How time flies.
Kentucky’s archery season for white-tailed deer opens three weeks from tomorrow, on Saturday, September 2.
The slight change in the season dates from year-to-year are due to calendar shift. The upcoming season will be 136 days long, and will run through January 15, 2024.
Get ready, get organized now
Now is the time to get ready and organized, both mentally and physically for the upcoming season. Here’s a few pre-season tips for archers:
• Wash your hunting clothes, gloves and face mask with a scent elimination clothing wash.
Never dry hunting clothes in a clothes dryer. Hang them outside to air dry. Store them in a snap top plastic box for easy access and to keep them from picking up unwanted odors.
• Make sure your bow is fine tuned and hunting ready.
If you haven’t already done so, visit an archery pro shop and have your bow inspected. Even small details like a worn string loop or wobbly peep sight can keep you from shooting accurately, consistently.
• Practice with field points, sight in your bow with your hunting broadheads.
When practicing pre-season, make sure that the grain weight of your field points are the same weight of your hunting broadhead. A good weight for deer hunting is either 75 or 100 grains. The lighter broadheads are a bit faster and flat shooting.
When practicing, take it slow. Don’t shoot too many arrows at first. Ease into it. Older archers might consider turning down the poundage (draw weight) of their compound bows, when building muscles back up.
As you get closer to opening day, pick one of your hunting broadheads to start practicing with, and sight in your bow with that broadhead. Set the broadhead aside for future practice sessions.
• It’s not the number of arrows you shoot in practice, it’s the quality of your practice.
Make every arrow count, as if you were drawing on a deer. You don’t get warmup shots in the field.
Slow down and concentrate on what you’re doing. The final days of practice are critical to your confidence going into the season.
• Practice like you will hunt.
If you are going to hunt from a ground blind, practice shooting from the stool or swivel seat you’ll be using in the blind. Shooting from a sitting position is a lot different than shooting while standing and some archers find it more difficult.
If you are going to hunt from a treestand, practice from an elevated position — stairs to the second floor of your house, a raised deck, or better yet, your treestand, if there’s a suitable tree in your yard.
Deer are visible in late summer
The signs of approaching deer season are everywhere across rural Kentucky. Deer fawns are more visible and active, and bucks have almost fully grown back their antlers.
When deer season opens, deer will be in the feeding pattern they are in now. In this summer pattern deer are highly visible while feeding early and late in the day, especially in mowed areas, where there is clover, or in clover or alfalfa fields.
Bow hunting in the early season (September) can be very productive, if the weather cooperates.
The deer harvest in September has increased dramatically in the last 15 years. Last season Kentucky archers reported taking about 7,100 deer. The record for the month is 8,000, set in 2020, according to KDFWR data.
Scout smart
Pre-season scouting is critical to success, but take it slow and scout smart.
In farm country, deer pay little attention to the sounds of trucks and tractors. It’s easier and less invasive to scout while driving, when checking out food plots, clover or alfalfa fields, which are typically hunted early in the season. Get the landowner’s permission to drive the perimeter of fields, looking for places where deer come out to feed.
Landowners hunting on their own property should complete seasonal mowing as soon as possible, It’s a good time to mow access trails to your ground blinds or treestands.
Remember that you must approach your stand undetected to be successful. Look for areas where you can walk in with the prevailing wind in your face. Stay in the shadows on bright days. Ideally, you want the rising or setting sun at your back while on the stand.
Season regulations and details
For the complete regulations and details of Kentucky’s 2023-24 deer season vist fw.ky.gov/Deer.
Archery hunting for deer is challenging and rewarding. Get ready for the season now, and don’t pass up a good shot at an antlerless deer. When you harvest a doe you are helping to control herds in counties where herds are above management goals.
