If you hunt in heavily pressured areas like we do, then maybe the late season deer hunt is for you. Two of my sons’ largest bucks came during the late season. And both came within the last 15 minutes of legal light. We see more large bucks in December than in November.

In our heavily hunted area, we position tight to the bedding area, and the bucks rarely show themselves with more than 15 minutes of daylight. Groups of 4 to 10 deer are not uncommon. While this can be fun, it also creates challenges with the extra eyes and noses out there. Stay back 30 yards from the trails being used with archery, and longer with a gun.

Snow on the ground will show the best travel routes. Remember that these deer are spooky. Play the wind; do not take any foolish chances with the wind. It’s by far better to hunt a secondary spot where the wind is in your favor.

When temperatures drop around the zero mark, mid-day activity really improves. This doesn’t happen often, but a few hunting seasons ago, I experienced such conditions and had the best luck ever.

Food is the prime importance to any deer at this time of the year; standing corn, acorns, dogwoods, berries, autumn olive, red maple, sumac and browse. If there is deep snow, then you can forget the acorns.

The last food source eaten each year is the browse, berries and such, found in low areas. Wetlands can be a large swamp, a river bottom or just an area that has higher ground surrounded by water. Wetland areas generally have a food source that will last into the new year.

Browse such as maple or aspen shoots is a good late-season bet. This could be a clear-cut, or a small group of trees along a swamp edge. Shrubs like dogwood and autumn olive are two of my favorites.

It pays to locate a couple of stand locations so that you can play the wind and the direction that the deer might be using. Some stands produce well in the morning, and others at night.

Drainage ditches are overlooked, are often lined with a good food source, and the ditch itself usually offers food. Stick a tree stand up where you can see a long distance in both directions, and don’t be surprised to see a deer rise up just before darkness.

Find out where the does are bedding and feeding, and the bucks will show up. The best locations are where the deer feel most secure during the daylight hours. The closer the security area is to a hot food source, the better buck potential.

High ground in a swamp or a cattail marsh is an excellent all-day location to hunt. The key is sliding in early and being undetected. Another good choice would be a small woodlot or briar patch that other hunters walk right by, thinking that it is too small to hold any deer.

The deer we hunt travel further distances in December to get to the prime feeding areas after dark. An exception is water. When we hunt areas that are partially flooded and have dry humps and mounds with some type of forage, we will see deer 30 or 40 minutes before dark.

Thick pines harbor late-season deer, and the closer to a food source, the better the odds of sightings within the legal hours to shoot. On a recent hunt, it was cold, the wind was stiff, eight inches of snow on the ground and darkness couldn’t come quick enough. Slowly, three deer emerged from the thick pines and headed towards the orchard.

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When the rifle barked, the deer headed for the pines. Two deer stopped short of the pines, and started feeding on the tall ferns and field grass. Where did the third deer go? It traveled fifty yards, slid down the hill and was covered with snow. It turned out she was the largest doe I ever shot, and the second-largest deer ever in my freezer.

I love snow and cold weather in December. Food sources change, deer are spooky, but they will use the same late-season areas each year if not pressured or scented. Snow shows locations and trails.

Public land is home to Anthony Amalfitano, a Michigan resident who enjoys very good success on outstate lands. He suggested getting away from the crowd and two tracks. Other suggestions include finding water and entering the area; hunting swamps, islands, thick aspen or poplar stands, and thick pines; and knowing where other hunters are located.

On public land, we try to find the small pockets overlooked by other hunters. River bottoms flood out, and the dry humps hold bedding deer. Chest-high waders become part of our routine. Gun or bow, half the time, I will be found on the ground. It gets tiring sitting up a tree stand night after night, and winds are often unpredictable in December.

Some hunters like using pop up blinds, and several shared a few of the following tips: Hunt a cattail swamp or marsh, a cedar swamp, a Christmas tree grove, a group of pines, or inside or on the edge of a clear cut. There are plenty of locations; even an open oak forest can work. The next tip that was shared I found to be super helpful.

They suggested throwing a cargo net, often used in pickup trucks, over the top of a blind. A cargo net has hundreds of openings and bands that can secure brush or twigs. The fronts of many new blinds have tie straps. Adding a few branches or grass can fog in the lower portion.

A pop up blind is ideal in inclement weather, or when hunting with a youth. It’s also a great choice if you are fidgety or just plain want to hide your movements.

“The only clothing needed when hunting in a blind is something black,” said Scoot Livesay. Many of the newer blinds are black on the inside, so wearing black blends you in much better. Black clothing is also much cheaper than camo.

I use a turkey lounge chair that sits 3 inches off the ground in a potential spot before I hang a tree stand. Sitting nearly on the ground keeps your profile lower, and if you can tuck in behind a log or a small group of trees, the better your odds.

Google Earth and aerial photos can help in identifying bottlenecks, funnel locations, areas with water and potential thick bedding areas. Much of the best bedding areas will be thick cover, or areas with great visual and scent protection, much like a steep ridge.

One other tip: Try to position yourself so that you are not facing the direction that the deer might travel; instead, quarter, or better yet, have your back toward the best direction. With the colder temperatures, you will hear the deer before they come into range. I love a quartering away shot, the target being much larger for a killing shot. Very few hunters like having a deer to their back, but your movement in getting ready for a shot is less likely to be seen.

Remember that the first three times in a stand offer the best odds for success. Hunt your best stand under the best conditions. I often have 3 stands in a 100- or 150-yard area. One might be for sitting on the ground, and two others for covering the same area from different angles and wind conditions.

Late season, we see the most deer and the largest bucks. It takes extra effort and patience, but it really does pay off.

Published in Midwest Outdoors 01/26/20.

What sets apart the waterfowl hunters who enjoy the most shooting from the guys not doing so well in the next blind down the marsh? According to waterfowl experts Larry Zuidema, Dan Loyd and Brian Post, the answer lies in setting a proper spread of decoys, and hunting the right locations.
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Location is the most important consideration when hunting ducks or geese. The best spread will not work if the birds are not using your location. Scout before and during the season for those locations overlooked by other hunters.

​Locating a small pond or pothole overlooked by the majority pays big dividends in the later portion of the season.

Find A Good Food Source
Birds need to eat so locating a hot food source is very important. Geese are often spotted when glassing from a road or a two track. The geese heavily use winter wheat and picked corn.

Visibility increases your action. That means placing your decoys where flying birds can spot them. Setting up on a point or peninsula allows birds to spot your spread from a long distance. A ditch line that extends into a field is another favorite setup of mine. Try to avoid placing your decoys tight to any brush or shoreline where they will be hard to see.

Don’t set your decoys in a nice, neat line or all facing the same direction. Instead place a few decoys as if they are in a resting mode. Set another flock tight together to give the appearance of feeding birds. Use decoys with different poses for more realism.

Setting your decoys in a “U” shape where you leave an opening for the birds to land is a time-honored trick from seasoned waterfowl hunters. Use the wind as your friend when setting the spread. Birds like to land into the wind when possible. Keep the decoys fairly close to you. Some hunters place decoys at their maximum shooting range, and then watch the birds land on the outside of the decoys — out of range.

Keep Decoys Within Range
Tie off some of your decoys from the front and a few from the back when on the water. Having your decoys facing in the same direction often gives an appearance that something might be amiss. Ducks often land on the outside of your spread so keep the decoys well within your shooting range. A distance between 20- and 30 yards often works well.

Set your decoys near you, because the ducks/geese often land outside of them.
Use different types of decoys in your spread. An example would be a few resting decoys, a few feeding, and also mix the size up a bit. Throw in a magnum or a different species from the rest of the decoys.

“Decoys with motion often draw weary birds,” said Larry Zuidema. Check your local hunting regulations regarding using decoys with motion. But regardless if you use the motorized decoys or the wind-aided motion decoys, one or two that have motion will draw the attention of any birds flying over.

The number of decoys to use depends on where you are hunting ,and the amount of nearby hunting pressure. Hunting ponds, potholes, and small lakes, you can easily get by with one- or two-dozen decoys. Large open waters, or heavily pounded areas — especially crop fields — hunters might be best using three- to six-dozen decoys.

Try Two Callers
Two callers are often better than one caller. Geese are often drawn in when they spot a flock and hear two callers simulating a flock of birds. Learn a call and become good with it. As the season wears on, the good caller brings in more birds than the guy with a call in his mouth for the first time in a year.

When hunting crop fields, set your decoys out real early in the morning. One guy that I hunt with sets his decoys out at least one-hour before daybreak. He also said that under no circumstances should you ever leave your decoys out all day. Birds coming in after you leave are fast students and will avoid the area quickly.
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These young hunters show the rewards of decoying in geese.
Another tip is to match your camouflage with the terrain and the season. A white sheet is easy and inexpensive for those few winter hunts. With a ton of patterns, find netting that best matches the area that you will hunt.

Remember these tips and your rate of success should increase.
For a fine selection of Waterfowl gear, click here.

Published in the Sportsman's Guide 1/08/2015.

It was Halloween before my first opportunity on a buck came along. Well actually my first since opening night, when I blew a wide-open shot. The rut was just hitting full stride and I had mapped out what I thought was a few strategic locations.

The early morning quietness was broken by a grunt and the slow crunching of leaves. Sure enough a buck was working the scent line. I hit my deer call and the buck took notice and slowly continued onward.

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The buck would walk a few steps, grunt, raise his head up and sniff the air. It quickly became obvious that the buck would travel into my lap following the drag line. I was sitting in my Lone Wolf Stand that was hung just that morning.

Using my Ten Point Crossbow I was able to shoot sitting down. The Carbon Express shaft tipped with the Muzzy head found its mark. Buck number one was down for the count.

Fish use travel routes and have a deep water sanctuary from cold fronts and when spooked. Deer use certain travel paths and have a prime bedding area that they call home. Migration routes are used to travel primarily from a bedding area to a feeding area.

A thick cattail marsh bordering a set of pines is one example. Another is a clear cut bordering a thick set of pines or a swamp or possibly an oak grove. A corn field or a bean field bordering thick cover is another good example.

A deer’s sanctuary is its prime bedding area. A good bedding area can be a thick grove of pines, a cedar swamp, a cattail bog or often times in Southern Michigan an isolated patch of cover. In the farm country these small parcels might be only a quarter acre to an acre in size.

The best migration routes have something unique about them. In fishing you look for the breaks or the objects on this path from the deep water to the shallows. In hunting these objects could be a small finger of trees that stick out. It might be a small inside turn or cup that is formed by the change of terrain or ground cover. Any type of change is a potential spot for a stand.

An inside corner or an outside corner where two types of ground meet is perfect. Deer love to follow edges and if both types of terrain have something that the deer needs then more deer will be using it. A stand of oaks bordering a young clear cut offers two types of food and the young clear cut doubles up as a bedding ground.

An over looked piece of structure especially in Southern Michigan is the usage of a ditch or gullies. These two types of structure allow movement of deer to be nearly invisible. Very critical when hunting thin cover or near open areas.

In hilly areas deer love to run the edge of a gully where they are completely out of sight from danger on the flats or the use the bottoms and play the ever-changing wind currents to their advantage.

A young clear cut has plenty of lush grasses and many new buds in the fall. Finding a secondary food source close to a primary food source is critical. Weather conditions can alter a food source being used. Hunting pressure will alter a preferred food source.

Trail cameras are the same as underwater cameras to many anglers. Both show fish or game. While I do not own an underwater camera, I do own one trail camera. This camera gets moved each week and is fun in showing you an actual photo.

Waterways are fun to hunt. A river or even small creeks that you can jump across are great pieces of structure to hunt. Streams twist and turn creating natural pinch points. Follow a stream and mark each time that the stream takes a hard turn.  Hang a few ribbons in the tree and after the second or third hard turn you should be able to spot a location where a stand would be able to watch both of these hard turns or points.

Protect your areas, slide in quietly and don’t over hunt a particular stand. Whatever you do, don’t spook the does. I want as many does filtering through my area as possible. The bucks will show up if the does are there.

Hunting open fields requires a change of strategy. Bucks have a tendency to hang back until darkness takes over. They also love to stage or watch over the field from a safe distance. A lone tree or a small group of trees in the middle of a field can be golden.

Just like in fishing where an angler can alter a travel route, a hunter can do the same. Blocking a trail with fallen limbs will force the deer around the obstacle. This is one trick that we use a lot.

If you can force the deer to funnel through a location that is more desirable to you the higher your odds increase. Just remember to wear gloves when altering the terrain.

During the rut scent is huge. Making mock scrapes before the season starts and continuing throughout the season is an easy and very effective technique.

During the season we try and find an active scrape line or a least an area with sufficient deer traveling through. The best mock scrapes will have a licking branch so look for a bush or a limb that a deer can reach. One option is that you can snap a branch downward, just don’t cut it off.

Saturate both the ground and the licking branch with scent. This is where I like the scent from Buck Fever. It comes in a large bottle and really works great on the drag lines and the mock scrapes. Be extremely careful with your scent, the ideal is to lure in a deer, not give away your presence.
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Think of deer hunting as you should when fishing. Edges, corners, change of elevation, areas where two types of terrain meet and your success will rapidly climb.

Published in the Cedar Springs Post 10/17/2013.