Why Late Season Deer Hunting Can Be the Best of the Season
These two giant bucks are seen in the late season in Wisconsin.
It’s December. It’s cold, windy, and you’re tired. You’ve hunted hard for the past 2-3 months and you’re sick of watching all of your buddies post pictures of the big bucks they’ve killed on Facebook. You’re ready to hang up your boots and call it a season. Here is a word to the wise…. DON’T! Late season deer hunting can produce some of the best hunting there is, you just have to find the right spot and brave the elements.
Why Late Season Deer Hunting Rocks
A late season deer hunt can be both rewarding and produce the biggest bucks of the year.
Rut hunting is great. We all love it and it offers some of the best chances of the season to kill a big bruiser, but the late season can be just as good. During the rut, bucks tend to lose 25-30% of their body weight. They chase and fight and run and seek and before you know it, they’re tired, hungry and ready to just eat. If you’re in an area that still has some shooters left or you want to get a buck or doe for the freezer, then you can capitalize on their need to fatten up.
Late Season Deer Hunting Tips
Beans, corn and acorns are three very high in carbohydrate foods. These foods fatten deer up fast and is exactly what they want before a long, cold winter. Bucks need to put the weight back on that they lost chasing does all fall and this is the quickest way to do it. Old, hard run bucks are sometimes the smartest and nastiest deer in the woods. These old boys have done their share of fighting and chasing and need to fill their bellies to survive winter. Sometimes, these guys are impossible to kill, until the late season on a food source.
Deer Late Season Hunting
If you have a late season gun hunt, then you’re in luck. If not, then set up close to a field edge of these food sources, preferably on a well-worn path or just off it. Make sure you bundle up and pick a good tree. The worse and cold the weather, the earlier the deer will be out in the field needing that food. Deer will want to eat during the warmer parts of the day when it’s really cold, we’re talking single digits, so get out early and sit it out. Smart, old, mature bucks don’t slip up often, but they need food to survive and will do whatever they have to to get it.
Kill a Big Buck in Late Season
Late season deer hunting isn’t for sissys, but it can be the most rewarding hunt you’ve had all year. You sit and dream for 9 months of the year for the chance to kill a monster buck, don’t let the couch and fireplace claim you for the year just yet.
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