Late Season Strategies
Posted By
Bill Winke
at
1/4/2011 12:00:00 AM
Filed under:
journal
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I shot this buck on January 1, 2011 in the corn plot shown in the photo. Under |
FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!
It is no exaggeration to say that late season success is all about the food. If you have the best food source in the area, you will have the deer. That doesn’t guarantee that they will move during the daylight, but they will be there, at least. You are likely wondering what to plant. I like grains and brassicas. A mixture of both will provide enough variety that the deer can tell you what they want. For example, if you have enough space for three acres of food plots, consider planting two acres to soybeans and one acre to brassicas, such as Frigid Forage’s Big N Beasty blend. If you have a low enough deer density that the deer won’t wipe it out during the summer, consider planting corn. Corn is a very good late season draw because deer crave carbohydrates to keep warm during the coldest days.
If you don’t have a good food source, it will be very tough. Just know that going in – about all you can do is figure out where they are heading in the evenings and try to cut them off.
STRATEGIES
You have to hunt carefully. I like to bowhunt so I tend to spend most of my time hunting near small plots where you have the deer at closer quarters. However, if you are gun hunter, the late season is custom tailored to you. Set up a box blind on the edge of a good sized plot and give the deer at least two weeks to get used to it (now we are thinking about next season’s strategy). Stay out of the windows so they don’t see your outline moving back and forth. Peek out occasionally. You have a good chance that a nice buck will show up before the end of legal shooting time somewhere within range. I could have shot a couple of very good bucks with a muzzleloader; that is why I say that the late season is built for gun hunters.
However, you can also be successful with a bow, you just have to be very careful when and how you move. The deer are very wary and there is nothing to muffle the sounds you make nor hide the movements. The leaves are gone and world is an amplifier with sound traveling clearly through the cold air. It can be done. In fact, I look forward to the late season every year because I know I will see lots of deer. It is just a tough time to convert sightings into venison – especially with a bow.
