Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

The walk to my stand on that mid-September afternoon was a short one -- no more than 200 yards from where I parked. Yet, in that short distance, I managed to work up a sweat that threatened to wash me down the hill. It was hot! And as hot as it was, the humidity was worse.

However, it was opening day of the early archery deer season and my expectations were high. My stand overlooked a well-traveled trail that connected a thick bedding area and a standing corn field. I had seen a good buck in the field during the summer, before the corn had gotten too tall, and I hoped he was one of the deer that was using the trail under my stand.

By the time I had climbed into my stand, I was soaked. I sat there and watched beads of sweat roll off my forearms. Fortunately, the wind was blowing away from the bedding area, so I felt confident no deer would pick up my scent.

About 20 minutes before dark, the deer started to move. First, a 4-pointer and two small does walked out of the thicket, passed under my stand and headed into the field. Then, a nice 7-pointer that was still in full velvet came by. That buck actually paused and sniffed at the base of my tree for about 30 seconds. I had never bagged a buck in velvet before and toyed with the idea of taking the shot. Ultimately, however, I opted to wait to see if the big boy would show.

As the last rays of light speared through the trees, I finally caught a glimpse of a deer wearing a nice crown of antlers heading my way. Clearly, this buck had a bigger body than any that had previously passed by. And when he stood at 25 yards, I could count 10 tall tines on his rack.

My breathing grew erratic as I stood up in my stand and readied myself for a shot. When the buck was 10 yards out, I drew back my bow. Unfortunately, before I got to full draw, my finger hit the trigger on my release, my arrow sailed off into space and the buck high-tailed it out of there.

Except for my clumsy blunder, it was a perfect bowhunt for the early season -- one of my favorite times of the year to chase whitetails. It’s hard to beat the November rut for tagging a trophy buck, but nearly as productive as the rut are those first few days of the season when the sun is hot, the air is humid and the bugs are out in force.

HUNT EARLY, HUNT LATE
The opening of archery deer season in most states occurs at a time when rutting behavior is nonexistent. Bucks will travel together in relative tranquility, does will be with their fawns, and food and water--as opposed to mating--motivate deer to get up on their feet. In addition, because bow seasons typically are the first deer seasons to open, hunting pressure has been nonexistent since the previous year.

Add up all these factors and you come up with deer that are calm and fairly predictable. That means, with a little homework, you can figure out where deer will be at certain times of day.

Especially when the mercury is soaring, count on the most deer movement at first and last light of the day. Deer really are no different than other mammals. Name one that doesn’t live in water that loves to be up and about when the sun is high in the sky and it’s 90 degrees out. Deer and humans are kindred spirits in that regard.