Washington Parish deer hunter Karl Casanova told me one time that he thinks the best two opportunities Area 4 deer hunters have for killing a good deer are early in the bow season or right at the end of the bow season.
“I think one of the keys to successfully hunting the rut is to have a few different stands that you don’t hunt very much,” Casanova said. “I’ve got a couple on the edges of some food plots, but most of my stands are either on trails to the plot or on trails that aren’t even associated with my plots.”
Knowing that bucks — even rutting bucks — don’t really want to come out on a plot until dark, Casanova tries to set up his stands as far back on those trails as he can to up his chances of spotting a big buck while it’s still light enough to shoot.
“I’ll walk those trails until they get really hard to see,” he said. “Then I look for secondary trails that lead into the main trail. Wherever I can find a few different trails all coming together at the same spot, that’s where I’ll set up my stand.”
Casanova also likes to look for deer droppings to help him know he’s around feeding does that are likely to attract rutting bucks.
“If you don’t have any droppings, the deer aren’t sticking around very long,” he said. “If I can find one of those trail intersections with some droppings, I know I’m on to something that could pay off during the rut.”
