Stories
Late-Season Deer Hunting Tactics
See More Stories
1/6/2011
Shooting a buck in the late season can be tough. We asked three of the country’s leading bowhunters their secrets to success in the late season.
by Bill Vaznis
Locate Concentrations of Deer
Jeremiah Parker, marketing manager for Leaf River Outdoor Products, begins the late season by zeroing in on food sources such as late soybeans. "I am not as concerned with locating a big buck or two, but rather finding large concentrations of deer. The more deer there are feeding comfortably out in the open, the more likely a mature buck will appear during legal shooting hours. He will be seeking not only food, but maybe one more chance to breed.
"I then set up trail cameras all around the field in the hopes of photographing a racked deer. On one 3,000-acre lease I set out 25 to 30 trail cameras along the perimeter of 4- or 5-acre fields. You must do this as quickly and as scent-free as possible. I have the cameras pre-set, and don’t fiddle and fidget around when positioning the cameras. I also wear rubber boots and spray myself down with a quality scent elimination spray. We know when someone breaks into our house; so do mature bucks!
"In addition I often set out mock scrapes in front of the camera," says Parker, "and also legal scents and lures in order to increase my odds of a big buck sighting. Using cameras to help scout your hunting turf is important, especially for guys and gals who only have a weekend or two to bowhunt the late season. In these cases, ‘trophy’ is in the eyes of the beholder. But if I am looking for an exceptional deer, and I know from my trail cameras that a big buck is frequenting a certain feeding area, then I will not take the first buck that shows himself, but rather hold off a bit. Those big mature bucks seem to always wait for the last minute before arriving at a field filled with does."
