Late season archery

[Musky hunter 82]

Who's still out archery hunting, with this snow it will be easy to see where the deer are moving.  My wife and I are still both at it, hope to get something down this year, I love hunting this time of year in the cold and snow.

Here's a couple of pictures from last Saturday in the stand

Good luck to everyone still at it.

[Scoot]

I am!  I've carried my bow twice this year- been focusing on getting my son opportunities.  I'm going to try hunt MN a few times over the next couple weeks- looking forward to it!  I've also been hunting in ND with Ryan- trying to get him a crack at a decent buck over there.  Close a couple times, but no cigar yet!

[Siwulat]

I'm out still. Going hard till the end. I'd love to fill a tag yet this year. 

Edited November 30, 2015 by Siwulat

[MattL]

I am still at it. Daytime action finally picked back up this weekend with the cold and snow. There were still a few bucks chasing does the past several days. Nothing big enough to cut my season short though. I'll probably hold out for a mature buck for at least 2-3 more weeks before I decide to stick a doe and hang the gear up for the season. 

[paceman]

You Bet! Love wearing snow camo! Find a solid food source and you should find the deer.

[DonBo]

I'd love to put another one in the freezer before the end of the year.

[ozzie]

I haven't put the bow away yet...

[rkhinrichs]

yea late season is fun! still going at it strong!

[Musky hunter 82]

So how long do you guys think the snow will last and is it going to impact the deer?  Are they going to head to their wintering areas if the snow only lasts a week or so? 

[monstermoose78]

I am still at it as well, but I have to wait until I finish my final projects.

[fivebucks]

Just bought my archery license yesterday so I plan on a little late season action.  Had to wait to see how the rifle season played out.  I am now doe hunting in the limited areas available.

[O.T.C.]

I don't think the snow will do a lot because ultra cold didn't follow it in and melting some but now that things are frozen I'd expect some deer maybe most to head into wintering areas if they have that thick cattails,willows,grass, tamaracs or whatever. Don't think the temps have meant a whole lot yet, food sources will be a big factor so if where they winter they have food at a walkable distance they're primarily maybe already there thing is my wintering ground land I have the deer were there in October so they just don't go anywhere but definitely more will work their way in there when they truly need that thermal type of cover and saving calories becomes a huge deal. 

[propster]

OTC, sometimes I like reading your stuff but ya gotta help me out and mix in a comma or period here and there.  I'm outta breath by the time I'm done with your post

[muskieswen]

Still Going. My son and I are hitting it again this weekend. The wife stopped a few weeks back.

Nice and peaceful on the stand this time of the year.  

[Musky hunter 82]

Heading out today and tomorrow for half days, more so scouting missions on some new public ground I found.  See how it goes it'll be really quite out there with this rain we're getting, I wish it was snow instead but what do you do.

[Jeff13]

If you can find some pines with the damp ground you can almost sneak up on some deer right now. I've been able to sneak around and find some in pines close to field edges late.

[O.T.C.]

I will do better. I was the guy trying to line up Friday night dates at the drive in during my last hour of English classes in HS. They stopped calling them grammar schools when Leave it to Beaver ended. I think with late season deer you must look at the localized weather and the conditions of the onset of Winter. I know deer that have about a 50 yard walk to their main food source. I know deer that have a 3/4 mile walk to get there. I have to hunt the deer that have the longer journey. If it were colder and food sources covered up they'd primarily be conserving calories by bedding as close as possible as long as they aren't bothered. Today, the deer are still eating acorns in my yard, still eating green grass, and making their way toward the cornfield(6:00PM-4:00AM). Most late seasons, they should be hitting the corn pretty hard by now. We are not seeing deer in these fields with shooting light to go so one must try to get in as close as you can without busting any of them, then pray for the best. I don't have much faith in returning to the same stand the next evening as they scent my presence. I try another spot and go according to wind direction as touchy as the mature bucks are. One plus is maybe the rain will wash the scent away. Taking a mature buck in December in Minnesota to me is the toughest challenge of anything we can hunt here. Good luck, I think it takes time, figuring them out and persistence and maybe it happens next year because of what you learned this year or years before.  

[leechlake]

solid B plus.

this time of year I think it's better to hunt a stand that has rarely been used or not used in a mediocre spot than it is to hunt a stand in a good location that has been hunted a lot or recently.  Learned this years ago muzzy hunting a couple year when it snow off and on quite a few day.  Fresh tracks were easy to tell and in thicker woods the tracks simply skirted deer stands and often just out of sight.  Muzzy hunting I'd sit on the ground 100 yards from a stand before hunting some stand that has been used.

Edited December 10, 2015 by leechlake

[O.T.C.]

Leechlake, you are quite the cat lol. Heck I'll take the B+ ! I concur Leechlake, yes hunt that rare stand without a doubt. I even give my stands up quite often to just watch 1 escape route trail that I can't see from my normal stands. Does, fawns and yearling bucks are all safe in my book so targeting a mature buck it's get in the thick as close as you can. The wind must be in your favor or you're wasting your time for sure. By October 1st the bucks have our bowhunters stands pegged on the east side of this property so take a wild guess 95% of the deer are only using the west side as they have me figured out after a day or 2 of gun season, it changes every year completely like that not that a doe can't make a buck's mistake for him but that's rarer then we dream and hope as the rut doesn't stop and wait for us in the morning, it's an all night thing. PS. Learned this years ago muzzy hunting a couple year when it snow off and on quite a few day. Solid C+

[Musky hunter 82]

So I went out Thursday night and checked out some public ground that had food plots planted on them, it was really nice and quite in the woods with all the rain we got.  As I was working my way through the woods there I came up to a thick patch and a small 8 pointer jumped up and trotted off.  He didn't smell me but I think he could see me coming since the woods are fairly open in that part.  I went back to that spot on Friday afternoon and found a place to sit on the ground next to the picked corn field.  About 10 mins before shooting time was over I look to my left and see a deer standing at 45 yards, looking through my binos. I can see it's a decent 10 pointer, but he has me pegged, and trots off.  I think he saw me move and just didn't think something was right, the wind was blowing from him to me, so he didn't smell me at all, but now I know where he's coming from.  So this coming Saturday I'll be in a better ambush spot.

[DonBo]

I haven't seen a deer in like two weeks.  Getting kinda depressed with the season winding down.

[Jeff13]

Since the warm weather kicked in the deer movement in the area has been non existent. After dark about 7-8 the fields load with deer. They are in the area but totally nocturnal. This time last year they would be hitting the same fields and there would be 20 deer out in the fields by 4:15-4:30, but it was much cooler. 

[SmellEsox]

I have a lot of respect for you guys chasing whitetails late season.  Die hards.  I've come to be done as soon as the guns have raked the woods (although I have hunted and shot deer during gun season on archery only areas).  The times I've hunted late it seems like I never saw much and most of the movement was at night.  Good luck to you guys still hunting.

[fishadb]

Haven't picked up the bow in a few weeks, but failed to get one with the muzzleloader, so I will probably get a hunt or two in before the end. Looks like we are going to get some actual winter weather the next few days, so hopefully that will move some deer down to the river bottoms.

Edited December 15, 2015 by fishadb

[O.T.C.]

Saw 2 does 2 fawns Saturday AM 1/2 hour into shooting light. Since the does had a fawn I let them slide with 1 and a 1/2 day left in muzzy season. Saturday PM a kid was rodding on a super loud piped go kart type thing I assume. He quit at 4:10 or so thankfully because the wind direction I couldn't hear squat with that blowing right at me and only an hour of legal light as cloudy hazy as it was. 4:15PM I blew my grunt tube. After my shot looked and my phone said 4:19PM. Smallest racked yearling I've ever seen in OTC. Venison it was and lately we've had a weird bad genetic thing in a few of the bucks. Yearling spike(s) turning into oddball Y bucks at 2.5 years of age. So got one to the locker plant and don't be afraid to blow that grunt call especially if you're close to where they bed down. He got up and a few more grunts coaxed him right in nose to the ground, thought lone doe ok then was like awesome cruddy spike thing better yet since he wasn't one of the 4 I was after since rifle ended. So don't pack that grunt tube away because it's December. He was at 125 yards or so when I first saw him, then 100 then 80 then 60 then 40 then inching closer put the hammer down literally. Hard to believe that piece of plastic is likely why I'll have venison to pick up in a few days.