Late season hunting help

[slonstdy]

I consider myself a successful deer hunter with years of experience and knowledge gained from prowling the woods here in southern NY but have recently found an area I am lacking in my deer hunting skillset - late season/end of season hunting. So I'm here now looking for you to fill in the blanks.

Now I've been killing multiple deer each year for the past 15 seasons so I feel I have a good grasp on how to locate them and am confident in my ability to finish the deal when the opportunity presents itself, but I've never gone after them in the late season - after the rut, when the trees are bare, most ground vegetation is gone and the weather is harsh - mainly because my kills came early in the season and I was content to relax my hunting efforts. This year I made a promise to myself to continue hunting hard until the season is over which is how I found my knowledge to be minimal for hunting this time of year.

A bunch of questions came to mind and when I thought them out I realized I didn't feel 100% certain my answers were correct. What also brought this to light was my recent scouting at a new small piece of public land and found a bunch of fresh buck sign at a few different locations that if it was mid season I would have set up on without a thought but now I feel is the wrong time. So let's talk this out...

The buck sign I'm referring to is fresh rubs and they're made on 4" to 8" diameter trees. The trees have been worked hard and the height of the rubs is waist high. I found three locations like this with rubs on multiple trees situated in a small area all of which happen to be next to thick cover. The trees are either hardwoods or cedars and the surrounding area is strictly hardwoods made up of red and white oaks, maples and hickories. At one of these locations is a scrape that appears to still be in use. This property is roughly 500 acres in an oval shape with residential houses bordering on one long side, a major roadway on one of the smaller ends and a lake making up the border along the remaining perimeter. The property gradually rises to the center which forms a plateau that is mostly surrounded by thick cover that most humans would think about entering. The plateau has a small field of grass between waist and chest high roughly in the center with some trees and thick underbrush forming a ring around it. There are also patches of this thick brush along parts of the outer edges down lower bordering the property.

This time of year at the end of the main rut I'm thinking deer move back to their normal activity of finding food and seeking the comfort of cover. My initial thought for my first hunt here would be to set up at one of the areas I found buck sign as close to thick cover as possible and adjust my position after spending a day observing deer movement. What I'm not sure of is will deer enter a leafless hardwood forest to forage for nuts during the day or if at all at this time of year? Will they stay in cover and browse on the green brush that remains? Should I not waste time near the buck sign and blindly plunge through a section of cover looking for more sign like droppings? I'm also limited to only taking bucks which is my reasoning for setting up close to buck sign.

I'm excited about hunting this property and will scout it hard during the off season but right now I don't want to push deer off this piece by getting too aggressive. What do you think is the best approach?

 

[LoadedLimbs]

Following. @slonstdy - I’m not experienced enough with late season hunting to share personal “experience-based” insight, but I do have a number of cellular trail cams out this year and can share some current-season insight from that data.

Firearm season started mid-November in CT, and once that season was open, the cams I have placed in oak stands bordering heavy cover (thick mountain laurel) have captured dramatically fewer deer pics in general. Those that they do capture are primarily does, not bucks. And none of those pics are daytime photos. Looking at the dataset of photos from those locations between November 25th to December 4th, the deer pics at those cam locations showed does feeding on acorns between 7pm and 4am, with most photos between 10pm and 2:00am. The few buck photos in that same date range on those same cams didn’t show feeding, the bucks were just passing through.

My theory is that the does being caught on cam are bedding in the adjacent laurel during daylight, and that the bucks are being much more paranoid and holing up in the best security cover they have, which is not the adjacent laurel.

Comparing that with the first half of November, those same cams captured a lot more pics, some were during daylight, and the pic counts of bucks and does were almost equal. This I attribute to two things. 1. The firearm season wasn’t open yet, so the pressure the deer were feeling wasn’t maximum yet. 2. The first half of November is the transition from early rut to peak rut in my area, so there’s more movement, including movement during daylight.

Q1: “What I'm not sure of is will deer enter a leafless hardwood forest foraging for nuts during the day or if at all at this time of year?

Answer: My trail cam data indicates “yes, they’ll forage for nuts in a leafless hardwood forest this time of year, but only at night”.

Q2: Will they stay in cover and browse on the green brush that remains?

Answer: I have no data on that

Q3: Should I not waste time near the buck sign and blindly plunge through a section of cover looking for more sign like droppings?”

Answer: I have no data on that, but if you place a cam overlooking the buck sign or scrape you’ll find out if there is any activity there during daylight. Alternatively, you could do a setup & sit there and find out if there’s daytime activity. IMHO if the deer on that property feel any amount of pressure, I don’t think there will be any daytime activity.

Closing remark: I belong to a hunt club in central CT and the guys hunting from now until the end of the deer season have the most success working together in small groups. Some take fixed stands while others push through thick cover to bump deer off their beds (trying to push them by the fixed stand locations).

My club’s results indicate that lone wolf style hunting has a very low success rate in CT in December.

 

[Bogle]

I may have missed something in your post as I just scanned through it. With that said; I personally would cyber scout it looking through the thickest stuff on the map. I would also look at a topo map as well. I would then compare the "hot sign" to the map. If the sign is close to the thickest part on the map. I would go set up on it, on an evening hunt. However, I would go in early and get set up while the ground was still damp from the morning and I didn't risk bumping him while he was on his feet. If the sign is not near the thickest part of the property I would ignore the sign and just hunt the thickest part of the area. I just did this same thing on a good buck last week. Went in, saw that he had a fresh rub line and one small scrape that went right back in to the thickest area on the property, I sat up immediately, and he came out at about 2:30 p.m.., I choose to video him instead of shoot him even though he was a better than average buck for our area.

 

[slonstdy]

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?

 

[Mschmeiske]

Following as well… I like this time of year because less people are generally out hunting still, but I sure struggle finding deer. More so, shooter bucks.

 

[slonstdy]

I may have missed something in your post as I just scanned through it. With that said; I personally would cyber scout it looking through the thickest stuff on the map. I would also look at a topo map as well. I would then compare the "hot sign" to the map. If the sign is close to the thickest part on the map. I would go set up on it, on an evening hunt. However, I would go in early and get set up while the ground was still damp from the morning and I didn't risk bumping him while he was on his feet. If the sign is not near the thickest part of the property I would ignore the sign and just hunt the thickest part of the area. I just did this same thing on a good buck last week. Went in, saw that he had a fresh rub line and one small scrape that went right back in to the thickest area on the property, I sat up immediately, and he came out at about 2:30 p.m.., I choose to video him instead of shoot him even though he was a better than average buck for our area.

All three sign locations are within 10 yards of real good cover and I mean the type of cover you hope he doesn't run into if you do get an arrow in him because you'll never be able to drag him out of it.

Yeah I plan to get in early in the morning but not until after the sun is up so I can see if I do bump one and also to help keep my entry quiet while I pick a good ambush location. Once I'm hanging the next time my feet are on the ground will be because I got him or the moon is up!

On another archery only property I had two good bucks on camera on a travel route between a couple of ridges and played a game of cat and mouse with them for almost two weeks in November. They would pass for a couple of days in a row so I would get there on the third day a few hours earlier than their normal time but neither came by. I would hunt a different location one day and don't you know that's the day they would pass. I even changed it up and hunted 75 to 100 yards away both upstream and downstream along their travel path, just in case I was somehow screwing up my entry and still couldn't get an encounter. So instead of hunting one day I decided to scout a few hundred yards further than I've ever been and found a scrape and trails in an area with good ground cover, not terribly thick but enough to make a deer feel secure, so I hung a trail cam. Well sure enough, three days later I got one of those SOB's on cam trailing a doe by a few minutes so now I know that they moved to an area with more cover and is the reason why they have not been passing by my first trail cam. Could also be the second/late rut maybe?

 

[jerry_d]

Following. @slonstdy - I’m not experienced enough with late season hunting to share personal “experience-based” insight, but I do have a number of cellular trail cams out this year and can share some current-season insight from that data.

Firearm season started mid-November in CT, and once that season was open, the cams I have placed in oak stands bordering heavy cover (thick mountain laurel) have captured dramatically fewer deer pics in general. Those that they do capture are primarily does, not bucks. And none of those pics are daytime photos. Looking at the dataset of photos from those locations between November 25th to December 4th, the deer pics at those cam locations showed does feeding on acorns between 7pm and 4am, with most photos between 10pm and 2:00am. The few buck photos in that same date range on those same cams didn’t show feeding, the bucks were just passing through.

My theory is that the does being caught on cam are bedding in the adjacent laurel during daylight, and that the bucks are being much more paranoid and holing up in the best security cover they have, which is not the adjacent laurel.

Comparing that with the first half of November, those same cams captured a lot more pics, some were during daylight, and the pic counts of bucks and does were almost equal. This I attribute to two things. 1. The firearm season wasn’t open yet, so the pressure the deer were feeling wasn’t maximum yet. 2. The first half of November is the transition from early rut to peak rut in my area, so there’s more movement, including movement during daylight.

Q1: “What I'm not sure of is will deer enter a leafless hardwood forest foraging for nuts during the day or if at all at this time of year?

Answer: My trail cam data indicates “yes, they’ll forage for nuts in a leafless hardwood forest this time of year, but only at night”.

Q2: Will they stay in cover and browse on the green brush that remains?

Answer: I have no data on that

Q3: Should I not waste time near the buck sign and blindly plunge through a section of cover looking for more sign like droppings?”

Answer: I have no data on that, but if you place a cam overlooking the buck sign or scrape you’ll find out if there is any activity there during daylight. Alternatively, you could do a setup & sit there and find out if there’s daytime activity. IMHO if the deer on that property feel any amount of pressure, I don’t think there will be any daytime activity.

Closing remark: I belong to a hunt club in central CT and the guys hunting from now until the end of the deer season have the most success working together in small groups. Some take fixed stands while others push through thick cover to bump deer off their beds (trying to push them by the fixed stand locations).

My club’s results indicate that lone wolf style hunting has a very low success rate in CT in December.

@LoadedLimbs are crossbows legal in CT? I've heard that they are reducing the effectiveness of gun season.....

thx!

 

[Topdog]

@slonstdy I have been told by some veteran south hunters that some first year doe fawns will come into heat late triggering what will appear to be a second rut, I cannot confirm this I hunt mainly north, NY, our season ends today. Food source is everything up here right now and my opinion is bucks become less nocturnal and really get hammered this time of year looking for food, up here they will dig through 12” of snow for beech nuts, feeding frenzy I call it, this is the time of year the illegal backyard baiters really score, bucks are starving after chasing for several weeks and will become vulnerable going to feed, this is the best time to kill a mature buck in my opinion, up here anyways, north. Good luck, I would pound a heavily used food source and not overthink things like we do in the early season.

 

[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.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[raisins]

following....this is also my weak point

i have never seen any bucks cruising a secondary rut, not saying it doesn't exist though

i envisioned all deer driven from high pressure areas where they saw the most humans and now are hiding out and only doing the bare minimum to survive

so, i would set up in really thick stuff in more remote areas or hunt food

however, where i'm at has no agriculture and we can bait on private land but i don't and usually hunt public anyways, the only obvious food right now is red oak acorns and woody browse, which is everywhere so there is no place of concentration of activity

 

[Bowtie747]

A friend of mine and a pretty successful hunter says late season is one of his favorite times to hunt. As after the rut and gun season most hunters arnt in the woods. The biggest thing he talks about is weather. Harsh cold fronts and the forecast of bad weather making deer feed before and after are his favorite. As for myself I usually don’t hunt late season except this year. I will be learning along with you this year.

 

[Bogle]

We do have a small late second rut down here, but its the one off doe that didn't get bred and came back in to heat. I videoed a young doe in heat a few years back in late January, and she had over 8 young bucks on her at one time. This was over a month after the rut. She got belly deep in the water trying to get away from them. Like Raisin, I would set up near the thick stuff. If the deer have had any pressure I would not expect a mature buck to cross an open area to get to a food source in daylight, regardless of how appealing the food source is. However, they don't stay bedded all day and have to browse. If they have been bedded and monitoring a spot all day, there is no reason they wouldn't feel safe to get up and browse close to the area they have been monitoring all day.

 

[raisins]

We do have a small late second rut down here, but its the one off doe that didn't get bred and came back in to heat. I videoed a young doe in heat a few years back in late January, and she had over 8 young bucks on her at one time. This was over a month after the rut. She got belly deep in the water trying to get away from them. Like Raisin, I would set up near the thick stuff. If the deer have had any pressure I would not expect a mature buck to cross an open area to get to a food source in daylight, regardless of how appealing the food source is. However, they don't stay bedded all day and have to browse. If they have been bedded and monitoring a spot all day, there is no reason they wouldn't feel safe to get up and browse close to the area they have been monitoring all day.

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

 

[phatkaw]

Late season takes a ton of Stealth and 3 tons of patience!
It sounds like a great spot you have. Especially being archery only.
Get near the buck sign and hangout...

 

[LoadedLimbs]

@LoadedLimbs are crossbows legal in CT? I've heard that they are reducing the effectiveness of gun season.....

thx!

@jerry_d - crossbows are legal for archery season in CT. I can’t comment on whether it’s adversely affecting harvest during firearms seasons. I do know that once the gunfire erupts in mid-November, the deer demonstrate a much higher level of wariness and get real scarce on pressured public lands.

 

[littlefish]

Hello from one southern NY saddle hunting hunter to another!

Others have said most of what I have learned (I also struggle late season mostly due to burn out and lack of real commitment). This time of year FOOD is key. Hunt them like you would if we could in September. That is focus on routes between bedding and food. Peak breeding for the second rut peaks on 12/13, although I have never seen a rut crazed buck during the second time around. Right now I'm hunting over acorns that are still on the ground, but around town I have seen a lot more deer in yards eating grass. I'm sure that's a combination of food desire but also being pressured out of the timber due to the orange army being out right now.

I mostly hunt in 3S where it's bow only, but I plan to take advantage of the new late season we have this year after Christmas and try with the muzzle loader. That will be almost two weeks post gun season.

 

[tailgunner]

Honestly in the late season I feel like I would find sasquach before a mature buck.not even sure they are real.im just sure someone bred that doe

 

[tailgunner]

Our second season is 3 weeks long. 15 years iv only seen a buck chasing doe on opening day .a couple times .nothing for 2 1/2weeks.and sometimes a small doe in heat the last days of season.and in western Oregon the bucks brows where they bed.they don't have to move.havent made it happen yet.

 

[redsquirrel]

Late season is a relative term I suppose. Our season goes until mid February so I guess that would be really late season lol. Let's consider late season post rut and say it starts Dec 1st.

Late season bow hunting is really hard. For the past 10 or so years I've focused on bowhunting and I've mostly only gone gun hunting if I filled my bow buck tag already. Lately I've been feeling a bit nostalgic about a lot of things and muzzleloader hunting in my youth is one of them. Here our gun season starts around the second week of December (today actually) for our 6 day firearm season and then depending where you are the various gun seasons can run through the end of December or end of January.

Anyways, post gun season hunting is hard for many reasons. First, the deer have usually been pressured to make them mostly nocturnal. Second, the woods are open and it's much harder to sneak into spots. Third, my time in the woods in the late season is limited to weekends mostly. Bowhunting is hard as it is and unless you can take time off of work or have a flexible schedule it can be hard to put the required time in the woods to be successful.

All of that out of the way, the late season can be a great time to hunt. While I have only shot 2 mature bucks after December 1st, one with a shotgun on December 12, the other with a bow on December 30th, I have had a bunch of good encounters and close calls and I've shot a lot of does. As far as setting up my general strategy is to setup as close to heavy bedding cover as I can to catch them coming out before dark. After that I root for the coldest weather possible. I'd rather go hunting if it's 0 degrees than 32 this time of year. The colder the weather the more the deer will have to get up and move to feed (and possible keep the blood flowing?) during daylight. The colder the weather the less hunters will be out there as well so it's a win win. It's very important to have a system in place to keep warm and stay on stand. I like morning hunts a lot this time of year because you can get in before the deer get back to bed but I'll put whatever time I have in. Bowhunting is super hard when you have all your cold weather gear on. While I've shot a lot of deer with my bow this time of year I'm considering switching to a crossbow after December 1st just to try to make cleaner shots. I guess one other thing I've had luck with is when you have a drastic weather change. I can remember a nice encounter I had a few years ago on new years day when it had just warmed up to 50 degrees. When any sort of big weather front moves through is one of my favorite times to hunt any time of the season though.

Just a few thing I figured I'd share from my experiences. Hope it helps.

 

[redsquirrel]

Also, the challenge of hunting mobile in the late season is pretty big. I can't stress enough how you need to work to develop a system. You'll be packing in a ton more clothes, muff, warmers or whatever you use in addition to your climbing system, bow and saddle. I always wear light weight gloves but I started keeping a handwarmer in each on the walk in and for my climb up my cold WE stepps. I pretty much keep them there for when I need to take my hands out to shoot.... if you've ever had the long cold standoff you know what I mean. I've definitely had more staring contests with deer in my whole life in the late season than any other time. You need to plan for when you get to the tree it will take you an extra 10-15 minutes just to get dressed, then climb, then maybe throw another top layer on once you are set up. When possible preset trees are a huge advantage in the late season.