Late October Deer Hunting – Best Time To Hunt?

If you are a dedicated bowhunter, you know there is some truth to the statement “late October is the best time to bow hunt”. If you are new to bow hunting, or depending on the situation around your hunting and properties you hunt, you would argue that November or “the rut” is the best time to hunt. The fact is there is some truth to the saying that the dates of October 24-31 are the time to get it down on a big bruiser of a buck, and here is why.

Reasons Why Late October is the Best Time to Bowhunt

Most bowhunters would argue that the week of October 24-31 is the best week to hunt whitetails with a bow. Those who oppose it likely are hunting a state with an early season such as Kentucky, where you still get a crack at bucks on an early food-bed pattern. Most Midwest and northern states open in October, where the first few weeks are filled with acorns, changing fall home ranges, and a wave of new hunting pressure. This recipe for “hard hunting” and low encounter sits the beginning of October, is cut off by two factors, one being the pre-rut behaviors of bucks, and two the first wave of usual cold fronts getting deer on their feet.

These two factors make hunting the cool cold front mornings like Nick Mundt from Bone Collector in the Iowa deer hunting video above a recipe for success. This time frame is typical for bucks being on their feet for the first time in daylight since the season opener, usually checking mock scrapes, or checking scent in food plots or heavy traffic areas. This week of hot bow hunting action can also be notably turned off by gun hunting pressure, peak breeding, or the fact that the true mature deer are sucked into other properties by hot does.

Late October specifically the dates of 24-31^st just so happen to be when a perfect recipe of weather and deer behavior comes together to make for one of the best times to bow hunt!