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Simple in objective but complex in execution, a bitter-weather late-season whitetail hunt can warm the heart and soothe the soul.
by Bob Robb
I really don’t like cold weather. What’s to like about it? I don’t ski, snow machines terrify me, and I view ice fishing as a pastime for the terminally bored. About the only advantages I ever found to sub-freezing weather was the fact that when I lived in Alaska, when everything froze solid it was easier to access certain backcountry areas over the ice than when it was thawed and swampy. Other than that, things such as having to wear all of those clothes, worrying about pipes freezing, driving on slick roads and having a perpetual runny nose never did a thing for me.
And then one winter I discovered the magic of hunting big whitetails in bitter-cold weather. Hallelujah, I became a convert! Sure, it’s still miserable outside, and the snow and ice and bitter winds are never pleasant, but the potential rewards are so great that I decided that as a smart buck hunter I would simply suck it up, bundle up and go hunting. I have never looked back.
Why Hunt During Bitter Weather?
We all know that post-rut whitetail bucks are tired and worn out. As the rut begins to wind down, their only concerns are resting up for the coming winter and ingesting as many calories as they can as they try to replenish those fat reserves expended chasing girls nonstop for the past four to six weeks.
In much of the country — particularly those whitetail states located north of the Mason-Dixon Line — the months of December and January bring two things: winter and the end of the rut. As the temperatures begin to plummet and the mercury stays closer to zero than the freezing mark, deer really focus on the available groceries. Those foods with the best calorie-per-ounce ratio now are those grown by farmers and include corn, soybeans, winter wheat and a few others, as well as food plots planted by sportsmen. When brassica family plants such as turnips freeze, their sugar content spikes and deer hammer them.
That simply means deer concentrate on these food sources. They move their beds as close to the fields as they can so they can eat as much as possible while expending the minimum amount of effort — calories — getting to and from the food. The smart deer hunter will do the same.
Muzzleloader Strategies
Many states allow late-season deer hunting, but restrict you to choosing either a muzzleloader or bow. Some states let you hunt with either/or, but many make you choose. And while I dearly love bowhunting, when you want to tip the odds in your favor, it’s time to choose an inline muzzleloader that will permit you to reach out the length of a football field or more and cover as much of a big field as possible.
When planning my strategy for these late-season hunts, I am reminded of playing chess, a game that is simple in objective but complex in execution. In chess, the objective is to capture your opponent’s queen while protecting your own, a task that requires thinking several moves ahead as well as being able to nimbly adjust to your opponent’s moves.
Post-rut deer hunting when the mercury plummets is much the same. Here the objective is to put yourself into position to shoot a mature buck without getting busted while being able to adjust to changes in weather, deer movement patterns and hunting pressure. It’s both great fun and a real challenge.
Basically, you need to find where the deer are concentrating on food sources. This means locating the area’s cornfields, or scouting around other high-quality foods or food plots. When you find what you’re looking for — lots of fresh deer sign and, hopefully, catching a glimpse of a mature deer — it’s time to decide how you’ll hunt it.
Sounds easy — and sometimes it is. Generally, though, there are hitches in the get-along and you’ll have to make adjustments.
An example. One December in western Iowa, when the mercury never reached double digits above zero, some friends and I had permission to hunt a 400-acre farm in the middle of tens of thousands of acres of other farms, all of which were primarily planted in corn. Our farmer had left some corn standing, and the deer were hammering it. Many of them were living on a wooded south-facing slope adjacent to the corn, but others were traveling about a quarter-mile from the neighbor’s, which had some thick brush that protected the deer from prevailing winds and they were using it as a bedding area.
I attacked the problem with a five-day plan. The first two days I set up across from the wooded slopes and simply observed how the deer came and went. In this weather it is not unusual to not see any movement until the sun comes up and warms things up a bit, and also to see deer of all ages, sizes and descriptions coming to feed at midday. So I sat bundled up in my little brush blind from dawn until dark and mapped out their travel routes. A good binocular is essential for this, and a spotting scope can be helpful not just for judging bucks, but also to check out distant trails for fresh tracks.
I made my move on day three, crossing the cornfield before daylight and building a little brush blind along the edge of the woods downwind of where most of the deer had been entering and exiting the standing stalks. I used my laser rangefinder to make sure I was in range of the corn and got as comfortable as a guy can get sitting outside with the mercury below zero.
Though I saw several deer during the morning, it was not until 2:30 p.m. that a lone buck came out for a meal. When he got to 125 yards, I got a solid rest, placed the crosshairs on his sweet spot and squeezed the trigger. He was a dandy 9-pointer (really a 10 that had one G-4 broken off), yet he still scored right at 150 Boone and Crockett points.
Treestand or Ground Blind?
I dearly love to sneak-and-peek hunt along the edges of agriculture fields for whitetails. During this time of year it is almost impossible, though, thanks to snow that is as crunchy as corn flakes. That means the odds are best for stand hunters.
Treestand hunting can be the ticket, if there is a good tree in the right spot. You have to be extra careful when setting a treestand because everything is frozen solid and there is slippery ice sheen on almost everything. The big downside to a treestand now, however, is the wind. It is plenty cold enough, but when you throw in a 10 mph or stronger wind and you have to sit for hours on end, before long you’ll feel like a popsicle.
I’ll certainly set a treestand if that is the best chance at getting a shot. But now is the time I much prefer a ground blind. Commercial ground blinds made of fiberglass or fabric will block the wind, and you can even use small heaters inside that will keep you toasty warm. That means you can stay on stand longer and hunt more efficiently.
There are downsides. In bitter weather a fabric blind will freeze, and when it does, the fabric becomes brittle and as noisy as a New Year’s Day parade. When the leaves are off the trees and low-lying brush, a dark-colored blind will stick out like a sore thumb unless you can make it look like snow or hide it among some willows or a cluster of tree trunks or corn stalks. And, generally speaking, setting up a ground blind several days before hunting in it so deer can get used to it makes sense.
This is not always necessary. One frigid December, I hunted in western Iowa with a long-time outfitter. We set up on the edge of a huge cornfield surrounded by woods. After two days we figured the deer were primarily using a small back corner of the field, so at noon one day we grabbed a lightweight, portable fiberglass blind made by Darkwoods Blinds, quickly loaded it into a pickup bed and moved it a quarter-mile to the edge of the woods 100 yards or so downwind of the sweet spot of standing corn stalks. We were done just before 1 p.m., so I climbed inside, got organized and began reading a paperback novel to pass the time in-between scanning the field.
The first does actually came in downwind of me, passing within 5 feet of the blind and never giving it a second look. During the next three hours, I saw a dozen deer, including a couple of 2-year-old bucks, but didn’t get excited until about an hour before dark. That’s when two good bucks approached from the downwind side and began feeding in the standing corn.
I had a solid rest and tried to remain patient even with the fading light. Maybe 15 minutes before shooting hours were over, the largest of the two stepped through the stalks and turned broadside. My .50 caliber CVA Optima Elite, topped with a 3-9X Bushnell Elite scope and loaded with a 300-grain PowerBelt bullet, was the perfect rig for this combination. The big 9-pointer gross-scored 1643/8 B&C points.
Worth the Suffering
I still suffer mightily from the bitter cold. Don’t like it. Never will. That said, you can bet the house that Ixe2x80x99ll keep heading back out there in the upper Midwest someplace during winter, trying to keep my nose from dripping and earlobes from turning blue while I sit patiently overlooking a cornfield awaiting another whopper buck to show himself. This is one game where the risk/reward ration is definitely in the hunter’s favor.
— Bob Robb has been a full-time outdoor writer since 1978, and a contributor to, and the editor of, several prominent hunting magazines down through the years. He also lived in Alaska for 15 years, where he held an assistant hunting guide license. The best part of his job, he says, is it allows him to be in the woods between 120 and 140 days a year; what could be better than that?
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Make It Go Boom!
Nasty weather brings more challenges than simply staying warm. Unless you prepare your muzzleloader, you might find that at the moment of truth you have trouble hitting your target when it goes click instead of boom! Here’s how to avoid that nightmare.
1) Degrease the rifle to remove all lubricants that might freeze. Either leave the rifle unlubricated or use a graphite-based lube that will not freeze.
2) Cover the rifle barrel with a piece of electrician’s tape or a small balloon to keep out snow, ice and other moisture.
3) When hunting with a rifle that has an unprotected breech, keep it covered with a loose piece of leather, soft plastic or other prop that can be quickly and easily removed when it is time to shoot.
4) Keep your scope lenses covered to avoid moisture build up.
5) Coat scope lenses with RainX, a wax-like product for glass that helps moisture slide off the surface, making it easier to see out of wet lenses and also discourages exterior fogging.
6) At day’s end, safely fire the rifle into a dirt bank, then clean it thoroughly. Store it outside; bringing it into a warm room will encourage the formation of moisture in the barrel and bore.
7) In the morning prior to loading, fire a couple of primers on an empty barrel, load, then fire a fouling shot if need be before loading your hunting load and heading to the woods.
8) Keep your speed loaders and spare primers protected from the weather when on stand. Store them outside with your rifle at night.
9) When taking aim, try to avoid breathing directly on your scope lenses. There’s nothing worse than trying to shoot through a foggy scope!
10) Be sure to practice shooting with both your gloves and heavy outerwear on. Thick coats can make it tough to get the rifle up quickly and properly, and gloves give your trigger a different feel than shooting with bare hands.
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Top 3 Muzzleloaders of 2019
Traditions Redesigns the Vortek StrikerFire Series
Traditions Performance Firearms announced that it redesigned its popular Vortek StrikerFire muzzleloader rifles to include a new recoil-reducing buttstock and buttpad. With less recoil, shooters will enjoy increased accuracy and all skill levels will feel comfortable shooting these rifles. MSRP: $399.00-$629.00; Info: www.traditionsfirearms.com
Thompson/Center Arms IMPACT!SB Muzzleloader
Thompson/Center Arms announced the launch of its new entry-level IMPACT!SB line of .50 caliber break-open muzzleloaders, featuring a new, hand-removable triple lead thread breech plug and a Power Rod aluminum ramrod for easy loading. MSRP: Starting at $263; Info: www.tcarms.com
CVA PARAMOUNT Long Range Muzzleloader
Unlike any other CVA rifle, this bolt-action gun was developed and designed to handle super magnum propellant charges, meaning: in excess of a 150 grain by volume equivalent of black powder, and thus provides the higher velocities necessary for harvesting animals effectively at 300 yards and beyond. MSRP: $1,062.95; Info: www.cva.com
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Late Season Muzzleloader Whitetail
