Late Season Push
Posted By
Sam Soholt
at
12/10/2011 12:00:00 AM
Troy Spooner – Michigan Pro Staff
The weather is starting to cool down and rut activity is nonexistent. Hunting pressure has dropped off a fair amount and I am heading to the Upper Peninsula for a muzzleloader hunt. I am looking to hunt the migration routes as the deer leave the north end of the U.P. And migrate to the southern end cedar swamps for their wintering grounds. We have some trail cameras hung in funnels between heavy bedding cover and clear-cuts, so we can evaluate the bucks to hunt. If snowfall is good we will try to do some old school tracking.
Jerry Slade – Southern Michigan
With winter setting in, and snow on the ground (now and then) it is time to strictly hunt food sources. The crops have all been harvested, and the sugars are now coming out of the brassicas we have planted. After the 10" of snow we got last week, our brassica plots looked like there had been a football game played there! Nothing else had been touched.
I've seen a few 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 yr old bucks in the last week, but the big boys seem to be hunkered down right now. Gotta get out there and brave the weather. If you're not out in it, you don't have a chance at harvesting a nice buck
Brandon Hammonds - Southern MI.
The late season is always a puzzle, and for this year the pieces we try to fit together seem to be bigger than normal. Here in the south central part of the state has experienced heavy rains in late November and early December which means if you have low ground or river bottom grounds you have been hit with floods or standing water. That's my problem and its a big one for me its on my best ground. What to do about, is going to be good old fashion work . I have sat those stands enough to learn that no way or how will deer be back anytime soon so its time to move on. With that being said I have been working on finding dry real estate going to or from neighboring farms with food and moving stands. Inside corners and fence rows will be the ticket for the late season or at least till the water goes away!
Rob Gregg - South Central Michigan
Now that the gun season has come and gone I’m ready to get back in the tree stand with my Hoyt. Dan and I hit the woods hard starting about Halloween and won’t let up until gun season. Typically I hunt with my son Conner the first day or two of the gun season then I stay out of the woods until the last couple weeks of December. I use the break to get a few things done around the house and to get my gear back in order for the late season push. Dan and I haven’t hunted our “Bow Blind” yet this year and we’re hoping to get a chance at a doe coming into the Big-N-Beasty we planted back in August. I look forward to the late season and like to spend as much time in the stand that I can. We all know that the nine month wait until October is way too long.
