Late season hunting help

[Hall17]

I really like late season hunting. For me late season starts the day after Christmas and runs into mid January. I don't consider our December rifle season here in Pennsylvania late season. However, it does coincide with the 2nd rut. For me it would depend on how much other people pressure a specific spot. If I was hunting the 2nd rut in early December I wouldn't change too much of what I do now when hunting the rut in November. Know where the doe are bedding, know what food sources are near by and where they are and then come up with a plan. If I was to speak on our 'late season' in January I focus on finding the food they want to eat and that is done by finding feeding sign. Last year I watched 4 deer browse all day in the briars eating then laying back down and then at 4pm they moved their way up to the acorns where I was sitting. I knew they were bedded in that thicker stuff so I sat right outside of that where the forest floor was torn up with feeding sign. It happened to work out that night but if you are looking for a buck now in the 2nd rut I personally would find the doe, find where they are feeding and hope one is in estrus. It will take patience but again I wouldn't hunt too differently than I would the primary rut. Whitetail Habitat Solutions has some great videos on YouTube about this time of year

 

[Noonespecial]

I'm in agreement with you and most of my trail cams on other properties tell the same story.

Now what I forgot to mention is that this particular property is a bow hunting only area so I believe if anything, the deer from the surrounding areas of state land my seek refuge on this piece and the resident deer here may not feel an increase/any pressure at all. This place does see use by joggers, dog walkers and such so the resident deer population should be more comfortable being in relative close proximity with humans, at least that's what I've observed at a few state parks that are archery only where I hunt at.

I'm interested mainly in how to hunt after the rut when the bucks are done searching out does and go back to their solitary ways. Are they still active during the day or do they hide all day and wait until the cover of darkness to move out from cover. Will they continue to pass by rubs they made this year or take the same route but maybe closer to dark or only at night? Will they seek out or chase a late doe in heat and if so should I try to find an area a group of does is using and hope a buck is still feeling the urge to mate?

Only time spent in the woods will answer those questions. Every situation is different, however what I have seen in mature bucks late season is they will continue to check scrapes, rubs and bedding areas but only during the security of darkness or in heavy cover. They will not walk out into the open and expose themselves after hunting pressure made them nocturnal. Deer have to get up and move to stay alive but they will do this in a small radius of security cover next to food. The food may be something small like a few green leaves on a briar bush that can hold them off until dark where they will then go to the larger more exposed food source to feed or check for a late season estrus doe. I have seen this many times with mature bucks in the late season. You will have to get as close to where you think the buck you are after is hiding and set up an ambush there. Chances of you seeing him in daylight at any other location will be rare. Good luck! Hope you get him.

 

[hokiehunter373]

Everyone covered the basics. One thing I'd emphasize is scouting. You indicated you've already had a good year and you're wanting to get better at late season. It may not help you as much this year but it would pay dividends for years to come to spend most of your time scouting. Any year I'm already happy with what's hit the ground and I don't have a specific buck I'm chasing I start putting on miles. Find where the deer have relocated. Find what type of terrain and cover they're wanting to bed in. If you bump some deer go to that spot and see how the wind and thermals are working together to make it right for the deer to be there. Find what they're keying in on to fill their bellies. Make notes, mark locations. You can come back to this year after year. Around me, corn and bean fields swap every year and therefor how the deer travel do too. However, this time of year, all the fields are already picked and what the deer then do is predictable every single year. I have one spot I've found where I can bank on a shooter being the first morning after a snow. Every year. Only reason I ever found that spot is because I was "hunting" aka walking around with my bow and exploring a new spot after already filling my buck tag one year. If you want to get the most out of your time this year for years to come, get your boots on the ground. Do it stealthily enough and you still may end up filling a tag anyway.

 

[woodsdog2]

i believe they have to eat every so often or they will get sick, being an ungulate

i'm not sure the hour limit, but they aren't like us (where if i forget food, i can hunt all day just drinking water)

so they are active somewhere

They eat roughly five times per 24 hour period depending on conditions.

 

[woodsdog2]

I started a similar post on late season tactics more specific to keeping warm and hauling all your stuff in. I think depending on the situation (pressured bucks or not) sometimes your pre-sets will be keyed on and you have to find some newer spots where they are holing up and feel safe. I do think about 28 days after the peak rut in Nov. the younger does will go into their first estrus cycle and this will create some additional rutting activity but if the conditions have been severe the food factor is going to still be a greater one and if conditions have been pretty good through the season, trying to find fresh rut sign and tracks may be beneficial as well. I'm not an experienced late season hunter either and for years our lates season has only been a week longer after the close of the regular season so the deer are still pressured but they have opened up a week longer period so hopefully by then less pressure. My trail cam footage last year I had my target buck on a discernable pattern by mid to late January and he was keying on food at the time. During the harshest conditions my trail cams had the bucks bedded right with the does and my target buck and two other bucks were using the same bed but at different times and only 40 yards off of a cut corn field. I can't imagine how to sneak into that area without scaring the deer off for a few days. It may be more of getting in super early and intercepting them coming back to bed rather than trying to get close to bedding for an evening sit but all of this is situational too I realize that. I do thin in harsh conditions they stack on each other during bedding and yarding and so this will be tough to "get into" You would almost have to try to stay there for a long period of time hoping they will come back to bed relying on the conditions to make them have to get up and eat several times allowing you to slip in. Late season is one thing, late season right after pressured hunting is another situation altogether.

 

[slonstdy]

That's a treasure trove of great information that you guys posted, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences. Armed with my new found data I feel much more confident about my treks into the late season woods.

I've been out hunting the last two days at different locations and already notice how different hunting at this time of year is. The colder weather is a big factor and must be considered while planning a hunt. It makes ground leaves super noisy and lets sound travel better/further because there are no leaves on the trees to absorb sound waves. The woods are also void of noises normally made by frogs, birds and insects during the early and mid season so it is eerily quiet now and every sound made seems amplified. I've also realized how important good clothing is when the temperature is near the freezing point and the wind begins to blow. Both days my clothing allowed me to stay out from noon to after sunset without getting sweaty from the hike in or cold during my hang.

The deer have also vanished from the hardwoods and have taken refuge in the mountain laurel and heavy cover. I found a bunch of piles of fresh droppings in one area the first day and set up where I thought they might come from but the wind was blowing hard and kept shifting which I think kept the deer from moving much because my scent was being blown everywhere. Hunting hilltops and ridges is difficult now that the air is dense and the winds unpredictable.

The spot I hunted today I set up on buck sign that was close to heavy cover with the intention to observe for any deer movement. There wasn't any oaks or hickories in the small stand of trees I was in but there was still some ground vegetation which I thought might be used as they break from cover before darkness sets in and then move off to feeding grounds elsewhere. This spot is close to a foot trail and a couple did walk by with their dog about 3:30 so I'm sure a buck isn't going to come out early here. I noticed a game trail through the thick stuff I was sitting over so after sunset I hiked in about 30 yards and found a little clearing which may be a staging area. It was too dark to see much and I didn't want to use a light so I backed out and hung a trailcam at the entrance. A few hours later I got a few pics of does coming through so my next time hunting there I will explore deeper into it.

 

[hokiehunter373]

That's a treasure trove of great information that you guys posted, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences. Armed with my new found data I feel much more confident about my treks into the late season woods.

I've been out hunting the last two days at different locations and already notice how different hunting at this time of year is. The colder weather is a big factor and must be considered while planning a hunt. It makes ground leaves super noisy and lets sound travel better/further because there are no leaves on the trees to absorb sound waves. The woods are also void of noises normally made by frogs, birds and insects during the early and mid season so it is eerily quiet now and every sound made seems amplified. I've also realized how important good clothing is when the temperature is near the freezing point and the wind begins to blow. Both days my clothing allowed me to stay out from noon to after sunset without getting sweaty from the hike in or cold during my hang.

The deer have also vanished from the hardwoods and have taken refuge in the mountain laurel and heavy cover. I found a bunch of piles of fresh droppings in one area the first day and set up where I thought they might come from but the wind was blowing hard and kept shifting which I think kept the deer from moving much because my scent was being blown everywhere. Hunting hilltops and ridges is difficult now that the air is dense and the winds unpredictable.

The spot I hunted today I set up on buck sign that was close to heavy cover with the intention to observe for any deer movement. There wasn't any oaks or hickories in the small stand of trees I was in but there was still some ground vegetation which I thought might be used as they break from cover before darkness sets in and then move off to feeding grounds elsewhere. This spot is close to a foot trail and a couple did walk by with their dog about 3:30 so I'm sure a buck isn't going to come out early here. I noticed a game trail through the thick stuff I was sitting over so after sunset I hiked in about 30 yards and found a little clearing which may be a staging area. It was too dark to see much and I didn't want to use a light so I backed out and hung a trailcam at the entrance. A few hours later I got a few pics of does coming through so my next time hunting there I will explore deeper into it.

If the foot traffic is a common thing I wouldn't worry about it much. I hunt one park where there's a TON of people. Everything I've observed shows the deer actually bed closer to the trails than they normally would. Usually they're in a slightly elevated position so they can look down on the trails. They know where the people should be and they watch those areas religiously. If people venture outside of the areas they should be, the deer are gone in a hurry. They have patterned the people and use that to their advantage to make sure the people aren't straying from their patterns. If they see someone like yourself does, then they're on high alert. This guy is a trail watcher at the park I mentioned. I had to pass him the first morning I hunted as I didn't have a doe down and I haven't been able to catch up with him since but I found where he likes to bed simply by walking the trails and finding him doing what I described above.

 

[littlefish]

If the foot traffic is a common thing I wouldn't worry about it much. I hunt one park where there's a TON of people. Everything I've observed shows the deer actually bed closer to the trails than they normally would. Usually they're in a slightly elevated position so they can look down on the trails. They know where the people should be and they watch those areas religiously. If people venture outside of the areas they should be, the deer are gone in a hurry. They have patterned the people and use that to their advantage to make sure the people aren't straying from their patterns. If they see someone like yourself does, then they're on high alert. This guy is a trail watcher at the park I mentioned. I had to pass him the first morning I hunted as I didn't have a doe down and I haven't been able to catch up with him since but I found where he likes to bed simply by walking the trails and finding him doing what I described above.
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This.

The deer know where people should and should not be. Same goes for hunting suburban deer. People will tell you "the deer by my house are dumb, you could walk right up to them and shoot them in my yard." Well, you try and hunt those same deer hanging from a tree and all of a sudden those "dumb" deer are now pretty smart to you and your scent.

 

[1simplemann]

Food!

And if sign is being opened up you are hitting secondary rut of leftover does or fawns that have hit the weight threshold to come into heat.

Food in evenings, bedding in mornings.


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This! My hunting partner killed one of his best on Jan 1 in the PM just inside a corner of a field. This area was highly pressured during firearms season. A few weeks of light pressure after the season and deer will returns to semi normals patterns. A mentor of mine once killed the best deer in the state on Xmas eve morning coming off an oak flat in heavy laurel. 11 AM.

 

[hokiehunter373]

This.

The deer know where people should and should not be. Same goes for hunting suburban deer. People will tell you "the deer by my house are dumb, you could walk right up to them and shoot them in my yard." Well, you try and hunt those same deer hanging from a tree and all of a sudden those "dumb" deer are now pretty smart to you and your scent.

Kenyon just did a podcast addressing this. Episode 488. He went and hunted suburban property in DC with Taylor Chamberlain. Taylor talked about "the bubble" and how deer know where people should and should not be and how you needed to be able to get as close to the edge of the bubble as possible while also being in a good feature that would still bring the deer past you. I've found in heavily trafficked areas where deer are used to people the deer are more accepting of people outside of their bubble than normal but the moment they sense the bubble has been breeched they don't waste a single second getting out of there.

 

[woodsdog2]

I'm thinking a sidehill early morning setup in the red oaks and back on an inside corner or travelway adjacent to a cut bean field for the afternoon. There are also radish brassicas planted between grape rows but they are much further down and closer to a farm in the open fields obviously. I believe they still can find some stuff in the cut beans. Last year in the late season the big bucs were staging just 40 or so yards off the cut corn field but that corn went right to the woodlot edge. This year about 60 yards of the field was left fallow and it is grown in with goldenrod with some trails mowed through it. The cut bean field comes next with intermittent field grass then the grapes with brassicas. The only problem is our snowfall has nocked down the goldenrod quite a bit so its not provided the security it did earlier in the season. There are tracks throughout but not sure if to "push it" on an pm hunt.

 

[1simplemann]

Kenyon just did a podcast addressing this. Episode 488. He went and hunted suburban property in DC with Taylor Chamberlain. Taylor talked about "the bubble" and how deer know where people should and should not be and how you needed to be able to get as close to the edge of the bubble as possible while also being in a good feature that would still bring the deer past you. I've found in heavily trafficked areas where deer are used to people the deer are more accepting of people outside of their bubble than normal but the moment they sense the bubble has been breeched they don't waste a single second getting out of there.

I have deer that travel down a creek 50 yds from my house. They see me, they hear me, they smell me all the time. I even drive by them as I go up to the house. They tolerate all of it. This year I tried to shoot a doe w/ my bow at the end of the season. They didn't travel as expected and made a J hook around me coming in downwind. Gone! Another 10' and she was dead. Later a buck came in on her trail, he could clearly smell me but he stayed away 50 yds trying to identify where I was. He finally left after 5 mins w/ his flag up. They didn't blow off though. They weren't totally freaked out, They just knew that at that specific spot they shouldn't smell a human that close.

 

[slonstdy]

I've got three bucks targeted, two of which have eluded me so far this season and the third is on the recently scouted area I found loaded with buck sign.

This first pic is the buck I played cat and mouse for two weeks in November. He is still teasing me by passing this spot on the way to his bedding location. This is the latest time of the morning that he's walked by recently. Unfortunately the area offers very limited ambush points due to the terrain and now in the late season with the trees void of leaves it is useless to hunt here because it is only a travel corridor that won't be used in daylight because it offers very little security for deer or concealment for me to sneak in without being seen.




This is another buck that used to frequently pass by the same area as the first pic but he has moved about five hundred yards away to an area with more ground cover. The problem hunting this area is the multiple ridges and shifting winds make it difficult to sneak in undetected. It also doesn't help that I've never scouted this location or the surrounding areas fully so I don't have a good mental picture of how the deer are using the land but once the season ends I plan to scout this area hard.





These last few pics are from a different location where I recently scouted and hung a trail cam to see what was around. The camera is at the edge of a tiny woodlot looking at a trail through heavy cover. I've got a few pics of does coming and going and I want to believe this is the guy who left all the rubs in the area. (Is this the same buck or are they two different bucks in the pics below?) This is another spot that I will put plenty of miles on my boots crawling through every inch of it when the season ends.






With roughly three weeks remaining I will focus my hunting efforts at the two locations I know little about because from my limited scouting these locations have cover, food and buck sign/bucks in the area which are all important for hunting this time of year. Figuring out how to sneak in close enough without alerting them to my presence will be the challenge but so far I am really enjoying the learning process of late season hunting.

I'll keep you posted...

 

[slonstdy]

I hunted on 12/15 and 12/17 at the location where the last two trail cam photos in my previous post were taken.

On the first hunt I made my way down the game trail through the brush at the edge of the woodlot to a small opening but there were only three trees in there and none of them huntable so I continued following the trail to a second opening and set up in a tree on the east edge which gave me a good view of the area. 60 yards to my right was the hiking trail that runs north to south which eventually curls behind my position roughly 130 yards away. The brush I'm in continues to the west for 90 - 100 yards and to the north about 160 yards which then opens up to a big grass field. I was overlooking a 25 yard diameter opening on my strong side and had three trees providing good cover for me from my 3 o'clock to 7 o'clock arc. This area I was hunting over did have some tracks and a recent pile of droppings along with some older droppings and a few trails meandering through it. Spent three hours hanging and got down after sunset without seeing a single deer.

On the second hunt I planned to hunt another area of dense cover on the opposite side of that grass field so I took the hiking trail and headed north. When I got about 40 yards past the start of the grass field on my left I noticed a game trail heading east through the brush so I turned to follow it. Not 20 yards off the hiking trail I found a scrape that appeared to have been recently urinated in. The brush got really thick just past this so I marked the location and headed back to the hiking trail and continued north. Roughly 50 yards before the end of the field there was another game trail heading east into the brush and over a low spot in a rock wall 30 yards away. When I got within 10 yards of the wall an 8 point buck got up less than 50 yards past the wall and I watched him take three bounds to the south and disappear in the tangle of cover! I wasn't 100% sure if he was the same buck that I've been getting pictures of and at that moment I didn't care. He was the freshest sign and I was going to hunt it!

The wind was WNW which meant it would be hitting him like a quartering away shot would since he ran off towards the south so I decided I would backtrack down the hiking trail in the hopes of cutting him off if/when he decided to exit from the cover on the south end. About 245 yards south of where I last saw him I turned east off the hiking trail and found a small woodlot sandwiched between the brush to the north where I saw the buck and more dense ground cover to the south where I found game trails with recent droppings earlier that day. I got set up in a tree 40 yards off the edge of the cover I expected him from because 1. I would have made too much noise trying to get closer all the while being visibly exposed and 2. there wasn't a climbable tree near there. Now the ground cover he was in is roughly 275 yards long by a width tapering from 170 - 110 yards on the end nearest me. To the west is the hiking trail I took and below along the eastern border is a road. The north end opens to a hardwood forest without any ground cover. From where I last saw him to the tree I got up in was about 200 yards. I hung in the tree well past the time I should have hoping to catch a glimpse of him and his travel route but he never came out.

It was awesome to find out where he is hiding out during the day and I'm counting the encounter as a big win in my book. Looking back now I'm wondering if I should have done things differently and I want to hear what you guys think. For this discussion let's assume he didn't run across the road. I don't think he did or would unless being actively persued because there isn't any form of cover in the small woodlot beyond the road and there's a major roadway past that.

1. With him running south and the wind quartering at his backside, would he exit the security of cover or would he most likely circle back with the wind in his face to the original spot?
2. Would he continue moving in a southerly direction to put distance between us and then resume bedding/feeding in the security of the cover till dark?
3. Will late season bucks exit cover regardless of wind direction or will they only exit with the wind in their face?
4. Assuming this is the first time he's ever been bumped from this area, will he continue to use this as his core area?
5. Should I have tried to set up on the north east side (instead of backtracking south) of where I encountered him even though he took off to the south? This is what I think I should have done because I feel like he would have circled back to keep his nose to the wind and my scent would have been blown in a safe direction.

The cover he's in is for all intents and purposes is impossible to get into quietly so getting overly aggressive will no doubt lead me to pushing him out without ever noticing I did. I've got two viable options at this point and that's hunt either the north side or the south side as tight to it as I can. What has me unsure is which way will he move on a given wind direction. I've got three days available to hunt before the season ends so I'm willing to try anything you think might work.

 

[LoadedLimbs]

1. With him running south and the wind quartering at his backside, would he exit the security of cover or would he most likely circle back with the wind in his face to the original spot?
2. Would he continue moving in a southerly direction to put distance between us and then resume bedding/feeding in the security of the cover till dark?
3. Will late season bucks exit cover regardless of wind direction or will they only exit with the wind in their face?
4. Assuming this is the first time he's ever been bumped from this area, will he continue to use this as his core area?
5. Should I have tried to set up on the north east side (instead of backtracking south) of where I encountered him even though he took off to the south? This is what I think I should have done because I feel like he would have circled back to keep his nose to the wind and my scent would have been blown in a safe direction.

The cover he's in is for all intents and purposes is impossible to get into quietly so getting overly aggressive will no doubt lead me to pushing him out without ever noticing I did. I've got two viable options at this point and that's hunt either the north side or the south side as tight to it as I can. What has me unsure is which way will he move on a given wind direction. I've got three days available to hunt before the season ends so I'm willing to try anything you think might work.

Q1 & Q2: I doubt he’d exit security cover when you bumped him. More likely, he bounded just out of sight and posted for a visual to see if you pursued him. When you didn’t, and his other senses confirmed no pressing pursuit, he probably stuck to the security cover and took up a fallback bedding location near where he paused his flight, until his nocturnal routine began later that night.

Q3: I doubt they’ll exit cover unless under hot pursuit. If they are under hot pursuit, I don’t think wind will be their first concern.

Q4. I’d bet he’ll stay there and stay alert and try to pattern YOU, so you want to avoid establishing a pattern. With the winds in Eastern NY and Western CT forecast to switch direction a lot over the next 3 days, use it to you advantage … use unexpected approaches every outing so there’s no pattern for the buck to observe. If you don’t already use it, I highly recommend the weather app “Windy”. The free version shows you the wind direction forecast every 3 hours. See what the wind will be doing for these next 3 days you have to hunt him.

Q5. Sounds like that would have been a good strategy, but I’m not sure it would have mattered. If he posted/bedded in a secondary position in the security cover, you wouldn’t have seen him again that day anyway.

If you’re solo, I’d study the satellite images and what the wind will be doing over the next 3 days and develop an ambush plan consistent with wind that avoids establishing a pattern. Ask yourself if there are any other options besides north and south edges.

Another plan would be to get someone to work with you to let you get setup before starting in on the opposite side of the cover to bump the buck and press him slowly in your direction.

 

[shwacker]

Food!

And if sign is being opened up you are hitting secondary rut of leftover does or fawns that have hit the weight threshold to come into heat.

Food in evenings, bedding in mornings.


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Hunted from the 9-15th, 4 guys.

We killed 3 does and 1 buck. Saw plenty. Could have killed more does. And were close on a couple other buck opportunities. Buck was killed in a pinch with feeding sign, near bedding. One doe killed with that buck. One doe killed on food source in the evening. My doe was killed on a transition from food to bedding in the morning.

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[shwacker]

Hunted from the 9-15th, 4 guys.

We killed 3 does and 1 buck. Saw plenty. Could have killed more does. And were close on a couple other buck opportunities. Buck was killed in a pinch with feeding sign, near bedding. One doe killed with that buck. One doe killed on food source in the evening. My doe was killed on a transition from food to bedding in the morning.

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We did see some rutting activity, nothing strong. The buck was making good sign, he was shortly behind a fawn that came by, but not chasing. Saw some young bucks chase. Prob got a little better when we left as far as rutting goes.


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