Most deer hunters think the season kicks off in September or October. But the smartest ones know that the real work begins months earlier, right about now. March sits in a sweet spot between the end of winter and the start of spring green-up, giving you a brief window to do the kind of boots-on-the-ground prep that pays off when opening day rolls around. If you’re serious about filling a tag this fall, your fall deer season starts right now in March.
- If you’re serious about hunting and managing whitetails, March is the most important off-season month of the year, and there’s plenty to do.
- In addition to shed hunting, there’s scouting, stand-hanging, timber management, and frost-seeding food plots.
- A lot of what needs to get done in the spring is much easier to do before green-up turns your open hardwoods into a jungle.
Why March Scouting Beats Every Other Month
Think about what happens once April hits. Turkey hunting gets going across much of the nation, and some of the best fishing of the year pulls your attention elsewhere. There’s a narrow March window where the trees are still bare, the ground is freshly exposed, and last fall’s deer sign is right there for you to read.
In March, the woods look exactly like they did in October and November, so you can see what the deer were up to last fall and start planning your approach for next season. Most hunters focus their scouting efforts in the summer or just before hunting season, but March scouting is arguably the most productive because the sign left behind from last fall’s rut is still fresh, and deer movement patterns are highly visible before spring vegetation conceals everything.
Because food sources can change so drastically, even between now and fall, your March scouting sessions should focus on two things: bedding areas and terrain funnels. These are the spots that tend to stay consistent year after year, regardless of what crop gets planted in the nearby field. Walk through ridges, follow well-worn deer trails, and pay attention to where rubs and scrapes cluster together. Keep an eye out for scrapes located inside thick cover, especially in transition areas between bedding and food sources, because these interior scrapes often see much more daylight activity.
Shed Hunting Tells You Who Survived
For some people, shed hunting is its own full-blown sport. There are deer hunters who are absolute shed-hunting maniacs, who fill truck beds with antlers and find matched sets that gross-score bigger than any buck most of us will ever take. That’s great for them. But even if you’re more casual about picking up bone, every antler you find in March gives you useful information.
Finding sheds offers a glimpse at a buck’s headgear, tells you whether a specific deer survived the winter, where he was spending time, and potentially how he’ll use the area next year. If you stumble onto an antler near thick cover, there’s a good chance you’re standing near a preferred bedding area. Focus your search on south-facing slopes, where deer soak up warmth from the sun, and around thick bedding cover like cedar thickets or tall switchgrass fields. Fence crossings, creek banks, and feeding areas with leftover corn, beans, or brassicas are prime locations where antlers get jarred loose.
Hang Stands and Work Your Property While You Can
The most obvious advantage of hanging stands now is that you can penetrate sensitive spots, like bedding areas, that are best left alone during the fall. The deer aren’t pressured, and you’re months away from any hunting activity. You can walk right through a buck’s bedroom, hang a set, cut your shooting lanes, and walk out without any consequences.
Some of the very best deer stands hung over the course of the last few decades came directly on the heels of spring scouting missions, including a memorable set hung in a staging area following a late-March scouting trek. If you’re hunting from preset stands, you might want to use March as the month you trim your shooting lanes, move those stands to the spots where you’ve found more promising deer signs, or set new stands on areas of your property you want to hunt safely.
March is also an excellent time for food plot prep. If you live in an area where the surface layer of soil freezes during winter, you can save fuel and equipment costs by frost seeding a portion of your clover food plots, spreading seed on frozen ground and allowing the freeze-thaw cycle to provide good seed-to-soil contact. In northern areas, green-up occurs in mid-April, so the preferred time for frost seeding is generally from late February through March. And once the ground thaws, it’s time to grab soil samples and figure out what lime and fertilizer you’ll need for the rest of the year.
Get Ahead Before the Green-Up Hides Everything
The whole reason March matters so much boils down to timing. Your goal is to take advantage of this window before new green growth covers up that sign. Once the leaves pop and the underbrush fills in, all those trails, beds, rubs, and scrapes disappear under a wall of green. You lose visibility and you lose the story that last season left behind.
March is also an excellent month for networking with landowners and other hunters. You’re far enough away from the season that you won’t need to ask for hunting permission directly. Instead, ask if they’d allow you to shed hunt their property. It’s a low-pressure way to build a relationship that might open a door come fall.
The hunters who consistently tag quality bucks don’t start their prep in September. They start now, when the ground is muddy and the trees are bare. Lace up your boots, grab a map of your hunting ground, and get out there. The work you put in this month will be the reason you’re grinning from a treestand six months from now.
