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New Whitetail Hunter

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New Whitetail Hunter

Postby charleshbronson » 04 13, 2015 •  [Post 1]

Hey all, I have been checking out the forum and I think it is loaded with great information and I decided to sign up. I am a city guy with some military experience giving a go at hunting. Any tips or suggestions for hunting whitetail in Virginia would be greatly appreciated.
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Re: New Whitetail Hunter

Postby six » 04 14, 2015 •  [Post 2]

Find out what they are eating and go hunt. Where type of area are you hunting? State land? private land? are there crops nearby? are you able to put in a food plot to hunt over? Are there fruit or nut trees in the area?

In Michigan I hunt over all of the above. 2.5 acre food plot of soybeans or corn. I'm also surrounded by corn, bean and hay fields. When I hunt state or federal land I try to find the biggest stand of oak trees I can.

For me the biggest factor for my style of hunting is hunting during the rut. The bucks get foolish in their quest to find a receptive doe. I like to find a well traveled trail inbetween food and bedding or inbetween 2 bedding areas. The bucks move all day from November 5 to the 15th when rifle season opens in my neck of the woods.

Good luck
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Re: New Whitetail Hunter

Postby charleshbronson » 04 14, 2015 •  [Post 3]

six wrote:Find out what they are eating and go hunt. Where type of area are you hunting? State land? private land? are there crops nearby? are you able to put in a food plot to hunt over? Are there fruit or nut trees in the area?

In Michigan I hunt over all of the above. 2.5 acre food plot of soybeans or corn. I'm also surrounded by corn, bean and hay fields. When I hunt state or federal land I try to find the biggest stand of oak trees I can.

For me the biggest factor for my style of hunting is hunting during the rut. The bucks get foolish in their quest to find a receptive doe. I like to find a well traveled trail inbetween food and bedding or inbetween 2 bedding areas. The bucks move all day from November 5 to the 15th when rifle season opens in my neck of the woods.

Good luck


I have two areas available to me, both are private land, one with crops and horses the other I don't know. I will check out whether there are nut or fruit tress but I do know one grows wine grapes.The first spot I will be hunting this fall I am going to check out Wednesday. The second the spot is on a farm/vineyard. It is relatively flat land for farming surrounded by forest. The farmer doesn't plant anything specific for the deer to eat but he spots him on his land all year round. He is letting me use his land because I do volunteer work. I plan on walking around setting up a few game cams. Didn't think about a food plot thank for the tip. I will check and see about oak trees on both locations. I'll investigate the bucks and rut season and how it correlates with rifle and shotgun season. The wine guy doesn't hunt so he is leaving me to myself, the other guy I work with and it is his family land. They have about six stands out there, but he is a bit of a "I just get a big gun and shoot the hell out of them" type of country boy. I am not a fan but I appreciate the access to the land.Thanks for all your help man!
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Re: New Whitetail Hunter

Postby six » 04 15, 2015 •  [Post 4]

You will be way ahead of most hunters this fall when your hunting private land. I'm not sure if deer like grapes. I don't see why they wouldn't. Is it legal to bait in Virginia? I have a spot where we hunt that is too thick for any sort of food plot so we have a automatic feeder on it. 55 gal barrel suspended from a tripod with a cable and pully system. Works great. We have it full of shelled corn and it goes off twice a day 7am and 5 pm.

Make sure you keep up good relations with the land owners. Check in with him after your hunts. Tell him whats going on when your out there. A lot of farmers love to hunt but are just to dang busy trying to get their crops in during hunting season. A Christmas card or gift basket goes a long way as well.
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Re: New Whitetail Hunter

Postby charleshbronson » 04 16, 2015 •  [Post 5]

six wrote:You will be way ahead of most hunters this fall when your hunting private land. I'm not sure if deer like grapes. I don't see why they wouldn't. Is it legal to bait in Virginia? I have a spot where we hunt that is too thick for any sort of food plot so we have a automatic feeder on it. 55 gal barrel suspended from a tripod with a cable and pully system. Works great. We have it full of shelled corn and it goes off twice a day 7am and 5 pm.

Make sure you keep up good relations with the land owners. Check in with him after your hunts. Tell him whats going on when your out there. A lot of farmers love to hunt but are just to dang busy trying to get their crops in during hunting season. A Christmas card or gift basket goes a long way as well.


Lol, I am not sure if deer like grapes either. By bait do you mean set up a feeder? If so I believe it is. Once I develope a decent relationship with the landowners I will look into puttting up a cheap feeder. A third piece of land just popped up out of nowhere and an old hunter is going to take me out to his fam farm to go after some gobblers. The piece of land with the guy that likes to blow shit up I going to check out Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Plan on camping out and getting up and walking around the next morning. The land belongs to his grandparents so I will check and see what they like (wine, chocolate, etc..) and grab them something out of thanks. I will post pics asap.
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Re: New Whitetail Hunter

Postby Raghorn_Reaper » 04 16, 2015 •  [Post 6]

I would recommend you also try and bow hunt if you can. It is a bit more quiet and you can really connect with nature and the animals easier.
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Re: New Whitetail Hunter

Postby BrianKY » 04 24, 2015 •  [Post 7]

I dont believe deer like grapes but I have been wrong before. If you find any hard woods on the land that is where you need to start. Specifically oak trees. Hunt over acorns, acorns, and acorns and you will get plenty of action. If you are on private land you really dont need to buy a feeder. They only hit the corn here in KY when the acorns are gone. If anything, go to a local hardware store and get a block of cattle salt. It is the same stuff as deer salt, but a lot less expensive. Companies slap a deer on regular items and jack up the prices and hunters buy everything on the shelf. Find acorns and you will find the deer. Find acorns near a creek and you will be golden. Something to keep in mind, ESPECIALLY during rut: The bucks travel more, which means they burn more calories. They need to eat more and drink more. I hunt 350 acres of private property here that has an oil pipeline running through it. The pipeline is cut out 25 yards and they mow it multiple times per year. I had my stand on the edge of that pipeline just in the woods. About 50 yards away on my left there was about 30 oaks, about 100 yards to my right is a creek. I went hunting about 40 times this year and saw at least two deer every single time. If you have private land to hunt and there isnt much pressure, find acorns and you will see deer. So many hunters try and get cute and use every product on the market to lure them in. Regardless of what new product you use, it will not overcome the instincts of the deer to go to acorns, which has been happening since their existence.
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Re: New Whitetail Hunter

Postby charleshbronson » 04 28, 2015 •  [Post 8]

BrianKY wrote:I dont believe deer like grapes but I have been wrong before. If you find any hard woods on the land that is where you need to start. Specifically oak trees. Hunt over acorns, acorns, and acorns and you will get plenty of action. If you are on private land you really dont need to buy a feeder. They only hit the corn here in KY when the acorns are gone. If anything, go to a local hardware store and get a block of cattle salt. It is the same stuff as deer salt, but a lot less expensive. Companies slap a deer on regular items and jack up the prices and hunters buy everything on the shelf. Find acorns and you will find the deer. Find acorns near a creek and you will be golden. Something to keep in mind, ESPECIALLY during rut: The bucks travel more, which means they burn more calories. They need to eat more and drink more. I hunt 350 acres of private property here that has an oil pipeline running through it. The pipeline is cut out 25 yards and they mow it multiple times per year. I had my stand on the edge of that pipeline just in the woods. About 50 yards away on my left there was about 30 oaks, about 100 yards to my right is a creek. I went hunting about 40 times this year and saw at least two deer every single time. If you have private land to hunt and there isnt much pressure, find acorns and you will see deer. So many hunters try and get cute and use every product on the market to lure them in. Regardless of what new product you use, it will not overcome the instincts of the deer to go to acorns, which has been happening since their existence.


This is awesome information! As I was just about to go buy a feeder as well. I attempted turkey hunting on the private land and didn't get anything but the owner said that they get deer on the land all the time. I have not been over to the vineyard yet to see if they have many oak producing trees. Do I put the cattle salt up near the acorns? Thanks again for the info.
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