Late season food sources

[Browtine77]

PA hunter struggling to find a shooter buck. I've got a harvested soy bean field full of winter wheat and some left over beans in my area and a harvested cornfield that hasn't been turned over. I'm having a tough time finding where the dear are moving in the evening and I still have a tag to fill.

I've located some trails and potential bedding. Give some tips to tag out.

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[Lockdown]

Are you seeing deer in these ag fields, just not any shooters? Or is finding daylight movement of any deer an issue?

Also how much season do you have left?

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[Browtine77]

I have been seeing deer around the ag fields, mainly the soy bean/winter wheat, but have only kicked them up in the surrounding woods. I have deer on camera about 25 yds off the corn field but all in the early early morning hours.

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[Browtine77]

Season end on Jan. 9th

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[dan]

tHEY "COULD" be hitting any one of those food sources. You need to scout to determine.... To tag out now though, you may need to get closer to the bedding, and further away from the food if this is a pressured area.

[Lockdown]

tHEY "COULD" be hitting any one of those food sources. You need to scout to determine.... To tag out now though, you may need to get closer to the bedding, and further away from the food if this is a pressured area.

X2

Look for big tracks at the food source. If there aren't any there is no big buck there. If you do find some, he's likely hitting it at night. Finding where he beds is a must. Use aerials/topo to try and figure it out.

Be aggressive and don't be afraid to screw up.

They're very patternable this time of year, so an observation stand watching suspected bedding can teach you a lot. Especially if you see one head to bed in the a.m.... Make your move that evening.

Regarding dan's comment "further from food" could easily be a half mile or more.

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[Browtine77]

This was a heavily hunted area in rifle. I've still hunted the property over the past week and have seen them but unfortunately it was after they see me.

I guess my best bet is to get my boots on the ground and see if I can catch any movement before dark? It's just to noisy carrying a climber into where I need to be. Thanks guys.

On another note I'm new to this website and appreciate the knowledge that is made so easily available. I'm looking forward to applying some different scouting tactics over the coming off season.

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[briar]

Dan is 100% correct. I am in PA also and filled a late season tag on Saturday evening. My deer has corn in her belly, but was at the very least a mile from any cut cornfields....I was near a bedding area that was a hunch after several years of hunting the same set of woods. I shot the deer at 3:30 pm getting up from a bed I believe and starting their journey to wherever they were eventually feeding.

This was really my first late season trying to very hard and I had standing bean fields and a standing corn field located.......I was getting photos but all at night or like you said very early AM. On my last camera pull on the standing corn I did not have one single photo in a 5 day period. I always hear hunt food sources late, but in our kind of state security is the #1 thing. IF you can find that, it seems you find deer.

[jcamp]

I was out Saturday and crossed 2 points with oaks where there was sign of recent feeding. Leaves were all turned up and there was still a decent bit of acorns visible on the ground. Setting up near a bedding thicket close to the oaks I was spotted by some does who would have been headed that direction. I don't have a lot of agriculture around so I see more browse on grass and shrubs etc.. in clear cut areas.

[Browtine77]

Briar were you ina tree or on the ground?

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[briar]

I was in a bean pole like tree in my climber. I kinda had a hunch where they would come from and knew I had to be high to avoid being seen. There were no trees with cover where I needed to be. I was about 25 feet up.

[Outdoor814]

Dice big doe

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