Late Season Tactics

[headgear]

So Beasts what are you doing this time of year to get on mature bucks. Please list the area you are hunting (bigwoods, farm country, hills) and the kind of pressure in your area. Any other tips or ideas on how to get on bucks or what to look for would be helpful.

I plan to get out a little this weekend with a muzzeloader, not 100% sure how I am going to setup but here are few ideas. I am hunting all bigwoods public, I feel the pressure from a 16 day rifle season and a week of muzzy season should have the deer pushed into the secure bedding areas. I will likely hunt some hard to reach or low pressure bedding in the evening. I also might try and do some still hunting through these same areas to see if I can't kick anything up and get off a shot.

Another idea I had was to maybe hit a food source for some mid-day action. My trail cams have picked up some mature bucks mid-day in early December, I figure the boys are run down from the rut and might need a little extra food to recover for the winter. The late season mid-day pressure could also be at an all time low this time of year. I will mostly be hunting some clearcuts or select cut areas that have a lot of browse, the closer to bedding the better. Any other bigwoods hunters every try anything like this?

[dirt nap giver]

I am in farm country tucked up on the Lake Michigan shoreline and am keeping an eye on the yearling does. Should be coming into estrus any day now. Still planted on the down wind side of doe beds

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[Tadmdad]

HG....are you hunting N. MN. Muzzle? You have tracking snow?

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[dan]

Another idea I had was to maybe hit a food source for some mid-day action. My trail cams have picked up some mature bucks mid-day in early December, I figure the boys are run down from the rut and might need a little extra food to recover for the winter.

I think the main reason you see a pick up in mid day buck activity in early December is because that is when the second rut peaks...

[Stanley]

So Beasts what are you doing this time of year to get on mature bucks. Please list the area you are hunting (bigwoods, farm country, hills) and the kind of pressure in your area. Any other tips or ideas on how to get on bucks or what to look for would be helpful.

I plan to get out a little this weekend with a muzzeloader, not 100% sure how I am going to setup but here are few ideas. I am hunting all bigwoods public, I feel the pressure from a 16 day rifle season and a week of muzzy season should have the deer pushed into the secure bedding areas. I will likely hunt some hard to reach or low pressure bedding in the evening. I also might try and do some still hunting through these same areas to see if I can't kick anything up and get off a shot.

Another idea I had was to maybe hit a food source for some mid-day action. My trail cams have picked up some mature bucks mid-day in early December, I figure the boys are run down from the rut and might need a little extra food to recover for the winter. The late season mid-day pressure could also be at an all time low this time of year. I will mostly be hunting some clearcuts or select cut areas that have a lot of browse, the closer to bedding the better. Any other bigwoods hunters every try anything like this?

I agree with Dan some does are coming into estrous and causing a stir. Most of the buck feeding activity I have noticed is dusk and dawn. I do agree the bucks are on feed mode after the peak of the rut. I like this time of year to knock down a good one over any other time of the year. Much easier to pattern a buck on feed mode over chasing and breeding mode. If you can find a food source in the thick of the timber (red oak acorns) are a very good one late season. Bucks will eat in secluded areas during daylight hours this time of year. One real good way to find acorns on the ground is look for turkey scratching under the red oaks. I used this tactic to kill my Halloween buck (white oak acorns located with turkey scratching).

[Dewey]

We need some snow and bitterly cold weather below 10 degrees. This tends to get the older bucks on their feet more to feed and bulk back up again for the winter. After all of the hunting pressure they will hold really tight to their beds but cold and snow will get them feeding with more urgency. No better time to hunt bedding/staging areas in my opinion.

Not looking good for cold weather this weekend but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the end of December when hunting pressure will be way down. I have had some amazing hunts in those brutal conditions and have seen my best deer movement all season. The total lack of hunting pressure is what I enjoy most about late season.

[headgear]

HG....are you hunting N. MN. Muzzle? You have tracking snow?

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There is a little tracking snow, I might mix that in if I still hunt/stalk some bedding areas. I don't have a ton of tracking experience but hey might be a good time to learn.

I've also given some though to the 2nd rut but I havn't had that much luck in the past, very spotty and usually by the time I find any action it looks like I am a few days late. Pretty low deer numbers around here as well so just getting on deer can be a challenge let alone a mature buck.

[JoeRE]

We need some snow and bitterly cold weather below 10 degrees. This tends to get the older bucks on their feet more to feed and bulk back up again for the winter. After all of the hunting pressure they will hold really tight to their beds but cold and snow will get them feeding with more urgency. No better time to hunt bedding/staging areas in my opinion.

Not looking good for cold weather this weekend but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the end of December when hunting pressure will be way down. I have had some amazing hunts in those brutal conditions and have seen my best deer movement all season. The total lack of hunting pressure is what I enjoy most about late season.

Amen! I want a foot of snow and 10 degrees below zero!

[headgear]

I think the main reason you see a pick up in mid day buck activity in early December is because that is when the second rut peaks...

That could be the case but the mature bucks on cam were targeting bait piles late season, I can't bait here but I alwasy save my halloween pumpkins and toss a camera over them for fun. Almost all the deer hit them after dark but the biggest bucks liked to visit mid-day which is why I was thinking of hitting some food. I could get lucky and get in on some 2nd rut action too.

[PLB]

We need some snow and bitterly cold weather below 10 degrees. This tends to get the older bucks on their feet more to feed and bulk back up again for the winter. After all of the hunting pressure they will hold really tight to their beds big cold and snow will get them feeding with more urgency. No better time to hunt bedding/staging areas in my opinion.

Not looking good for cold weather this weekend but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the end of December when hunting pressure will be way down. I have had some amazing hunts in those brutal conditions and have seen my best deer movement all season. The total lack of hunting pressure is what I enjoy most about late season.

X2

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[dirt nap giver]

We need some snow and bitterly cold weather below 10 degrees. This tends to get the older bucks on their feet more to feed and bulk back up again for the winter. After all of the hunting pressure they will hold really tight to their beds big cold and snow will get them feeding with more urgency. No better time to hunt bedding/staging areas in my opinion.

Not looking good for cold weather this weekend but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the end of December when hunting pressure will be way down. I have had some amazing hunts in those brutal conditions and have seen my best deer movement all season. The total lack of hunting pressure is what I enjoy most about late season.

X2

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Amen!

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[NatureBoy]

I like to work the "edges" during late season, after everything has had a good pounding. Seems the deer in my area like to hang out on the perimeter of the woods, while most of the hunters dive right in to the middle.

[natvbearhntr]

Heavy woods hunting in hemlocks off the swamp edges. I am also hoping the second rut or late rut comes on this weekend but I haven't noticed anything. As the end of the season nears there not much pressure right now because it is starting to get cold and there are a bunch of fair weather hunters or road hunters in my area. One thing I have done for the past few years is cut moving lanes for the deer coming out of the twisted swamps.

[bucksnbows]

Late season has always been difficult for me. Michigan's firearm season seems to really just kill movement. I keep the pressure low on my lease and hardly gun hunt. Add in the fact I just don't spend as much time in the woods during December my percentages are low. Infact I have never seen a mature buck in December that I can remember.
Yet I will be out there when I can and I will either be on food, bedding or travel lanes. I don't really change my tactics too much, but I do count on luck much more than I do prior to the gun season.
Maybe I'll learn something from you guys and get me on some good bucks.
By the way I'm hunting farm land.

[Tadmdad]

HG....are you hunting N. MN. Muzzle? You have tracking snow?

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There is a little tracking snow, I might mix that in if I still hunt/stalk some bedding areas. I don't have a ton of tracking experience but hey might be a good time to learn.

I've also given some though to the 2nd rut but I havn't had that much luck in the past, very spotty and usually by the time I find any action it looks like I am a few days late. Pretty low deer numbers around here as well so just getting on deer can be a challenge let alone a mature buck.

Agree with much of what was said, some good replies. Being familiar with the area that HG is hunting, will try to reply to late season tactics we have used hunting big woods public.

As stated earlier, the colder the better in late season. Keeps the deer on their feet longer, as said before clearcuts are the norths foodplots, we target cuts 1-5 years old, where browse is most plentiful. Many times the deer will bed in the open cuts or around the fringes close to the foodsource, 2 man front/backdoor hunts have worked for us in the past.

Go back and read Magics post about this years hunt, attention to tracking and locating remote pockets of deer activity and eliminating 95% of the land. Sound tactics for big woods, especially late season. Many of the mature bucks will hole up in small areas and recoup from the rut, they don't move far, locate the pockets by tracking deer to those locations and setup.

Storm fronts, heavy snow, high winds, our preferred tactic is still hunting thermal cover. Many times you can get in close in these conditions and kill a buck in his bed.

2nd rut seems hard to pinpoint in the big woods, especially with the low deer numbers the last few years, but fawn numbers this year were much better. May be worth checking some doe bedding areas, the doe fawns will be going into estrous for the first time, might see some activity.

One thing for sure, the solitude of the big woods in the late season always makes it a good hunt, no better place to be.....it's good for the soul.

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