The Bowhunter Podcast, presented by Tactacam, and in partnership with Thompson Cigar, recently sat down for an info-packed conversation with Bowhunter Magazine Contributors Emily Konkler, Darron McDougal and Danny Farris to break down the 2026 whitetail season from opening day through the rut and late season. The expert panel shares their favorite dates, conditions and tactics for early season bucks, October cold fronts, rut hunting, decoying and late-season food sources.
In what has become an annual tradition both in the magazine and on this podcast, Associate Publisher/Editor in Chief Christian Berg surveys key field staff members to give subscribers insightful perspectives from whitetail bowhunters who live and hunt in different areas of the country. Additionally, each of these contributors also participated in the more detailed print feature in Bowhunter's September/October '26 issue (on sale now).
The team always uses the Fish & Game Forecaster from DataSport, Inc., as the baseline for discussing best days and times. To learn more about The Original DataSport Fish & Game Forecaster, now in it's 53rd Edition, as well as the 44th Edition of Hannon's Moon Clock, go to www.DataSportinc.com.
Podcast Host Christian Berg recently moved from northeast Pennsylvania to southcentral Kentucky. Emily Konkler lives in Ohio and hunts properties in different regions of the Buckeye State. Darron McDougal lives in Wisconsin, the state that has accounted for the more Boone & Crockett-class whitetail bucks than any other state, and he travels widely to hunt deer throughout the West and Upper Midwest. Longtime Bowhunter Magazine & TV Contributor Danny Farris lives near Colorado Springs, Colorado, but he hunts whitetails throughout the West and Midwest. In mid-September, when this podcast was recorded, participants shared concerns over changing buck behavior once the velvet came off the antlers and the deer began to alter their previous patterns, becoming less social, more selective regarding food sources, and less visible overall, leaving many hunters wondering where all the bucks had gone.
"Normally, for me," began Emily Konkler, "at least the last several seasons, like early season has been my ticket [early October in Ohio]. Like, I love that first red moon in October. That's usually where I put most of my focus. I usually don't get too excited until then. It seems like that's when the switch always flips for me, at least it has been down home. Obviously, that's been different last year and this year because of everything that's happened with EHD. But normally, that would be my best time to hunt. Daylight pictures of bucks, patterning bucks on alfalfa, acorns, everything like that. October is usually my favorite month."
"October 9th would be one of my favorite days of the month to hunt, hands down," Emily continued. "Well, it seems like that red moon always kind of falls either before that, during that, right after that. I killed Ghost on October 7th. He was a red-moon deer. I killed Freak on October 10th, my largest deer to date, he was also a red-moon deer, and I've had a mature buck on camera during that 9th timeframe every single year in daylight. Whether the conditions were right, whether I couldn't hunt, whether I was in the wrong stand, but I've always had mature buck in daylight around that timeframe. I'd definitely circle that as one of my favorite times to be on stand."
"One thing that I would kind of tack on as a side note," said Darron McDougal, regarding hunting during the early days of the season, "is I think a lot of people, when they know a big buck is in the area, especially when [the deer] have been patternable, is they think that time in the stand is a good thing and maybe some cases it could be but, man, those deer can sense that influx of pressure. They go from their summertime tendencies when they're not being pursued by anything other than coyotes or bears, or whatever else is roaming around out there, but they're not smelling human scent in the woods, they're not hearing a lot of intrustion in most areas, and then all of a sudden somebody starts logging a lot of time [on stand] and I don't care how detailed you are, eventually they're going to sense that and I think your odds are going down. So, I think it becomes a matter of, as you were saying, maybe waiting until late October isn't necessarily the play; maybe it's picking out the very best conditions, the best winds, the ideal barometric press and stuff like that to really make your hunts count rather than just hunting as much as you can."
Danny Farris joined the conversation when the subject turned to late October and using a decoy, which is one of his favorite tactics since he is also the owner of Ultimate Predator, maker of Stalker Decoys. "I wrote about that in the forecast," Danny began, "and I think that some of the days that we were discussing then were right at the end of October. And I know traditionally for most bowhunters that last week of October is this hot time that's very sought-after, but my own personal experience is that I'm just jinxed during that week. I did take one really good buck on October 26th a few years back, but generally speaking, that last week of October, I know that those big bucks are starting to make daylight appearances and starting to move, during those late weeks of October those big bucks are starting to move and man, for the tactics that I like to use, a decoy can be very effective if you can get in front of them. But, I just feel that those big ones aren't leaving their core area that much yet. If you're lucky enough to be hunting their core area, then you've got a very good chance of getting eyes on them. But, if you're depending on them to travel, you're hunting a perimeter property or something like that, my experience is that I see two-year-olds running around thinking, 'It's the rut right now!' But, if I don't happen to be right there in that big buck's backyard, I don't see him. I could be wrong. There are certainly a lot of guys who, if they were going to put a pin on the calendar for when they'd want to be out there the most, that's the week they'd choose. And these are very accomplished whitetail hunters who are saying that. But maybe I'm not that accomplished, or maybe I just have bad luck during that time of year. It's not the week I'd choose if I've only got one week to take off."
"Bowhunters spend the majority of their time hunting alone," said Host Christian Berg, "but it sure is fun to talk about deer hunting with your friends, no matter what season it is. Everyone has opinions about the best time to be on stand and the best tactics to use based upon their own experiences in the field, and we can always learn something new about the pursuit of whitetail deer. This is one of my favorite understakings every year for the magazine, and I'm thankful that we've got such hard-hunting team members like Emily, Darron and Danny, who are extremely serious about their deer hunting but don't take themselves so serious that they can't have fun with a subject like this. I hope that our subscribers can glean some good info from what admittedly is a lighthearted take on hunt timing."
The episode is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Podbean. Watch the full episode here. Additionally, pick up the latest issue of Bowhunter Magazine on newsstands or subscribe.
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