If you're one of those bow hunters who is waiting for the colder weather of late October and early November before getting serious about your hunting, Mike Hunsucker has a few words of advice for you.
You will have missed your best chance at taking a trophy buck.
For Hunsucker, the co-star of the popular "Heartland Bowhunter" television show, prime time is the first few weeks after the Missouri archery deer season opens Sept. 15 - long before most hunters even think of getting out.
"Early season is my favorite time to hunt," said Hunsucker, 27, who lives in Lee's Summit. "The big bucks are so easy to pattern. They do the same thing every day.
They're comfortable. They're not pressured, and they move during the day. If you do a lot of scouting and learn their patterns, you can take a nice buck early."
For Hunsucker, that's more than just a theory. On a late-September hunt, he provided proof.
Hunting an 864-acre farm in north-central Missouri that he co-owns, he spotted one of the big bucks that he knew lived on the property. "We have about 20 trail cameras out, and we had seen him before," Hunsucker said.
The first evening, the buck was out of range. But when the wind switched directions, Hunsucker moved his tree stand to edge of the food plot where the deer had been feeding.
The next evening, Hunsucker was waiting, and the buck showed up on schedule. As a cameraman captured the action, Hunsucker pulled back on his bow from a tree stand and made a solid hit on the buck.
Moments later, he was posing with a 10-point whitetail that would make other bow hunters envious.
But it wasn't the first time Hunsucker or his co-star on "Heartland Bowhunter" Shawn Luchtel, has taken a big buck early in the season. In fact, they have almost made a habit of doing it.
"Early in the season is the best time to target a specific buck," Hunsucker said. "Sure, they're active during the rut (breeding season) and they're out during the day. But a doe may take him two or three miles away.
"They're harder to pattern during the rut."
Hunsucker's formula for early-season success? Take a look:
- In this area, it all starts with finding green soybeans, Hunsucker said. That's the deer's preferred food source in this region during the late summer and they will often establish predictable patterns going to and from those fields.
- Hunsucker will scout those deer from a distance. He will "glass" deer from as far away as 500 to 600 yards. He also relies on trail cameras to let him know what the deer are doing.
"You don't want to get too close and risk letting them know you are there," he said.
- Hunsucker and his friends will often plant food plots between the deer's bedding areas and the main food source.
"These food plots aren't meant to replace their main food source," Hunsucker said. "It's just a way to get them to stop for a while in an area where you can get off a shot.
"Sometimes, they'll just browse through a food plot on the way to their main food source."
Hunsucker and his friends will plant everything from soybeans and corn in the spring, then let them mature.
- Hunsucker prefers evening hunts at this time of the year. That's when the deer often feed and are most predictable.
- As most bow hunters do, Hunsucker pays close attention to wind direction and the dispersal of his human scent. He dresses in full camouflage and stays as still as possible.
The best early-season hunting is reaching an end. When the acorns start dropping, the deer's feeding habits change, Hunsucker said.
"When there are a lot of acorns, deer can stay in the woods and not have to move very much to find food," he said.
By late October, the bucks' necks will swell up, they will start thinking about the rut and they will make scrapes to mark their territory. But there still is time to find the deer in their late-summer pattern, Hunsucker said.
"In our region, finding green soybeans is the key," he said. "As long as the acorns haven't dropped and the deer are still hitting those beans, they'll be predictable."
HEARTLAND BOWHUNTER
WHAT: A popular television show on bow hunting, featured on the Outdoor Channel.
WHEN: It airs at 8:30 p.m. Central Time on Monday from July through December.
LOCAL TIES: The co-stars of the show live in the Kansas City area. Mike Hunsucker lives in Lee's Summit and Shawn Luchtel is from Grain Valley.
ALSO: Other Kansas City-area bow hunters are part of the crew and are occasionally seen on camera. They include Skyler Wirsig of Lee's Summit, Ty Easley of Oak Grove, Nate Flynn of Independence, Clayton Campbell of Pittsburg, Kan., and Trent Siegle of Council Grove, Kan. Clay Craft of Mississippi also is part of the crew.
AND THEN THERE ARE THE DEER: Some of the deer shown on the program also have local ties. Some of the footage is shot not far from Jackson County. Hunsucker and Luchtel still have fond memories of an opening-day hunt in 2010 when Luchtel shot a big nontypical buck in rural Jackson County as the cameras rolled. "We had numerous photos of him on trail cameras and we knew his routine," Hunsucker said.
ITS ROOTS: Hunsucker and Luchtel are longtime friends who got started filming their own hunts when they were younger. They posted some of their work on the Internet, got a following and soon set out to do their own show. The show is now in its sixth year.
IN CASE YOU'RE WONDERING: The show in which Hunsucker shot a 10-point buck in north-central Missouri recently will be shown next season.
TRAVEL PLANS: Hunsucker and Luchtel will travel to Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, Illinois, Indiana and Texas to film hunts this year.
