Brad Harvey: Making the most of the late season

I know that feeling. All deer hunters do. The rut has ended and the depression that sets in feels a lot like you did on the day after Christmas when you were a child.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

As we close out November and say goodbye to the breeding season of whitetails, the tactics we use for deer hunting have to change.

But that doesn’t mean that you can’t have a ton of success all the way up until the season’s close on Jan. 1.

As I mentioned at the close of last week’s column, this week we’re going to take a look at how we need to approach hunting in the post-rut, so that we can make the most out of it.

Concentrate on food

With colder temperatures and winter coming on, those bucks have run hard throughout the rut and haven’t worried too much about eating.

Their depleted bodies not only need immediate nourishment but they’ve got to hurry to pack on some pounds if they’re going to survive the harsh winter months ahead. With food sources dwindling in the late fall and early winter, here’s where the hunter can find his advantage.

In the early part of deer season, having a good hunt meant finding food sources such as acorns or various fruit trees that deer will gravitate toward long before they ever step foot into a food plot.

Now it’s time to do the same thing, but keep in mind this will mean putting in some time to scout again because all of the food in those areas where you hung a stand in September have been depleted.

What you’re most likely to find around here is that the deer are feeding on things like green briar that many hunters overlook and there are actually still a few acorns to be found from some late dropping trees.

Because the deer have seen plenty of pressure from hunting at this point, these locations will probably be in and around thickets and heavily wooded areas that offer them some protection.

Placing a stand just outside an area such as this or right outside of their bedding area is going to be your best bet so that you can catch one as he’s moving to and from the food and where he beds down.

Just remember to be careful. Getting too close to a buck’s bedding area to the point that you “bump” him is a guaranteed way to ensure you won’t see him again this year.

Go ahead. Sleep in.

I realize that most hunters stick to a schedule that puts them in the woods for the first part of the day and back out in time for lunch.

Then they’ll head back to the stand in the late afternoon and hunt until dark. It needs to be understood that buck behavior changes a bit after the breeding is done and that might not be your best plan of attack.

In the post-rut, bucks tend to move more in the afternoon than they do in the mornings.

You’re likely to not miss a thing if you skip the morning sit altogether and plan to hunt just the second half of the day, however, you’ll want to hunt all of it!

Pack a lunch and climb in the stand around noon and I’ll bet you see far more deer than you would have following your old routine.

A second chance

Most hunters forget that there’s a secondary rut that offers them an opportunity to still bag a lovesick buck. Somewhere between 28 and 30 days after the initial rut, those does that weren’t bred the first time around will enter the estrous period all over again.

Granted, it’s never as action packed as it was the first go-round. But if you do happen to see some breeding activity taking place again, you can quickly revert right back to what you were doing during the primary rut, such as using scents and calling.

Watch the weather

Remember what I said about skipping the morning hunt altogether? If the weather is showing a big change, such as a cold front pushing in that day, just go ahead and throw that out the window. Hunt then because it’s time to be out there before the weather changes.

Deer are able to sense what’s happening with the weather and you can be sure that they’re going to be up on their feet and feeding no matter what time of day it is.

I’d be willing to bet that I know more hunters who quit hunting altogether than ones that continue to hunt once the rut has drawn to a close.

I believe that’s a mistake and that it has more to do with the fact that they either don’t change their strategy or don’t understand that they need to.

I promise that if you’ll just try these few things. you’ll be shocked at just how much good hunting is left in this deer season.

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Brad Harvey: Making the most of the late season."