I'm looking for some advice on how to hunt the late season. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Also: Winter Deer Food Preferred or Best Liked Cedar, white or arborvitae Yew Apple Sassafras Mountain maple Maples* Wintergreen Witch hobble Flowering dogwood Alternate leaved dogwood Basswood Staghorn sumac
Second Choice Elderberry Red berried elder Mountain ash Highbush cranberry Highbush blueberry Willow* Silky dogwood Red osier dogwood Honeysuckle Nannyberry Cucumber tree Hemlock Wild raisin Arbutus
Readily Eaten White ash Sugar maple Oaks* Black birch Yellow birch Hickory American chestnut Black cherry Witch hazel Spicebush Choke cherry Elm Black walnut Shadbush, Winterberry Lowbush blueberry Butternut Black ash Hazelnut Wild grape Bush honeysuckle Leatherwood
Starvation or Poor Food Scotch pine** Pitch pine** White pine** Red pine** Beech Aspen or poplar Mountain laurel** Rhododendron** Gray birch Paper birch Musclewood (Blue beech) Ironwood (Hop hornbeam) Spruces Alder Black locust Grey-stemmed dogwood Red cedar Balsam** Raspberry and blackberry Sweet fern Pin cherry Sheep laurel Tamarack Gooseberry Buckthorn Hawthorn
Best to pay attention in your hunting area and you'll see sign where deer have been feeding and take notice of where the tracks are going to and from the bedding areas. Closer inspection will show what their feeding on. If there is snow on the ground so much the better to read the deer sign. And you can follow the tracks to find feeding areas to hunt.
I hope it snows and gets cold simply because I have some new wool I'd like to try out.
As others have stated, food sources are key, however, the mild temps make it less urgent, and if they are still stressed from the pressure of hunting season, they will be less likely to be feeding during daylight hours.
I like to set up as close to bedding areas as possible. Here in the East, in areas that I hunt, I have seen deer just rising out of their beds with fifteen minutes of daylight left.
One last thing; any bowhunter that can consistently take mature does in the late season, certainly has my respect!
