I am trying to refine my strategy for next year.
A question I'd like to pose - do you think the bucks relocate to unpressured areas or do you think the deer are in the same areas, but just aren't venturing far from bedding or are only moving after dark? For the record I am looking for any buck, an older one is just a bonus.
If they do move to an unpressured area, how they heck do they know it's unpressured considering most of the pressure is on opening day? Prior experience?
This is the third year in a row that I found what I thought was a hard to access area and thought I'd be golden only to realize that it gets hammered. This year in WI, there was am umarked private easement to a house that allowed the property owner and what seemed like everyone he knew to easily access this no-atv allowed swath of state forest. Talked with the owner, super nice guy and am super jealous of his set up. A modest 2 acre property surrounded entirely by public, but exclusive vehicle access to about 800 acres of very hard to access state land (no trails, no parking areas). Really a great setup. The easement runs a ridgeline and there's swamps holding deer on each side of the ridge.
Same thing happened on the MI opener, I picked a spot that was a 90 minute walk and thought the ATV trails were closed. Only to find out that the gate was apparently only meant for cars and there were dozens of atv's getting to these hard to reach places.
Those hunting heavily pressured areas up north, how have you had succes after the opener? My current thoughts are:
-- continue the never ending challenge of trying to find an unpressured area
-- hunt the opener and put the gun away. Try to fill the tag on the tail end muzzle loader season.
This question is your answer. It does not just apply to bucks, but it applies to all deer. You ask how do they know what is unpressured land? Well, they learn through time. I posted on the field report my observations of Saturday's hunt. Well, there were plenty of deer to see, and plenty of bucks as well. That is 8 days into the 9 day gun season. If you read it, I also stated it hadn't been entered for a full year. Yes, the simple answer, and often difficult one to swallow, is public land is often shit! Why? Because it's rare to find a place that holds water (very important), food (very important), and thermal shelter (very important). The catalyst is leaving it alone. That simply isn't often the case on public land. While you determine what has the makeup of good deer habitat, the deer also determine that as well. They're just better at it, and often, those places that truly best suit the deer best, are off limits to most people. I remember the first time I deer hunted private land. Let me restate that "good" private land, I was blown away at how these deer were unguarded. They literally were going about their day, like today was the same as yesterday, and we are all good! I cannot say that is what I've always observed. Why? Because I too hunted public land. Actually good private land, and would in the heyday, see over 50 deer on the opener. Then come Monday, the entire public property I hunted would go blank. Well, they found a spot that had what they wanted, and that was likely a refuge they could bed in, and come out at dark, or a place where deer could simply be deer. That's not very often found on public land that sees intense pressure.
I'm going to continue my search for pockets of unpressured public land that have good deer habitat. No ATV access (legal or illegal) is a really, really good start. No trails of any kind at all is even better, granted everywhere has at least old logging roads. Those mile+ long walks in the dark off a trail are no joke, though. But that's what'll keep people out. Maybe do it old school and set up tent camp in the woods to avoid having to keep doing the wake up at 3:00am to drive and do a crazy long walk then getting burned out after a day or two. I wish there weren't so many ATV trails!
Folks here would be glad to hear, that at the very least, MI restricts late season archery to vertical bows only. Doesn't do much as no one is hunting and muzzle loader goes all the way until the 13th.... but at least its an acknowledgement differentiating xbows from vert bows.
In Greg Miller's book "Bowhunting Forests and Deep Woods", there's a chapter on late season and he pretty much says "it's really tough". But one of his strategies was basically to set up extremly close to bedding and try to catch the buck in the last few minutes of legal light as he exits the swamp. He has some great anecodotes of mature bucks just walking up to the swamp edge and scanning for danger for many minutes and not actually going out into the open until dark.
He puts a strong emphasis on post-season scouting and finding these bedding areas the year prior.
The Deer know , those old Does lead the group to safe havens . Once the woods calm down they go back to normal.
Late season ? It's all about temp , food ,& snow depth. Weather today is forecasting a very mild December . When I head back out in 10 days I'll hunt the Oaks .
#1 Where are deer coming from and where are they going to? Don't hunt dead end spots and don't hunt spots just because they are pretty. Everything big woods deer do is purposeful. Big bucks are the laziest creatures and they don't waste energy. Look for the overall patterns and then look for chinks in those patterns. I tend to hunt topography and don't worry about sign. Sign is only good for attracting hunters. If your in the right spot, deer will be there regardless of sign. I'd rather hunt last years sign and be there before it shows up. Typically by the time you find it, its already too late.
#2 What are they eating? Food is everything and if you find what they are eating its where they are going to be bedding too. I make drives for our small group every gun season and typically walk 100+ miles every season. Something that got absolutely hammered home this year was that when deer numbers are as low as they are now, they will only utilize the very best feed. I drove numerous 3-4 year old clearcuts that were basically devoid of deer. They were only in the most recent cuts with the very best browse.
#3 If you can't sneak into a spot, keep on looking. I learned this one the hard way after a lot of years of getting slapped in the face by brush. The best spot is worthless if you can't 100% sneak into it. I see it every day in gun season. You make an arc around the bucket sitters and traditional spots and you will see where every deer vacated the area as soon as those guys show up. When you blow out big woods deer they aren't coming back in daylight and if you don't follow rule #1 there is little chance something else is coming through. These days I am more apt to hunt right next to a logging road versus trying to crash through some clearcut. Use something deer won't use typically travel in for your access. I'll walk up a creek bed or use a really open hardwood ridge for access. Big bucks in particular are masters at picking bedding spots. They bed where they can see or smell you long before you are any danger and have the perfect escape route already planned. I bet on 3/4 of the drives I make,the standers have already blown out the buck before the drive even starts. Bucks might not always re-locate due to pressue, but they are going to use the terrain to their advantage every time.
#4 What are other people doing? I think I scout people more than deer. I can't stand to hunt within half a mile of someone. You don't always have to go far to avoid people. Lot of times just the lack of parking spots will limit people. Water is great, I like to cross creeks or rivers that limit people too. Good pair of hip boots will separate you from most of the crowds.
As for late season, its flat out tough, but can be some of the funnest hunting of the year. Ruger is right, its all about food and weather. I miss the days before processors. Bow hunting late season logging jobs was a blast. The deer stayed right behind the loggers and by the time they stopped the saws the deer were already on the latest trees to hit the ground. Was seldom a problem to see 20-30 deer a night and the colder it was the hungrier they were. Now with the equipment they have, they lay so much wood down and make such a mess that its about impossible to hunt the cuts. Your better off hunting the transition from the nearest swamp to the cut. Watch for wind blown cedars and hemlocks as those are late season magnets. Found plenty of sheds around them to prove that, and stands of Hemlock/Cedar offer great thermal protection too so the deer are already there. I would say that most of the big woods deer shot in late season are going to be shot over bait. In the end its all about food. Like it or not, its probably the most effective late season tactic.
Retro, while the times have changed since the book was written, they have changed back some! Miller mentions baiting being legal in WI, and now it's not, wooo! Granted, I'll be hunting in MI in the middle of bait pile city (hopefully drying up now that rifle is ending tomorrow). No doubt deers numbers are lower now than the book was written, though. I think all the concepts still apply, though. Just will need to search that much harder for a big buck.
We got a snowfall mid october and I was following tracks sunup-sundown (how I sadly found all the baitpiles), but I did find what I presumed to be a monster buck bed. Right inside a swamp that had a steep 20' climb to the high ground. The turds were literally the size of marbles and perfectly round, too. The pile was also massive. Never seen that before. I assume big shit means big deer, can anyone comment on that? It was on a small patch of high ground with thick trees covering one end, presumably where his ass was facing while he bed. I got time this weekend to hunt, so if it looks like that bed has been used in the past week (not likely, I know), then I think the game is on!
I think the only plus side to everyone hunting over bait is that everyone is only shooting spikes. I can't imagine a big buck walking up to a baitpile during rifle season in daylight. I could be wrong, though. I'm not usually targeting big bucks, but I got APR for the first time in my life, so I'm looking forward to being forced to go after one.
At the very least, following tracks in the snow is a lot of fun.... Although even if the baitpiles are drying up now, I would imagine the deer are still gonna be regularly checking them for some time. But maybe not in a few weeks? The snow isn't going anywhere and will reveal the story! Just wish I could find some darn black powder as muzzle runs to the 13th there.... although nothing better than taking a buck with a bow during a firearm season.
Appreciate it retro.... I've never left a stand out before, so I didn't even consider iced up sticks and stands, that's a fantastic point. I too rarely have cell reception where I hunt. The good part of that is less phone distractions while on the stand and no one can bug you!
