Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 435: Foundations - Developing a Whitetail Grocery List

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Ep. 435: Foundations - Developing a Whitetail Grocery List · 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. Hey everyone, welcome to the Wire to Hunt
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Foundations podcast, which is brought to you by First Light.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: This week's episode is dedicated to understanding one of the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: key factors that dictates nearly every day of a buck's life, hunger.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: One of the things I've noticed is I get deeper
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and deeper into my white tailed career is that I
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: find myself thinking about dear food more and more. This
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: is probably because I usually don't wait for the rut
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: to solve my unfilled tag problems, which means most of
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: what I've concerned with deer wise is what are they
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: going to eat on a daily basis and where are
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: they going to do it in a way that keeps
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: them safe. That's what this week's show is all about,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: and I think it's a good one because no matter
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: where you hunt them, understanding what's on a buck's menu
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: throughout the season is usually the key to staying in
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: the game and having more encounters. Hey, everybody, Welcome to
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the Wire to Hunt Foundations podcast, brought to you by
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: First Light. I'm your host, Tony Peterson. Today's show is
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: all about the groceries. We're right in the middle of
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: the summer when there is more dear food out there
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: than there will be at any time of the year.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: This is a prime time to take a good look
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: around to see what the deer in your neighborhood should
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: be mowing down on during various parts of the hunting season.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: These groceries will play into your scouting plans, your hunting plans,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: and just about every decision you make dear wise. It's
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: also intel that you can build off of in future years.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: If you know or suspect a banging ache on crop
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: this season, for example, you've been there and done that
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: in the year's past, and ever evolving understanding of current
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: deer food, along with past experiences and how deer used
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: available calorie sources, will really help you round out a
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: higher level hunting game. This is because bucks live by
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: their stomach for like forty nine weeks each year, while
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: the will to live and they drive to pass on
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: their genes can override their immediate needs for some calories.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Nothing is as constant in a deer's life as food.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: He might alter the time of day he eats due
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to hunting pressure, but he's going to eat. The only
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: time he might go really hungry for a few days
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: or longer is during the heart of the rut, But
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: for most of the hunting season, you've got to understand
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the food sources you're dealing with, and even during the rut,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: the does aren't going to step out of the buffet line,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: which means you know where the bucks will often concentrate
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: some of their searching. Concentrate some of their searching because
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be around food sources, even if their motivation
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: isn't about getting a belly full of clover or corn.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: To start with this process, it's a good idea to
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: break down food sources into two meaningful categories, destination and seasonal,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: or you could say primary and secondary. I guess destination
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: food sources are the easiest to understand, especially if you
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: hunt anywhere near agriculture, but it's not as simple as
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: driving along the edge of your chosen hunting grounds and
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: eyeballing a nearby soybean field or a corn field. You've
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: got to consider all the big food options available and
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: then factor that into what it means later on. For
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: actual hunting. This is going to very depending on the
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: region that you hunt. We all know the typical egg
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: offerings in the Midwest and much of the East, but
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: what about western white tails. This might be a giant
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: irrigated alfalfa field, or maybe just a hay field that's
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: cut a few times a year for horses. Maybe you've
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: got access to a mile o field or sorghum. Maybe
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: sunflowers will factor into your hunt. What if you're down south,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: maybe peanuts will factor into your hunt. Understanding what you
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: have to work with at home and when you head
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: out on the road matters a lot when it comes
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: to hunting white tails. For example, there's nothing I love
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: personally more than green soybeans in early to mid September.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: I honestly don't think there's a better draw for bucks,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and nothing sets you up for an opening weekend kill better.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: If you've got access to a soybean field, then you
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: know that in the early season it is highly likely
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: that the bucks will end up there throughout the night.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: But what if the neighbor has a nice, lush alfalfa field,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: And what if you've planned a food plot that's full
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: of white clover or some other deer munchies. Then it's
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: all about the effort it takes to get to various
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: food sources and how much pressure will be concentrated on them.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Deer are browsers, which means they eat a lot of
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: different stuff and they seem to like options in their diet,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: just like us. This means that with that soybean field,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: if there are other quality early season food sources around,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: that field might go from like a ten to a seven,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: which is still pretty good. You know that it's very
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: likely the bucks on your farm are going to end
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: up there at some point and probably a from there
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: in the morning. That's a good thing to know. But
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: if that soybean field is the only field within three miles,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: that's a different story. Now you can turn it up
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: to eleven. You might as well get ready to call
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: your tax it or missing prepay for a shoulder mount.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: But that dynamite opening weekend field will yellow up, and
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I don't care what anybody says, a yellow field is
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: less of a draw. You can often find low spots
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: or shady areas in the field that will stay green longer.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: It's this is a short window situation, though, and it
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: can be unbelievable for concentrating bucks. But either way they
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: will feed in the yellow soybeans, but just not the
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: same level of intensity as if they were green. But
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: again this is affected by availability of other food sources.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: The good news is that yellow stage dies pretty quickly
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: and they turn brown and dry up. Brown beans are good,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: and they only get better if you've got a nice
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: drizzle to hunt them in. Deer really seem to like
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: their brown soybeans soggy, which sounds weird, I know, but
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: trust me on this. And of course, the whole time
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: that hypothetical soybean field is matureing, the season is moving
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: right along. This is an important consideration because rock solid
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: destination food source can go downhill and then spring back up,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: or it can completely be abandoned for a secondary food
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: source that is either coming on strong do the timing,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: or showing up in the form of master browse. One
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: source that varies wildly and seems to come and go
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: is corn. When corn is in its milky stage, often
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: in the late summer, the deer will walk along and
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: rip the stocks off, eating a bite here or there
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: and generally driving farmers nuts with this behavior. You see
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: this a lot when you're glassing row crops in the summer.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: You might also see black bears doing this if you're
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: anywhere near them, because they really really love the milky
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: stage of corn, and they are a special kind of
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: destructive during this stage. By the time the bow season opens,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: that milky corn stage is often gone, and the deer
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: will still eat corn, especially if it's the best choice
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: they've got, but that depends a lot on how mature
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the crop is. Sometimes corn remains a huge draw throughout
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the season. Other times it tends to ramp up in attractiveness,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: with the peaks occurring as soon as it's combined, and
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: then throughout the later season when the temperatures drop. The
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: good news about this, just like with a food plot
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: you plant yourself, is this is easy stuff to see
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: and to file away for later. Use. One good walk
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: right now out there on your hunting grounds can tell
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: you everything you need to know about the agriculture you're
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: dealing with. Take note of the fields and the properties
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: you can hunt, and any you can see on places
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: you can't hunt. This base level destination food source knowledge
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: will factor into your stand locations all season long. But
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: what do you do if you aren't anywhere near a
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: big soybean field or a cornfield. What if you hunt
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: up in wolf country by Canada or some of the
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: giant chunks of timber down south, then you've got your
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: work cut out for you. But that's okay. Nothing is
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: more rewarding than taking a big woods buck that you
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: patterned yourself while competing against a litany of two and
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: four legged predators. Food sources in those read gents tend
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to fall into the brows category, and brows is a
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: moving target. It's also the kind of secondary food source
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: that you need to be aware of. The big ease.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Those destination food sources that we already talked about, they're
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: the easy ones. The secondary food sources this here today
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: gone to moral food sources. They're different, and knowledge of
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: them really separates the deer killers from the squirrel watchers.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Where I hunt in northern Wisconsin, for example, I've come
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to realize that it's not as important for me to
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: know exactly what plants the deer keying on as much
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: as it is to know where they'll be keying on. Brows.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Soft edges and clear cuts are huge for this. Just
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: about any spot where two types of cover meat. Typically
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: new growth and old growth will feature a brows line
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: of some sort. These are also just natural travel routes
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: and often used as betting areas as well. They are
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: also often visible on satellite imagery, but it's always worth
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: getting in to see them in person. The same goes
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: for areas with slight elevation changes. Low swampy ground that
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: buts up to the higher woods will usually feature a
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: brows line, or at least have the potential to become
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: a browsing area at some point in the fall. Satellite
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: imagery is huge for identifying these spots, but you gotta
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: get in, you gotta walk them again. This isn't necessarily
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: about identifying the perfect to die for food source that
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: comes in on October five and disappears a week later.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: It's about identifying the places bucks are most likely to
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: spend time during daylight in a quest to quite the
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: rumble in their bellies and not become a food source themselves.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: I personally think deers that live off of mostly brows
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: are the toughest to kill because they tend to be
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: low density, low visibility critters that don't have a lot
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: of predictability to them. But when you hunt areas where
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: the primary food sources, whatever is blooming or appealing this week.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Then you really learn to focus on areas that deer
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: generally like to be. Eventually you find those spots that
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: are also the places where big bucks prefer. And that's
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: the foundation of developing a big woods pattern. A lot
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: of times that's based around the groceries. And you're probably thinking, Okay,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: but what about mass Can I just find a few
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: oak trees and wait for them to rain nutty goodness down?
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: H Yes and no. You should scout for oak trees
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: if they're available or in your area. You absolutely should.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: You should know how to identify white oaks with their rounded,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: low beleaves versus red oaks with their pointed leaves. And
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: you should understand why white oaks could be on fire
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: in October while the red oak acorns with their increased
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: tannin levels might not factor in until December when it's
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: time to munch on the table scraps. Understand that specific
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: trees don't drop every single season. This means that throughout
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: your summer scouting, you should pay close attention to which
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: oak trees are actually filling up with acorns versus the
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: ones that aren't masked. Investigation is something you can do
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: right now, and you can file away that data for later,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: like early October when you're wondering where the hell the
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: bucks have gone. Mast can be unbelievable, especially on public
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: land where destination food sources either don't exist, or if
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: they do exist, they get hunted so hard no self
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: respecting deer bigger than a button buck would step out
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: on it in the daylight. I think for the hunter
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: who shares the woods with a lot of other hunters,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: keeping your finger on the pulse of mass, both hard
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: and soft mass is the best bet for having good
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: productive sits all season long row crops and typical agriculture
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: those are low hanging fruit pun intended. Anyone with a
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: common sense God gave a toad knows that deer will
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: come to a bean field to eat that oak ridge
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: that draws in deer only for a short time frame.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Or maybe the pattern where maple leaves fall after a
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: hard frost and they get gobbled up by the deer.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: That's a different story. You've got to know when and
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: where that is likely to happen, and then take advantage
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: of it in the moment, Just like the deer do.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: This is the kind of woodsmanship that does really separate
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: the folks who can fill tags from the folks who
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: want to. It's also the best evidence in the strong
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: argument that paying attention while you're on stand and glass
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: thing a lot is a better way to spend your
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: time than sliding into some strangers instagram d ms like
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: a creeper. The hard part about all of this is
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: looking at the woods in August, looking at it right now,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: and then shining up the old crystal ball to decide
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: when some oaks or apple trees will be the ticket,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: or when the persimmon situation is going to be on fire,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: or maybe the grapes or the elder berries or some
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: other soft mast right now. You probably can't know that.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: You can know where those spots are, which is a
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: good start. You can also head your bets on seasonality
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: of some of the masked food sources acorns, for example,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: and at least much of the white tail range will
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: be a September October option. Maple leaves will come into
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: play much closer to the rut when the hard frost
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: really start to get consistent. And aside to all of this,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: mass talk is something that I'm just absolutely convinced of
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: is that both hard and soft masked options often contribute
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: to that feeling that the October lull is real. There
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: are other factors going on there, of course, But when
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the fields have been hunted hard, the leaves are falling in,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the woods are becoming more open by the day, and
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: there is a bounty of here today gone tomorrow food
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: back in the security cover, it only makes sense that
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the deer would eat where they feel safest. Just like
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: with water sources, food sources that allow the bucks to
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: stay in their comfort zone are always better ambush sites.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: The goal with all of this is to plug in
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: various pieces that could come into play with natural deer
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: movement come fall. Understand the biggias like destination food sources
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: and when they should be the biggest attractions for the deer.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: That'll tell you where the deer are going to end
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: up at night and start from in the morning. Sometimes
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: that's all you need to know to fill a tag,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: but that's also just a starting point for a lot
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: of us. The secondary seasonal food sources are the ones
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: that really allow you to pin down season long ambush sites.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: These are the ones that you should be looking at
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: right now that you can really wrap your head around
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: those areas are most likely to hunt when the hunting
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: gets tough, and and even if they aren't season long,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: like a good funnel or a pinch point, if you
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: have a series of them, or you have enough of them,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: you can fill up an entire season. Even though this
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: one food source will will be hot this week and
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: not next week, you have something to move on to
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: throughout that entire season. And as you're out there right
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: now and you're wandering around looking for these spots, take notes.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Not only have the primary food sources out there, but
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: especially of the potential secondary food sources. Drop some way points,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: give yourself a chance, give yourself a picture of what
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: it's likely to be available to the deer throughout the season,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: so you can call up in the moment strategy, or
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: at least have enough information to go do a little
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: in season scouting to see if your food source hunches
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: were spot on or not. This gives you the chance
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: to make better decisions throughout the season based on what
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: could be drawing in the bucks this very week or
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: that very week. This is a crew shul strategy for
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: public land hunters as well. As anyone who hunts private
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: ground with plenty of competition. But it's also something worth
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: considering even if you own your own piece of dirt
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: or have exclusive access to some ground through a lease
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: or through permission. In fact, these two scenarios right there,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: they're the ones that often give us license to be
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: a little lazy because we think that we only need
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: to wait for the deer to come to the destination
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: food and then it's over. Anyone who has hunted mature
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: bucks for a few years knows that's far from a
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: sure thing. Even on really good deer ground, those private
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: land bucks will sit back and they'll eat white acorns
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: just as much as a public land deer would. And
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: you can bet if there's one little patch of right
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: per Simmons, they're going to know about it. They'll know
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: about the apple tree that's dropping, and they'll get in
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: there after a front blows through and the gusty winds
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: shake a bunch of granny smiths free. This is their world,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: even if we have the key to the gate, and
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: knowing how they fill their bellies by the day, it's
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: real important. So get out there now and start making
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: a grocery list and keep listening to this podcast, because
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: next week is all about trail camera recon and what
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: to do with all of those images and videos you've
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: been capturing all summer long. That's all I got for
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: you this week, my white tail loving friends. Be sure
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: to tune in next week as we move from dear
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: groceries back into the world of trail cameras to decide
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: how to use all of the images and videos we're getting.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Peterson and this has been wired to Hunt
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Foundations podcast. As always, Thank you so much for listening,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: and we will see you right here next week.