muzzleloader deer -help finding deer

[leechlake]

Sounds accurate to me. Scooter, one of the things that keeps me hunting (besides just loving being out there) is the second estrous cycle. It gives me a little confidence knowing a doe or two is in heat and that the bucks will try to find her. I also agree that the deer tend to bunch up. It seems when I try to do some stalking if I bump deer (the kind you hear but don't see, in thick cover)there are 3-5 together high tailing it out of dodge. I've tried to talk our party into leaving a spot or two alone during the rifle season but you know how it is. It's hard to leave spots alone when you're looking for deer. We realistically could create our own forty acre haven that would hold deer for the later seasons. Thanks guys.

[bigbucks]

That haven thing is kind of what I've done with my place & my neighbor's place the last few years. Although we did stand hunt it a little during gun season last year & I bow hunted it a few times, but we never drove it, so the deer were never really spooked out of the area. We've shot deer there each of the last two years muzzleloader hunting, but they weren't bucks (at least not with antlers). I would agree with you in that they seem to be very scarce at that time of year.

It seems to me that December hunting is all about finding crops that they're hitting & you'll usually find numbers of deer in those places. It would seem to me the best place to find a buck would be checking all those does for the late estrous cycle. I live along the river bottom & see more deer there & along it on my way to town that time of year, so maybe a river bottom or swamp with close access to crops would be a prime spot to look for.

[BLACKJACK]

I agree with Bigbucks, food sources are the key to deer in Dec. Deer that are left have to eat. And the bucks will be where the does are.

Refuges where you can't hunt are a problem, we have a farm about two miles from where we slug hunt that is closed to hunting, it seems like after the first few shots and a couple of drives the deer head that direction. The only thing you can do is create your own haven or plant a food plot that would lure the deer back.

Lets face it, the late season hunting is tough, the deer have been thru firearm season, there are less of them, and the ones that are left are educated. After gun season, I generally don't go bowhunting for a couple of weeks. Now a days there are more muzzleloaders out too, you hear quite a few shots on opening muzzleloader, so the deer stay on edge longer.

I guess thats why they call it hunting!

Good luck!

[leechlake]

Each year I spend 30 days plus hunting deer from Sept through the muzzleloader season. I mostly hunt our land west of Walker. I know the land as well as you can and see deer on stands from sept to the rifle season. Then when the muzzleloader season starts poof! Almost all nocturnal deer. Only two of us hunt the muzzleloader season and really the only thing I've seen the past two years is doe/fawn combos about an hour or so before sunset. I guess there is no magic formula to stand hunting nocturnal deer, I've tried moving closer to their assumed hideouts with no sightings of bucks. The one thing we've noticed (since theres been snow the past two years)is that the deer hang out at night away from where a person hunted the day before, in otherwords they scent your spot and avoid it, every time without fail. So we never sit in the same spots two times in a row. We also try little two man drives which we only seem to move does around. Any magic ideas or thoughts? Anyone notice the same nocturnal deer this time of the year?

[Fishfanatic]

This sure sound familiar... The same thing seems to happen to use every year too. However, what seems to be happening is 2 differnt things. 1) All the deer seem to move out of the entire area and head to a large farm several miles away and 'herd-up' for the winter. The land is protected by the landowner who doens't allow any type of hunting on his land. We have spoken to him a few times and everytime it seems he has 20-30 deer on his property. 2) When we do find the deer they are very aware of the hunting pressure and reside on a small patch of land (only 10-15) acres. Again, this is protected by a different landowner who does not hunt. The deer use the area we hunt only at night. We can tell by the abundance of tracks in our trails from the day before.

We have been hunting Between Hinckley and Isle. The deer are not gone, they have simply moved to an area off limits to us.

Does this sound like what might be happening to you.

Any other thoughts out there??

Fishfanatic

[Swamp Scooter]

I agree with fishfantastic. It is likely that the deer are yarding up already for the winter and that the hunting pressure has driven them to night time movement.

You might be successful in seeing deer by making them inquisitive. Try the grunts and rattles. Doe bleats too. If there are deer around they will wonder why the other one they hear is not in hiding and might come out to investigate.

There is a second/ later heat cycle from the younger does and the ones that did not settle the first cycle. The numbers are a lot ower but you might get the younger buck to come out with the thought of getting a little action!

Just my .02

[Borch]

Food is definitely the the hot ticket in Dec. Aslo deer will start to yard up depending on the winter. I've seen herds of over 100 deer in Dec. on certain agricultural plots. I usually don't hunt directly on the field as most of the decent deer don't show up there until after dark(unless you've got weather coming in). Rather I hunt travel routes and staging areas between bedding areas and the food.

If you've got a nasty storm coming in do everything in your power to get on your stand. It'll force movement ahead of it. Often during the middle of the day.

Borch