Cold High Pressure = Happy Hunters

According to the Iowa DNR, about 70,000 hunters are expected over the five day (December 4-8) first season. Another 50,000 should be pursuing whitetails in the nine day (December 11-19) second season. Deer patterns are noticably disrupted in many locations that see hunting pressure. Even if your honey hole doesn't see too much hunting traffic, expect odd deer behavior such as lower daylight activity, or sporadic waves of activity. The weather end of things couldn't be better; high pressure = happy hunters. Flurries aside, we have high pressure settling into the area and that will work to clear the sky and keep the winds reasonably low. Throw into the mix, bitterly cold numbers that we don't normally see until January, and you have the recipe for some great hunting. Deer are struggling to stay bedded down with conditions this cold, the instinct to feed and keep warm will usher them to the fields. If you play the wind right, fields and food plots with lower hunting pressure become deer magnets this time of year. Good luck, and enjoy this stretch. It looks like a big storm will crash the party by the weekend. 2nd season shotgunners, get ready for some plowable snow (especially south of I-80) on Saturday followed by the type of cold that could make a polar bear shiver...