardson, a Houston nurse who has been bowhunting for about 10 years. “They’re not in the rut yet, so you don’t see the traveling bucks like you do during November-december during rifle season. Advantages to that are the bucks tend to show up more to the feeders because they’re not stressed out with chasing does around. And you see them more frequently, on a schedule.
“If you see a buck on your game camera, you’re more likely to see him during a sit, because they’re not traveling chasing does yet.”
That advantage won’t last long. As the season wears on, temperatures drop and rutting activity heats up. Bucks will become more difficult for hunters to pattern.
“The disadvantage to that is when they do start traveling, you’re more likely to see bigger, mature bucks coming around to the feeders looking for does, but they don’t hang around very long if there aren’t any does there,” Richardson said.
The Delaware study shows how hunting pressure can narrow that window of opportunity. But it does not make those mature bucks invincible.
Archers have the advantage of slipping in early after a quiet summer before bucks are driven to the deepest, darkest woods.
“Try to get out there early, take advantage of less hunters in the field,” said Cain, who added that multiple stand locations could help hunters find deer that are using different landscapes. “If hunters can take advantage of that, I think they may have some luck.”
And even if the pressure already has gotten to mature bucks, it might just take getting a little dirty to find them.