Take advantage of opportunities early in North Carolina’s deer season; they may be the best you’ll get until November.
The sultry remains of summer weather don’t motivate too many North Carolina hunters to slip into deer stands this month, but the bucks roaming the forests and chowing down in soybean fields are alive, well and available.
Archery season for deer arrives shortly after Labor Day allowing adventurous hunters to initiate a preemptive attack on an unsuspecting buck still in summer mode, and archery bowunters looking for a different way to arrow a deer — or gun hunters looking to extend their seasons — can take a deer “medieval style” with a modern crossbow that can sling a razor-tipped bolt at 375 feet per second.
For the past three seasons, state law has allowed North Carolinas hunters to take deer with crossbows without any special permit or use restrictions. Before 2010, only permitted, disabled hunters were allowed to take deer and other wildlife with those weapons, but today, hunters can use them during any legal deer season, including the firearm, muzzleloader and archery seasons.
Archers share the woods with their prey during one of the most-extraordinary periods of the year, when deer are still in a summer groove and somewhat foolish. For eight months, hunting pressure has fallen to the wayside. Deer finally get the opportunity to slide back into their normal routines, without the worries of whiny hounds or bullets blazing through the bush. Human scent floating through their backyards doesn’t quite have the same effect as it does in November and December. Crossbow hunters can get an edge on an unsuspecting trophy buck long before the rest of the hunting pack arrives in the deer woods.
Brant Grady, a Durham police investigator and accomplished crossbow hunter, invests many hours in the woods during archery season.
“The bow season can be great. If you can get used to the bugs and heat, you can get plenty of chances at nice bucks,” he said.
Since Grady hunts mostly in Orange County in the Central deer season, gun season doesn’t come arrive until November.
“Ever since I started using bows, I (have) added two months on my time clock, “ Grady says. “You are limiting your time clock not using a bow of some kind, and the crossbow is another fun way to get ’em.”
As another benefit, hunters can get the chance to hunt seven days per week on private land, as hunting with archery equipment is allowed on Sundays.
September is just as much a transition period for deer as it is for the human race. Entering the month, bucks are transitioning from bachelor groups to a slightly different posture, traveling alone or in pairs, but the dinner table continues to rank high even during hot weather.
During the summer, Grady initiates a surveillance program to reveal his crop of bucks on his farms while the bucks are still in their bachelor groups.
“(I) will stick (trail) cameras up on corn piles to concentrate the deer near the camera site, and I can keep track of the deer,” he said.
As the season approaches, Grady sets up his tree stand or ground blind within 100 yards of the corn piles and hunts trails along ridges or waterways leading to and from the bait sites.
“Deer are very leery around corn piles, even in September. The deer are more at ease (on trails) and better suited for hunting with a crossbow,” he said.
Even though hunters using crossbows can cock their weapons before the hunt starts, crossbows are large and can draw significant attention when moved to get into position for a shot. For this reason, Grady prefers to use ground blinds.
“(Ground blinds) give me an advantage to maneuver around and carry accessories that improves my hunting experience,” he said. “Also, it is much easier to reload on the ground if needed. It is nearly impossible to reload in a tree stand.”
Typically, crossbow hunters only get one shot, especially when 20 feet up a tree. The 180-pound pull on most crossbows must be accommodated using a specialized cocking mechanism, either built into the bow or as a separate accessory. Either way, hunters need space to maneuver and be able to take another shot, so the ground blind is the way to go in anticipation of making multiple attempts.
Beyond corn piles, Grady will set up along oak ridges featuring significant acorn crops.
“Usually, right when bow season comes in, the acorns are starting to fall, and deer in our area pour to these places,” Grady said.
Just over the hedge and through the woods, Rhonda Snyder of Efland hunts deer exclusively with a crossbow during the early season and has taken four bucks and five does since the inaugural in 2010. She concentrates her efforts around stable food sources.
“We hunt over natural food sources and agriculture fields mostly. We have a lot of acorns around in the woods and lots of corn and soybean fields nearby,” she said. “We hunt the edges of the fields and along trails.”
Snyder killed a beautiful 10-pointer skirting the edge of a freshly-cut corn field in 2010 that was her crossbow deer. Ever since, she continues to bag exceptional bucks with her Ten Point Crossbow around these types of food sources, including, a stout 8-pointer covered in velvet last season that was killed over a bait pile of apples and corn.
Rich and stable food sources, whether natural, planted or set out, are ideal places to find good bucks during the early archery season.
With a few exceptions, September is generally a hot month, with daily temperatures reaching the upper 80s and 90s regularly. and toting a heavy crossbow may seem like a task in itself, but fortunately, deer are not very fond of the middle of the day. Grady spends less time in his stand, but he makes sure to be set when the time is right.
“As soon as the sun falls below the tree line and out of sight on those hot summer days, it’s like the dinner bell just went off. You had better be ready. Deer pour out of the woods from everywhere,” Grady said. “I have better success in the late afternoons, during the last hour of daylight than any other time of day.”
The early season poses a unique situation for hunters, and there are several benefits crossbow users gain over traditional compound and recurve users. For one, modern crossbows are extremely precise weapons, capable of producing tight groupings from 10 out to 50 yards. If stabilized well, hunters can have the confidence to take longer shots; that is rarely the case with traditional compound bows.
As a responsible hunter, Snyder wants to ensure all of her kills are quick and humane.
“The crossbow gives me confidence that I wouldn’t have with a bow. It is important to me to be able to safely make a good shot,” she said.
Also, the legalization of crossbows has opened the gates to every man, woman and child of any size and strength level to get a chance to hunt when deer are prevalent and the least pressured.
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