Conundrum

[eyedr]

I will try to explanl my conundrum. I have Friday eveing and Saturday morning to hunt and then my season will be done. I am trying to get my first dear with my bow and was completely going just to put meat in the freezer since I only have a few days left. I stopped and glassed a public spot that I have hunted once before. 8 deer walked down the trail I sat by. I was pretty excited to see that. As I was driving home I swung by another wildlife and low and behold there were 12 deer including a real nice 8. It would be by far my biggest buck. Here is my conundrum. The second place I stopped I have no clue where the deer were coming from or where they were going to. It Is a huge wildlife. They were all facing a thicket right on the corner of a busy county road but I don't know if they were passing through or not. It wouId be a shot in the dark. feel like the first location gives me the best shot at getting my first deer with a bow but man I want to try for the buck. I thought about going to one spot in the evening Friday and one spot on sat morning but I don't think the deer move as much in the morning since I have never seen them scouting in the morning on the way to work. Just want to get some opinions. What say you?

[Hoyt4]

With time coming to an end go to the place you know best and what the deer are doing. You still could get a buck but have a good chance of putting one in the freezer.

You can then start scouting that other land for next fall and getting to know that better.

[sticknstring]

Mornings are low-odds this time of year - very tough to beat them back to their beds. With essentially one evening to get it done, I'd definitely hunt the first spot where they passed by your setup. Great chance to shoot your first deer w/ the bow and get some meat in the freezer. Maybe try the 2nd spot Sat am. Good luck - report back how it went!

[Scoot]

Yep, I'd do exactly what SnS said for the same reasons.

[nofishfisherman]

Go with the spot you have the most confidence in. If you feel like you have the deer patterned a little better at the first spot then go with that one.

Sounds like the 2nd spot is going to be a big gamble.

[eyedr]

Thanks for the advice! This is what I was leaning toward but the idea of a chance at the big guy clouded my judgement. This being my first year bow hunting I have seen quite a few nice bucks, which makes hunting deer a little more exciting. I'm checking out both spots again tonight. Thanks again!

[O.T.C.]

You might try for that 8 but I'd venture a safe guess that spot # 1 might have a large 12 pointer who knows. I doubt you likely saw all the deer at either spot, chances are spot 1 likely had or has a buck bedded tight in there someplace, put it this way if it were me this season I'd certainly pick the wrong spot, do the opposite of what I'd tell you then share the nice buck you get in a few days. It is tougher to get between bed/feed in the AM but if they are feeding where it's quiet and they have a medium walk to get back to bed, you'd have a chance and it's not like they sprint back to bed, it's usually a very cautious slow sniffing for trouble event. I blew my whole season by not muzzying last Sunday morning, at noon I slip out and he was bedded 30 yards from my stand and with that dense fog, I wonder what time he laid down with a 1/2 mile jaunt from food to bed.

[MattL]

Depending on how the 2 spots lay out, you may have an advantage with wind direction at one spot or the other. That would be my biggest deciding factor. Late season deer are a lot more wary.

[eyedr]

Wind is right for both spots, I think spot one would be easier to get to. I can walk right down the middle of a ditch to get to my clump of oak trees. Im guessing I would be able to get into that spot easier and with less impact. Unless something changes drastically tonight when I glass, spot one will be where I go. I have hunted my gonads off this year. I have passed on a few, drawn on a few, gotten busted by a few, but over all I have learned a ton and have found out why it's so addicting. The experiences I have had in the woods are priceless. My wife told me if I was as passionate about everything else as I am about deer hunting I would be able to retire when I'm 40.

[walleye hunter14]

Sorry to jump this post with another question. Lots of good opinion on here but I was wondering if it is true about better luck in evenings this time of year. I too am heading out on my last days to bow hunt this weekend I noticed all week that around my area I am only seeing deer out around 7:50-08:30am heading towards the bedding. I haven't seen a thing in the evening. I am limited in wife allowance to go out so originally I was going to go in the morning as the scouting seemed much better then but would you say if I can only get out for one sit I should chose to sit at night rather than the morning my chances should be better?

[sticknstring]

Generally, evenings are better late-season for a few different reasons. But in your scenario, I would definitely hunt the mornings. If they're active in the mornings, then they're probably moving in the afternoons as well, just heading towards a different food source first. Deer will usually stick to a pattern this time of year unless pressured or the food runs out.

[eyedr]

Life just can't be easy when deer hunting. There were deer in the vicinity of spot one but they were all 2-300 yards from where I would sit. I'm hoping the cloud cover got them moving earlier and they were on their way back in already. There were deer exactly where I saw them last night in spot 2, didn't see the buck.

[sticknstring]

2 days in a row - that's a pattern! One of the key benefits of scouting. Now get in there tonight and shoot one of 'em!

[rkhinrichs]

yea trying to catch deer between food and bed is hard late season. but I feel if it is a full moon or really cold they will get to their beds later!!!!! that is when mornings can be the ticket late season. A snow or cold front is better for evening sits i feel like as well!

[eyedr]

Frustrating. That's how I describe the past two days. Picked the wrong spot on Friday. I was out there at 2 and could not have been more low impact getting in. Never saw a deer. This morning I picked the wrong tree. Had a large doe at 40 yards, 30 is my limit. If I would have picked the other tree I was between it would have been a perfect 15 yard chip shot. I decided that I'm taking the afternoon off on new years eve to try one more time.

[nbadger23]

Late season is just plain tough hunting.... don't beat yourself up eyedr.

So stupid question... why are evenings more productive in the last season? I struggle mightily in late season because it's almost impossible to get into a stand in the daylight for an evening hunt without getting busted.

[Jeff13]

I agree it's hard hunting. Kicked up 8 tonight on the way to the stand and I had the wind and quiet snow they still busted me. 4 of them were right in front of my stand! Still had some action as the night went on just not a clean shot on any of the 4 deer I saw while on stand. Still fun getting out but it is tough!

[rkhinrichs]

now is the time to be aggressive!!! get out of the stand! ground and pound time baby!!!!!!

[eyedr]

I think I'm more determined than ever. I am trying to figure out how I can get one more morning sit and one more evening sit. I'm still hopeful I can get it done! I am loving my time in the woods.

[BLACKJACK]

Sorry to jump this post with another question. Lots of good opinion on here but I was wondering if it is true about better luck in evenings this time of year. I too am heading out on my last days to bow hunt this weekend I noticed all week that around my area I am only seeing deer out around 7:50-08:30am heading towards the bedding. I haven't seen a thing in the evening. I am limited in wife allowance to go out so originally I was going to go in the morning as the scouting seemed much better then but would you say if I can only get out for one sit I should chose to sit at night rather than the morning my chances should be better?

How'd you do walleye hunter14?? Did you make it out??

Deer can be shot in the mornings this time of year, I shot a doe a couple weeks ago.

My observations watching deer go back and forth to my corn food plot is that in the evening they come in bigger groups, 8-9 at a time, more eyes to bust you, but they're hungrier and in a hurry, some of the fawns will come running by, leading the rest. In the morning they filter thru 2-3 at a time in doe/fawn groups, with any bucks that are left coming last.

My general advice would be that in the evening, hunt closer to the food source, so they don't hear you in their bedding area. In the morning, hunt far enough from the food source that they don't hear you walking in. The warmer weather has made morning hunts easier, not as cold.

As always, you have to play the wind!!!! Biggest problem I see this time of year is getting your bow drawn back without them seeing or hearing you, they are spooky after getting shot at for a month!!!

Good luck!!

[nbadger23]

My biggest issue this past two weeks has been getting to the stand and not getting busted in the afternoon. I swear I'm going to plant a hedge row of some sort that makes a "trail" to my stand to conceal me in the future.

On Saturday afternoon I had stepped out of my yard and into the woods about 20 yards. I was walking very slowly as the ground was quite crunchy. I saw the back half of a deer about 30 yards away and immediately stopped and crouched down to the ground, removing my quiver and knocking an arrow.

I moved a bit to get a better look and all I saw were antlers! This was a very big 8 point that I have not seen this year. I think I almost feel over that there he was, eating to his heart's content on the buck thorn berries on the ground. The unfortunate part was that it was a wall of brush between he and I. I knew that finding a shooting lane was going to be almost impossible but I had to try.

I knew he was standing in a small pocket where I had cleaned all the small buckthorn out so if I could move forward about 10 yards I'd have a shot. Unfortunately he moved as I moved. This was great as far as him not seeing me as his head was looking away from me but it was carrying him into thicker brush even though the distance wasn't getting any greater.

I got to a spot where I really couldn't advance any further and ranged him at 28 yards. He was standing quartered away with his head down eating. It was clear shooting until about 5 yards in front of him where he now stood surrounded by waist high buck thorn. I didn't even draw as I knew there was no lane.

I tried to formulate another plan and hoped to try to circle around in front of him but the gig was finally up. After 10 minutes of this cat and mouse, heart thumping game he finally stopped eating long enough and noticed me. He didn't really get all that scared as all he did was bound off about 30 yards and then slowly walk away but it was the end of that hunt. He was walking towards the stand I wanted to hunt and I did not want to take the chance of bumping him again.

This may sound crazy, but that is the first "big" buck I have ever had the opportunity to observe for that amount of time. I normally see those types of deer during the rut and they pass by fairly quickly. It was pretty cool to be that close to that big of a buck and have him have no clue I was there.

At first I was kicking myself for not getting out to the stand earlier as I had not gone out until 2:30 but in reality this guy was probably bedded down somewhere between my house and my stand and I likely would have kicked him up on the way out. Such is life when hunting small plots of land.