Hi I’m Adam Lewis and welcome to Deer IQ and our High IQ TOPICS series. This is different than our normal, curriculum podcast episodes, and are stand alone topics that go along with our High IQ videos on YouTube. They are shorter, and supplement our normal podcast in this way with direct tactics to help up your deer hunting game. In this episode we’re going to look at what I feel are THE 3 best days to kill a good buck - if you only had 3 days to hunt all year, these would be the days to definitely focus on as your most high-odds opportunities, in my opnion. Is your best day on the list, where does the RUT fall? I think you may be a bit surprised by at least one of these. 

Before we get into the nitty gritty details of that, a couple things real quick, especially if you’re new here.

1. First, you’ll notice we have an IQ ranking system where beginner is 1-IQ, Intermediate is 5-IQ, and 10-IQ is our advanced content. This is true for our podcast, as well as our blogs and videos, so you can best get content to meet you where you're at. This is a 5 - IQ  episode, and I”m pretty sure everyone will get something out of it. 
2. Second, I invite you to subscribe, rate this podcast, and check out all our other content -  videos and blog. We even have a FREE journal that goes along with our curriculum based podcast. If you take deer hunting seriously, and really want to fast track your growth, I invite you to check that out. 

And, stay to the end because I have a few takeaways and challenges for you that you’ll really benefit from - you won’t want to miss that. 

Alright, now lets get to what I feel are your best bets, the 3 best days to kill a good buck.

The longer I hunt, the more I realize that mature bucks are only vulnerable at a few distinct times of the hunting season. These “days” are the ones every hunter needs to know, and key in on to increase their success on these bucks. Other days are pretty much time-wasters, and low-odds days where you mostly educate and pressure the resident deer population. Let’s look at these three, very high-odds days that every hunter should focus on.

1. The First Day Season. If you’ve been glassing, running trail cams, and observing summer deer, the first day or even first few days of archery season are an incredible time to catch a good buck before he knows hunting season has started. Day one is typically the best, if I had to choose just one. At this time a buck is still on summer patterns and it's easy to predict his movements in daylight, when you can shoot him. Depending on the pressure in your area, and if you’re hunting private or public land, this could last up to possibly a week in my experience. Try not to be the one adding the pressure and you can extend this “first day” golden opportunity. This year (2023) I was able to do this on public land by finding a target buck that was unpressured, and sealed the deal in early October - 8 days into the season. Two days later, another hunter showed up in the area and deer movement ground to a halt, closing this first high-odds window.

1. The Last Days of October (Pre-Rut). The first time bucks in your area become active in daylight beyond day #1 is the pre-rut. In the MidWest I’d say this is October 25-31. Hunting before this many times just educates other deer and pressures your area, so once that first day or days period ends, waiting until this time is your next high odds chance. I know a lot of very successful hunters who don’t even hunt until this time. Bucks are still home bodies and fairly patternable, but are making appearances during daylight which is a great combination. The major factor messing this up is … you most of the time. Hunting your best spots during the “lull,” or between the first days and the pre-rut actually hurts your chances, so it’s best to lay off or hunt elsewhere. If you keep track of trail camera photos, it starts to become clear that this is a key time of year for big buck daylight activity to begin. Although factors like weather come into play, if I had to pick just one of these days, it would be Halloween.

BREAK: Like this video so far? If you do I invite you to subscribe, like, or leave a review depending on where you’re listening or watching, and maybe share this with a buddy who may benefit - that really helps this channel and our podcast grow and its greatly appreciated. Also, do you know your Deer IQ? do you think you’re “deer smart?”.. Why don’t you take our Deer IQ test and find out. It’s fun and easy, and is linked below - check it out. And if you like podcasts, check out the curriculum based Deer IQ podcast both on your favorite podcast channel, and in video form on YouTube. It’s uniquely designed by an actual educator to give you great content, along with our free journal also linked below, to really help up your game and success quickly.  Check it out! . Ok and now back to key #3.

1. An Extreme Cold Day - Post Rut: Bucks lose around 25% of their body mass during the rut, not eating and constantly on the move chasing estrous does. Once the rut ends, they absolutely have to replace this lost energy and recover before winter (in the north). It’s a matter of survival. This greatly plays to your benefit, as this is when he is most vulnerable, driven by his stomach. If you have a good food source (leftover acorns, standing or cut corn fields, standing beans, and late-season food plots like clover and turnips), this will draw deer from far and wide. There are two things you need to make this gamble an almost sure deal: an extremely cold day, and a rock solid entry. Since deer can hit these food sources at night, a very cold day will get deer up early since their bodies are burning calories more quickly. This is when you need to strike, but beware, deer may be bedded close, so a silent entry and visual barrier is essential,. Plan out your strike very strategically and be ready early for this top day to catch a good buck on his feet (To see more about this, check out our related video and article 3 Keys for the Post-Rut.)

But what about the rut? The rut is tricky and many times results in long sits with no movement. It just depends on many factors, and bucks are moving in a very large range searching for estrous does. So, the rut can work well for lots of action in general, but harder for specific deer as they are very unpredictable. It’s kind of the buck lottery - it may work in your favor, maybe not, and is a less sure bet than the top 3, but obviously gets bucks moving and very vulnerable, as well. 

So, if you don't have all season to hunt, and want to have the highest odds sits - these 3 days are your best bet. 

And now, your HIGH IQ Takeaways and Challenges:

1. Analyze if the times you hunt actually align with the best days to be in the woods. How can you change your schedule to up your odds and get better results. 
2. Remember, every time you step foot in the woods you’re adding pressure to deer and changing their behavior. How can you increase your hunting options so you get more of these 3 days - meaning have more locations in which you can employ these strategies and have more sits of high quality?
3. If you really take your deer hunting seriously, Get our FREE Deer IQ journal and follow along with our podcast “to be a greater deer hunter” on our podcast and on our Youtube channel in video form.

And I’ll See you on the next Deer IQ High IQ Topics series