Let's hear your favorite tactics. After wearing blaze orange the last 2 days and carrying the shotgun, I am off the next 8 days as bow season is back in. Most the does have all been bred in the area, so I'm hoping to catch a good buck out cruising again. Scrapes are starting to open back up. I am as of now planning on splitting my time between my rut funnels, and also more post rut style hunting over food sources. I've got 2 bucks I'm after, so let's hope they made it through gun season and want to slip up this week!
Late November early December groups of fawns start getting together. They have beenpushed away by the mature does during the main part of the rut. They start congregatingaround food sources namely green fields with bedding area close by. As the doe fawns start coming into season for the first time. You can find mature bucks scent checking the feeding areas in the early evening's. They mainly travel with a cross wind inside cover parallel To the feeding area. While this mostly starts happening early December I would start setting up on this pattern anytime into late November. Immature bucks will get in closer to the fawn groups and be much more visible around the edges. Couple tactic with hunting well into the cover near quality food sources and you just might if you're in deep enough catch a mature buck coming out to feed just before dark.
Good stuff guys! I'm buckless this season and hunting the hardwoods. I've slammed my head into the wall and can't think straight...wondering if oak groves (most likely red oaks by now) are a good spot to setup over? thoughts?
I'll be hunting pinch points and funnels between food sources. Like trial153 said, I'll be looking for and hanging near the doe fawns as they come in in December.
Oaks are fine, any white oaks should be cleaned out by now ...reds getting cleaned up later, The problem with late season bucks on oaks is pin pointing where they are at...its way to easy for a buck to move a little way from their beds and hit oaks late morning and early afternoon...in other words they are bedding In the oaks. A good big woods oak stand late season in mountain country is on a ledge that goes around the hill, so the round ledge on the side...look for ridges that run east west and south ledges with hold the most red oaks...and provide a sunny warm bed. But all that said ....That's a hard buck to kill late season. I would look hard for other food sources, small green fields, even back yards in second home...lights are off and no one is there.... Back fields away from road traffic ect ect...
With the exception of the real late doe still in....all the fawns are right back with the does in my area, or have joined another doe group if there mama's didn't make it.
Same here. They're hitting my plot every day though so maybe i'll get lucky enough a buck will be cruising through one of these nights.
The post-rut could be as good if not better than the rut itself in my opinion. Bucks have been set in motion with the rut for a few weeks now and they are still instinctively looking to breed every last doe that comes in. By now, the fawns and does are starting to form back into groups and will be hitting food sources hard to replenish themselves from the rut. Big boy knows this and will be keeping a close eye on them and these areas, often following behind. PA's gun season starts next Monday and when I still hunted it, it was not uncommon to see a string of six or seven does followed by a buck or two behind them. They aren't chasing them, just following behind, hopeful that one of these does will come into estrus. If you have a ton of does in your area, there is also a good chance that a few will come into estrus again if they weren't bread in the first part of the breeding cycle.
Grizzly - What are your bucks doing now in relation to their bedding patterns before the rut? Last year I was told by many people that midwest bucks would bed in different areas for the winter vs. early season (before the rut). I just didn't find that to be true and killed my #1 buck on Oct 1st based on the bedding pattern I put together during the previous February. Since I'm tagged out in IL, I'm headed to NY next week to see if I can get it done out there. I've learned a lot out here in the Midwest this year and I'm curious to see if I can apply it to the hunting back home.
That's an easy fix, focus on doe groups that have several fawns ..odds are some are does and will come into estrus.
Yup! Varies on the buck and the specific summer/fall beddings he was utilizing but the same bed or atleast bedding areas can offer good winter bedding just like they offered in the fall....however some hot bedding areas pre-winter will go dead now as winter bedding takes over. Knowledge of what your area is dealing with and has to offer is crucial.
The only scraps I would consider sitting at at this time of year would be select primary scrapes way into cover. But if line is being used obviously you can put a cam or two out and see who and when the buck is working them..
I took a little walk about the other day when it was really slow, followed a trail back into the corner of my property that is untouched by anyone, tons of saplings and brush with a trail going through it. A couple of trees about 20 yards apart had two scrapes under each one. There are a few trees that I could get in and out of pretty easy. Just didn't know if I should try it or not. Guess at this point in the game better late than never...
Ill be honest I dont know what Im doing buck hunting wise in December! hahaha. The only thing that ever seems to work is find the food they are hitting it and make sure you have a good wind. Ive seen bucks feeding especially in the afternoon but I do not think I have connected on a decent buck in December. This year I will be able to hunt considerably more in December so we shall see.
I am in relatively the same area as gri22ly. (Hour away) Saturday morning I had bucks on the move with noses down. Group of 6 doe (2 fawns) came by Saturday morning. Saturday evening young buck was cruising hard. Sunday morning a lone doe came by early. Lone buck did as well. Doe with bb came by and smelled licking branch. Group of 4 does came by as well. All the morning deer were headed toward bed. Then about 8:30 Sunday morning a mature doe was being chased from the bed by a 4 year old buck. What does all this mean, hell Idk but I like the spot.lol Seemed like the bucks were going into the doe beds to see if any doe were still in. But it's possible the bucks are also bedding in the same area as I have just started hunting this spot in the last couple weeks and have seen bucks on every sit. Morning is definitely more active than evening.
I have personally seen a mature eight pointer chasing a little doe all over the place in late December here in PA. Its only late November, bucks are still worried a lot about the does in the area. Where are the resident does in the area? The grocery store. Best of both worlds for a buck who's slowly coming down off that testosterone high he's been on for the last month and half. He's worn down and hungry from the peak of the rut, but still instinctively wants to breed every available doe in the area. Thats how nature wired him. As others have noted, the real challenge is finding the primary food sources as the year rolls along. Yes, they will transition to areas with better food as it becomes available. Keep hunting the does. The bucks won't be too far behind. Buck or doe, its still a deer who is a slave to its stomach for the vast part of the year. I hunt an area that is full of deer in October and November, but is almost void of them in late December through March. Its food that causes them to abandon those areas every season.
I've still seen chasing going on late november/very early december. I have also seen bucks worn out and jumping back on the food sources. It's a crap shoot IMO at this point. The later it keeps going the more the food sources will come into play
