With only a few days to go before the archery season opens, you begin to finalize your October game plan. Maybe you already have a buck from last season that’s at the top of your list for this fall or you’re still waiting for him to show up. Either way, the days are getting shorter and hunters across Illinois are chomping at the bit to start off the 2024 whitetail season. Here at Heartland Lodge, we’ve been busy monitoring trail cameras, mowing our clover food plots, over-seeding a few of our fall plots with oats and rye, and fine tuning our treestand set ups.
Opening week weather looking promising..
This September has been a hot and dry one but thankfully the weather forecast for this week has several chances of rain. It looks like temperatures finally start to move back to average with highs around 70 and lows in the upper 40’s and 50’s for opening week of the archery season with a potential weak cold front moving through the first few days of the season.
Moving into Fall Ranges & Changing Food Sources
The bachelor’s of summer will be growing tired of each other as the number of daylight hours dwindle and testosterone levels rise. New bucks are starting to show up on trail cameras as the annual fall shift begins. As the soybeans and corn begin to dry up in moisture content, whitetails will begin feeding more on anything with a little more moisture content in them such as alfalfa, broad leaf browse and our food plots of clover, oats, rye, turnips and radishes. Soft mass such as persimmons, apples, etc. and all different varieties of acorns will be at the top of the list. This year, we did have a good acorn crop in West Central Illinois. During the early season, we’ll tend to focus on the many white oak groves we have across our farms during both morning and evening hunts as deer transition back and forth into their bedding areas.
November Archery Hunts Available!
We have been keeping close tabs on the different phases of the whitetail’s world and preferred food sources as we make the final preparations for the 2024 deer season. If you are looking to schedule a last-minute hunt for this fall, we do have a few hunt spots open, Click Here to View Hunt Dates/ Rates for this Season.
I’m looking forward to sharing camp with new and return clients/friends this fall. I hope you have a safe and memorable whitetail season with friends and family.
