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Post-Rut
Hunting Tips
(Originally
published in HuntOnly.com)
©
By
Othmar Vohringer
 A common mistake made
by hunters is to think that
after the rut most of the big bucks have been shot. Nothing could be
further
from the truth. The late season can be a very productive time to be out
in the
woods as the Dave Voorhees buck (photo) proves. He took his monster
buck,
scoring 170 B&C points, on December 23rd
2006.
As
the season winds down so does the rut activity.
By mid December most does have been breed and the bucks turn their
attention to
more important matters. Food! During the rut the bucks have eaten very
little,
in fact they lost as much as 25% to 30% of their body weight. With the
winter
arriving and good nutritious food getting scarce the bucks have to eat
and they
will eat all day long, resting periodically to conserve energy.
As
the bucks change their behavior pattern we must
change our tactics accordingly. No longer do we hunt rub lines and
scrapes. Now
is the time to pay attention to the remaining food sources and the
trails
leading from food sources to bedding areas.
Tip
1:
Crop
fields. Although most crops have been
harvested the bucks will return to these fields to eat the last
remaining
morsels left behind by the combine harvesters. White and red oak trees
are
revisited again and deer dig up the last remaining acorns buried under
a layer
of snow. You still can use doe in heat scent lures. Lay a scent trail
intercepting several deer trails. It might lure a buck to your stand.
In
December the fawns and does that have not been breed will come in
estrus again.
Tip
2:
Now
that most of the foliage has gone and the
ground cover died off a bucks hideouts become limited to a few
remaining
thickets. Consider setting up a stand near such a thicket and wait the
buck
out. If it gets really cold and windy bucks seek wind sheltered south
facing
areas to bed down during their daytime resting periods. The colder the
weather
the better the chances are that you will find a buck bedded down in the
opened
soaking up the warming rays of the sun.
Tip
3:
Right
after a snowfall be out in the woods at dawn
and hunt all day. This is the perfect time to track a monster buck in
the fresh
snow. Many a good buck has fallen to this proven tactic. As a welcome
side
benefit for the hunters is that tracking deer in the snow keeps you on
the move
and warm.
The
god news about late season hunting is that most
hunters will stay at home and watch the football games. This means deer
will be
more relaxed and you often have the woods all to yourself. This is one
of the
reasons why late season hunting is my favorite time to be out hunting.
Dress
for the occasion. Make sure you dress in
several layers depending on the temperature and the method of hunting.
Sitting
for hours motionless in a treestand soon will drive the cold deep into
your
body if you’re not dressed warm enough. Take a big thermos of
chicken soup and
some candy bars with you to supply your body with warmth and sugar
(energy).
That late in the season you have nothing to loose. Plan on hunting all
day from
dawn to dusk and you might just end your season with a big buck on the
ground.
----------------------------------
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