Bowhunting Whitetails with Bill Winke

Though I did shoot six deer (five does and one buck) it was a tough season overall. I spent many days in the stand and blind without seeing any deer. I am calling it quits with the last hunt being with my son, Drew, in the blind. Though there are still three days left in the season, I have to get back home and clean up after the big blizzard and get ready for Archery Trade show in a few days.

Our son, Drew, arrives to hunt with me for a couple of days with a muzzleloader. The first day we decide to try some still-hunting on the downwind side of bedding areas. It is always tough to see deer before they see you when you are moving and they are motionless, especially on still days. We give it our best shot.

Even though it is January 5, we head to a classic rut stand that we last hunted on November 5 in the hopes of catching deer that are heading to a ridgetop food plot nearby. While in the stand, I discuss the conditions you need to hunt upwind of deer without being smelled. This is a classic stand to demonstrate how well this can work.

Jordan and I head to the corn plot in the valley by the Scrape Tree and the Haunted Shack. I sure thought that by now this plot would be half gone, but the deer have barely started on it. What am I going to do with all this corn? I also talk about how long it takes to improve a farm for whitetail hunting.

It was great to have Jordan back in the blind. We always have fun hunting together. We have enjoyed our time in the blind since she was just six years old hunting with a .50 caliber muzzleloader loaded down with a single 50 grain powder pellet. I made a mistake though. Knowing she has very limited time to hunt this late season and wanting badly for her to have a great hunt, I got too aggressive

It was a good chilly evening on January 2, 2024 so we chose to hunt deep in the timber, hoping to catch the deer before dark as they possibly fed on acorns or made their way toward the open fields to feed. It was fun being way back in the timber, but such hunts come at a cost. I discuss the tradeoffs in this episode.

Using a process of elimination logic that might cause you some brain damage to follow, I arrive at a stand selection that takes us above the driveway down the valley from the buildings. During the hunt, I talk about how thermals work in this hill country and then using wind floaters demonstrate how the wind/thermals change as the hunt progresses. We also see a hunting bobcat, which was pretty coo

I pulled eight cards in preparation for the stretch run of my bow season. On this episode, I show you what I found on all eight cards and talk about how this information affects my late season plans.

The firearms season is finally over and I am back to bowhunting. Feels good to be back out there. Had a buck come in that taught us a few things that we can maybe use in the future. The rest of this week looks bad from a weather standpoint. Mild with a lot of SE and E winds. I will keep hunting though. Good luck.

On our last day in Nebraska we spend the morning deep in a cedar thicket sitting over a hole in a row of brush. We have some interesting action. Then we spend the evening making a ground blind along the edge of a hayfield. Our final day is a little unconventional, but it is a lot of fun and produces good results.

On the second day of our trip to Nebraska we spent the morning in a cedar thicket hoping for late rut movement. We had some action. But as the day progressed, the wind picked up until it was blowing 25 to 30 mph. While the duck hunters on the nearby Platte River loved it, the wind caused us some concern. Do we hunt the open edges near the crop fields hoping the deer would still move to feed, or

I have three days to hunt Nebraska and the first day (Friday) was an interesting reminder of the differences between hunting the bluff country that typifies my farm in Iowa versus the flatlands of the Great Plains. We are hunting a good property with a lot of deer. The goal is to spend mornings and evenings looking for ways to combine feeding patterns with the hope of late rut movement. Here's h

I still have a decent chance to tag one or both of those older bucks that are still on the farm. The trick now is figuring out how to sneak into feeding areas with snow on the ground. It will be critical not to make a single hunt unless everything is perfect - the entry and and exit is bulletproof and I feel certain one of them will be there feeding. The entire rest of the season may hinge on t

I keep talking about the fact that the deer are almost surely hanging back in the timber eating acorns right now rather than coming out to fields and plots. Then why am I not going in after them? On the last day of the early bow season, I answer that question while sitting a really pretty spot.

We head back to the ridgetop corn plot hoping to finally cross paths with one of the two shooters that live nearby. In the blind, I discuss whether we have burned this spot out and how to tell, in general, when you have burned out a spot. I run through 11 day's worth of trail cam photos from the camera that was in front of the blind, showing every single photo on the card to help understand what i

I have planted sorghum (also known as milo) on and off since 1996. I have always thought that given a choice the deer would choose corn over sorghum. I thought the sorghum was just a second class food source for late season hunting. But, I am going to have to rethink that assumption. In some situations, sorghum could be the best choice.

We head back to the same blind I hunted on Sunday evening, but this time we take the four-wheeler instead of walking. Is there is a difference? Which one is better for slipping past deer? I also take on the subject brought up by a few of the viewers in the comments section asking why I am trying to shoot does when it seems the deer numbers on the farm are low. Good question. Hopefully, I have

With the rut pretty much over, the action returns to the food sources. That can be good and it can be bad. If you have a way to get away from your stands or blinds at the end of legal shooting time, this can work great. If not, the action will end after just one hunt. As we hunt what promises to be my best spot, I offer a few tips on how I have done this over the years. Also, another update from

As the breeding winds down, the bucks are in dire need of improving their health going into winter. With this in mind, most years I do really well sitting on or near food during the final days of the rut. That is what I plan to do during my evening hunts. Also, in this episode, I show how hard it can be at times to find a smart place to park to avoid any deer approaching a feeding area.

We have been hunting through the lull and it has been tough, but we do have some hunts to show you and we offer a few words of encouragement and maybe even advice for Thanksgiving week. I have been looking forward to this coming week all season. Hunt safe and good luck.

The rut's lull is still upon us, but I still want to hunt somewhere. After attempting to go to a very good spot deep in the timber, near doe bedding areas, I realize I am running a high risk of educating deer so I backtrack and hunt a different spot. The lesson is about this tradeoff between hunting great spots and keeping them fresh for the best times.

I saw two bucks chasing an obviously hot doe toward the ridge where the 10 pointer I am hunting is living. I wasn't sure if one of the bucks was him - it was a long ways off - so I went up on the ridge for a quick afternoon hunt to see if the doe was still in the area.

November 9th and 10th found both Ethan and I hunting deep in the hardwoods near doe bedding areas. We both experienced great action. As the rut's lull approaches, things are going to slow down, but we were blessed to see great bucks prior to this time. If you are still hunting, good luck. Come back on Wednesday to check out the Whitetail Watch episode where I talk about hunting this mid-rut lull

As we shift our efforts deeper into the timber and focus on bedding areas, we are seeing more buck activity as they search for the first hot doe. Ethan had the buck he is hunting at 18 yards and intern Alex shot a buck in Minnesota. We will detail both encounters in this episode. You can see how things played out for our team. Focus on stands deeper in the timber now. Good luck. This coming w