I've still got my buck tag so I'll probably get out some more. Especially with our food plot full of turnips getting more and more inviting to the deer this time of year and our neighborh seeing a 12ptr in his yard the other day. Although after last night's smackdown I put on the walleyes, it might be tough to decide! LOL

Brian

I bowhunted Thursday morning & Friday evening, both sits close to fields with food in them, then switched to the ML for Saturday morning. In the three outings I'm pretty sure I heard a deer jump in the cornfield about 30 yards away once, but I didn't see anything at all. I'm waiting for some snow so I can see some fresh sign. They were moving fairly decent in the evening about a week ago, but haven't seen much of late. I'm just judging that by the drive home from work every day.

As far as staying warm, I'd say I've probably never hunted more than two hours on a late season hunt. It's usually anywhere from an hour and a half to about 45 minutes. I pretty much strictly hunt the edges of fields where it's a last light thing & I can get in undetected. I can think of 5 post Thanksgiving deer I've killed (3 ML & 2 bow). 4 of them were evening & none of them were earlier than 4:30 - 4:45, most were in the last 15 minutes. I killed one on a morning hunt & that was probably around 8am or something it wasn't real early by any means, but it was far from mid morning. I honestly do not ever remember seeing a buck while on stand late season. I realize where I'm hunting has some to do with that, but I figure if I'm still hunting at that point of the season I'm more interested in shooting something, than getting a nice buck.

I think hunting the afternoons/evenings helps keep you in the stand this time of year. You start off warmer, the day is warmer, and you know exactly how late you can sit. I'm going to start tomorrow afternoon after the Thanksgiving and family imposed layoff. Here's to all the brethren and sistren out sitting in the woods! And what about the second rut? Do any of you take advantage of this?

I always like to get out late season, the woods are nice and quiet and you usually have them to yourself. Plus with a little scouting you can sometimes find yourself a nice late season buck. To stay warm I wear a lot of layers and use hand and toe warmers.

I've been going out the past few days. I have just been seeing small stuff fawns, not even does. I'm just waiting for the big guy to walk by. Its always fun to be out late season. It can be the coldest day of the year, your shaking, your cold and your almost spitting bad words, but the second you see a deer no matter how small it is you instantly warm up and are ready to go.

i wear two pairs of long underwear and two under armor shirts.
above that turtle neck longsleeve and a hoodie

jeans sweat pants and one piece coveralls... sounds like alot but its not to much to still be able to bull the bow back. i think the key is your first layers. thats the same thing i wear coyote hunting ... laying in the snow and it never fails.. i never get cold

Im gunna stay out till my tag is filled!...i've been goin out every day and seeing the same ones every day for about the past week...tonight i had two forkys fighting about 45 yards out but all of them were really skiddish so...hoping to get one by sunday

hey guys wondering if any of you hunt public land near st peter le seur near 169 99 22 23 any of those areas im looking at some areas i might want to hit granted its lottery but i just want to fill my tag before the year is over.

another dumb question do you have to wear ORANGE while MUZZLE LOADER IS GOING ON?

If you want to stay warm, stay away from all cotton. Cotton is not an insulator, infact cotton kills people every year because it wicks heat away from you when wet; not only that but cotton is never really that thick, and loses heat easily. Polyester, polyprops., and wool are the best things to keep you warm, even when wet. You'll have to wear only a few layers of these fabrics to be 3 times as warm as you would be if you were wearing cotton.

Yes you have to wear orange while muzzleloading season is open.

Great information here. This is my first year bow hunting and hunting this late. I'm still making it out a couple times a week. I have found a lot of deer in the oak stands in my area (far from fields). Other then fields and acorns I'm not sure what else the feed on, still trying to figure that out.

We got a dusting of snow which was helpful in finding more deer and also let me know I jumped a deer around my stand while walking out. A little more snow would be great!

I'm hunting public land so I wear orange with small game hunters around. They have also helped with my scouting, since they have no problem letting you know where they saw deer.

believe it or not this is one of the best times of the year to get a chance at a monster buck...if you can hang.

does that either didn't get bred or got bred but didn't get pregnant come back into estrous 28 days later...also the fawns will go into estrous around the same time.

its nothing like the first rut but it does happen..but you have to deal with the weather conditions, alert deer, and less deer...you'll see less deer but the ones you see could be real quality...aka the big smart ones that don't fall for the gun.

just limiting yourself to an hour or two at sunrise and sunset works but the more time you spend in the woods obviously you have more chances at a deer....mid morning/afternoon is a great time to be out there....not to mention the warmest part of the day for you cold babies lol.

bucks will still be searching for the very last does coming in and out of estrous it just won't be as extreme as before...they'll still be cruising around inbetween bedding and feeding areas....if you know where the doe's are feeding and sleeping you can get a good crack at a nice buck yet.

staging areas can be primo...like an oak flat or knowl before the main corn or bean field they are eating in just before or after dark....this time of year you'll normally see the doe's show up first for awhile then the buck that keeps his eye on them all day waiting for one to come into estrous.

so if your right on the edge of the field and your just seeing doe's i'd back off 50-100 yards on the trail they enter if you got them patterned or know where they normally come out.

decoys can be deadly late season with some estrous scent...the buck will see a doe and smell a doe that is ready for him and might be his last lover for a whole year lol...think he might come over and check that out?

never thought of it that way... well said

Missed second shot too, story sounded better, Hey it was ten years ago, sorry to embelish, still was a giant deer
Wish I would have gotten him.

look at that little thing...it would suck to have a bunch of those running around your hunting area...is that a whitetail/elk hybrid lol?