Corn Country Bucks

Corn Country Bucks by TR Michels
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In much of North America white-tailed deer can be found in and near cornfields. In the Midwestern Corn Belt a majority of the whitetail’s habitat may be corn. With the large size of these fields, and with the lack of wooded areas whitetail deer, including trophy bucks, travel, feed and bed in the corn. Because these fields offer security, bedding cover and food the deer spend all day in the corn. The often move out of the corn only at night as they go to water and search for clover, alfalfa, soybeans, winter wheat, grasses in CRP lands, and berries or nuts small hedgerows, ditches, fence lines, creek bottoms and woods.

One key thing to remember when trying to locate cornfield deer is that they like to have access to water. Although deer will drink from rain filled puddles, stagnant ponds and dry creeks they prefer to drink from larger ponds and lakes or nearby running water. If there is water within two or three miles deer will travel to it. But, unless they can get to the water while staying in the corn or other cover they will travel to the water at night. Because deer are crepuscular (their major movement times are dawn and dusk) this is normal for them.

While deer normally move at dawn and dusk hunters often equate this movement with feeding. In fact deer often move to nearby water at midday if there is available cover. They also move to water at dusk and dawn. On one of the farms I used to hunt, the deer could get to the four nearby lakes while remaining in or near woods and thick brush. Therefore they drink during the day, before moving into the alfalfa and hay fields in the evening. They drink again in the morning on the way back to their bedding areas. When the deer bed in the corn they can’t get to the water during the day without exposing themselves. So they move to water under cover of darkness.

In areas where deer use corn as daytime bedding areas the trails they use going from the bedding area often lead, not to food sources, but to water. In this case when you are trying to Pattern deer remember that any rubs you may see on brush and trees in the area are probably going from a buck bedding area, which may be in the corn, the middle of a CRP field, where you swear a deer couldn’t hide, or in any patch of cover the buck can find, to a staging area where does gather before going to water. Deer in corn country often travel extensively because of limited habitat and water, which causes the does to use large home ranges and spread out. In order for the buck to breed with several does he must travel to their widely spaced home ranges. A veterinarian in Iowa, who is also an avid archery hunter, reports seeing a buck five miles from its core area during the rut. He sees very few rubs and scrapes because of the lack of trees in the area, and he seldom sees the buck during daylight. This nocturnal behavior is to be expected. Because these deer live in the corn, and with the lack of large wooded areas that offer security the deer are not necessarily nocturnal, but they don’t move far in open areas. Instead they move freely in the corn during daylight, where they can’t be seen. They move in open areas to other food and water under cover of darkness. The habitat and this travel pattern makes it extremely hard to hunt cornfield bucks. If there are no wooded areas with mast crops, or large trees to hang tree stands on how do you hunt them?

During the pre-rut, cornfield bucks seldom move outside the corn during daylight hours. Even when they begin rubbing and scraping these bucks usually move at dawn and dusk. One of the few times during the year when these bucks act stupid and move during daylight is during the time the does are in estrus. When the deer are bedding in the corn, you can either setup in the corn or nearby cover along the trails the deer use as they come and go dawn and dusk, or you can stalk the deer in the corn.

To successfully stalk deer in the corn, either with a gun or bow you need to know the lay of the land within the field. You can do this either by walking the field prior to the season or by using a topographical map to locate any wet areas, depressions, gullies and grassy hills where corn doesn’t grow. All these areas are used by deer as bedding areas depending on the weather. If you see rubs and scrapes in doe use area during the prerut, but the bucks are nocturnal, you may see them during the breeding period, near the does use areas in daylight. The corn may be down by this time. With the lack of suitable cover to archery hunt from you may have to pursue them with a gun.

During the breeding period the bucks will travel at all hours of the day but because of the low numbers of deer per square mile few bucks may be seen. The best way to hunt corn field bucks during the rut is by locating the does and their bedding and feeding areas. If you know where the does are sooner or later the bucks will show up.

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