EARLY SEASON TREATS
Deer are pushovers for sweets like apples, pears and persimmons. I've only hunted deer over apples a few times, but enough to know that when the fruit is ripe and falling, it makes for excellent hunting. The first time was in Wisconsin nearly 20 years ago.

A local landowner gave me permission to hunt his farm. He had a small apple, pear, and cherry tree orchard. He was pretty hacked off about the deer eating all his apples, but even madder because a buck had been rubbing the bark off his trees too!

That summer the owner spotted the buck in a draw that forked off in two directions. One finger weaved its way up behind the orchard, the other toward a hedgerow bordering a neighbor's cornfield.

The buck hadn't been seen in the orchard, so he was probably doing his dirty deeds at night. I figured my best chance of killing him was in one of the draws after he left the orchard in the morning.

To make a long story short, that hunch paid off when I set up near the hedgerow, 20 yards from a scrape and a rub line marking the bucks primary travel route. Shortly after sunrise the first morning, movement down the treeline drew my attention toward two does coming from the draw behind the house with an eye-popping buck in tow.

It took a few minutes for the buck to reach my location, but as he eased along the rub line, I mouthed a "murrp" to stop him. The buck netted over 150 and is my biggest eight-point to date.

This was just one of several times when hunting near soft mast paid off. If you find such a place, hang a stand and hunt it early!

Unlike field corn, soybeans are more an early rather than midseason food. Deer prefer nipping the tops off as long as they can still find green leaves.

LOCATE BACHELOR GROUPS
Like the group of bucks mentioned in the beginning, it's not uncommon to see two or more bucks bedding and feeding in the same locations throughout the summer and early fall, but also using the same travel routes!

Time spent scouting during the late summer and early fall to locate a bachelor group may be well worth the investment. Once you've located a group, try to identify a pattern.

For example, are the bucks entering a field to feed at a certain time and place? If so, set up close to where you've seen them enter the field and hunt as soon as the winds allow. You'll want to hunt the group aggressively, but also wisely. Regardless whether bucks are pressured or not, a couple of weeks into the season they'll disperse and their patterns become unpredictable.

HUNT RUB LINES EARLY!
Like the eight-point previously mentioned, bucks leave telltale sign in the form of rubs that mark their travel corridors. If you look closely at which side of the tree is rubbed, you'll understand the buck's direction of travel when it was made. Following the rub line one way will lead to a buck's core area, the opposite direction typically leads to his primary source of food or water.

Past experience has proven it's best to keep a safe distance from bedding areas. Instead, set up along the rub line in the transition zone between the bedding area and food source. You'll want to hunt rub lines early. Once the rut gains a full head of steam, a buck may travel the same routes, but not with regularity.

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