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Hunting late season

I love the late season, might be my favorite time to hunt, especially if we have snow on the ground. I usually see bucks start to form bachelor groups again around December 20 give or take a few days. The buck I've been after for the last couple weeks was hanging out with a goofy little 6 point last night, and I'm hoping a few more bucks join them this week. When the young bucks get up and start feeding it seems to give the big one a sense of security, and he often follows suit, moving earlier and making it farther from his bed before dark than he would have if he were by himself, I think. I like to sit back and observe from a distance for a night or 2 if possible, and then move in for a high percentage sit.
 
Robert loper said:
I get back to the really thick transitions closest to food sources.
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I hunt late season mainly close to food sources. Trouble is they seem to bed very near that food source. It gets tough to set up unless your very sneaky using wind and a super quiet entry to your setups near that food source.
 
I hunt evening during late season 95% of the time. Seems easier to pattern the deer if I can find where they are feeding. The public I hunt is thick and they can bed almost anywhere so it's harder to intercept them in the mornings when they are coming off the food back to bed. I love the late season cuz I feel like I own the woods again on public just like during bow season. I guess I don't like sharing?
 
Fgirtyman said:
I hunt late season mainly close to food sources. Trouble is they seem to bed very near that food source. It gets tough to set up unless your very sneaky using wind and a super quiet entry to your setups near that food source.
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Thats the whole trick in late season.
they can see very well and smell very well so to be honest outside of the rut i think late season is best time of year but the challenge is like you say( entry ways).
 
Living in NJ they practically beg u to shoot a million deer.I take advantage of late season to fill the freezer for as much meat as I may think I need for the year. Find the food source or bait where legal if your plan is to just fill the freezer.
 
Robert loper said:
Thats the whole trick in late season.
they can see very well and smell very well so to be honest outside of the rut i think late season is best time of year but the challenge is like you say( entry ways).
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I’ll third this… I hunt private with a few other guys and they’re still walking the driveway through the place like they’re invisible, and not seeing much. I reminded them tonight the deer are spotting em from 100+ yards.
 
Late season is a relatively easy time to kill one. Like early it all based on food, but it's easier than early season because the food is not everywhere, so the deer will be more concentrated. They'll move earlier, bed closer to food, the weather affects their movement much more now tha. Just a few weeks ago. But they have a low tolerance to hunters, they're very skiddish and spook easy, but it'll be hard to push em.off a food source for more then a daybor two if you bump em. Relatively low pressure so.youll have the woods mostly to yourself in most cases, I tend to see more small gamers but even still not many. I like to hunt the front side of snownstorms and get right at the tail end of them, especially the bad ones.
 
I like late season but get a little more picky about the weather I will hunt in. This week for instance, I am off work friday and had been planning to hunt a piece of private close to the house here before the forecast came out. Thursday night low is 4 and the high friday is 20 with NW wind at 20-30. North art of the state is supposed to be negative single digits low thursday night. Doesnt get cold in the south they say.
 
ThePennsylvanian said:
Late season is a relatively easy time to kill one. Like early it all based on food, but it's easier than early season because the food is not everywhere, so the deer will be more concentrated. They'll move earlier, bed closer to food, the weather affects their movement much more now tha. Just a few weeks ago. But they have a low tolerance to hunters, they're very skiddish and spook easy, but it'll be hard to push em.off a food source for more then a daybor two if you bump em. Relatively low pressure so.youll have the woods mostly to yourself in most cases, I tend to see more small gamers but even still not many. I like to hunt the front side of snownstorms and get right at the tail end of them, especially the bad ones.
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PA might be similar to WV, so maybe you can help. I've got the bedding figured out, mostly. But what they are eating is more difficult to figure out. There's no agriculture where I hunt. So, right now they seem to mostly just be hitting woody browse, which is everywhere. Any help on figuring this out is appreciated.
 
raisins said:
PA might be similar to WV, so maybe you can help. I've got the bedding figured out, mostly. But what they are eating is more difficult to figure out. There's no agriculture where I hunt. So, right now they seem to mostly just be hitting woody browse, which is everywhere. Any help on figuring this out is appreciated.
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Yep woody browse is does not concentrate them, so I focus on prime bedding. Snow on the ground helps to see visible fresh sign. In those sparse deer density areas you need to focus on the areas the have recently timber (say past 3 years but up to 5 years) or pipelines, powerlines, anywhere that will give them heavy cover now, because that will also provide them food without a ton of energy loss. Powerline/pipelines that suck walking to will 100% have deer hitting it, if bedding is close. The other things to remember is late season as the temps really drop you'll have higher concentration of deer on the south facing slopes to catch the sun on days its clear enough to get it!

Also remember as @neonomad said they have the advantage of cover now. They're hard to see in cover even with snow, but and hear and see us a mile away, still hunting works in certain conditions.
 
My freezer is full thanks to some doe management at a buddy's house, so I'm approaching this late season as if I were post-season scouting, only I have a gun in my hand with the opportunity to shoot a buck if one presents itself.
 
ThePennsylvanian said:
Yep woody browse is does not concentrate them, so I focus on prime bedding. Snow on the ground helps to see visible fresh sign. In those sparse deer density areas you need to focus on the areas the have recently timber (say past 3 years but up to 5 years) or pipelines, powerlines, anywhere that will give them heavy cover now, because that will also provide them food without a ton of energy loss. Powerline/pipelines that suck walking to will 100% have deer hitting it, if bedding is close. The other things to remember is late season as the temps really drop you'll have higher concentration of deer on the south facing slopes to catch the sun on days its clear enough to get it!

Also remember as @neonomad said they have the advantage of cover now. They're hard to see in cover even with snow, but and hear and see us a mile away, still hunting works in certain conditions.
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I'm going to start relearning my tree/sapling identification and then keep with me some resources on preferred browse. Like you said, woody browse is everywhere where we hunt, but I'd like to at least know the best.

this search

preferred woody browse trees deer - Google Search

www.google.com


has a link to a pdf that seems good, first part of title is Ratings Of....

If you click it, then it downloads the peer reviewed pdf to your computer.
 
ericabbott said:
My freezer is full thanks to some doe management at a buddy's house, so I'm approaching this late season as if I were post-season scouting, only I have a gun in my hand with the opportunity to shoot a buck if one presents itself.
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I did the same last Saturday with the idea that I'd only take a doe if I could take her from the ground with my bow by still hunting or spot and stalk. I almost got one but screwed up. Still fun and saw some new areas.
 
I hunt it from opening bell to closing bell. But I live in a state where you get a brazillion tags so tagging out isn't an issue. December hunting in SC is some of the best hunting all year. Bucks are cleaning up does that haven't been bred and it's all about the food. And most folks have quit or moved on to ducks so the woods are a little less crowded.
 
There is a really good list in this pdf. It breaks down hard mast, soft mast, grasses, woody browse and vines by preference. Preference for your area will be influenced by what you have available where you hunt. For instance, it shows nutall akerns as medium preference and in OK that may be the case but where I hunt in the river bottoms, they are highly preferred. Still a very useful list imo.

 
I like hunting late season but am usually out of tags, have a full freezer, and out of vacation. That would mean a late season hunt would have to be out of state and without vacation days that becomes kind of tough. So I usually don’t get out too much late season. Good problems to have! However, I like using my cold weather gear and hunting in the cold. When I do go, prefer afternoon sits near a food source.
 
I'm hunting late season. My 2 favorite deer seasons are early and late season. I know as deer hunters we are supposed to love and adore peak, and I did when I was hunting private. But on public early and late seasons gives me the whole place to myself - at least it seems that way to me.
 
We are hitting OHIO for the late 4 day Muzzleloader season. I swear I have a buck that lost an antler on a spyoint. Just asked for a HD copy.
 
raisins said:
I'm going to start relearning my tree/sapling identification and then keep with me some resources on preferred browse. Like you said, woody browse is everywhere where we hunt, but I'd like to at least know the best.

this search

preferred woody browse trees deer - Google Search

www.google.com


has a link to a pdf that seems good, first part of title is Ratings Of....

If you click it, then it downloads the peer reviewed pdf to your computer.
Click to expand...
I don't know what types of terrain or habitat you have, but you wantnto find high stem count areas, not necessarily the "best" browse. I can for sure say that high stem will attract more deer than the best browse, example a green field will be hit, especially if there isn't snow cover, if the hunting pressure is high it'll be mostly at night, bit in high stem count areas they'll move and browse most of the day, because it feeds them and gives them cover.
A late season concentration food source I look out for is honey locust, they absolutely hammer the black pods on the ground once the temps stay below freezing......
 
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