The winter season is considered the best hunting season in comparison with other seasons. Why so? Well, the availability of snow makes it easier to track animals leaving behind footprints as trails. Another factor that makes the winter season a favorable hunting season is the lack of foliage and water.
If you are an occasional hunter and looking for some useful winter hunting tips, keep reading!
The following tips will help you be prepared for your hunting spree. Even if you are not a pro, these tricks will help you gain the confidence for a successful hunting adventure.
- Know the Water Source:
In the initial months, there are plenty of water sources for the deer and other animals to sustain themselves. But as the cold starts growing and the days become shorter and night becomes longer, the availability of water sources slowly decreases. Most of the water sources are frozen in the late winter months, which makes it difficult for the animals to find water for their survival.
The desperate need for water makes it easier for the hunter to track and hunt their target. Scarcity of water makes even the most elusive and cunning animal desperate to quench their thirst and come out in the open.
- Locate Bedding Areas:
The longer nights of the winter season make wild animals focus mainly on staying warm and resting in one place. Hence, it is very important to locate and glass a bedding area and know the entry and exit points of the animals. This is the key to finding prey.
The main reason for an animal to come out of their bedding area is to find food and if the hunter is careful to indicate their movements, it is easy to hunt their target.
- Finding areas with Availability of Food:
Though during the late winter months, the focus of the animal mainly shifts towards staying warm and rested, they still need food to survive. Usually, the animals choose the bedding area with available food sources nearby. Hunters need to be attentive to such movement of the animals.
Since the nights are longer, the animals usually come out during the daytime in search of food. If you can locate the areas, it will become easier to target the animal of choice.
- Knowing A Still-Hunting Tactic:
The reason why very few hunters succeed in hunting is because of a lack of patience. It is very vital to collect information about the deer while preparing for winter hunting. The behavior of the deer changes dramatically from early to late winter and thus having information is very important. The hunter must be very patient and move slowly through the woods near the bedding area.
Glassing is important to hunt the target. Patience is the only way to help a hunter hunt its target. Sitting in one place may not be helpful, thus if the hunter knows how to move through the woods by concealing its movement, it helps enormously.
- Essential hunting equipment to hunt all day:
Even after collecting all the important information like prime water sources, bedding areas, and essential food sources, there might still be a lot of sitting and waiting. The target, as already known, comes out only 10% of the time for its essentials, thereby, while hunting in winter, you must be patient and prepared to be in the cold for almost the entire day.
The real fun of hunting is found in hunting with a bow. Here are a few bow hunting tips for you all:
- Plan Everything In Advance:
While hunting in winter, you must keep in mind that the activity of the deer/target decreases, hence if you increase your activity in the bedding area, it might scare off the target. Planning of strategies and researching on the activity must be done in advance so that the targets become available themselves.
- Be Very Cautious:
It is very easy for a deer to find out if something is unusual in the surroundings, so it is very essential to be stealthy. While hunting with a bow, try to make sure you draw the target to either its bedding area or food source without suspicion. Once it is near its comfort area, it becomes easy to go for it.
- Practice Low-Pressure Hunting Techniques:
Bow-hunting requires you to be close to the target. So it is very important not to scare them off. The hunters must avoid going out too often before the opening day and use low-pressure hunting techniques. The hunters can get information about their movements by using game cameras.
They can also use unscented gears and equipment to conceal their presence to hunt using a bow.
Here are a few equipment or gears that are a must-have before stepping out for winter hunting:
- Balaclava:
Balaclava or popularly known as Ski Mask is a form of clothing, which gives coverage to the entire face and protects from cold and snow. It also helps in concealing a major part of the face, thus providing perfect camouflaging.
- Hand Warmer:
Hand Warmers are supposed to be held in hand to warm up cold hands. Since hunting in the winter takes a great deal of time, this is one of the essentials gears to keep with oneself for times of need.
- Satellite Phones:
A satellite phone is one of the most needed gears to stay in touch with your group. Hunting sometimes can take up the entire day and stay in contact is necessary for safety.
You can visit our website to browse through our hunting accessories, for every season. We provide all kinds of hunting accessories, Acrylic Hunter accessories, Stabilizers, Edge Hunting Equipment, Gears, HD, M1 Hunter, SS One, Stasis, Super Lite Carbon, and many other essentials. All our products conform to the highest standard of quality and safety.
So what are you waiting for? Your adventure awaits you. Shop for your essentials and go for it. Happy hunting and be safe!