greg-dude

I agree with what has been mention, however, if you have an early opening season and it is hot and dry, don't ignore the pond in the middle of the day and in the evenings.

02bhntn

Solax,

You can up your odds tremendously by creating a path into the corn before it gets to tall. Walk in cutting a path about 3 feet wide for about 25 - 30 yards. When you get in about 30 yards make a fork and exted each leg out about 30 yards. This will give the deer a place to enter the filed and give them 60 yards of easy walking before they get into the heart of the field. I do this every year and I can't tell you how many deer I see using the path. It looks like cows are walking into and out of the field. I set up 20 yards to either side of the entrance, depending on the wind.

Solax

02bhntn, THAT'S THE TYPE OF TIP I WAS LOOKING FOR!!!! that sounds like an excellent idea, the farmer might not like it to much but if he says anything I'll just say "How much corn would the deer I'm taking eat?" (He's family anyway so I can get around that) Anyway, that sounds like an awesome idea. I'm gonna have to try it.

Thanks again, everyone.

Stump_MN_Hunter

First of all, I would rather hunt corn over beans any day of the week. I have seen that corn will have deer coming to it long after it's been harvested(as long as it hasn't been plowed under). Deer around my area will continue coming to it into late Dec. Where as if there were beans there, once the beans are gone....so seem the deer are too. Deer will not only use the corn for food, but for really good cover too.

Secondly, what I have done with corn in the fields is to mow a path around the field about 3-4 feet wide. Especially if it butts up to a slough or woods. Not only will you find it a great path to walk out to your stand nice and quiet, but the deer will start using this path as a deer trail not more than a few days after you mow it. If the deer don't intend on going into the corn field for food or cover, they like us, like to walk somewhere where it's easy walking as long as they feel comfortable. I have shot many, many deer just walking down the path that I mowed right to me. They nibble on the corn stalks right next to the path and make their way to where ever they are going to or from. A bush hog pulled behind a 4-wheeler works great!! Try it out.

Cougar Mag

You are not talking about cutting the corn I hope! If I did that to a corn field I might as well kiss my hunting areas goodbye.[]

NEWSHOOTER

If the Wisconsin season opens sept 18th will the corn be ready or should I use my other stand location in the pines? When does the corn die and do they eat it while it is soft or wait till it gets hard?

Bukmastr

It really depends on where your hunting and how pressured the deer are. One thing is pretty certain, I dought I would hunt in the corn off of the ground. The bucks are likly to get down wind of you before going to the pond. They will also smell that you have been in there safe zone and abandon it except at night. Most of my hunting in Iowa or Illinois would put me on the edge of the feild. I would walk the entire perimeter of the feild the day I was going to hunt and set up on the biggest track, not the most tracks. The big bucks travel alone early in the season. Here in Wisconsin on most of the farms I hunt I would abandon the feild all together and look for where the bucks are bedding and set up near there, unless you are reasonably sure they are bedding in the feild.

davidmil

We hunt corn every year. Do what most have mentioned. They'll troll just inside the woods, around the corn in strips between woods, and spend a lot of time IN the corn. We find trails coming and going and hunt them. Look in the corners, low hidden spots, ditches cutting through the corn.. all sorts of places. Try to be in the woods the day the corn is cut. It's wild. As some one mentioned,... for the first 3 or 4 days after they cut there's tons of activity. I went out last week on a crop damage permit. I set up in a hedgerow/ditch that cut the back of a corn field off from the front. About the witching hour deer started popping up everywhere. Most came from the corn. If there are any grassy areas in the corn void of crops... they'll visit them. Your pond sounds like a winner too. I don't think I'd be stomping a farmers corn down......even a relative. They take their crops and right to quiet enjoyment seriously. Even a relative can get ticked... why bother pushing it. You don't need to.

Fieldmouse

Hey I suck also at everything except sitting high in a tree. I would atempt it because it sounds interesting.

Where I hunt the first ten rows are striped clean by the deer coming and going. A little trail won't hurt a thing.

goosie

The farmer whose land I hunt on is a Dairy farmer and he does a lot of corn sileage each year. The first thing he does each fall, is take the first 5 or 6 rows off each corn field. For some reason farmers do that anyway, but this farmer, after telling him how much it boosts our success rate, makes sure he does it first thing so that we can shoot more deer. This provides a great area for them to be out and feed but also to give you more visibility and shot opportunities. This way he harvests the corn without you having to cut it down. This way everyone wins.