I'm a new bowhunter this season, and it's been a great first year. I heart shot and recovered a mature doe with my recurve along the inside corner of a field in September, then I shot a big nine in the ham with the same recurve in early November ( two inches of penetration, no blood, pretty sure he survived). I got a rogue for my birthday in November, and quickly put it to use on a chunky antlerless buck with success. Then last week I shot a doe from the ground, thought the shot was good, but must have hit high. Spooked it the next day tracking it, and never found it. That was rough. Anyway, I've learned so much this season, and would be content if it ended tomorrow. but while everybody else is winding things down, I have the fortune of a special extended season this year! I live on a roughly 8000 acre island off the coast of Maine, and our deer population is estimated at 40-60 deer per square mile. This has created a near-epidemic of Lyme disease, with 50% of deer ticks carrying the parasite. I own a landscaping business and this summer about half my employees were treated for Lyme. I've personally been treated twice. Anyway, we get to hunt until near the end of February ! With no limit on tags. Now, this is a shotgun and bow hunt, so there will be some competition in the woods, however, we do not usually have any gun season at all, so the deer are unused to gun hunting pressure, and most of the 50 or less hunters are not very hardcore. Early in the season I hunted food sources and field edges. Late October through now I've hunted near bedding areas, food plots, and ridge travel corridors. The island varies from thick cedar and spruce thickets and swamps to hardwood ridges, with very little AG land but many gardens and orchards, to pretty dense residential areas. Of the 8000 acres, I can secure access to close to half. This is Maine, so right now the sun sets at 4 and rises at 7, but light will be increasing into the special season. I would love anyone's opinion or recommendations for hunting through the winter! It's all new to me, and I don't want to burn myself out slogging away with the wrong tactics. Thank you very much, sorry for the long winded intro!
Dress warm. lol. Deer get very spooky during the late season so make sure you got good cover. and a good food source helps a lot. i hope this helps
Thanks, yeah I'm working hard to identify late season food sources. A lot will depend on how much snow we get and how early too.
I dont know if it is legal in your area but putting out a pile of apples or corn every now and then will get the deer moving to that area more consistently. Or try a corn licking block.
Living on an island with a big deer population. Screw you figure it out for yourself. Just kidding, must be a rough life. Use trail cameras close to the food sources you think they are using. Once the camera verifies, go after them with the proper elements. I think in the winter they think mostly with their stomachs.
lol, yeah, unfortunately if we don't make a dent in the population they will bring in sharp shooters to kill 80% of the population over bait. So I'm trying to learn fast and make a difference! Turns out I really love hunting, so it would be a shame to learn and then have nothing to hunt... Ill begin monitoring suspected food sources...I just need about a dozen more trail cameras...
food sources early and late. that's your best chance of killing a deer late in the year. In arkansas our season goes to the end of February every year and i always try to switch back to hunting food sources after the rut
I actually took a long weekend vacation out in maine a couple winters ago in early February. Beautiful area, especially when covered in snow. Drove up and down the northern coast, stopping to take pictures now and then. Wish I could help you with your troubles!
I wouldn't call them troubles! I'm in hog heaven as a new hunter here. Maybe I can describe my stands and geography a bit more...I have three cheap hang on stands that work really well for me, as well as an old ladder stand. The ladder stand is in a crossroads of trails near several suspected bedding sites and overlooking a fresh scrape on a scrape& rub line. So far unproductive in two sits, both morning. I have one stand near a stream crossing on north side of a bedding area... It's been unproductive so far in 4-6 sits, am and pm. Probably going to move that one... I have one stand in a hardwood funnel near a small bench field on a high ridge, it was awesome during the rut, but is more hit or miss now. I could move that one too. There is a doe bedding area on the other side of the field, 100 plus yards away. Should I move closer to it? My best stand is overlooking an apple tree in a staging area between an overgrown field and thick cedar/spruce swamp woods. I've gone 2/3 from it as of yesterday, but it only works with a south to southeast wind. I'm looking at setting up on a low ridge with a good concentration of white oaks, near several thick bedding and security areas. A rub line runs just below the stand site. I'm also considering the corner of a swamp, overlooking a stream crossing, near an apple tree and suspected buck bedding area. Other possibilities include a funnel along a steep slope between two bedding areas, and an apple tree and several oaks around a neighbors backyard who is gone for the winter ( I shot a doe from the ground here two weeks ago, but she ducked into it and I must have got shoulder cause I never found her.) I still need to scout a bunch of other spots. Yesterday I spooked three or four does and fawns at a new property in a good sized bedding area, but it would be hard to get into, and I could not immediately identify food sources, just a good water source nearby that I could hunt pretty easily. I started a 1/2 acre food plot in September, but I don't seem to get any daytime activity, even though the surrounding woods is torn up with rubs and scrapes. I may need to set up further back off it...I have actually seen deer in it in the day, just not when I was hunting. Then there's another small field with a big oak on one side and apples on the other. I shot my first deer here in September, but then it seemed like I ran out of light. Thanks for any and all advice! I started hunting for the first time last December, but never had any luck till this season. Now work is done for the season and I'm on a mission!
I gotta keep that in mind. Any other under appreciated browse sources you can think of? I watched a doe clean all of the little red berries off a thorny barberry this November. I thought they wouldn't touch it, but it looked like she loved those berries.... There is a frilly leaved ground cover here that often grows in swamp edges and stream banks and ditches that they seem to consistently mow down to a couple inches, I don't know what it's called. Yesterday I moved the stand from the stream crossing by the bedding area to the small oak ridge. It overlooks a tangled basin so has great range of view. I'm really excited to try it out, probably Monday.
