Choosing when to hunt during the early season can be a bit of a shot in the dark. This year especially the next ten days seem pretty much the same mild, dry, and windy. If you don’t have a patterned buck, but you still want to get out for an early-season hunt you need to consider moon phase, barometric pressure, harvest, and wind shifts. Here is how I am looking at the next ten days before the pre-rut starts.

Moon Phase

The three days leading into a full moon are the best for an evening sit, and the three days following a full moon are the best for a morning sit. This means you should have a good morning sit on Wednesday and Thursday this week. The temperature will be low, the pressure high, and the wind speed manageable. 

Pressure

Paying attention to pressure has done wonders for my deer hunting over the past few years. Even during all day sits, if the pressure breaks 30.1 at 1pm the deer will move more that early afternoon. Again this is a good sign for hunting Wednesday, but also consider if the pressure is rising or falling . If the weather clears on the 21st that afternoon should be a good time to sit.

Harvest

If you know that a farmer is trying to get beans harvested before a rain, this is a good time to go out the next morning. Deer will feed on the softer spilled beans and you will also be quieter getting to the stand. Tuesday the 22nd would be the best morning to use this strategy. But if you have a bean field bordering a standing cornfield you can also hunt that spot with more confidence because the deer will be more comfortable feeding with standing corn nearby for escape and cover. 

Wind shifts

Lastly, you can look at when the wind will shift after a number of days blowing the same direction. Try to hunt the day the wind shifts. So if the wind shifts to a south wind after three days of northerly winds, it is time to hunt it. If the wind shifts in the opposite way it is still time to hunt. 

Anyway, I am tired, and I am going to try to hunt tomorrow morning. So good night and good luck.