late season bow hunting

[Brett Anderson]

Hey guys, new to the boards, i was just wonderin what your advice would be given my current situation. I got permission to bow hunt about 80 acres on a farm that has surrounding thin woods around it that borders a small river. I really love the land and am having trouble seeing deer. It's been really cold up here in minnesota the past few nights (-5 degrees) making it really hard to sit it out especially when you're not seeing any deer. kinda gets demoralizing. I know theres deer because of all the fresh tracks going right by my stand in the snow. I don't know what to do. I havn't seen a deer in quite a while out there. The deer that are coming through are coming out of their beds and going out to feed in the various picked corn fields. Are they moving at night or maybe i should try a morning hunt or two? any advice would be greatly appreciated. Not necessarily waiting for a buck. This late in the season i'm just looking for freezer meat. Thanks.

[Stratosman]

Weclome to the site.

If you are in between a bedding and a feeding area, which looks like the case, then you are set up perfectly. And actually the colder the temps the better your chances as colder weather will drive the deer to start feeding well before the sun sets, mornings typically are not so good as the deer will usually bed down again before the sun rises. But you never know, might be worth a shot if you can get to your stand without spooking deer off the field. I am surprised you are not seeing any deer as they are very predictable right now, is there a spot you can watch from after sunset and just scout the field to see when they are coming out? With the snow on the ground you should be able to see when and where they decide to enter the fields. If you can stand the cold that is. You may need to move closer to the bedding area if you can without alerting the deer.

Just a few tips that I hope help, good luck.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Brett-Welcome to FishingMinnesota.com.. great to have you with us. Feel free to jump in and answer questions and ask them. A new name and face is always great to see here in the archery forum!

When its this cold, or as it has been, I think I would do a little mid afternoon hunt. Or try and get closer to the bedding area, they may be feeding on the field much after sun down. This will all depend on human traffic as well. Is this field near a busy road ect!

Other things to think about is, are you actually pushing deer off as you go into your stand(wind). Are the deer moving to another food sorce?

Good luck! Morning hunts can be good too, but I think this time of the year, mid afternoon is probably best.

Many others will chime in on this, great group of people here at FM! Again Welcome!

[bigbucks]

Welcome aboard Brett,

What time have you been going out & when are you sitting until? I'm assuming like 3-dark, but just clarifying.

I did see a couple of deer on my way to work this morning about 8:00. They were just entering a picked cornfield. They looked like fawns, but tough to tell at 400 plus yards. It was a field that's between a wooded ridge & the river. I just happened to be able to see them from the road on the opposite side of the river valley. Obviously they were in a pretty secluded spot. I saw a deer about that same time one morning last week near a different picked cornfield, so they are moving some in the mornings. I've seen deer in picked corn right at dark several evenings driving home, last night they were probably 300 yards away from the cover already at about 5:00.

I've had a late season field like that before though too, cow path like trails in deep snow, sat there a few evenings & never saw anything. Try a morning hunt or try a different field, it could be nocturnal movement.

[kc0myy]

I have the same thing as you. Tracks every were and I see no deer. I hunt maybe about 200 yards from the road is that bad?? Every time I drive that road at night I see a deer. Well not every night but I see track all over the place. Are they moving at night? Sunrise?? when??? I will try for the mid afternoon hunt.

thanks good luck brett and welcome

[Brett Anderson]

well i've been getting in the stand at about 3 or so in the afternoon and lately i've been sitting almost an hour after sunset just trying to figure out when those deer are moving. I'll give you a little overview of the land. I get out of my car, walk down a little field road hill between some timber down to an elevated field (corn) i walk through the field down to another lower corn field, it's all downhill on the way to the river bottom, then my stand is about 50 yards in from the edge of the field and i have at least 5 good recently used in the past day trails going right by and under my stand, almost too close. but i have yet to see a deer. i've been extra careful about noise and scents and the wind has been perfect. i'm gonna go out again on friday. got finals this week:( it starts kicking you down after a while seeing these trails pop up and i can't see a single deer. There's not a lot of trails going through the lower field my stand is by but rather a lot of traffic going along the edge of the woods by the river right by my stand. Got a bad feeling it's noctornal movement. Gonna try a hunt Sunday morning i think. Might sit up on the ridge on the ground scouting. Runnin out of time and meat! Gotta keep tryin. It sure is pretty out there with the snow this time of the year though on the positive side. Havn't seen a deer out there in almost 4 weeks.

[treeclimber]

Hey Brett. Welcome aboard. From what you have described I can only think of two possibilities here. The first and most obvious is maybe they are just moving after dark? But I think I may see another possible reason. You explained that you entered your stand by crossing a picked corn field, and that it was all down hill to the river bottom where your stand is located. My question here is this. Is this river bottom area semi open or is it thick brush and timber? The reason I ask is this. If you are entering from an uphill direction from where the deer may be bedded then just passably the deer are seeing you as you approach your stand and just sneak out in the other direction or wait till well after dark to enter the fields. I hunted a similar setup and only after sitting many times without seeing deer I finally figured out what was going on. I then changed my entrance route so I stayed along the edge of the field just inside the woods and bingo I started seeing deer. Just a thought but maybe if you can enter through a less visible area you just may start seeing deer.

[bigbucks]

What treeclimber says is a good thing to consider. I've had that situation before as well, although that could be part of, I'd bet that area you're describing they'd have no problem moving any time of the day. Try the morning hunt & stay there as long as you can. They may meander through there between 8-10 in the morning or noon or whatever. It doesn't sound like they ever see or hear any humans back there other than possibly one around 3pm & again after dark...