August may seem like summer to most people. But for crazy guys like me, it’s the month that unofficially kicks off deer season. No, I don’t mean it’s time to fire up the spotlight and start poaching velvet bucks. Rather, this is when I start to get serious about preseason prep work. With that in mind, here are five things you should be doing for deer season…right now.
1. STEER THEM
I can’t take credit for this little trick. That honor goes to Jeff Sturgis of whitetailhabitatsolutions.com fame. Jeff has written a number of books focused on whitetail habitat improvements (each of them I highly recommend) and many of them contain information about “steering” deer through your property.
Owning a couple of small properties (17 and 7 acres in size), I first employed Sturgis’ concept about four years ago and it has showed to be remarkably effective.
The premise is stupidly simple: Create paths where you want deer to go. Close off routes you’d rather they not use. I do this primarily with a chainsaw. The key here is walk the route first and mark it with flagging tape. Trust me, skip this step and you’ll end up with a trail that follows the path of least resistance rather than the route you had intended. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)
Now is not exactly the “ideal” time to do this (it’s much better in the early spring before the foliage and bugs get thick) but this is the last month you have to do it before opening day of bow season. (And if your season opens in September, it’s already too late.)
2. FEED THEM
The vast majority of my food plots are fall plots, which means they’re planted in late August or early September. To get things ready, it’s time to start spraying. This…
