On hunting properties throughout farm country, standing corn often represents a whitetail’s best possible security cover. (Shutterstock photo)
October 08, 2025
By Tony Hansen
"I can’t wait for the corn to be cut.”
If you hunt whitetails in farm country, those are words you’ve likely heard ad nauseam over the years. For reasons I don’t understand, deer hunters in corn country view those standing fields of grain as impediments rather than assets. After three decades of bowhunting in ag land, I’ve come to believe that the exact opposite is true. I love standing corn. If I had my way, every farm I hunt would be in a corn rotation every single year—and I’d prefer that corn to stay up well into November. Hear me out.
A WHITETAIL HUNTING MYTH The common belief that deer pour into the woods after the corn harvest isn’t wrong—it’s just oversimplified. Yes, some deer do shift cover when the combines roll. But the idea that this suddenly concentrates deer and leads to easier hunting? I’ve never seen that play out.
Almost every area I hunt sees heavy hunting pressure. Losing the best cover in an area—and that’s exactly what standing corn represents—isn’t what I’d call a win-win situation. When the cover is gone, the deer are gone and heading for other areas of cover.
Advertisement
Standing corn isn’t just food. It’s bedding. It’s a travel corridor. It’s a fortress. For pressured deer, it’s the ultimate sanctuary. Standing corn turns a ho-hum property into one with potential.
CORN IS THE NEW COVER In certain areas of the country, CRP is revered for its potential to hold deer and give older bucks the type of security cover they prefer. Corn is better than CRP in that regard. How so? Because pheasant hunters are more likely to walk a field of waist-high grass than they are a field of head-high cornstalks. You’ll rarely see someone cutting across a standing corn field to get to the creek bottom on the back side. The amount of human disturbance in a cornfield is virtually nil, and that’s exactly why deer love it. If you’re a buck that’s made it past 2.5 years in heavily pressured farm country, you’ve learned that there’s no safer place to be than between the rows. And when that corn comes down their security is gone. And so are those deer.
A young whitetail buck eating in a corn field. (Shutterstock photo) STALK THE CORNSTALKS I used to think standing corn was hard to hunt, but I don’t know why. In fact, I’d say it’s as easy as it gets. I’m not looking to hunt inside the corn. I’m hunting the edges and treating that space between the first row of corn and any other cover as the highway that it is. In fact, there is no better edge line to hunt than the one created by standing corn. This is especially true in October, and the reason is simple and obvious: Scrapes.
Advertisement
Cornfield edges are scrape magnets, and the scrapes made along the way are the variety that bucks can and do visit in daylight because those scrapes are laid down in security cover.
OCTOBER’S SECRET WEAPON Whether or not you believe in the “October lull,” the place to be in October is near active scrapes. The best scrapes will be located near security cover. And, in many areas, the best security cover is those standing corn fields. It is a no-brainer situation, and that’s exactly my kind of situation.
October cold fronts, especially following a rain or after a couple days of heat, can be excellent around standing corn. Bucks feel comfortable moving in daylight because of the dense cover, and the damp ground is prime for scraping. It’s just a super combination.
I get why so many hunters pin their hopes on the corn harvest. There’s something about a wide-open field that makes us feel like we finally have the upper hand, like we’ve taken away the deer’s cover and forced their hand. I used to feel that way. And then I realized the loss of that prime cover wasn’t a victory, it was an invitation for the deer I was hunting to leave and live elsewhere.
When the rows are up, the deer are home. And I like my odds far better when they’re home than when they’re not.
THE ULTIMATE HUNTING CONTENT Fall officially begins September 22, but most hunters start preparations for the upcoming season long before that. There are new places to scout, new products to consider and test, and maybe even new dogs and hunting partners to include in the plans. Whether your fall will involve deer, elk, waterfowl, pheasants or all of the above, make the most of your hunts with Ultimate Season ’25. Scan the QR code or visit ultimateseason.com for articles and videos that offer insightful tips, discuss proven strategies and highlight top new gear. No matter what you hunt or how you hunt for it, Ultimate Season ’25 will help you prep for fall by providing a wealth of information. Ultimate Season ’25 is brought to you by Browning , Sightmark , Hornady , Rocky Boots , Can-Am and Old Trapper . A NEED FOR BROADHEAD SPEED Archery industry leaders introduce a revolutionary new broadhead. Speed Broadheads Titanium 100. When the inventors of Rage Broadheads and Ravin Crossbows , two of the most transformational brands in the archery industry of the past few decades, get together to design an all-new broadhead, archers everywhere ought to sit up and take notice.
Such is the case with Speed Broadheads , introduced in late July and coming to market with four groundbreaking mechanical-blade broadheads—a 100-grain Titanium, a 100-grain Crosscut Aluminum, a 100-grain Titanium Crossbow and a 125-grain Steel Crossbow. Absent the rubber bands, collars or friction mechanisms typical of traditional mechanical broadhead designs, Speed broadheads feature a “micro piston” that retains the blades during flight.
The brand cites three key differentiators between its heads and those of their competitors. First, the piston, which is embedded within the ferrule, enables a nearly effortless blade locking system that is highly repeatable. Second, the broadhead’s center of gravity is located outside the pivot point of the blades to create reactive flight performance that causes the blades to lock tighter as arrow speed increases. Third is the reliability of the blade release, which Speed claims to deploy with 100-percent success on impact.
According to Speed, the piston releases the blades in a millisecond with just 1.5 pounds of force—80 percent less force than that required by traditional mechanicals. This rapid deployment enables maximum energy transfer, deeper penetration and wider wound channels.
“We are all bowhunters ourselves,” says Speed Broadheads Vice President of Sales David Bakken. “We shoot mechanical broadheads because we want complete accuracy, but mechanicals have always had the Achilles’ heel of deployment failure. We understand how hard bowhunters work for that one moment to let an arrow fly. You have to be 100-percent confident in your equipment. Speed Broadheads give you the best of both worlds: complete accuracy from field point to broadhead and unfailing, deadly blade deployment upon impact.” —G&F Staff
This article was featured in the October issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe .
