5 Deer Hunting Myths Southern Hunters Believe

The truth is, we’re often the reason we don’t experience successful deer hunting. I realize this looks different depending on where you hunt. However, if you subscribe to the hunting myths circulating at deer camp or your local convenience store, you might as well go sit that same box blind or eat your tag soup now. Some of these myths can apply to deer hunters across the country, but they’re common gripes or excuses I’ve heard over the years below the Mason Dixon.

Sure, I might consider this excuse if I lived somewhere that consistently snowed every year, but I’m always baffled when hunters in the deep South say it. If this were the case, Florida’s deer herd would die of starvation and bed sores. In my home state of Mississippi, I’ve seen more than a few Christmas vacations with 70° days, but I’ve never known the rut to pause because of it. Even in the early season, when daytime temps can reach the mid-90s, I’ve killed or seen plenty of deer working their typical patterns.

Deer might not move as far when the temps are up, but that doesn’t mean they’re not moving at all. In fact, a study from Mississippi State University shows that deer actually move several times throughout the day (even when it’s hot), not just at dusk and dawn.

Whether you’re hunting your state’s bow opener or the rut, you shouldn’t see warm temps as a reason to stay home. In fact, if you hunt public land this should give you even more incentive to hit the woods. Most folks will stay home or save their vacation days because they believe this very myth. The truth is most hunters don’t want to deal with the heat, mosquitos, and snakes. If you can stomach these hurdles, you’ll separate yourself from the crowds and hopefully have good hunting.

The South has no shortage of bedding areas. The extensive growing seasons and lack of frigid temps mean you can find good cover and food in just about any direction. Compared to other parts of the country, like the Midwest, ideal cover in Iowa doesn’t necessarily equate to optimal cover in Alabama.

For instance, some of the best bedding habitat in the deep South consists of young pine plantations, privet hedge thickets, canebrakes, etc. These areas typically provide excellent cover, travel, and food. However, that doesn’t mean they’re the only habitat types deer will use in the South.

In fact, deer will bed anywhere that has good screening cover. Screening cover might be a cutover, but it could also be a small blowdown. Or, it might be a point on a ridge with a few young pine saplings that gives a deer a scent or visual advantage. Just because a deer has access to a 70-acre cutover for bedding, doesn’t mean he has to bed there. If a buck, or any deer, feels comfortable in a certain spot, they’ll use it. While it’s anecdata, I’ve bumped bucks from patches of cover that were no more than twenty yards wide. Still, it’s happened enough that I don’t go busting through them before glassing into them.

This one isn’t completely wrong, but it deserves unpacking. Yes, the deep South experiences a ton of rain, and some places even rival a tropical forest. Deer can get a lot of their daily water intake from the vegetation they eat. Like bedding cover, the deer don’t have to look far to get a drink. While they might not have to find a sole water source within a few miles like more arid parts of the country, deer still have to drink water.

I probably wouldn’t make a game plan around water as a drinking source for deer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. While the South gets plenty of rain, you can bet on a drought at some point in the year. If that’s the case, I might consider water as a viable tactic.

A few years ago, I was struggling to find deer and deer sign on a new piece of public. That October was extremely dry and that included most of the creek beds. I found one stretch of that creek that held a large puddle of water, and it was loaded with fresh tracks. I ended up killing a doe the next day on that creek. While that probably wouldn’t factor into my usual tactics, the conditions dictated otherwise.

Let’s get this out of the way. I’m not debating the moral/ecological significance of baiting. To be honest, I don’t really care either way.

Across many of the Gulf Coast states, baiting is legal on private lands. I remember when my state legalized it and many folks who were on the fence or even opposed to it, eventually started baiting. They’d typically say something like, “well, if I don’t bait the neighbors will kill all the deer.” Ironically, these folks and their neighbors both started baiting and the deer population is still thriving today. It’s funny, I never hear anyone complain about their neighbor having a ton of white oaks and how they’ll have to plant some to keep the deer from making a mass exodus to the next property.

Not to use hard facts and data again, but research shows that even most food plots don’t alter deer bedding or travel, much less convince them to leave a property entirely. Just because your neighbor puts a new feeder up doesn’t mean the deer will vanish. Instead, ask yourself if your property has enough cover for deer to bed and travel during daylight hours. When the months-long gun seasons of the South open, deer will have a pretty good pattern of your neighbors’ hunting schedule. If your property can offer them a safe haven away from the feeders and gunslingers, you’re probably better off not running bait anyway.

This myth can apply to anywhere, but it especially applies to the deep South. I don’t know many folks who have Louisiana on their bucket lists, so I can understand the sentiment. While there might not be a Pope & Young behind every tree, that hardly means the deer hunting is trash. Too many hunters believe they live in a mature buck black hole, and that myth probably keeps those mature bucks alive. In reality, I think most folks lean on this crutch because they don’t want to put in the work it requires.

I have a friend who lives a few miles from a large, well-managed wildlife management area. He’s never hunted it, despite having lived near it for almost a decade. He loves to hunt, but because the county he lives in isn’t known for mega bucks, he’s written it off. Instead of hunting close to home he drives two hours to hunt a much smaller private property that probably offers him slightly higher odds at a similar class buck. In reality, I know my friend doesn’t want to deal with other hunters or the constant scouting public land often requires. He’d much rather go somewhere he can drive a four wheeler or sit in a pre-hung stand. In other words, it’s more work than he wants to put in. This is totally fine if that’s your style, but don’t label the hunting in your area as garbage when you haven’t given it an earnest effort.

Whether you live in the South or not, deer hunting myths can cripple your chances of actually killing a deer that you’d be happy to shoot. At the very least, they’ll rob your hunting joy. I don’t subscribe to the idea of manifesting things, but belief is a powerful tool. I think if you really want to make the most of something, you have to put in the work, and this includes deer hunting.

Feature image via Matt Hansen.