Orange coats are gone, it’s damn cold and I have 40 pounds of deer sticks and a case of beer calling my name. However I have two tags left and still haven’t shot a deer with my bow! What are your late season plans? Tree stand, blind only, walk in and sit? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm of the walk-in and.. Plenty of fallen trees in my neck of the woods... Like. That as a late season tactic as the tracks in the snow tell a good story and help me decide where to post up.... Plus big fan of skulky around lightweight ansld mobile.... Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
I made myself a nice little blind- very quick, quiet and easy to set up. I’ll likely be hunting on the ground for the remainder of the season. I have more confidence in my ability to sneak in and find cover than sneak up a naked tree. I’ll likely favor afternoon sits from here until the end of the season
Find food, and anticipate where they are bedding and set up between the 2. That being said, I wouldn’t give up on still being able to find a cruising buck this week. Some of the biggest deer I get on trail camera most years are from right now! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Indeed!! Start setting up near feeding areas but NOT rght over them. Does get super edgy now and will tolerate very little
I have found a new found affection for late season hunting. Here in PA, our late season doesn't even begin until the day after Christmas. So its usually cold... damn cold. But, I have learned a bunch from hunting hard during that part of the season the last few years when I was chasing a particular buck. One, the colder the better. It really does put deer in motion. But not when you think. I've found the very best late season movement was mid day. In fact, I killed two deer last season, Dec 26 and Dec 29, both were between 1 and 2 pm. I sucked it up and hunted in a treestand. I went into the woods around noon on both days. I never bother with morning hunts that time of year. Its a really nice time to be in the woods honestly. If you have ground to hunt that isn't overhunted or pressured, all the better.
I still like to get up off the ground. Just pick my sets a little differently. My last two January deer - one stand was about 6 feet up, the other only about 4 feet off the ground. This helps just enough with visibility, but keeps me in the ground cover like briars all around the base of a few trees. January is one of my favorite months to bow hunt. You are nearly always the last one in the woods, the deer are very predictable, bucks are grouping up again, and they have to eat! I do not like to hunt on the food source as there are always so many in the field when I climb down, I do not like to scare them. I hunt on the paths 50 yards or so off the food.
