By Alex Comstock
Over my time spent hunting whitetails, I'm always asking questions about deer, mature buck movement, and how to become a better whitetail hunter. Today, I wanted to take a look at something, and that's whether or not certain days of the week could be better to hunt than others.
Weekdays vs. Weekends
The first thing I wanted to take a look at was weekdays vs. weekends. Throughout the season, more people are apt to be hunting on weekends. Because of work, life, and everything else, most hunters take to the woods on Saturdays and Sundays, and I think most people would agree with me on that observation. Because of that, there is inherently going to be more pressure on deer on the weekends. I believe that deer, and mature bucks especially could possibly feel the added pressure, and therefore they may be a little more cautious on the weekends. It's not like a buck is thinking "Oh sh**, it's Saturday, time to stay in my bed all day." But I think if there's enough people out there on those days, they can notice the uptick in hunter pressure on a couple days here and there, and then those days in the middle of the week, after noticing not as much human scent and contact, they could be more susceptible to being shot and moving more in daylight.
Many of you know about the buck I was after last season, Kobe, and this photo was taken last fall, on a Wednesday right in front of my stand.
Bow Season vs. Gun Season
Another angle to take when looking at this topic is comparing bow season to gun season. I'd venture to say that in any state that produces a large number of gun hunters, you'd see the weekday vs. weekend effect take place even more. For a state such as Minnesota where I live, opening day of gun season sees a giant increase in the number of deer hunters taking to the field. One could make a solid argument that if you hunt in a highly pressured area, opening morning of gun season is your last good weekend sit. After that, deer go on high alert, and during the week could be your best time to strike when most of the other hunters are back home or at work. If you bowhunt, maybe take a hard look at taking the two days off before rifle season starts if at all possible to get a couple more quality weekday hunts in before the pressure goes through the roof.
Private Land vs. Public Land
When talking about the idea of certain days being better to hunt than others, private vs. public has to be brought up in the discussion. Because at the end of the day, this whole topic hinges on one major thing, and that's hunting pressure. I feel as those days during the middle of the week will be much more valuable to you if you hunt public land, and more specifically, highly pressured public land. If you hunt private land that receives a fair amount of pressure on or around it, weekdays might still be better, but if you own or have permission on a big privately managed property that doesn't receive much pressure, then this whole discussion practically can go out the window. If deer aren't consistently feeling an increase in hunter pressure during the same couple of days, then I don't think it will matter what day of the week you neccessarily hunt.
Conclusion
A lot of the bucks I've harvested have come during the week, dating back to the first mature buck I ever shot. Not coincidentally, I mainly hunt public land that often sees weekend pressure. I'd like to get your thoughts on this topic! Make sure to drop a comment below, or in the Facebook post for this blog post letting me know if you've seen any of the above mentioned.
