By Doug Howlett
Time’s running out and you still haven’t filled your tag? Not to worry. Follow these tips to make the most of the best deer hunting of the season
20 HUNT BEFORE A STORM The rut is over, and so is the main crush of hunters in the woods, Though many big boys have gone nocturnal, they still have to eat and drink, As the weather grows colder and the number of hunters in the woods decreases, look for bucks to return to the familiarity–and safety–of their pre-rut home ranges. Was there a buck you scouted out before the season that seemed to go AWOL once the rut kicked in? Well, with a little luck, he survived the barrage of opening-week gunfire and will return to his old haunt. Look for deer to move on the front edge of storms as they detect the drop in barometric pressure and begin to feed heavily. The first two days behind a front can also be productive.
В
19 FIND SOME FOOD As December rolls around, look for rut-weary bucks, thin and tired after several weeks of relentlessly chasing does, to suddenly focus their attention on eating, It’s crucial for whitetails to begin nourishing their posies for the hard winter ahead. Follow the deer’s lead and home in on food sources that provide sufficient cover nearby. Mature oaks bordering grown-up clear-cuts, overgrown apple orchards, tangles of honeysuckle and food plots with late-season plantings are good places to look. Leave your gun or bow behind for several days and scout out these spots to learn which are being used. Not only will you discover where the deer are, but with the boys beginning to re-form their old bachelor groups now that they’re no longer in competition, you might get your pick of the biggest buck still around.
18 FOCUS ON NUT TREES Hard mast, such as acorns and hickories, provides the best source of protein for deer trying to survive the cold, Check areas where trees were dropping nuts earlier in the season. If the ground is covered with snow, look for places where deer have pawed the earth in search of nuts. If your property has white oaks that produced early in the season, set up downwind from these trees first; they’re a whitetail’s favorite,
17 STALK IN NEW SNOW The best time to hit the woods is just after a new-fallen snow. But don’t waste time in a stand; cover some ground, The fresh snow will muffle the sound of your footfalls, allowing you to ease silently along. Because the snow is fresh, there will be no question that the tracks you cut are recent. And best of all, deer will stand out like a sore thumb.
16 KEY ON CROPS Crop fields are also a top spot to target late-season bucks. Because deer are reluctant to travel far for food, small fields where patches of standing corn or milo alternate with wide swaths of cut rows are the best, Deer will hide among the standing plants, where they can feed without being seen. They may also venture along the edges of the cut rows in search of remnant corn, beans or seeds that are softened by rain end easier to chew.
15 CHECK HIDEAWAYS When heavy snows descend, bucks head for the cover of large stands of evergreen or coniferous trees. The green, needle-covered limbs prevent much of the snowfall from reaching the ground, which makes it easier for deer to move about and find forbs or shoots to munch on. The trees also help deer to keep warm by blocking the wind.
14 WATCH FOR DROPOUTS During one post-Christmas deer drive, I was waiting along a power line that bisected a cedar stand when what I thought was a large doe came bounding straight for me. I took the deer from a mere 25 yards away, only to discover that it was a buck that had dropped its antlers early. From the look of the still-bloody bases, it had been a decent one to boot. The guy at the check station said it was the fourth one he had seen that week. If you or your hunt club practices quality management, don’t undercut your efforts by mistaking a buck that has prematurely dropped its headgear for a doe. Use binoculars to glass each deer before you shoot, particularly if you spot a doe that looks larger than usual.
13 DRAW DOWN Bowhunting Editor Todd Kuhn offers these tips to help keep your edge on stand:
• Muscles cramp easily in the cold, making it hard to draw a bow. Consider reducing your draw weight by a few pounds.
• Thick gloves are out when shooting a bow. Stow your hands in a muff with warmers inside to keep them toasty.
• Stand and draw your bow every half hour to stay warm.
12 FOOL THEIR EYES A buck’s eyes are always looking to detect movement. With trees barren of leaves, a ground blind may provide better cover. Set up off a trail where you can take aim as a deer passes your blind. Aim when it is looking away from you.
11 LAYER UP To keep warm, Gander Mountain’s Casey Weisser suggests layering clothes. Start with a sweat-wicking polyester base layer, followed by a bonded fleece garment to trap heat and a waterproof, insulated outer shell.
10 USE A DRAGLINE With most does no longer in estrus, this time of the year maybe the best to use a dragline doused with doe pee as you walk to your stand. A buck looking for one more dalliance might cut the trail and come your way.
9 TRY, TRY AGAIN While there are plenty of arguments over whether the second rut is of any strategic value to hunters, keep it in mind as you look to hit the woods in December. I agree with OL Whitetail Editor Michael Hanback that the second rut is overhyped [see Whitetails, page 50]. Don’t expect to catch big bucks charging recklessly about the woods. However, it is a biological fact that a doe that was not bred during the rut will come back into estrus 28 days later, usually between December 5 and 15 (though the start can vary by as much as a week on either side, depending on the region). This is a good time to hunt stand locations that you used when the rut began. Be sure to call, mixing doe bleats with tending grunts to mimic the sound of a buck harassing a doe. It just may trigger a big boy’s final jealous fit of the season.
8 BUST SOME ICE As creeks and ponds freeze, focus your attention on areas where drinking water is still available. Flowing creeks and deeper water that hasn’t iced up are natural choices, though don’t be afraid to bust thin ice with your boots or a heavy branch, just as a waterfowler would to clear a landing hole for ducks. Keep the hole cleared for several days, if possible, to give deer a chance to locate it. In ice-laced swamps, you can funnel deer past your stand by busting an open path through the frozen water between pinch points of land. Deer would rather cross in water than crack through thin ice.
7 WALK THIS WAY Sure, deer stand out great in the snow, but binoculars should be considered an essential piece of gear on late-winter hunts, particularly when you’re still-hunting. Guns have been going off for weeks by this point, and deer are edgy and ultra-paranoid. Big bucks are particularly reluctant to move, even as a wandering hunter comes close; most will sit tight, waiting for the danger to pass. When stalking, walk a few yards, stop next to a tree and carefully glass for several minutes before moving on and repeating. Watch for the horizontal lines of a deer’s brown back at odds with the dark vertical lines of standing trees. Keep your eyes peeled to catch any flicker of a tail or an ear.
6 HUNT DRIFTS Heavy snow kick-starts deer into moving for thicker cover; add high winds, and it can actually determine which way they’ll go to get there. To avoid deep snow that accumulates along the lee side of hills or against the downwind side of fields, deer will use the funnels that these drifts form.
5 SET UP ON TRAILS Snow-covered ground provides the perfect blueprint for a late-season hunt strategy. Identify the most heavily traveled trails and use the predominant direction of the tracks to determine whether deer are headed toward feeding or bedding areas. Trails that lead to feeding areas are good evening Spots, while bedding-bound paths should be hunted in the morning. To discover if a buck has been frequenting a trail, check for prints that press deeper into the snow than the others and that exceed 4 inches in length or particularly 3 1/2 inches in width.
4 BE PREPARED Snow-covered terrain under cloudy skies makes navigating even familiar areas a challenge. Combine that with numbing temperatures and you have a real recipe for potential disaster Should you become lost. For that reason, carry along a few extra items such as waterproof matches, liquid hand sanitizer (its alcohol content makes it a great starter fuel), an emergency space blanket, a lithium-powered tactical light (it’s brighter) and snacks and water to make a day (or night) of it if you need to. If you enter the woods without fear of being stranded, you’ll hunt with the confidence you need to fill your tag.
3 WINTERIZE YOUR GUN Winter temps can wreak havoc on a rifle’s performance. Mike Schoby, author of the soon-to-be-released Hunter’s Guide to Whitetail Rifles, offers these tips:
• Clean and degrease the action of your firearm. Use a solvent to remove the oil, which can congeal in extreme cold and actually hinder your gun’s performance. Coat parts with a graphite lubricant, which isn’t affected by cold.
• Wipe down the outside of the gun after each day afield, but not the inside. Stripping the muzzle of fouling can cause your first shots to be inaccurate.
2 SEEK THE SUN Bucks don’t always bed up in thick cover. Sometimes they’ll perch along slopes or in open woods, so they can see danger coming from afar. Look for south-facing slopes or small openings where there is more sunlight to keep deer warm.
1 MAKE A MINI-DRIVE The surest way to get bucks moving when they are reluctant to do so is to team up with a buddy and put on a drive. I like small tracts where you can focus on even smaller patches of cover. My friend Rob Copeland and I used to hunt a 70-acre property where we perfected the technique during the slow, final weeks of deer season. We divided the thickest coverts into four to five grids, most no larger than 100 yards by 50 yards, and worked each one individually. The stander would post downwind, while the driver zigzagged from the upwind side, making no more noise than an occasional whistle. Each drive seldom lasted more than five minutes, but the deer that exploded from the tight cover were frequently heavy-racked dudes that we hadn’t even realized were there.
Outdoor Life, Dec2006/Jan2007