How to Hunt in Cornfields

Nothing is more rewarding for a hunter than taking down and bringing home a trophy buck during deer season. For those hunters lucky enough to gain the permission of a corn farmer to hunt among the rows, they are almost guaranteed such a prize if they know how to successfully navigate cornfields. Hunting cornfields involves different strategies and equipment than forest hunting, as well as a boatload of patience.

Things You'll Need

  • Deer blind
  • Tree stand
  • Odor mask
  • Binoculars
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Instructions

    • 1

      Set up your blind near a cluster of white oaks near the cornfield, especially if they are dropping acorns. Often, large bucks may be found bedding in the cornfields themselves and understand the immense cover and protection it offers them. However, even the largest of bucks will leave shelter for an acorn delicacy when they tire of eating the corn.

    • 2

      Assemble a tree stand or blind in the areas between the cornfields and bodies of water or other feeding areas. Look for well-trodden deer paths and naturally occurring funnels where the deer will pass through, and hunt here, especially in the mornings or evenings.

    • 3

      Spot and stalk as a last resort. This technique is useful only when the deer refuse to emerge from the cover of the cornfield during hunting hours. Carefully and extremely quietly move across rather than down the rows. A breezy day will mask the sounds of your movement but you still risk startling the deer away from the field. At each row, stop and slowly peek your head out to look left and right for any bedded deer before moving to the next row.

    • 4

      Wait until the field is being cut and set up your blind directly afterwards, somewhere in full view of the field. Harvesting leaves behind enough corn that the deer will flock to the field to feast on it. Dozens of deer may come to feed on the corn the day after the harvest. This also eliminates any cover the deer had in the field, allowing a much greater range for your shot.