Late Season
Posted By
Jared Mills
at
12/28/2011 12:00:00 AM
Philippe Boland - Central Illinois
The bucks in my area have started to group up and are hitting the food sources very hard. I spent Christmas weekend pulling trail camera cards, moving a couple tree stands to hunt late season, and watching a corn field with my Nikon spotting scope to get a good idea where the deer were entering the corn fields from. I was very happy to see several of the bucks I have been hunting made it through the gun seasons. I also had a couple deer show back up that were missing in action in the early part of the season. One of the bucks was a deer I called "High 10" last year and my brother actually missed the deer last year in November. The other deer is Banana, which my brother pasted him up and I saw him a couple times at a distance while hunting last year. There are two other deer on my radar for late season, #11 and Shorty. I have seen #11 two times from the stand. Once was in late October and again on Nov 23rd. The good news is I have gotten daylight photos of all the bucks and recently saw High 10 and Banana feeding in the corn I have been watching. I have gotten most of my buck pictures in day light hours the day after a front pushes through, so I plan to hunt those types of days. Though I am hoping for some really cold days before the end of the season to pressure the deer to feed earlier in day light hours.
Chaz Askew - Central Illinois
Wow, where has the season gone. Hard to believe that there is only three weeks left in the 2011 Illinois Archery season. Deer movement has been very spread out and not consistant as in past years. Does aren't bunched up and buck sightings are few and far between. Alot of that is due to the unseasonably warm temps we have been handed thus far in the late season.
Basic strategy for the remaining of the season, is to hunt but not over hunt our food plots, 
and continue to monitor trail cameras. Over the past week , buck activity has picked up, as a pattern has evolved during daylight hours on two mature bucks in our late season food plots. So what i encourage everyone is to hunt food, get in and out of your stands as clean as possible , and hunt days before and after cold fronts as the deer will continue to replenish carbs and body fat as the harsh winter weather approaches.
Hope everyone has/had a safe successful season. Stay safe, and Thanks for all your support.
