Late season archery strategy

[unclebuck]

This is my first year bow hunting and I'm wondering what the best way to go about it during the late season is. Something tells me that grunting and rattling isnt going to work as well as it did during the rut. Any advice?

[mhouck06]

I dont know how your seasons run, but our late seasons runs into jan. That time of year, Im looking at any avaliable food sources. Its a tough time to hunt because of how pressured the deer were for 3 months, but if you can get on the hot food source.. that would be a good place to start

[Jslotter]

Ditch the morning hunts and focus on late afternoon movement to feeding areas.

[Gafrage]

I wouldn't ditch the morning hunts completely...

If you get a good amount of snow, and it snows for several hours, typically that first hour or two after the snow can be just as hot...

As mentioned above, focus on the food sources, corn, beans, sugar beets, whatever is available.

I typically don't hunt late season, typically too cold, and long long hours on the stand with minimal deer sightings, however, some good deer can still be shot.

If you can't hunt directly over one of those food sources, hunt trails leading to them, or trails from bedding areas.

Depending on your gun hunting pressure around the area, and how quickly deer rebound from being shot at constantly, I would even consider still hunting with a bow.

A lot of times, those deer will be bedded down from dawn to dusk and only move at night.

Good luck.

[Gafrage]

One other thing to note, scents and grunting could pay off around the 10th of December, I've had the post rut be just as hot my area as the normal rut, I think its about a 30 day difference so those yearling does could come into heat about a month after the mature does did...food for thought. As far as scents, I'm not 100% positive, but you might want to give it a shot...from the research i did, I wouldn't spend money on scents...maybe try some grunting though.

[Blazed]

Gafrage you have a PM.

[Rick Larson]

Find the thickest brush (cedar is good) in the area and hunt the edges. Scout on a very windy dry day to keep your scent to a minimium. Set up a stand on a similiar windy dry day, and hunt it just a few times (once the deer know you are around, the jig is up!) picking the warmest days with favorable winds to hunt.

Yeah, standard advice...

[4khorn]

I have had great success in the late season. As others have mentioned, it is all about the food. That is all that will be on the deer's minds as they try to recover from the hardships of the rut and to bulk up for the winter ahead. My best stand is about 60 yards inside the woods off of a farm field where the deer often stage up before heading out into the open. If we get some snow, it provides a great opportunity to see where the deer are traveling. I typically limit my late season hunting to the evenings as well.