Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 450: Foundations - Standing Water Whitetails and the H20 Connection

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Ep. 450: Foundations - Standing Water Whitetails and the H20 Connection · Wired To Hunt Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, and now your host,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Tony Peterson. Welcome to the Wire to Hunt Foundations podcast,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: brought to you by First Light. On this week's show,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I'm diving into one of my favorite topics when it
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: comes to hunting white tails, standing water, and it's connection
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: to quality deer hunting. When I make up my mind
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: to travel to hunt white tails, I fire up my
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: on X and I start looking for water immediately. It's
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: my favorite starting point for scouting and often the place
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: where I feel my tags. I love hunting white tails
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: on water patterns. In fact, I'll double down on this
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: next week and get into moving water, but on this
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: episode it's just dedicated to the strategies around hunting standing water,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: which is something every serious white tail hunter should consider,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: especially in the early season, but really throughout the entire
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: season whenever it's possible. Water is that good? My friends.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: There is an entire industry built around deer food, from
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: bags of seed corn to flavored powder you dump on
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: the ground, to all kinds of seeds that you can
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: plant in the earth that will sprout and become an
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: absolute dear magnet, provided you've given the soil enough TLC
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: and address the pH and the fertilizer needs and all
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: of that good stuff. In all of this emphasis on
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: deer calories, there isn't much of a focus on water
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: unless it's falling from the sky directly into your freshly
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: planted food plot. This, ironically enough, is because it's hard
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: to sell you what nature provides pretty regularly in most
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to the white tail range. Honestly, I feel that this
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: is a good thing, but I can't really tell you why.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I can't. I can't say why I care that the
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: industry hasn't wrapped up a deer's thirst into a bunch
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: of marketing speak and get rich quick lingo. I just
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: know I like it. Water two parts hydrogen one part
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: oxygen is out there for the deer, and you should
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: absolutely factor it into your hunting plans. Now, water in
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: itself is a pretty broad topic, so for this episode,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: I'm going to break down standing water only. Next week
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: we'll dive pun intended into moving water. Both. In my
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: humble opinion, as a deer obsessed weirdo, are often the
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: best bet for the average hunter to get around white
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: tails frequently. Now, if your parents aren't first cousins, and
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: you've got a pretty basic understanding of biology, you can
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: probably reckon that water is important to the life of
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: all white tails, and there is no time when it's
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: more pressing than when it's hot out kind of like
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: it is right now, or it should be right now,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: and we'll like cleibia throughout the rest of September and
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: often at times in October and even November and maybe December,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: depending on where you live. Even when the temperature isn't
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: unreasonably unbearable, deer still need to drink, but right now
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: and in the next few weeks. The option to set
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: up over some standing water and arrow a buck is
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: as good as it will be all season long. But
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: not all water is created equal. A cattle pond in
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the middle of a pasture without a tree in sight,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: it's a poor choice. Sure, a bunch of heifers will
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: swing through and slurp up some h two, but to
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: kill a buck there is a low odds proposition. Water
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: with no cover isn't ideal upon tucked into the top
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: of a drainage, which occurs in a lot of the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: bluffy egg heavy areas. Different story natural travel routes that
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: allow a buck to stay in the thick stuff and
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: just pop out for a quick drink our money. Other
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: than potential swirling wind issues, these places are usually real producers,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: and this only gets better with ponds that are buried
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: deeper and deeper into the cover. If you can find
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: a sink hole or a seep or something that holds
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: water in the middle of a block of timber, then
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: you are onto a spot that might just become one
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: of your favorite places to sit. This goes for areas
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: where water sources are few and far between and in
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: places where there's plenty of water options around now. Naturally,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: the more limited the water is, the better, but that's
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: not always reality. A few years ago, a buddy and
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: I made a plan to go down to Nebraska to
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: bow hunt in September one opener. It was forecasted to
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: be ridiculously hot, and we got there it was. It
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: was freaking miserable, but I wasn't worried. I had marked
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: dozens of cattle tanks throughout a few different parcels of
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  Speaker 1: public land and a few ponds. I also had a
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: small spot on a stream that I figured would be
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: pretty special. The problem was when we hiked into that spot,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: it had a fresh ladder stand on it, and it
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: had a brand new trail camera hung up right on
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  Speaker 1: the best crossing, and most of my other or stuff
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: was surrounded by more water than I realized during my
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: aerial photography scouting. The whole place was covered in water,
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  Speaker 1: and not only did that breed a super race of
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: mosquitoes that were quite inconsiderate, but it also gave the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: bucks nearly unlimited watering options. We had to pivot our
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: plan and ditch all of our scouting to focus back
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: on food, which turned out pretty well for us because
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: even though the water was everywhere, there was only one
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: soy bean field on one parcel of public land that
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: we were scouting. This is a cautionary tale, my friends,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: because it's very easy to fall in love with the
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: idea of water being the solution to all of our
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: hunting problems, especially when it's warm on It might, but
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: it might also just mean nothing to your hunting success
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: because you either don't have the right water source to hunt,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: or the water is so prevalent it really doesn't matter.
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  Speaker 1: You might also find that the water you plan to
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: hike into and sit over on your quest to shoot
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: your first velvet buck is so frequently covered in cows
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: that the dear us move on. Now. I know that
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: deer and cows will water at the same ponder tank,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: but I really have never experienced anything that made me
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: believe deer want to be around cows. They can be
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: found around them, they don't seem to like it. They
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: do mingle sometimes, but it seems like if they've got
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: the option to avoid those cows, they'll take it. In fact,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: I'll throw in a pro tip here for anyone who
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: decides they want to hunt federal land or walk in
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: land that will definitely have cows in it. Scout those
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: areas for pastures that aren't currently being graves oftentimes that
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: you'll see there's a I don't know, five thousand acre
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: walk in ranch somewhere is open to the public of
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: it is almost worthless for deer because of cattle grazing.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: But there'll be one pasture that has been left alone
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: for a few months or more. That's where you'll find
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: the deer. Lots and lots of deer. But back to water,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: there are a few things to really think about when
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: you're planning to sit with standing water as the reason
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: for your time there versus hunting some other attraction. Location
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: has been covered, get in that cover. But size of
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: the water itself is pretty important too. With good ambush options,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the smaller the better. If you've got a tiny water
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  Speaker 1: source where you can set up in a nearby tree
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: and cover it fully while staying undetected, then get ye up.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: But if you've got a small water source with questionable
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: stand trees or no trees, then you're in trouble. It
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: would probably be better off with a bigger water source
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: and more ambush options unless you can do something on
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the ground. This means that in some situations, a little
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: cattle guzzler that features a perfect cottonwood twenty yards away
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: might be dreamy. Or you might have to set up
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: on one side of a quarter acre pond and hope
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: they cruise your near side bank. It's always variable out there.
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  Speaker 1: Usually the best bet is to try to figure out
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: the likeliest approaches and cover those while being able to
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: shoot the water. This is simple enough, right sometimes it is,
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  Speaker 1: But sometimes you run into water that is getting hit hard.
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  Speaker 1: But it's really difficult to hunt. This hap been to
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: me on some public land in North Dakota. A few
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: years ago during a mid October hunt, there were two
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: cattle tanks on a huge river bottom flat that I
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: could glass. Both were positioned perfectly between betting and where
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: the deer were eventually heading to feed. The main tank
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  Speaker 1: was honestly on fire with good bucks, really good bucks
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  Speaker 1: for public land, but the closest trees were forty two
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: yards away and they were huge. There was one random
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: pine tree about seventy five yards away, but it was
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: a lost cause because there was no definitive pattern on
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: whether the bucks would pass close enough to that tree.
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  Speaker 1: What was worse was that the wind on that flat
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: seemed to always blow from the available trees and the
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: best groundcover back to where the deer would hold up
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  Speaker 1: for the day. I tried and tried to make that
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: spot work, and I couldn't do it. The secondary guzzler
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: wasn't much better, but it did have the option to
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: hang a stand and sit forty yards off of it.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Now that's not ideal, that's too far off for me
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  Speaker 1: to want to take a shot at a white tail.
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  Speaker 1: But most of the deer would drink there and then
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: they would filter through much closer to the stand tree.
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  Speaker 1: The wind was better there too, most likely because that
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: guzzler is tucked in against this huge rocky bluff which
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: channels the wind in a pretty predictable fashion. The first
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: time I sat there, I killed a three and a
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: half year old eight pointer. It was surreal, and it
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: was a good lesson that sometimes you find amazing spots
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  Speaker 1: that you just can't hunt, so you have to find
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  Speaker 1: something else, and that's something else. The plan b can
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  Speaker 1: be pretty damn good to you if in false water,
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  Speaker 1: and water sources can be like that, especially ponds. While
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: you might find a pond that was created on top
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: of a bluff where the wind is easy to play
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: and won't swirl, you'll also find ponds that are in
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the lowest of the low spots. These are tricky because
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: they tend to exist in places where deer live and
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: feel safe, but also where the thermals are pretty nasty
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: and the wind in general is going to be tough
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  Speaker 1: to play. It's easy to write these spots off completely,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: just like sitting in the bottoms of tight valleys, but
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: I don't. When I was a young bow hunter, full
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: of pisso vinegar and very light on hunting skills, I
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: sat bottoms all the time in the driftless area of
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: southeastern Minnesota. That was where the sign was. So that
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: was where I hung my stands, and I got busted
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: a lot, But I also didn't get busted a lot.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: It was so situationally variable, just like every single stand
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: set up you're going to encounter in your bow hunting career.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: A pond in the bottom of a draw might not
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: be a great option for an evening sit, considering that
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: when the air time's cool in the afternoon, the thermals
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: will sink down maybe suck your sent right to the
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: edge of that pond where you expect the year to go.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: But that same pond might be amazing for a morning
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: sit when those thermals are in reverse. The only way
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: to know this is to go in and give it
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: a shot. Carry some milkweed fluff with you or some
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: other wind checking fuzz. Watch what happens when you release
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: it into the air, and you'll get a crash. Course
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: on how erratic wind currents really are. You might also
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: realize that a hopeless spot actually isn't so bad after all.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: You might also be tempted to only hunt standing water
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: on hotter than average days look, the hotter the better
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: for white tails when you've got a good water source.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I truly believe that because I've killed a pile of
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: deer on water when it was beech weather. Obviously, if
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: it's ninety degrees on September three and you can sit
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: over a cattle guzzler, you should do that. But September
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: is a transitional month, taking us from summer to fall,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: and that means twenty five pur south winds and eighty
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: degree days to five mile pur variable winds and frost
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: on the ground in some states. What I believe about
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: those conditions and everything in between is that the deer
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: will mostly come into drink no matter what, unless they
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: get booted off of a water source. This is because
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: the real secret to water, besides H two being one
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: of the things they need to not die, is that
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: deer build it into their routine, into their travel roads.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: This lesson was absolutely driven home to me while hunting
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: north central Minnesota years and years ago. One of the
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: properties I hunted had a small cattle pond off the
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: edge of a hayfield. It also bordered a wetland that
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: was all cat tails and willows, high hummocks, amongst the
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: low ground provided killer bedding, and it was honestly one
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: of the most consistent bed to food food to bed
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: patterns I've ever found in my way till hunting career.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: It was also covered in water, yet those deer would
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: stand up and walk over to that pond to grab
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: a drink before they stepped into the field. They'd actually
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: leave a wet cat tail slew and go over and
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: water in a pond. In the morning, they'd reversed that pattern.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: They'd leave the fields and they would go hit that
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: pond before going to bed down, you know, wet cattail
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: siou it was if there was a social aspect of
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: the whole thing, or a tradition involved that they just
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: didn't want to break. There's probably a different reason for it,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: at least in some places and at some points of
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: the season. Not only do dear need water to not die,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: but plants do too, and deer eat plants, and they
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: tend to gravitate toward lush green plants versus dried up
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: yellow plants. For the as of us with pointed teeth,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: that's probably like a medium rare New York strip versus
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: a well done hockey puck of a whatever cut that
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: buck I talked about a few minutes ago that I
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: killed North Dakota. He was feeding just below the guzzler.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: That guzzler constantly leaked water out of the side, and
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: it ran downhill, creating a small band of green grass
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: and just weigh lusher growth than anywhere else within a
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: half a mile or maybe a mile. Where there is water,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: there is always the potential for lusher brows, which obviously
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: makes a location more desirable. If that pond is in
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: the cover. Now you've got three things working for you.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: The deer are gonna feel safe, they can slick their thirst,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: and they might be able to find something better to
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: eat right there than anywhere else around him. You might
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: not have a water source on a property you can hunt,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: which is a bummer. If that's the case, can you
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: put one in? Obviously you don't want to do this
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: on public land, But what if you have a private spot.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: You can go buy a landscaping pond at home Depot
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: or Menard's, and if you've got to shovel an inclination
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: towards some sweat equity, you could have a water source.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: This is best if you can get in and keep
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: it filled with water. Of course, you'll also want to
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: make sure there is a way for rodents to get out,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: which can be accomplished pretty much with a stick that
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: allows them to climb up on there if they fall in. Now,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: I know some hunters who fully believe in the creating
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: your own water game, especially folks who live down south
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: and states where baiting is legal. In the constant quest
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: to get deer on their side of the fence, they've
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: realized that while corn is ubiquitous across the countryside, at
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: least in their neck of the woods, water isn't. This
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: can be a deadly method and a hell of a
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: lot easier than establishing a food plot or in some
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: cases even running a feeder. If you do have some
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: ponds or tanks to work with, get to know them.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Even if the pond is way out in a pasture,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: not anywhere near the cover, the deer might stage in
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: the closest brusher woods, or they might just filter to
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: the nearest point on the way back in the morning,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Water where it's available and not in crazy abundance, should
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: play into your plans. On blistering hot days, seasonally expected temps,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: and even if it's colder, than average deer needed h two. Oh,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: and it's a concentrator, unlike almost anything else out there
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: on the landscape. I should I should rephrase that it's
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: a consistent concentrator. There might be a hotter, harder soft
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: mass situation going on for a week or two at
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: different points, or there might be something going on with
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: a soybean field that's just on for a certain amount
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: of time. But water is consistent throughout the season, and
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: it's easy enough to find, not only through scouting but
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: through hunting. The only question is is a specific water
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: source that you have access to truly worth hunting and
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: at what times and in what conditions? Those are the
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: questions you have to answer for yourself. But go into
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: it knowing that if you've got water available, it's going
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: to be built into the white tails travel plans, all
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: of the white tails. And you might be thinking, what
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: if I don't have a pond, What if I don't
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: have a guzzler or cattle tank. All I have is
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: this stupid streamer river and the deerk in water everywhere,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: and I hate it. Well, moving water is what the
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: next episode is all about. And while I love a
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: good tank for white tail Hunting I Love a River
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: even more, which you'll hear all about a next week's episode.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: That's it, my dear obsessed friends. Be sure to tune
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: in next week so that you can keep out smarting
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: the deer and out working your camel clad competition. I'm
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Tony Peterson and this has been the Wire to Hunt
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Foundations podcast. As always, thank you so much for the support,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: and we'll see you right here next week.