Going right off what Justin mentioned in his starter thread, what are some of your guys favorite late season strategies? Here in Ohio, our youth gun season is this weekend. Then we have another week of bow only that i wont be able to hunt, followed by a week of gun season. After that our bow season goes until February with an extra gun weekend and a muzzleloader weekend thrown in there. I know a stratagy i could use, but im not a really big fan of it. I would rather see if you guys could throw me any tips...
IMO the key to late season success is food, food, and food. Once the rut is over and the temps get really cold deer have to eat every few hours to sustain body temperatures and make it through the winter. They're really not on any sort of predictable travel pattern other than bed-food, and often times their bedding areas change and move almost right ontop of their favorite food source. This can make late hunting hard as you may bump deer from their beds on your way in. If you have the right food source you can draw deer in for a long distance during late season and have a really good chance to kill a good buck if you stick with it. Personally, I'll be hunting primarily evenings only and concentrating on some cut corn and cut bean fiels that have a lot of food left in them.
I have access to a few cut corn fields, but the deer seem to only be using them nocturnally at this point. That could change around January or mid December once the gun seasons are over though. I also own 17 acres of 1st year hay fields. They seemed to hit it pretty hard after the beans were cut and before the corn was off....but they arnt getting alot of daylight action anymore either.
I agree Justin, It's all about food late season!!!! I lawn sweep my lawn when I mow, and leave piles of grass sporadically around in my back yard, partly to try to get my grass to come in, and partly because I know the deer will depend on that partially decomposed grass as a food source come Jan-Feb timeframe. For hunting, look for food source near bedding areas, the deer get HUNGRY and LAZY in late season, from my experience.
if all else fails.... look down! we are getting a good bit of snow now, but i think its too wet to stick. in hte snow you can determine deer movement around your stand which can also be helpful for next yrs set up.
I've had really good luck with thick brush on south facing hillsides. I've also noticed that the bucks tend to head back to where they were spending time before the bachelor groups broke up, more like the late summer patterns.
I planted a late season food plot on a logging road yesterday. Its raining today! I plan to add more to the plot as soon as I can figure out what to plant thats hearty enough to make it this time of year.
If you are hunting a field edge(cut corn), and are ready to try something different, one of those Renzo's feeding doe decoys seems to pull them out earlier. Also, calling won't work too well due to the leaf drop and the snow, and maybe being shot at recently (if there's a gun season in your county), but if you have the decoy out they are easier to call in. Just a thought.
I went and checked my trail camera today, and from the amount of tracks on the ground, i would say that the deer are moving better now that the snow is melting. I noticed 5-6 doe beds in a clearing and i could see where the big boy circled them for awhile. I wont be able to get back out till the opening weekend before the opening day of gun season.
Even if you don't bait he is going to be eating something. Just gotta find out what. My strategy involves hunting the warmer periods of the day if it is a typical December, specially if the feeding times coincide. It just kinda depends, I don't have that much luck in late season but this is what I've learned so far. I did see my big buck last year Christmas week, the one that seen me I talked about in another post. I have pretty good luck using Dan Barnetts feeding times charts. They work better for fishing but I've had some deer sighting success using them also. Of course you have to correlate the weather into the equation also. Another important point in late season is cover for you. Early in the year you have a lot more leaves and vegetation to hide in. In December in my woods it's mostly gone and the deer are really used to looking for trouble from above. Might be a good time to brush in a ground blind, warmer too! Check out your deer sightings and see if the coincide with Barnett's times. If it's real cold I can't sit very long in a stand in December like I can in early November so I want to be there when the deer are. The big buck I mentioned above was coming straight towards my bait station. My brother in law shot at him in early December about a week after gun season closed and he was standing in his Biologic food plot munching on some greens! He was with a lesser buck and came in after some does did. He completely missed him though, got rattled and used the top pin for a 40+ yd. shot. Of course you have to form your plan for your area, mine is in mid-Eastern OK.
Food and cover are key. Finding both in a relatively short distance is the best. Deer will only expend as much energy as they have to. This year will be interesting. We still have standing corn all-over! The deer are going to be in FAR better shape this year - which is probably going to make the late season hunting that much tougher! They won't NEED to move as much.
It seems everyone else already has it covered but....what I was gonna say is:d Food. Food that is near cover. They won't want to be running around for no reason.
