By Kaleb Comstock
As the calendar flips over to a new month, that means one thing, we are down to the final month before the season begins. In that final month, there is still a ton of deer work to be done. Trail cameras, treestand work, glassing and shooting my bow is what the next month has in store for me as we inch closer and closer to September 1st - opening day in Nebraska.
One big project that I just finished here in Nebraska is the food plot we put in on the property we call Plan B. The ground has been worked, the seed has been spread. The missing piece to the puzzle, however, is rain. We have been in yet another drought this summer, making growing things a tough task. I have been going down and watering the food plot by using a 55 gallon barrel full of water, dropping a sub pump into the barrel and running a generator to pump the water out in order to water the food plot. Getting the Big and Beasty food plot seed from Frigid Forage established has been my number one focus. It is our hope that by late October we’re sitting in that plot overlooking a lush plot with big bucks using it in daylight. Only time will tell how that plays out for us.
Establishing a food plot during a drought can be incredibly tough.
As I mentioned earlier, there is still a lot to be done moving into that last month of summer preparation. One of those is getting more trail cameras out. Currently, I only have cameras out on one property. I typically run around 20-25 cameras between the three permission properties that I can hunt. In the last month, I will be putting cameras out on my other two permission properties to start collecting inventory and hopefully find a buck to target in the month of September. This year we got moved back to the property where Alex had an encounter with a buck we named the big Al buck a couple of years ago. The landowner owns a few pieces of ground and had changed where he gave us permission last year and now he’s moving us back to where we had hunted for years prior to 2021. If history shows anything, this property is notorious for having one or two solid bucks that frequent the area every year. At the end of September last year, my area got hit hard with EHD, so it will be interesting to see what bucks I have showing up this year. As always, my hopes will be high we can find a few mature bucks to go after.
Trail cameras play an important part of summer scouting.
Another thing I will be doing in the month of August is glassing. One of my favorite things to do is look for velvet bucks. Even if I can’t hunt the property, I still like to glass bean fields close to areas I can hunt. I do this to collect intel on what bucks are in the area because you never know what may move in as the season starts to roll and deer change their home domain. Last week I was glassing a bean field next to Plan B and might have laid eyes on our number one target buck, Showtime. Light was fading as a big framed buck stepped out of the neighbors timber over 700 yards away. This only grew my anticipation for him to show back up on my trail cameras for the first time this season.
Utilizing a tool like a spotting scope from Vortex Optics can make glassing that much more effective.
One of the most important things I need to do in the last month before the season begins is shoot my bow way more. I am usually pretty good about shooting year round, but that has not been the case this summer. It is my goal to shoot my bow every day the entire month of August. Even if that means going and shooting just one arrow, I want to constantly build that muscle memory and get reps in so when the opportunity presents itself this fall, I am confident in my shot and ready to execute. This is something that you shouldn’t overlook. It’s easily one of the most important parts of my final summer prep.
Shooting your bow and becoming comfortable as possible is crucial as we near towards fall.
The days are getting shorter, the mornings and evenings are getting cooler, deer season is inching closer and closer. It won’t be long until that first good cold front of the year hits, and we’re finally 15 feet high in our favorite tree. I know one thing, I’m more than ready for that time to come. Hopefully you’re able to finish out the summer strong and be ready as well.
