Why August is a Critical Month for Deer Hunters

The days are still long, but the mornings and evenings bring a new nip in the air. It's August, and unless you have a western hunt foray on the horizon, you're counting the days to your whitetail opener.

August is an important month. Bucks have, or soon will, finish growing. They will hold their velvet — some well into September — but growth ends. Testosterone levels are low, boy bands remain, and bucks pound protein-rich green food sources. August is an excellent time to spend the last hour of daylight glassing green fields like alfalfa, wheat, and beans.

In my neck of whitetail paradise, the landscape is pancake flat. My glassing tools of the trade are the bed of my GMC 1500, a pair of Thermacells, a Tircer-AD tripod, and my Leupold SX-4 Pro Guide HD Gen 2 20-60x85 spotting scope.

I hit the grocery stores as many nights a week as I can during August. You can only learn so much from trail cam images. Seeing a buck on the hoof makes the heart pitter-patter a bit harder, and you can start making early-season plans. I pin every deer's location on my Hunt Stand app and take notes about where they enter and exit the food source. My goal isn't just to watch deer, but to begin to develop a plan that will help me put an arrow into one.

As with hunting, play the wind, and though bucks typically aren't on high alert this time of year, do the best to leave no human footprint. I park my truck far enough from all food sources that the deer pay it no mind. I rely on the clarity of my spotter to tell me everything I need to know.

If you don't own a spotting scope, do yourself a big favor and purchase one along with a quality tripod and scope-to-tripod mount. Another option is a tripod and a bino mount that will attach your 15-power (12x is minimum) to your spotting scope. Optic stabilization is essential. I just finished a field test on Burris' Signature HD 15x56 mm binos. This pair of clear, low-light gathering, and most importantly, under $1K binos provides excellent eye relief and high-power magnification.

Pulling up to a field and lifting the eight or 10-power binos for a quick scan doesn't cut it. I also recommend a phone mount that will connect to your smartphone to your spotter so you can take pictures of the deer you're glassing. Currently, I'm using an Ollin Spotting Scope Phone Adapter and have had excellent luck with it.

Stay Cellular & Digital

Much of my whitetail landscape, much like many of you reading this, is covered in grain crops. Corn and millet fields hold a lot of deer, which means I can slip along field edges, visit river crossings, old scrapes, etc., and check and/or move my cellular cameras.

I've been running Moultrie's all-new Edge 3 and Tactacam's new-for-2025 Ultra cellular cameras all summer. Both promise easy setup, are ultra-functional, require minimal false images, and allow for high-resolution photo and video downloads.

Before heading in to boost battery life and move cameras around, I take a look at my buck inventory, highlight bucks from past years, and then look back at digital camera images (I can't use cells during season when I'm hunting) to make informed decisions about where to place some rut cameras.

In late August, I start limiting my intrusion into my deer area. I want established doe groups not to feel any human pressure or smell human stink. For this reason, I use data from previous decisions and current summertime intel to make trail camera moves. I have community scrapes that get opened every year during the second week of October. Those scrapes get a camera. I have funnels and river crossings that heat up in early October, and those locations get a camera. Forward thinking will help you. When testosterone begins to rise and bucks change patterns, you'll have trail cameras set and ready to monitor them.

Modern-day cellular and digital cameras are ridiculously inexpensive. Right now, you can jump on Moultrie's website and purchase a pair of Edge 2 Cellular Trail cameras for $79.99. The Edge 2 cameras are fantastic. They are reliable, take crisp images, reduce false triggers, and their video with sound capability is impressive.

Stealth Cam and Browning are my typical go-to digital cameras. When I transition from cell to digital in late August, I run Stealth Cam's DS4K Ultimate Trail Cameras and Browtine 16. Currently, you can purchase a three-pack of Browtine 16 cameras for $149.99 on Stealth Cam's website. Browning's Dark Ops Pro DCL Nano is another excellent digital trail camera, especially if you want a no-flash trail camera that takes excellent day and night photos and doesn't disturb game.

Of course, I still leave cameras on food sources — big ag and small plots — but I want my rut cameras out and ready. Also, each year, I set up numerous cameras over mock scrapes and any new rubbing posts I put in. In my area, bucks take over one out of every four mock scrapes I put in. I'm a numbers guy, and I'm good with 25 percent. Two years ago, according to digital camera evidence I collected later, my target buck hit a pair of mock scrapes I'd created along a travel corridor and then headed straight for a cedar rubbing post 25 yards under my stand. What you do right now matters!

Check Stands & Add New Ones

While you're moving cameras around and tromping through your deer dirt, go check all your existing tree stands, box blinds, and ground blinds. I'm as bad as anyone about leaving tree stands on private property, especially those that produce regularly. If you get lazy like me after the season and don't pull your stands, inspect straps, bolts, screws, cables, sticks, etc. Always wear your safety harness. I like HSS' Hanger Harness in combination with an arborist's line and rope clamp. I carry extra straps, rope, etc., and I use a pole saw and hand saw to trim out all of my stands during this process. When I walk away from any stand, I want to know it's safe, trimmed, and ready to go for fall.

Bonus Tip: If I hang new stands or trim out new trees, I also evaluate and walk my access routes. I pin access routes and save my tasks on a digital mapping app.

Concerning my old stands and blinds, I rewalk all my access paths and clean them up if necessary. It's handy to carry a weed eater and a saw with you. If you don't have a weed eater or don't want to tote the weight, a good weed whip with a durable wooden handle works well.

This is also a great time to hang new stands. I also like to saddle hunt, and this is an excellent time to trim trees out if you know (or even think) you may saddle hunt from them this fall.

Concerning box blinds, I carry some WD-40, wasp spray, and window cleaning supplies. In my neck of the woods, wasp spray is mandatory, and just like my tree stands, I want to know my blinds are ready to go for fall.

August is a critical month for the whitetail deer hunter. Whether your season opens in September or October, work needs to be done, and you want to get that work done while velvet bucks are still acting calm and being lazy.

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