Whitetail Tips
Bag a Late-Season Whitetail
December 28, 2009Tips to Bag a Late Season Buck
As I stepped out of my vehicle, the frigid cold sent a chill down my spine. The temperature was five degrees and that wasn’t accounting for the slight wind blowing out of the west. “This is crazy,” I mumbled to myself. I hesitated for a moment and then remembered what I had learned almost 30 years earlier from a grizzled old hunter at a deer camp in the Catskill Mountains of New York. “Boy,” he said, “remember this about hunting whitetails late in the season. The colder and nastier it is, the better your chances will be to kill a big buck.” Over the next 40 years, that wise old man’s advice has paid big dividends for me many times. And it can for you as well. As the deer season draws to an end, a deer’s habits become more predictable and hunters can capitalize on that fact.
FIND UNLIKELY HIDING SPOTS
In most states deer have been hunted hard for weeks. As the season draws to a close, deer are well aware of the hunting pressure and have adjusted their habits to avoid hunters. Look for them to bed in places that most hunters overlook. Small patches of pines, swales or ditches that separate fields, thickets that look more like rabbit cover than where a deer would normally bed, and other
unlikely places a hunter would normally expect deer to seek cover earlier in the hunting season are prime spots. In the late season, the more unlikely a patch of cover looks – the more you should pay attention to it.
HUNT OFF-HOURS
This time of year deer will take every advantage to eat, as they require more fuel to survive the coming winter. They will move to feed during off-hours of daylight. Hunting between
only in agricultural fields. This time of year deer change their typical feeding sources and begin to eat more browse. They will get out of their beds and move short distances to browse and eat whatever remaining mast they can find. If you hunt areas that offer easy-to-reach browse or may have leftover mast – you will increase your chances of bagging a deer.
UGLY WEATHER
One thing to count in late season is that the weather will be ugly. Snow, sleet, wind, and frigid temperatures and cold fronts all account for more hunters sleeping in than getting afield. The result is predictable; there is less pressure which encourages deer to move more. Take an ambush stand by likely looking bedding areas close to food sources. Remember that a buck will try to find low areas that offer the thickest cover to avoid the prevailing wind – especially as
colder fronts move in. They will also seek out places they can absorb the warming rays of the morning sunlight.
POST RUT
Just because the Primary Rut has passed don’t abandon rut hunting tactics. One of the most active phases of the four periods of the rut is the Post Rut. This is the time when a doe that has not been successfully bred comes into her estrus cycle. Interestingly, most of the older wiser does have been bred by now. It is mostly the yearlings and fawns who come into estrus during the late rut. They have not had the time to gain the experience to be as cautious as the adult deer are and therefore make more mistakes; often making a lovesick buck more vulnerable as well!
CALL
By now, the veteran bucks have altered their normal traveling routes and bedding areas to deal with both hunting pressure and late season food sources. Only a few things will get these wise old bucks up and moving on their own; and that’s food and sex. Find the prime agricultural food sources where you hunt even if they are a mile or more away and set up a stand. Look for corn fields that are still standing or that have been recently cut. Soybean fields are also good bets. Locating the heavily used travel corridors the does are currently using. Once you have found them, look for the narrower, less-used routes that intersect or parallel the main trails. These will be the trails the bucks are using. Set up so that you can see both trails. The best time to hunt these areas is in the afternoon when does just can’t wait any longer to feed. Use a bleat call every 15 minutes. You can also rattle and grunt as well. While older does will respond to the bleating sounds – so will yearlings and fawns. You guessed it - one just might be in heat and bring a buck right along with her.
DRESS TO KILL
Try to remain in your stand all day or at least as long as you can. This takes a lot more than just patience this time of year. A hunter must be physically fit to remain out in the cold for long periods during the late season. Dressing correctly is crucial. Waterproof boots with wool socks is a must. Dressing in layers of wool will also help keep you warm, comfortable, and dry. Cover your ears, nose, and face with a wool face mask. Keeping warm will enable you to remain on stand longer. Obviously, the longer you are in the woods, the greater your chances of seeing deer.
BAD WEATHER BUCKS
Contrary to what you have heard about bucks not liking to move in bad weather, they do. I have found over my 45 years of hunting whitetails that deer (and even old bucks) like to move in bad weather. It is confounding why they do. No matter how cold it is, if a colder front is moving in the deer activity will increase. While most hunters know that deer will move after a heavy snow, not many know that they will move during the snowfall and after it for sure. When the wind is blowing hard, many hunters choose to remain in camp – don’t. Unless big, heavy branches are snapping and falling, deer move in windy conditions even though they do so more cautiously. If you’re lucky enough to get a late season rain storm, even a heavy rain, put on your raingear and go hunting. I have taken several nice bucks over my 45 years of hunting during heavy rain storms, even during the late season. Other than extreme weather or windy conditions, deer will move. If you’re flexible enough to withstand the inclement conditions, you will increase your chances of getting your deer.
