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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your guide to

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Speaker 1: the white Tail Woods, presented by first Light, creating proven

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Speaker 1: versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. First

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Speaker 1: Light Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host, Mark Kenyon.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. This week in

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Speaker 2: the show, we are conducting a comprehensive review of the

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Speaker 2: many different approaches to hunting mature bucks during the late season.

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Speaker 2: And these are ideas that come from the many different

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Speaker 2: experts that have shared with me their approaches over the

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Speaker 2: course of the seventeen year history of Wired to Hunt.

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Speaker 2: All right, welcome back to the Wired to Hunt podcast,

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Speaker 2: brought to you by First Light and their Camel for

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Speaker 2: Conservation initiative.

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Speaker 3: Today we are talking late season.

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Speaker 2: We are breaking down the month of December and on

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Speaker 2: an to January, as we enter this final phase of.

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Speaker 3: The white tail year.

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Speaker 2: We're doing another one of these deep dive comprehensive reviews.

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Speaker 2: We did it for October, we did it for November.

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Speaker 2: The idea here is to kind of do you know,

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Speaker 2: what some people would call a literature review, where we

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Speaker 2: basically take a big picture look at the many different

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Speaker 2: perspectives and approaches to a certain topic. In this case,

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Speaker 2: it's hunting the late season for white tails. I'm going

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Speaker 2: to talk you through kind of a high level overview

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Speaker 2: of how many people think about this time of year,

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Speaker 2: the most important things to remember about deer behavior, about

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Speaker 2: how deer use the habitat, about how deer have now

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Speaker 2: you know, reacted to hunting pressure around them, and everything

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Speaker 2: else that kind of trickles down. After that, then we're

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Speaker 2: going to talk through several of the most common approaches

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Speaker 2: to hunting this time of year, and we are going

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Speaker 2: to look at some excerpts from books as well as

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Speaker 2: excerpts from previous podcasts and videos we've filmed from different

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Speaker 2: experts getting their take on these things. So in addition

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Speaker 2: to the summaries that I'm going to provide, we're also

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Speaker 2: going to get some insight in the words of and

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Speaker 2: from the minds of people like Jeff Sturgis, Don Higgins,

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Speaker 2: Mark Drury, John Eberhart, Tony Peterson in Hallblood, I believe,

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Speaker 2: are the folks we're going to hear from today. So

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Speaker 2: you're going to get a lot of different ideas here.

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Speaker 2: You're going to come away from this conversation with a

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Speaker 2: very clear understanding of what's to come here in December

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Speaker 2: and January, and what you can do as a deer

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Speaker 2: hunter to make sure you have the very best chance

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Speaker 2: possible to bill your tags, to have some success, and

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Speaker 2: to have some fun.

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Speaker 3: So that's the plan. Before we get.

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Speaker 2: Into that very briefly, if you are listening to this

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Speaker 2: in real time when this episode's dropping, which would be

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Speaker 2: you know, Tuesday, November twenty seventh, twenty twenty five, the

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Speaker 2: met Eater and first Light Black Friday sales ongoing. This

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Speaker 2: goes into I think December first, you know, up to

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Speaker 2: forty or fifty percent off all sorts of stuff, you know,

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Speaker 2: the deal tons of huge sales on everything relevant to

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Speaker 2: you as a deer hunter. Three things, where maybe four

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Speaker 2: things worth noting. Number one the major cold weather kits

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Speaker 2: for whitetail hunting from First Light, the Core which is

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Speaker 2: kind of our mid season piece. That the thing I'd

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Speaker 2: recommend to most people for most white tail locations. The

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Speaker 2: Core kit, and then the Therma kit, so again it's

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Speaker 2: a jacket and bib kit. The thermic is for like

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Speaker 2: the total frigid Arctic, you know, far far north, cold, frigid,

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Speaker 2: snowy stuff. Both of those are forty percent off during

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Speaker 2: this sale, so it's a very good deal if you're

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Speaker 2: looking to really upgrade your outerwear. The furnace hoodie, which

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Speaker 2: is what I'm wearing right now, an absolute favorite of

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Speaker 2: mine all year round for just wearing around the house

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Speaker 2: or being outside scouting, shed hunting, or wearing as an

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Speaker 2: insulating mid layer during a cold weather hunt. Very comfortable

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Speaker 2: furnace hoodie. That's twenty percent off. And then the well, actually,

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Speaker 2: I was just going to tell you the Wired Hunt

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Speaker 2: hat is on sale, but it's actually sold out, but

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Speaker 2: the Wired Hunt shirt is still available and that's fifty

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Speaker 2: percent off, I believe.

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Speaker 3: So check it all.

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Speaker 2: Out over at the Mediator store or first Light dot

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Speaker 2: com or wherever it is that you want to take

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Speaker 2: a look at our products. We've got the Phelps Gear,

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Speaker 2: FHF Gear, Dave Smith decoys. They all have their own websites.

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Speaker 2: You can check those out as well. So that's it

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Speaker 2: as far as sales and promotions. Onto late season deer hunting.

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Speaker 2: Let's first talk through the defining characteristics of the late season,

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Speaker 2: the core things to be thinking about when we reach

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Speaker 2: this point of the year. A number of different things

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Speaker 2: have happened that impact the lives of deer and the

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Speaker 2: lives of hunters. So first, let's talk about kind of

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Speaker 2: the situation that deer are in number one. Once you've

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Speaker 2: made it to the late season, once you've made it

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Speaker 2: to December, there has been a ton of hunting pressure. Right,

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Speaker 2: These deer that we are chasing now have been pursued, bothered,

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Speaker 2: shot at, and harassed by hunters for weeks and weeks

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Speaker 2: and weeks at a minimum, probably two months, if not

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Speaker 2: three months in some cases. That colors everything in a

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Speaker 2: white tails world. You know, the daily movements, the natural tendencies,

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Speaker 2: the patterns, their food.

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Speaker 3: Desires, all of that stuff.

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Speaker 2: All of that is kind of surpassed by the simple

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Speaker 2: desire to survive and the simple desire to avoid danger,

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Speaker 2: in our case from humans. So every decision you make

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Speaker 2: as a hunter has to think about that first and foremost.

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Speaker 3: These deer have been pressured. How have they reacted? What

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Speaker 3: are they going to do?

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Speaker 2: Because of the fact they've been hunted for months on end. Now,

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Speaker 2: of course, where you hunt, you know that could relate

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Speaker 2: or could could to lead to different degrees of hunting

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Speaker 2: pressure and different degrees of changes in behavior. Right, So

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Speaker 2: if you have a spot that you're hunting that's public land.

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Speaker 2: In a heavily pressured state like Pennsylvania, let's say, or Michigan,

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Speaker 2: you're going to very much. You're going to see a

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Speaker 2: very different level of impact. You're gonna see deer that

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Speaker 2: react to that pressure dramatically, that have maybe relocated in

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Speaker 2: dramatic ways, maybe have changed how much daylight activity have

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Speaker 2: in dramatic ways. This is also especially true if you

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Speaker 2: have a gun season that's already opened up. If your

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Speaker 2: gun season, like in Michigan, opened in mid November, by

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Speaker 2: the time December comes around, things are dramatically different. That said,

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Speaker 2: if you hunt in Iowa or Kansas or some other

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Speaker 2: state that has not had quite as much pressure, maybe

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Speaker 2: your gun seasons have not yet fully opened up. Maybe

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Speaker 2: you hunt in a place that simply just doesn't have

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Speaker 2: as many hunters. Maybe you're on private ground, a large

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Speaker 2: piece of private ground that you control, and you've kept

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Speaker 2: pressure really low. Well, in that case, deer might still

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Speaker 2: be doing the natural things they would normally want to

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Speaker 2: do at this time of year. Maybe the hunting pressure

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Speaker 2: impact will not be as significant. But you need to

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Speaker 2: think about that. You need to consider what's the reality

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Speaker 2: on the ground here for these deer, and is it

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Speaker 2: all hunting pressure impacted or are they in their natural

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Speaker 2: standard behaviors as they would be otherwise. Now, because of

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Speaker 2: the fact that the hunting season has been going on

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Speaker 2: for a very long time, because of the fact that

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Speaker 2: gun seasons maybe have been opened by now, you're also

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Speaker 2: going to have ever reduction in available bucks to hunt.

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Speaker 2: You know, you are trying to kill Let's say, for example,

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Speaker 2: a mature buck, and the hunting season started in September

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Speaker 2: or October, and let's say there was ten of them

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Speaker 2: in the couple square miles around where you hunt. You know,

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Speaker 2: by the time December rolls around, there's a good chance

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Speaker 2: that a lot of those deer are just simply not

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Speaker 2: alive anymore.

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Speaker 3: I don't know what that's going to be.

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Speaker 2: In Michigan, I would guess that, you know, more than

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Speaker 2: fifty percent of them are probably dead. Maybe more like

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Speaker 2: eighty percent of them are dead. Maybe if you're in

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Speaker 2: Iowa or Kansas or Illinois, maybe it's a lot less

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Speaker 2: than that. But either way, you're simply just by virtue

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Speaker 2: of the fact that there's been a lot of hunting

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Speaker 2: going on in gun pressure, especially in which the majority

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Speaker 2: of deer get killed, You're just going to have fewer targets,

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Speaker 2: and so you have to go into this phase of

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Speaker 2: the season with those expectations understanding that maybe I had

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Speaker 2: ten deer to hunt, or maybe I had two deer

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Speaker 2: to hunt, now it's down to one. Maybe I had ten,

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Speaker 2: now it's down to four. Go into it knowing that's

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Speaker 2: the case, and what that means for you as a

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Speaker 2: hunter means like, not only do your expectations need to

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Speaker 2: be adjusted a little bit, but then also you need

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Speaker 2: to know that everything has to be a little bit sharper.

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Speaker 2: Now you could get away with some mistakes where you

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Speaker 2: could get away with just a general idea when there's

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Speaker 2: ten of these deer running around, but when there's only one,

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Speaker 2: or there's only two, or whatever it is, you simply

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Speaker 2: have to be that much more dialed, that much more

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Speaker 2: attuned to what these deer are doing, why they're doing it,

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Speaker 2: and how they're doing it.

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Speaker 3: So attention to detail.

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Speaker 2: You know, it always matters, but it really matters in

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Speaker 2: the late season. Now, let's talk a little bit more

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Speaker 2: about how all of this or kind of how some

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Speaker 2: of the weather factors and behavior factors over recent weeks

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Speaker 2: are going to impact deer behavior as well, because not

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Speaker 2: only do you have all of this hunter pressure, not

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Speaker 2: only do you have fewer deer on the landscape, but

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Speaker 2: you also have deer that have been worn down and

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Speaker 2: that are dealing.

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Speaker 3: With difficult conditions.

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Speaker 2: So, first off, the rut just happened, right, We just

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Speaker 2: had these bucks go through an absolute marathon for weeks

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Speaker 2: and weeks and weeks. The most physical exertion they will

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Speaker 2: have the entire year just happened over the previous month

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Speaker 2: or so. Most bucks will lose a dramatic amount of weight,

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Speaker 2: they will utilize a massive amount of their energy reserves,

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Speaker 2: and they will be struggling now because of that.

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Speaker 3: These are war down deer physically.

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Speaker 2: I guess I can't speak for them mentally, but in

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Speaker 2: any way possible, these bucks are worn down there, just

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Speaker 2: beat down to a pulp. That's going to impact how

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Speaker 2: they act in the coming weeks. And then finally, layer

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Speaker 2: on top of that, they are also now going to

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Speaker 2: be getting very difficult, increasingly difficult week after week weather conditions. So,

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Speaker 2: of course, as we all know, temperatures are going down,

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Speaker 2: extreme winds and precipitation events like big snowstorms, blizzards, ice storms,

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Speaker 2: all of that stuff's going to start happening more regularly,

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Speaker 2: and so this is going to lead to bucks increasingly

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Speaker 2: focusing on the very first thing I mentioned, which was survival,

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Speaker 2: and that's really the moral of the store here. Survival

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Speaker 2: is number one for these deer at this point. I

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Speaker 2: mentioned earlier how hunting pressure impacts that in a big way.

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Speaker 2: Deer is simply trying to find safe places, but then

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Speaker 2: they are also simply trying to survive the difficulties they're enduring.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 2: Having just used up all of their energy, all their

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Speaker 2: extra fat, all of their resources, these deer are trying

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Speaker 2: to get some food back on.

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Speaker 3: They're trying to put the feedback on.

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Speaker 2: They are trying to recover from this incredible physical exertion

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Speaker 2: they just went through, and then they are also trying

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Speaker 2: to survive the increasingly difficult elements. So because of that,

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Speaker 2: a deer's life, let's talk about a mature bux life.

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Speaker 2: A bux life now is going to revolve around a

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Speaker 2: few things. Number one is going to revolve around trying

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Speaker 2: to find the safest place, trying to find that sanctuary,

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Speaker 2: trying to find that pocket of safety where they're not

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Speaker 2: going to be impacted by hunters, all right, So that

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Speaker 2: is a key thing for a buck that will need

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Speaker 2: to be a key thing for you as a hunter,

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Speaker 2: finding these safe spots, finding these core sanctuaries, finding these

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Speaker 2: areas that bucks think they can survive. Secondly, they're going

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Speaker 2: to be looking to survive the elements and survive this

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Speaker 2: food issue that they've just been coming out of energy.

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Speaker 3: I guess what's what I'm looking for here.

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Speaker 2: Energy deficit, and that means they're going to be gravitating

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Speaker 2: towards high quality winter food and high quality cover. In

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Speaker 2: the case of winter food, that means like high carbohydrates

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Speaker 2: they are packing on energy carbs. That's a big thing

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Speaker 2: for deer right now. Then when it comes to cover,

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Speaker 2: they're looking for high stem count, thickness, stuff that makes

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Speaker 2: them feel safe. And they are also looking for thermal

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Speaker 2: cover stuff that protects them from above, that can shelter

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Speaker 2: them from the wind, shelter them from rain and snow,

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Speaker 2: something that will keep the heat down. That's gonna be

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Speaker 2: something they're gonna like. While also at times when the

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Speaker 2: weather's not as bad, they're gonna be looking for sun

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Speaker 2: so south facing hillsides that kind of thing might also

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Speaker 2: attract deer if you can find the best case where

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Speaker 2: there's like cedars or conifers and stuff scatter the little

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Speaker 2: openings on the south facing hillside and some grass and stuff. Wow,

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Speaker 2: that's a dynamite spot for about to spend some time

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Speaker 2: in the super late season. So think about that. Those

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Speaker 2: are the types of places they are looking for, right,

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Speaker 2: Those are the types of places they are going to

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Speaker 2: gravitate towards. Now, the second or third thing to consider

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Speaker 2: is the fact that once they find these places, they

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Speaker 2: are reducing their movements dramatically. Because of those safety issues

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Speaker 2: and because of those energy issues. Deer have been harassed.

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Speaker 2: They want to reduce their exposure to danger as much

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Speaker 2: as possible, which means they are probably going to be

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Speaker 2: moving less than they had earlier in the year.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 2: They know that when they move in daylight over long distances,

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Speaker 2: that exposes them to danger. So in many cases, by

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Speaker 2: the time you get to the late season, that is

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Speaker 2: reduced dramatically. And then I talked about the energy issue.

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Speaker 2: Deer are trying to survive, They are trying to conserve energy,

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Speaker 2: so they are going to be again moving less because

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Speaker 2: every time they make a large movement. Every time they

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Speaker 2: travel long ways from a betting air to a feeding area,

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Speaker 2: they exerting energy, they are creating a deficit. So what

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Speaker 2: deer would prefer to do is they want to find

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Speaker 2: the best area of safety that has the best available

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Speaker 2: thermal winter cover, that is closest to the best available

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Speaker 2: winter food source where they can add energy.

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Speaker 3: Then they're going to.

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Speaker 2: Move as little as possible between those two places, both

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Speaker 2: to preserve their safety and to preserve their energy. That,

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Speaker 2: in a nutshell, is what the late season deer activity is.

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Speaker 3: That's what deer want to do.

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Speaker 2: That's what deer are deally going to be doing. That's

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Speaker 2: what they're seeking out. They're trying to find a place

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Speaker 2: where that can be their reality. So us as deer hunters,

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Speaker 2: we need to go find those places. If we owned

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Speaker 2: land and we were able to plan for this, we

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Speaker 2: could try to create these scenarios. You can build this

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Speaker 2: type of scenario. You can preserve some type of sanctuary.

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Speaker 2: You can create or manage and foster quality late season

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Speaker 2: thermal cover and quality late season food, and you can

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Speaker 2: have these places that you leave alone so that when

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Speaker 2: it gets to this time of the year, these deer

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Speaker 2: can go in there and feel safe and spend their

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Speaker 2: time and start moving in daylight and doing this bed

283
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Speaker 2: to feed small movement and feel really comfortable and pack

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Speaker 2: on the energy again and then slip there and hunt them.

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Speaker 2: If you can build that perfect For many of us,

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Speaker 2: we don't have the ability to build that. We don't

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Speaker 2: have a big property where we can do this, and

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Speaker 2: we simply have to try to find that situation, search

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Speaker 2: it out, whether it be on public land or private

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Speaker 2: land by permission, or at least that we get to

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Speaker 2: hunt whatever it is. You might just need to find

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Speaker 2: the closest thing you can to that and then take

293
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Speaker 2: advantage of it. But that is a really key thing

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Speaker 2: to be thinking about this time of year, is is

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Speaker 2: what deer are doing, So what are these key circumstances

296
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Speaker 2: impacting them, and what are deer doing because of it.

297
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Speaker 2: Anytime you find yourself trying to decide where to hunt,

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Speaker 2: or why to hunt a spotter, or how to think

299
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Speaker 2: through your plan, go back to these core principles of

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Speaker 2: the situation that deer are in right now, and then

301
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Speaker 2: what they're trying to do to survive. They're trying to

302
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Speaker 2: survive hunters, They're trying to pack on energy, and they're

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Speaker 2: trying to conserve energy. They're trying to stay warm, they're

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Speaker 2: trying to stay and cover, they're trying to build up

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Speaker 2: those energy reserves. Again, that is a deer's life for

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Speaker 2: the next six seven, eight, several months, you know, six seven,

307
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Speaker 2: eight weeks, several months from now. This is what is

308
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Speaker 2: going on on a day to day basis for these deer.

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Speaker 3: Now, don't just take my word for it.

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Speaker 2: I want to read to you another person's take describing

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Speaker 2: some of the same things, but with some additional details.

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Speaker 2: This is Steve Bartilla, longtime whitetail writer and hunter, sharing

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Speaker 2: here his kind of overview of the late season situation

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Speaker 2: for deer and what that means for them and us.

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Speaker 3: And this is from the book Advanced stand Hunting.

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Speaker 2: Strategies, Real World Tactics for Today's Trophy Whitetails. In an

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Speaker 2: effort to minimize the effects of all of these detrimental factors,

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Speaker 2: deer of the upper Midwest Mountains and points farther north

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Speaker 2: employ behavioral and physiological adaptations. To begin with, they significantly

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Speaker 2: reduce their movement. Often they do little more than travel

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Speaker 2: back and forth between bedding and feeding locations. The less

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Speaker 2: they move, the less energy they burn. To take energy

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Speaker 2: conservation a step further. Yet, they even slow their metabolism

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Speaker 2: along with that. When the temperatures really plummet, the deer

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Speaker 2: combat this by shifting their feeding activities more to the

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Speaker 2: warmer late afternoon hours. Since the late night early morning

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Speaker 2: hours are typically the coldest portion of the day, this

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Speaker 2: modification allows them to remain bedded, conserving body heat during

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Speaker 2: these frigid periods. Next, they shift their now greatly reduced

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Speaker 2: home range to locations that best promote their survival in

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Speaker 2: the areas that consistently receive deep snow cover and brutal temperatures.

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Speaker 2: The destinations for these winter migrations are traditional yarding areas.

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Speaker 2: Most often, a thick stand of mature evergreens such as

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Speaker 2: white cedar or spruce is selected. Here, the dense canopy

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00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,439
Speaker 2: of branches creates a ceiling effect. Not only does this

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Speaker 2: trap heat to keep the temperature at ground level a

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Speaker 2: degree or two warmer, it also captures some of the snow,

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Speaker 2: making travel easier. Furthermore, with so many deer packing into

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Speaker 2: these areas, the extra hoof traffic also results in more

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Speaker 2: easily traveled deer trails. In addition, to providing more noses,

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Speaker 2: eyes and ears to detect predators. In conjunction with that,

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Speaker 2: this is the period when those otherwise solitary bucks now

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Speaker 2: gladly utilize the same bedding areas, trails, and food sources

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Speaker 2: as the dough family groups. This intermingling allows them to

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Speaker 2: take advantage of the heat retention properties of the yarding

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Speaker 2: area and increase protection from predators as well as the

347
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Speaker 2: easier travel As mentioned in this setting. The food sources

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00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,840
Speaker 2: are most often woody brows. White cedar is always preferred

349
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Speaker 2: when available. It's the only woody browse known to be

350
00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:22,320
Speaker 2: able to sustain a whitetail's life completely by itself. Areas

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Speaker 2: of recent logging activity are typically the next best alternative.

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Speaker 2: If the logging is conducted in early winter, the plethora

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Speaker 2: of tops scattered across the ground provides a bounty of buds.

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Speaker 2: Older activities can be good choices as well, until the

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Speaker 2: regrowth of saplings extend beyond the deer's reach. They also

356
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Speaker 2: offer a concentration of tender buds. If none of those

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Speaker 2: is available, it becomes a matter of finding whatever natural

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00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,480
Speaker 2: browse is available. As we drift into areas that typically

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00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:51,200
Speaker 2: provide warmer temperatures and less snow, a less traditional form

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Speaker 2: of yarning occurs. Instead of concentrating on thermal cover, deer

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Speaker 2: in these regions gravitate to the best available food sources

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Speaker 2: when they exist. Standing crops such as corn, soybeans, and

363
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Speaker 2: sorghum are almost always preferred. In areas where standing crops

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00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:08,960
Speaker 2: are in short supply, it's not uncommon for a loan

365
00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,800
Speaker 2: field to draw deer from miles around when snow depths allow.

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Speaker 2: Waste left from harvesting crops is also a good option.

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Speaker 2: The same can hold true for hayfields that contain round

368
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:22,120
Speaker 2: veils of hay. When agricultural options aren't available, the same

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00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,320
Speaker 2: hierarchy of woody browse species polishes off the list of

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Speaker 2: preferred food sources. Interestingly, in areas where yarding commonly occurs,

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Speaker 2: mild winters often inspired deer to dismiss traditional yarding areas

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Speaker 2: for prime food sources as well. However, regardless of how

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Speaker 2: much better the food may be, they'll almost always choose

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Speaker 2: the thermal protection when snowflakes and temperatures fall. All right, now,

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Speaker 2: for a kind of one more high level take on

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Speaker 2: this late season set of behaviors, I want to share

377
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Speaker 2: with you a brief excerpt from a podcast that did

378
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Speaker 2: with Mark Drury, in which he will walk through the

379
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Speaker 2: way that him and his brother Terry have broken down

380
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Speaker 2: the phases of a deer's life. They do this on

381
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Speaker 2: a very granular level. They've got, you know, thirteen different

382
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Speaker 2: phases they've broken the year into.

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Speaker 3: But I want to.

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Speaker 2: Play for you here just a quick minute minute or

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Speaker 2: two of Mark walking through his late November all the

386
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Speaker 2: way through January phases and what he and Terry have

387
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Speaker 2: found deer tend to do in their experience.

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Speaker 3: So let's listen that real quick too.

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Speaker 4: I love like one to four o'clock or in that

390
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Speaker 4: particular phase. Then we get into Green revisited the latter

391
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Speaker 4: part of November, November twenty sixth through December. The fifth bucks,

392
00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:36,760
Speaker 4: the really really mature ones are start coming back to

393
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Speaker 4: the green fields looking for doos because that's where they're going.

394
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Speaker 4: And a lot of the bucks are stalking back to

395
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Speaker 4: those green fields because that's the period where you're having

396
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Speaker 4: saws morning and night and you're starting to break those

397
00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:50,840
Speaker 4: green fields down. The powell the builder goes through the

398
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,000
Speaker 4: roofs and there's a lot of deer of editing those

399
00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:55,000
Speaker 4: green fields, which took a lot of big bucks during

400
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,920
Speaker 4: that phase December sixth and December the eighth, there's another

401
00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,239
Speaker 4: little bit of a miniature. Well, it's tough during this

402
00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:04,760
Speaker 4: particular phase. We call it waiting on the front. If

403
00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:06,880
Speaker 4: you catch it front, it kicks them into their late

404
00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:09,600
Speaker 4: season seed patterns and we have a really good periment.

405
00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:13,120
Speaker 4: If you weren't the best overall movement in December December

406
00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,160
Speaker 4: ninth through the twenty first, it's called feedback. Awesome, awesome,

407
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,120
Speaker 4: good bucks out early, make sure you're understanding the afternoon

408
00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:23,200
Speaker 4: and make sure you're very early. Then December twenty second

409
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:27,000
Speaker 4: for January fifteenth, slowly but surely, the daylight activity starts

410
00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,240
Speaker 4: to slow down and you again need a front. But

411
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:32,800
Speaker 4: that's when you get some of the most drastic weather

412
00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:34,679
Speaker 4: of the winter, and if you get back, you can

413
00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:36,320
Speaker 4: kill a big buck if you're on. And it's very

414
00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:38,680
Speaker 4: similar to the first phase because it's all about food,

415
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:40,040
Speaker 4: they're not betted very far from it.

416
00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:55,200
Speaker 2: Okay, So there's two different takes on how deer are

417
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Speaker 2: reacting now to this new world they're living in, this

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00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:04,399
Speaker 2: late season world. Hunting pressure impacts, cold weather impacts, habitat changes,

419
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:08,120
Speaker 2: food source changes. All of that leads to different behaviors.

420
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Speaker 2: One thing we haven't talked very much yet about, though,

421
00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:16,440
Speaker 2: is rut activity in December or beyond. There's two different

422
00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,680
Speaker 2: things here that are worth considering. One, if you hunt

423
00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:23,240
Speaker 2: or live in the South, there could be full blown

424
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:25,439
Speaker 2: like the rut, the peak of the rut might be

425
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Speaker 2: happening for you in December or January.

426
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Speaker 3: There's some funky things in the South.

427
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Speaker 2: There's been you know, relocations, there's there's many different factors

428
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,040
Speaker 2: that lead to the timing of the rut being different

429
00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:40,159
Speaker 2: in different pockets of Southern states. So I'm not going

430
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,159
Speaker 2: to get into the specifics there, but because I couldn't

431
00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:44,119
Speaker 2: be like, well, if you live in northern Alabama, it's

432
00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,120
Speaker 2: this thing, and if you're in southwestern Mississippi it's souther thing.

433
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Speaker 2: I would just tell you to make sure if you

434
00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,879
Speaker 2: live in those southern states Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, some of

435
00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,600
Speaker 2: these other regions Texas, you know, make sure you talk

436
00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,639
Speaker 2: to other people in your location. I'm imagine most of

437
00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:02,359
Speaker 2: you already know this, but just in case you don't,

438
00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:05,040
Speaker 2: If you don't know when the timing of your rut

439
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,080
Speaker 2: is in the South, Talk to buddies, talk to any

440
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,480
Speaker 2: mentors you might have, Call the local dn R officer

441
00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,000
Speaker 2: and ask them, you know, when does this typically happen

442
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:16,520
Speaker 2: in my area? Is this happening sometime in December? Is

443
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 2: this happening sometime in January? That is the case in

444
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,640
Speaker 2: some spots down there by you if you fall into

445
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:25,640
Speaker 2: this bucket, and if that's the case, what you want

446
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,439
Speaker 2: to be doing is listening to the episode we did

447
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:31,680
Speaker 2: about November hunting, which was our rut episode, and use

448
00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:32,520
Speaker 2: those tactics.

449
00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:34,080
Speaker 3: Those are the tactics that will.

450
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,880
Speaker 2: Apply for you in December or January, if that's when

451
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:40,159
Speaker 2: your rut is. So all that said, most of us

452
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:42,600
Speaker 2: do not fall into that category. Most of us had

453
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:46,840
Speaker 2: our majority of our running activity happening in November. But

454
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:49,960
Speaker 2: there is this thing that folks sometimes referred to as

455
00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:52,679
Speaker 2: the second rut or the late rut or something like this.

456
00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:56,000
Speaker 2: And the idea is that if there's somehow a dough

457
00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 2: that did not get bred the first time around in November,

458
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,640
Speaker 2: you know, a month later, thirty days later, she could

459
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,360
Speaker 2: come into heat again, and if that happens, you could

460
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:08,480
Speaker 2: have running activity again, maybe in December, or beyond. This

461
00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 2: is something that's pretty uncommon in many places, especially where

462
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 2: there's buck to dough ratios that are very skewed. But

463
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:20,600
Speaker 2: what can happen more commonly is a dofont reaching sexual maturity,

464
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,320
Speaker 2: not in time for that first round in November, but

465
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 2: by this early December time period, where you know, many

466
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 2: deer are now coming into heat and they are large

467
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,840
Speaker 2: enough now to be at sexual maturity and so essentially

468
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:35,359
Speaker 2: coming into heat for the first time. I have found

469
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,840
Speaker 2: this to even happen in southern Michigan. I have seen

470
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 2: do fonds come into heat and there be a little

471
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:46,480
Speaker 2: miniature flurry of running activity on December sixth or ninth,

472
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:49,679
Speaker 2: or tenth or first, that's all possible. I've seen this

473
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,919
Speaker 2: in southern Ohio too. I've heard people see this, you know,

474
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:55,120
Speaker 2: just about anywhere in the white tail range. So it's

475
00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:58,159
Speaker 2: something that I don't plan my hunts around when it

476
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:01,440
Speaker 2: comes to December or January. I'm not going into it saying,

477
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 2: all right, I'm going to do a second rut hunt.

478
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,320
Speaker 2: That's not typically what's going on, but I'm watching for it.

479
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:09,880
Speaker 2: So if I see something that looks like November activity,

480
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,600
Speaker 2: like one dough with five bucks chasinger or two bucks

481
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,760
Speaker 2: sparring or standing, or a bunch of satellite bucks all

482
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,159
Speaker 2: standing around one big buck and a dough. If I

483
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:22,439
Speaker 2: see that, that's like a light bulb moment that says, Okay,

484
00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:24,680
Speaker 2: I have a second ruck kind of thing going on here.

485
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:26,920
Speaker 2: I need to focus on that little zone here right

486
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 2: now and maybe apply some of those running tactics again.

487
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,280
Speaker 2: Right If you see this now, the calling techniques that

488
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:36,439
Speaker 2: you used in November might very well work again.

489
00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:37,120
Speaker 3: Now.

490
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 2: The idea of hunting all day in that dough bedding

491
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:42,400
Speaker 2: area like you were doing during the rut, that might

492
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 2: be worth doing here for a day or two in

493
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,040
Speaker 2: that zone. If you see a buck locked on a dough,

494
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:49,680
Speaker 2: you know, hunting that buck on the dough just as

495
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:51,960
Speaker 2: you would have on November fifteenth. You know, getting tight

496
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:53,959
Speaker 2: to where they are, making sure you're as close and

497
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:55,879
Speaker 2: in that small area that they're going to focus on

498
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,400
Speaker 2: for the next forty eight hours. Same thing applies. All

499
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:01,520
Speaker 2: that said, I want to share with you one more

500
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 2: take on this second rut idea. Tom Inderbau, a renowned

501
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,720
Speaker 2: hunter and outfitter from Wisconsin, wrote pretty extensively about this

502
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,400
Speaker 2: in his book Growing and hunting quality books.

503
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 3: I'm going to read that for you.

504
00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:17,439
Speaker 2: And there's a little bit here just in general when

505
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 2: it comes to his late season approach as well.

506
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:21,120
Speaker 3: But a big part of this is.

507
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:26,879
Speaker 2: Discussing his second rut ideas for bow hunting. Late season

508
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,520
Speaker 2: action starts and stops with food, and in our region,

509
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:32,080
Speaker 2: deer find food in nearly every valley that held or

510
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 2: holds agricultural crops, whether those fields were harvested earlier in

511
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:39,440
Speaker 2: autumn or they still contain uncut standing crops. Deer group

512
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 2: up and find ways to scrounge up food. Does and

513
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:44,880
Speaker 2: their fawns join others from the doe's bloodline to form

514
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:47,639
Speaker 2: loose family groups, and they set up residents where terrain

515
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:52,680
Speaker 2: and brush provides shelter and easy access to nearby foods. Invariably,

516
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,000
Speaker 2: a dough that didn't get pregnant earlier will go into

517
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,040
Speaker 2: heat once more twenty eight days after she entered Estris

518
00:26:58,040 --> 00:26:58,680
Speaker 2: in November.

519
00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:00,760
Speaker 3: Between their need for food and the.

520
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:04,120
Speaker 2: Allure of these recycled doughs and female fawns entering Estris,

521
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,440
Speaker 2: bucks emerge from protected sites where they've remained secure since

522
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:10,879
Speaker 2: gun season. As these bucks approach early winter fields and

523
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:13,520
Speaker 2: study the bunched up dough family groups, they feel some

524
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,440
Speaker 2: familiar urges and a rekindling of their aggressive tendencies. It's

525
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,359
Speaker 2: not uncommon for bucks to again spar and joust, but

526
00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,000
Speaker 2: they've lost much of their competitive edge from a month before.

527
00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:27,159
Speaker 2: It's more like paddy cake and shadow boxing as their

528
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:30,280
Speaker 2: antlers click and clack at the wood's edge. Their testosterone

529
00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 2: levels have been dropping for the past few weeks, and

530
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:35,399
Speaker 2: although the urges to breed, doze, and intimidate foes remain,

531
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 2: the bucks are more mellow. Bowhunters shouldn't expect this so

532
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,400
Speaker 2: called second rut to bring a repeat performance of November.

533
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,399
Speaker 2: Bucks won't roam the ridges all night or half dropped

534
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 2: from field to field each morning in search of love.

535
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:50,520
Speaker 2: Neither will they storm down a field's edge with fire

536
00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:54,199
Speaker 2: in their eyes, intent on destroying arrival. But if that

537
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,359
Speaker 2: field contains corner soybeans and a dozen dos and fawns

538
00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:59,520
Speaker 2: are feeding there late in the afternoon, and one of

539
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,040
Speaker 2: them is an estris, there's a good chance that bucks

540
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:05,359
Speaker 2: will soon arrive to check her out. Such situations are

541
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:07,879
Speaker 2: common in mid December, which is why I think it's

542
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 2: one of the best times of all to take a

543
00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,520
Speaker 2: huge buck. In fact, I don't think I'm exaggerating when

544
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:14,679
Speaker 2: I say mid December can even be a better time

545
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:18,880
Speaker 2: to hunt than November. Why again, it's that perfect storm scenario.

546
00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:21,720
Speaker 2: Deer tend to be more bunched up in December, which

547
00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:23,639
Speaker 2: makes it easier to predict where you might.

548
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:24,960
Speaker 3: Cross paths with a wall hanger.

549
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:28,240
Speaker 2: If most of the farm's female deer are congregated on

550
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 2: the snow dust at alfalfa field, the buck has a

551
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,600
Speaker 2: target reached environment for locating a dough ready to breed.

552
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:37,359
Speaker 2: In December, only a small percentage of doughs come into heat,

553
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,000
Speaker 2: and a buck isn't inclined to trape through the countryside

554
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,480
Speaker 2: for hours on low Odd's missions. He's hungry and worn down,

555
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 2: and testosterone isn't forcing him to ignore those physical discomforts.

556
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,600
Speaker 2: He's looking for a more convenient, efficient way to romance

557
00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:54,120
Speaker 2: the dough, and a good food source provides those golden opportunities.

558
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,320
Speaker 2: In addition, unlike a mature dough that chases off her

559
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,680
Speaker 2: fawns when she's going into heat, a dough fun doesn't

560
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 2: shun her mother or sibling. She's still hanging out with

561
00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:07,240
Speaker 2: her maternal group. Following her elders wherever they go. Meanwhile,

562
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,120
Speaker 2: the buck would like nothing better than to rob that cradle.

563
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:12,440
Speaker 2: There might be only one dough in heat at any

564
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,360
Speaker 2: given time, but when deer congregate on a good food source,

565
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 2: there's no easier place or time for a buck to

566
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:21,680
Speaker 2: find a late season breeder. In my area, this scenario

567
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 2: usually unfolds from December ten to fifteen. After that, snow

568
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,640
Speaker 2: is usually deepened and temperatures drop further, forcing hunters to

569
00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:31,600
Speaker 2: focus on food sources. Granted, a five day block and

570
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:34,160
Speaker 2: a fickle month like December offers only a small window

571
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:36,560
Speaker 2: of opportunity. And yes, you might only be dealing with

572
00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,360
Speaker 2: one estra's dough here or there, but almost everything else

573
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:41,920
Speaker 2: leans in your favor. Bottom line, you want to be

574
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,240
Speaker 2: in your tree as much as possible December ten through

575
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,760
Speaker 2: fifteen if you know where an estra stough will likely

576
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:49,280
Speaker 2: be the only question remaining is where to hang your

577
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:53,360
Speaker 2: tree stands to ambush the bucks? She beckons, all right,

578
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:58,080
Speaker 2: So second rut. In this case, Tom mentioned he really

579
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 2: seems to see that in his area of southwest Wisconsin

580
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,560
Speaker 2: from December tenth through fifteen. I've seen it in southern

581
00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:06,720
Speaker 2: Michigan and southern Ohio from December one through ten, so

582
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,440
Speaker 2: it's going to be a localized thing, but anywhere in

583
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:12,360
Speaker 2: that first half ish of December, it's something just to

584
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 2: keep an eye out. It's something to be aware of.

585
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,240
Speaker 2: It's something to take advantage of if it happens to

586
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 2: pop up in your zone. Now, all that kind of

587
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:25,440
Speaker 2: in our back pocket. The biggest thing, the most common

588
00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:28,000
Speaker 2: thing to be thinking about the general approach to hunting

589
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:32,640
Speaker 2: in December in January is is it's pretty standard across

590
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 2: the board. I've heard about this from Will Brantlee. I've

591
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,680
Speaker 2: heard about this from Don Higgins, from Jeff Sturgis, from

592
00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:45,040
Speaker 2: Steve Bartilla, from Bill Wink, from Mark Dury to you know,

593
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:50,240
Speaker 2: basically every down every person down the line. It's relatively

594
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:52,280
Speaker 2: simple for most people. I'm going to share with you

595
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:56,080
Speaker 2: a couple exceptions, but for most folks, the general approach is,

596
00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 2: you know, understanding what we just talked about, that deer

597
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 2: are looking for safety, that deer are looking for late

598
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,720
Speaker 2: Siason food, and that deer looking for latezias and cover.

599
00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 3: Understanding those things, you have.

600
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:12,440
Speaker 2: To find these smaller concentrations of deer, and then you

601
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:17,120
Speaker 2: need to very carefully hunt them when the conditions are right.

602
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:20,440
Speaker 2: Because of the fact that you know, with all of

603
00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:23,360
Speaker 2: this stuff being true, with all these things being the case,

604
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:25,880
Speaker 2: deer are going to be on edge in a way

605
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:27,840
Speaker 2: that they were not in the past. Deer are going

606
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,960
Speaker 2: to be more spooky than they were in the past.

607
00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 2: Deer going to be reacting to hunting pressure more aggressively

608
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 2: than they have in the past. Because of all that pressure,

609
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:39,800
Speaker 2: they just aren't going to be giving you many second chances.

610
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:44,320
Speaker 2: So that's why many people take a locate, wait and

611
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 2: then strike approach. They're typically not going to be hunting

612
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:50,240
Speaker 2: a spot over and over and over, banging into the

613
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:54,240
Speaker 2: very best spots and volume hunting it aggressively like maybe

614
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:56,760
Speaker 2: they did in November. This is the time for a

615
00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 2: wait and see approach. Usually, most people would tell you

616
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,440
Speaker 2: this is a time generally to observe from afar, to

617
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:07,120
Speaker 2: scout carefully, and then to strike when the iron is hot,

618
00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:10,320
Speaker 2: strike when that best moment and the best set of

619
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 2: conditions allows, because you're probably in many cases not going

620
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 2: to get a whole lot of second chances. Now, of course,

621
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:20,320
Speaker 2: you might have an amazing setup where you have tremendous

622
00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 2: entry and exit and you can get in and out

623
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:24,040
Speaker 2: of the spot without deer knowing you, and maybe you

624
00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:26,360
Speaker 2: have a perfect place to blow your wind. And you know,

625
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 2: if all of those things are true, then maybe you

626
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:29,600
Speaker 2: can get away with more hunts. Maybe you can do

627
00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,880
Speaker 2: this more frequently without educating deer, and you don't need

628
00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:35,000
Speaker 2: to take so much of that weight and see approach.

629
00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,040
Speaker 2: But for most people it's going to be that kind

630
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,680
Speaker 2: of thing. So the key things that we need to understand,

631
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:42,800
Speaker 2: the key things we need to be looking for, are,

632
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 2: you know, given there's this limited area for opportunity concentrated

633
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:50,720
Speaker 2: deer areas, and then this limited sets of mistakes that

634
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:53,520
Speaker 2: you can make, what are the conditions you're waiting for.

635
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 3: I want to talk to you about what are the

636
00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 3: ideal conditions?

637
00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:57,480
Speaker 2: And then I want to talk to you about, you know,

638
00:32:57,520 --> 00:32:59,200
Speaker 2: how do you find where these deer are going to

639
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,760
Speaker 2: be in a little bit more detail, But first let's

640
00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:06,480
Speaker 2: talk conditions and why the right set of conditions can

641
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,840
Speaker 2: make this a really great time to hunt. We alluded

642
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,960
Speaker 2: to this earlier that things are getting tough for deer,

643
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,200
Speaker 2: But when things get really tough for deer, it can

644
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:18,760
Speaker 2: get them on their feet in a more extreme manner.

645
00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:21,080
Speaker 2: Than maybe at any other time of year other than

646
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:25,480
Speaker 2: the rut. I suppose we're talking extreme cold, and we're

647
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:30,000
Speaker 2: talking precipitation events or coming off of major precipitation events.

648
00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:33,560
Speaker 2: So of course the colder it gets, the more arctic

649
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 2: tundra type situation you can possibly have, the more these

650
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 2: deer are going to want to be up on their

651
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:42,120
Speaker 2: feet in daylight, as Bartilla mentioned, because it's warmer and

652
00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:44,719
Speaker 2: more comfortable for them to do so, and then they

653
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:47,240
Speaker 2: can bed during those cold as times and just hold

654
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:50,440
Speaker 2: it out and just try to conserve energy. So these deer,

655
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:52,160
Speaker 2: if it's very cold, they're going to be on their

656
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:56,320
Speaker 2: feet earlier and trying to consume as much resources as

657
00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:58,840
Speaker 2: they possibly can. They got to refuel the tank. They's

658
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:02,640
Speaker 2: constantly consuming calories to try to stay alive and stay warm.

659
00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,160
Speaker 2: So if you have that big cold front, that mega

660
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:08,040
Speaker 2: cold front, you know, the single digit temperatures or something

661
00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:10,760
Speaker 2: like that, that can be a very very good ten hunt.

662
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:14,640
Speaker 2: And then also precipitation. If you get a big blizzard

663
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:16,160
Speaker 2: moving through, if you have a bunch of snow on

664
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:20,760
Speaker 2: the ground that covers up the typically easier to access food, again,

665
00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:23,160
Speaker 2: you've got something that will probably get deer moving on

666
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:25,560
Speaker 2: their feet a little bit more, move a little bit further,

667
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:27,640
Speaker 2: stay out there a little bit longer. That big old

668
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,359
Speaker 2: buck might come out to the field edge sooner. All

669
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,879
Speaker 2: of that is a good thing for you. So those

670
00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:35,880
Speaker 2: are two things maybe that will be, you know, particularly

671
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:38,480
Speaker 2: helpful for you when you're trying to choose when to

672
00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:40,800
Speaker 2: make your move, when to go hunt that good spot,

673
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:42,240
Speaker 2: when to take your out of state trip.

674
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:42,840
Speaker 3: Whatever. It is.

675
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:46,640
Speaker 2: A big storm passing through and finally calming down on

676
00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:50,880
Speaker 2: the backside, that's another good Maybe even without you big snow,

677
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,839
Speaker 2: that's still a pretty great time of year. Let's say

678
00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:56,960
Speaker 2: you had a warm spell it was in the forties.

679
00:34:57,040 --> 00:34:59,799
Speaker 2: Let's say big cold front moves through with like forty

680
00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:02,160
Speaker 2: mon in our winds or thirty mile an hour winds

681
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 2: and rain and sleet and nasty stuff, and that lasts

682
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:06,040
Speaker 2: for several days.

683
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:07,879
Speaker 3: If that's the case, that's probably.

684
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:09,839
Speaker 2: Going to put deer down a little bit. When that

685
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:13,400
Speaker 2: passes through and all of a sudden, it's twenty degrees colder,

686
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:17,040
Speaker 2: blue skies, hair, high barometric pressure, and winds have died

687
00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:20,480
Speaker 2: down to eight ten miles an hour. When that nasty

688
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:22,520
Speaker 2: thing kind of moves through. All of a sudden, now

689
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:23,440
Speaker 2: those deer are gonna.

690
00:35:23,239 --> 00:35:23,560
Speaker 3: Be all right.

691
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:25,680
Speaker 2: I gotta get the food back on because I just

692
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,160
Speaker 2: had to, you know, take a day off or a

693
00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 2: day and a half of maybe the higher feeding that

694
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:33,640
Speaker 2: they wanted to do. They weren't able to do that comfortably.

695
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:35,480
Speaker 2: So now all of a sudden, you have that increased

696
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:39,000
Speaker 2: feeding activity as well. Looking for those things. It's not

697
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:41,719
Speaker 2: too terribly different than we talked about in October when

698
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,200
Speaker 2: we were hoping for these same fronts, but now it

699
00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:47,000
Speaker 2: can be more extreme. And really the more extreme, the

700
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 2: more extreme.

701
00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 3: Activity you're going to see.

702
00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:51,520
Speaker 2: You know, maybe a cold front in October might have

703
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,800
Speaker 2: gotten deer moving ten fifteen minutes earlier in the evening.

704
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,680
Speaker 2: Let's say a extreme cold front or twelve inches of

705
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 2: snow or something of that in December, that might get

706
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:05,680
Speaker 2: a mature buck on his feet two hours before daylight.

707
00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:09,160
Speaker 2: If you're in a place where they feel safe, that's

708
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:13,640
Speaker 2: really always the qualifier. Everything we're talking about is typically

709
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:16,239
Speaker 2: only true if they feel safe in these places. If

710
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 2: they don't feel safe in a zone, they're just not

711
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:21,200
Speaker 2: going to be there. And if they kind of feel

712
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:23,800
Speaker 2: moderately safe in the place, they're probably not going to

713
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:27,279
Speaker 2: move in daylight at all, if they feel relatively safe,

714
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,200
Speaker 2: if they feel pretty comfortable, if you found that true sanctuary,

715
00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:33,040
Speaker 2: that true pocket, that's when you can then see these

716
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:36,640
Speaker 2: deer moving in daylight when these circumstances, when these cold

717
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:38,839
Speaker 2: fronts or snowstorms or whatever pass through.

718
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:42,719
Speaker 3: So that's what we're looking for. I want to share

719
00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:44,640
Speaker 3: with you. Don Higgins take on this.

720
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:47,640
Speaker 2: He describes why, because of these conditions, because of these

721
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:50,239
Speaker 2: things that just described, why this can be such a

722
00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:52,759
Speaker 2: good time of year to hunt, Why this can be,

723
00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:55,440
Speaker 2: in his opinion, one of the best possible times to

724
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:56,279
Speaker 2: kill a mature buck.

725
00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:57,680
Speaker 3: So here's what Don has to say.

726
00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,479
Speaker 5: Well, you know, it's ironic. I wrote my first book

727
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,440
Speaker 5: ten years ago after I had shot that buck, the

728
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:06,720
Speaker 5: two hundred and fourteen inch buck we was just talking about.

729
00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:09,400
Speaker 5: A short time later, I wrote my first book, and

730
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 5: when I talk about the late season in that first book,

731
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 5: I kind of downplayed it as one of the worst

732
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:19,400
Speaker 5: times of the season to shoot a mature buck. But

733
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,120
Speaker 5: in the years of the past, I've totally changed my

734
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:25,319
Speaker 5: mind one hundred and eighty degrees. Now I believe that

735
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:28,120
Speaker 5: the late season is the very best time of the

736
00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:32,239
Speaker 5: year to kill a mature buck on purpose. But the

737
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 5: key is you've got to you've got to have a

738
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:38,440
Speaker 5: good food source, and you've got to have an undisturbed

739
00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:42,120
Speaker 5: betting location. If you got those two together, and then

740
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:45,440
Speaker 5: you've got made because they're very likely to be a

741
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:49,680
Speaker 5: mature buck there. And then you just got to wait

742
00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:53,760
Speaker 5: for the It's about timing. You need the worst weather possible.

743
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,480
Speaker 5: The worst the weather gets, the better your odds. So

744
00:37:58,000 --> 00:37:59,560
Speaker 5: you know, I've got a couple of different farms that

745
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:03,520
Speaker 5: I manage and where I'm allowed to plant food plots

746
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:07,400
Speaker 5: and things like that. And on both those farms, you know,

747
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:09,760
Speaker 5: I've got my stands in place, i got the food

748
00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:12,560
Speaker 5: plots in place. I've stayed out of the betting cover

749
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:15,640
Speaker 5: all fall, and I'm just waiting. I'm just biding my time,

750
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:19,480
Speaker 5: waiting on the perfect opportunity. And whenever the temperature you know,

751
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,680
Speaker 5: gets down around zero at night or single digits during

752
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:25,040
Speaker 5: the day is a high. When it does that for

753
00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:27,360
Speaker 5: a few days, you can just you can count on

754
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,440
Speaker 5: the bucks, on every deer in the woods. Really, it

755
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 5: doesn't matter if he's a mature buck or yearling buck

756
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:35,560
Speaker 5: or a dough. Under those conditions, they're going to be

757
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:37,840
Speaker 5: on their feet in the afternoon headed to that food,

758
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,040
Speaker 5: and they're more than likely going to get there way

759
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:44,000
Speaker 5: before dark. And you know, I kind of set the

760
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,720
Speaker 5: table throughout the entire year by planting those food plots,

761
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,920
Speaker 5: by staying out of those betting areas. But then when

762
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:52,000
Speaker 5: the time's right, I get into those stands, and you

763
00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:54,680
Speaker 5: can you can kill, you know, the biggest buck in

764
00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:56,839
Speaker 5: the woods on purpose, year after year after year.

765
00:38:56,880 --> 00:39:01,080
Speaker 2: That way, all right, And to give you another I'm

766
00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 2: going to give you a couple different thoughts here. Here's

767
00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:07,920
Speaker 2: another take from Steve Bartilla, and what he's going to

768
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:12,600
Speaker 2: share here is why all of this can lead to

769
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,680
Speaker 2: good hunting and stuff that you can take advantage of

770
00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:19,440
Speaker 2: as a deer hunter. So, now that we understand how

771
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,360
Speaker 2: whitetails cope with winter stress, we can explore how to

772
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:26,360
Speaker 2: most efficiently use these traits to our advantage. At first glance,

773
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:30,400
Speaker 2: it may appear that drastically reduced movement is a disadvantage. However,

774
00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:34,239
Speaker 2: finding where a mature buck resides swiftly transforms us into

775
00:39:34,239 --> 00:39:38,840
Speaker 2: a significant advantage. Investing several late afternoons observing the listed

776
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:40,480
Speaker 2: food sources is a good way.

777
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:40,960
Speaker 3: To find him.

778
00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:43,440
Speaker 2: Because there's no other time during the season that a

779
00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:46,440
Speaker 2: mature buck more rigidly clings to a pattern, this is

780
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,800
Speaker 2: well worth the effort. With that accomplished, the next step

781
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:52,080
Speaker 2: is to backtrack his trail just far enough into the

782
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:54,279
Speaker 2: woods to allow the hunter a route to and from

783
00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:57,200
Speaker 2: the stand. On the rare occasion when a safe rout

784
00:39:57,239 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 2: exists to a field edge stand, such as in the

785
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,920
Speaker 2: Hunt the again this chapter, this is also acceptable, in

786
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,840
Speaker 2: fact is preferred, owing to the increased odds of catching

787
00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:09,240
Speaker 2: the minimal second roud activity that might occur. This also

788
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 2: provides a firearms hunter with the chance of a longer shot. Moreover,

789
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:16,359
Speaker 2: because the concentration effect often means that more than one

790
00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:19,080
Speaker 2: mature buck is using the same food source, sitting the

791
00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:23,359
Speaker 2: edge often provides opportunities that inwood's trails don't. Still, without

792
00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:25,279
Speaker 2: a good route, more harm than good is the most

793
00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:28,880
Speaker 2: common result. The deer's tendency to shift feeding times up

794
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 2: is also an advantage. Frankly, deep snows and cold tempts

795
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,480
Speaker 2: are the late season hunter's best friends. The worse it gets,

796
00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:38,120
Speaker 2: the more inspiration the bruiser has to hit the food

797
00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 2: source before dark. This is so pronounced that these conditions

798
00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:45,520
Speaker 2: can make an otherwise nearly exclusively nocturnal buck feed during

799
00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:48,560
Speaker 2: daylight in an open field. Many of my best hunts

800
00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:50,960
Speaker 2: have occurred on the coldest day of the season. On

801
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,239
Speaker 2: the flip side, unseasonably mild conditions tend to shut down

802
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:57,320
Speaker 2: a mature buck's daylight movement if a high risk stand

803
00:40:57,360 --> 00:40:59,920
Speaker 2: site is the only option, saving it for an afternoon

804
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:02,640
Speaker 2: brutally low temperatures is the best.

805
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:04,520
Speaker 3: Option, all right.

806
00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 2: So to give us one more perspective on this and

807
00:41:07,239 --> 00:41:09,400
Speaker 2: kind of shifting gears a little bit, I want to

808
00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,840
Speaker 2: talk through this next stage, which is, you know, we've

809
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:15,319
Speaker 2: kind of explored why late season hunting can be so

810
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:17,879
Speaker 2: good if you're able to find these pockets, if you're

811
00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:20,279
Speaker 2: able to find where these deer feels safe, if you

812
00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:23,239
Speaker 2: can find the quality food and the quality thermal cover.

813
00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:26,919
Speaker 2: That is a big set of qualifiers, that last part,

814
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:31,680
Speaker 2: especially finding that quality food, finding that quality betting, finding

815
00:41:31,719 --> 00:41:34,000
Speaker 2: where these deer want to be. And I want to

816
00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 2: share with you John Eberheart's approach to that, as well

817
00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:39,200
Speaker 2: as several others, because this is pretty key to the

818
00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:43,279
Speaker 2: whole topic, right safety first, then food and bedding, and

819
00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:45,640
Speaker 2: so John Eberhart is somebody who you know different than

820
00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:49,560
Speaker 2: Don Higgins or Steve Bartila or Tom Injerbau. He's typically

821
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:52,600
Speaker 2: not hunting land he owns or manages. He's hunting public

822
00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:55,279
Speaker 2: land or knock on door permission stuff, and so he

823
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:58,080
Speaker 2: has a very different perspective on the late season than

824
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:01,200
Speaker 2: these guys, and that you know in some spots like Michigan,

825
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:04,160
Speaker 2: he won't hunt the late season there hardly at all,

826
00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:07,200
Speaker 2: because he simply can't find doesn't have access to these

827
00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:09,880
Speaker 2: safe places. So what he does instead is he packs

828
00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:12,600
Speaker 2: up and travels to a lower pressure state where he

829
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,440
Speaker 2: can find these pockets, and then he takes advantage of

830
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:18,320
Speaker 2: some of the same things that Don and Steve mentioned.

831
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:22,680
Speaker 2: So here's John on his late season approach how he

832
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:28,880
Speaker 2: finds deer in these situations. The most consistently productive method

833
00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:31,319
Speaker 2: of hunting during the late season is to concentrate your

834
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:35,160
Speaker 2: efforts on hunting transition corridors between known betting areas and

835
00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:38,160
Speaker 2: feeding locations such as masts or fruit trees that still

836
00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:40,520
Speaker 2: have food in the ground, or crop fields if in

837
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:43,799
Speaker 2: an agricultural area. These are also the same areas where

838
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,160
Speaker 2: does will be so they double as searching areas for

839
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:49,359
Speaker 2: late estrius does as well. Just as during any other

840
00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:52,120
Speaker 2: time of the season, the transition corridor between betting and

841
00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:54,960
Speaker 2: feeding must have adequate security cover for mature buck to

842
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,960
Speaker 2: feel comfortable transitioning through. During daylight hours when there are

843
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:01,680
Speaker 2: several inches or more or snow on the ground, locust

844
00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:05,640
Speaker 2: trees that dropped bean pods and cedars become major feeding areas,

845
00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:07,759
Speaker 2: and the deeper the snow, the greater the odds of

846
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:11,399
Speaker 2: mature buck encounter in large cedar swamps, Hunting at any

847
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:14,080
Speaker 2: time of day can be productive because these swamps become

848
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:17,440
Speaker 2: deer bedding areas and winter deer yards prior to snow.

849
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:20,880
Speaker 2: There are other more preferred and accessible masts and vegetation

850
00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:24,200
Speaker 2: than cedar boughs and locust beans, But when there's deep snow,

851
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:27,560
Speaker 2: cedar boughs are an easily accessible food source, and one

852
00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:29,879
Speaker 2: post scrape of the ground under a locust tree will

853
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:33,600
Speaker 2: uncover several bean pods. The colder it is, the greater

854
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:36,160
Speaker 2: the need is for deer to feed. We have found

855
00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:38,840
Speaker 2: in pressured areas that to some extent, the more severe

856
00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:41,840
Speaker 2: the weather conditions, the better mature bucks move during daylight

857
00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:44,560
Speaker 2: This is likely because while growing up they have had

858
00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:48,600
Speaker 2: less encounters with hunters during foul weather conditions. General deer

859
00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:51,720
Speaker 2: activity might be less than normal, but mature buck activity

860
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:56,680
Speaker 2: will spike during many inclement weather conditions. All right, let's

861
00:43:56,680 --> 00:43:59,799
Speaker 2: continue down this line of thinking. How to kind of

862
00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:02,880
Speaker 2: focus in on the best late season food sources. I

863
00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:06,319
Speaker 2: want to share with you some of this from Mark

864
00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:07,040
Speaker 2: and Terry.

865
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:08,680
Speaker 3: Drury in their book.

866
00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:13,000
Speaker 2: Giant White Tails A Lifetime of Lessons. This is an

867
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:17,120
Speaker 2: old school book, but there's a nice simple excert here

868
00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:19,920
Speaker 2: in which they explain their take on late season food

869
00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:23,320
Speaker 2: on finding the spots to focus for deer at this

870
00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:26,759
Speaker 2: time of year. Our plantings for late season hunting are

871
00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:30,080
Speaker 2: based around three different food sources. The two most important

872
00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:33,520
Speaker 2: are corn and soybeans, with beans probably being number one.

873
00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:37,239
Speaker 2: Deer prefer the beans to anything else in December, particularly

874
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:40,880
Speaker 2: when it's snowy and seasonably cold. Not every December is

875
00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:42,360
Speaker 2: created equal from.

876
00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:43,640
Speaker 3: Region to region and year to year.

877
00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:46,600
Speaker 2: You don't always have those cold temperatures and heavy snowfalls.

878
00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:49,160
Speaker 2: When that's the case, deer hardly hit the beans at all.

879
00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:52,640
Speaker 2: That's why we also plant some green food sources like

880
00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:56,120
Speaker 2: they give you some examples here winter weed, buck foord

881
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:59,640
Speaker 2: j o its biologic cover maximum YadA, YadA. When the

882
00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:02,840
Speaker 2: first ponds, creeks, and puddles freeze over in early December,

883
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,919
Speaker 2: there's little natural green forage around. Even though there might

884
00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:09,360
Speaker 2: not be any snowcover, green plants attract deer and provide

885
00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 2: them with a good source of moisture. Over the past

886
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:15,080
Speaker 2: few years, we've discovered the water content of green plants

887
00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:17,840
Speaker 2: can be a huge drawing cards for white tails in December.

888
00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:22,000
Speaker 2: In short, we plant beans and corn predominantly, probably eighty

889
00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:25,360
Speaker 2: percent on the farms we hunt late in the season. However,

890
00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:28,080
Speaker 2: we don't turn a blind eye towards green food, which

891
00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:31,759
Speaker 2: comprises about twenty percent of our plantings. A major point

892
00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:34,040
Speaker 2: I need to make is we see more mature bucks

893
00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:37,360
Speaker 2: in December and January than we do in October and November.

894
00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:39,680
Speaker 2: During the rut, big deer burn a lot of fuel

895
00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:42,640
Speaker 2: and eventually run out of gas in December, staring down

896
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:44,920
Speaker 2: the barrel of a long tough winter. They go back

897
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:47,799
Speaker 2: to filling the station and hammer high energy foods like

898
00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:51,520
Speaker 2: beans and corn. We take advantage of that weakness. White

899
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,359
Speaker 2: tails truly are slaves to their stomachs, and it's never

900
00:45:54,400 --> 00:45:57,480
Speaker 2: more obvious than in December. What's more, if you put

901
00:45:57,480 --> 00:45:59,640
Speaker 2: out enough seed and planet right, you'll not only see

902
00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:01,440
Speaker 2: most of the deer that live on your farm, you

903
00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:04,560
Speaker 2: will also draw bucks from all around. Late in the season,

904
00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:07,040
Speaker 2: when all the natural forge is gone and gun pressure

905
00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:10,480
Speaker 2: hits adjoining lands, your land suddenly becomes a safe haven.

906
00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:14,640
Speaker 2: The big deer come there for one reason food. The

907
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:17,240
Speaker 2: colder and snowier it is in December, the more whopper

908
00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:20,120
Speaker 2: bucks you'll see. Terry and I will take two inches

909
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:22,680
Speaker 2: of snow, but we prefer five or six inches, which

910
00:46:22,719 --> 00:46:26,240
Speaker 2: thoroughly covers all the leftover acorns and other woodland food

911
00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:29,920
Speaker 2: stuffs that causes deer to pour into our fields. Deer

912
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:33,520
Speaker 2: movement is usually magical ahead of, during, and after a

913
00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:37,960
Speaker 2: fresh snowfall here in the Midwest. Terry I prefer daytime

914
00:46:38,040 --> 00:46:41,359
Speaker 2: highs not to exceed twenty or twenty five degrees. When

915
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:44,000
Speaker 2: you have forty or fifty degree tempts, late season hunting

916
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:47,000
Speaker 2: is not nearly as good. The more threatening the conditions

917
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:49,680
Speaker 2: with snow and highs and the teens and twenties, the

918
00:46:49,719 --> 00:46:52,359
Speaker 2: better your chances, because more deer get on their feet

919
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:56,520
Speaker 2: and move towards food sources. Finally, I ought to mention

920
00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:59,760
Speaker 2: that white tails prefer cut fields as opposed to standing crops.

921
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:02,880
Speaker 2: When you are a farmer harvested field, all the residue

922
00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:05,440
Speaker 2: be it beans or corn, sits on the ground, absorbs

923
00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:08,880
Speaker 2: a little moisture, softens up and often becomes more palatable

924
00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:12,080
Speaker 2: to deer. Also, it's much easier for dozen bucks to

925
00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:14,319
Speaker 2: move and feed in a low cut field of.

926
00:47:14,280 --> 00:47:15,440
Speaker 3: Corn or beans.

927
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:20,279
Speaker 2: All Right, there is the dreary take on their key

928
00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:23,320
Speaker 2: food sources and why that works for them so well.

929
00:47:34,560 --> 00:47:37,680
Speaker 2: Moving on to another set of ideas here, I want

930
00:47:37,719 --> 00:47:41,800
Speaker 2: to get Jeff Sturgis's thoughts on this as he breaks

931
00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:44,480
Speaker 2: down some of the key food sources and habitats that

932
00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:47,719
Speaker 2: he looks for both on public land and on private land.

933
00:47:48,680 --> 00:47:51,000
Speaker 6: So, like, you know, even going back to Pennsylvania, in

934
00:47:51,040 --> 00:47:53,239
Speaker 6: that public land, I don't want to be out in

935
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:56,279
Speaker 6: the big open hardwoods unless I ask some indication that

936
00:47:56,320 --> 00:47:58,279
Speaker 6: there's still acorns and that's where they're feeding, you know,

937
00:47:58,440 --> 00:48:01,080
Speaker 6: tore up ground snow. I really want to be in

938
00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:04,440
Speaker 6: the high stem count areas where you have lots of regeneration,

939
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:07,680
Speaker 6: lots of habitat coming in think upland cover. If you

940
00:48:07,719 --> 00:48:10,839
Speaker 6: can find it on public land, it's hard. But where

941
00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:16,400
Speaker 6: you have shrubs, bushes, briars, hardward region, maybe on the

942
00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:18,799
Speaker 6: edge of a swamp, it's all coming together. Where there's

943
00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:20,880
Speaker 6: a lot of different habitat groups coming in together. That

944
00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:24,560
Speaker 6: means there's a lot of brows. And to me, as

945
00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:29,680
Speaker 6: opposed to a wide open oak flat where deer been pressured,

946
00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:32,440
Speaker 6: hunters have been out too, they might feed there more

947
00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:36,280
Speaker 6: at night. It's safe, it's social, they can see predators

948
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:38,920
Speaker 6: for a long distance. I'd rather be tucked up against

949
00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:43,279
Speaker 6: that high high stem count, diversity and brows of public land.

950
00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:46,359
Speaker 6: And then when you go on to private if you're

951
00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:49,440
Speaker 6: managing your own property, you want to definitely have a

952
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:52,560
Speaker 6: lot of younger timber coming in and diversity of habitat.

953
00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:55,799
Speaker 6: But then you're looking at either high volume greens like

954
00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:59,759
Speaker 6: braska if it's towards the north, or corn beans that

955
00:48:59,800 --> 00:49:04,239
Speaker 6: are standing late if you can get that. But and

956
00:49:04,280 --> 00:49:06,560
Speaker 6: then adjacent to that same type of cover where you

957
00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:08,520
Speaker 6: have really thick cover. So if I'm hunting in the morning,

958
00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:10,760
Speaker 6: i want to be by that thick cover, high stem count,

959
00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:13,680
Speaker 6: and then I might flip stands and go hunt a

960
00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:18,480
Speaker 6: more food source stand related for the afternoon on private land,

961
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:20,200
Speaker 6: but on public land that might be all in the same.

962
00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:22,440
Speaker 6: It might be your hunting on the edge of a

963
00:49:22,560 --> 00:49:25,920
Speaker 6: very thick area that deer might transfer out of to

964
00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:27,919
Speaker 6: go to an open food source like a big oak

965
00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:29,520
Speaker 6: flat during the afternoon.

966
00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:35,640
Speaker 2: If you had to rank order late season food sources from,

967
00:49:35,680 --> 00:49:38,760
Speaker 2: like what your very best would be down the list,

968
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:42,200
Speaker 2: how would you do that? Because I'm imagining, like I've

969
00:49:42,239 --> 00:49:45,160
Speaker 2: been in this situation where I've hunted ad country and

970
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:48,040
Speaker 2: I've got some grain food plots, and then there's a

971
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:51,600
Speaker 2: neighboring cornfield, and then there's another field next to this beans,

972
00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:55,200
Speaker 2: and then there's you know, some cuttings on the neighbors

973
00:49:55,239 --> 00:49:57,799
Speaker 2: and I know there's like some thick natural brows in there,

974
00:49:58,120 --> 00:49:59,799
Speaker 2: and I'm trying to think where should I hunt tonight?

975
00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:02,200
Speaker 2: And I've got all these different food sources to choose from,

976
00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:04,279
Speaker 2: and I'm trying to think, Okay, what's going to be

977
00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:06,520
Speaker 2: the absolute most attractive for this time of the year.

978
00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:09,600
Speaker 2: If you're in if you have the luxury of that situation,

979
00:50:10,719 --> 00:50:14,520
Speaker 2: how would you rank order what would potentially be most attractive?

980
00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:16,400
Speaker 2: And then as a follow up, and I'm giving you

981
00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:18,400
Speaker 2: making this even more tricky.

982
00:50:19,280 --> 00:50:20,480
Speaker 3: But as a follow up.

983
00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:25,239
Speaker 2: Would conditions change that order? So if I told you

984
00:50:25,320 --> 00:50:27,640
Speaker 2: it was a forty degree December day versus a ten

985
00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:30,640
Speaker 2: degree December day, how would you reorder things as well?

986
00:50:31,360 --> 00:50:34,000
Speaker 6: You know, kind of it to back up just a

987
00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:37,360
Speaker 6: little bit, you know, like you mentioned, it's you have

988
00:50:37,440 --> 00:50:39,360
Speaker 6: all these available, what choice would you make? But a

989
00:50:39,360 --> 00:50:42,360
Speaker 6: lot of times, especially if people are building it or planting,

990
00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:45,880
Speaker 6: and on private land, you're not looking at what's the

991
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:48,280
Speaker 6: beast You're looking at what's the best that would be available.

992
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:52,399
Speaker 6: And so a lot of times someone could say ten

993
00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:59,560
Speaker 6: degrees late December standing beans, pretty hard to be forty

994
00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:06,400
Speaker 6: degree late December standing beans. I'd rather shift to corner

995
00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:11,960
Speaker 6: or greens. But then at the same time, even beans

996
00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:15,680
Speaker 6: that ten degrees late December, someone has to have either

997
00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:19,080
Speaker 6: fences or a large amount of acreage of beans to

998
00:51:19,120 --> 00:51:21,640
Speaker 6: make them last all that time. So I see people

999
00:51:21,719 --> 00:51:25,799
Speaker 6: beat themselves like I love beans late like that, But

1000
00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:29,400
Speaker 6: if they're not there, then it doesn't really matter what

1001
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:32,480
Speaker 6: your scale one to ten would be. And then also

1002
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:35,799
Speaker 6: you have to look at what's the most unpressured. So

1003
00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:40,560
Speaker 6: let's say just someone could say, okay, mid December hunt

1004
00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:42,920
Speaker 6: let's just say December twelfth. There's a little bit of

1005
00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:45,839
Speaker 6: the rot left last, you know, upper midwest, upper third

1006
00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:49,080
Speaker 6: of the country. And you have a choice of a

1007
00:51:49,120 --> 00:51:52,680
Speaker 6: bean field in a cornfield, but the beanfield's been pressured

1008
00:51:52,719 --> 00:51:55,840
Speaker 6: and hunted heavily, then I'm gonna go pick the corn

1009
00:51:56,120 --> 00:51:57,760
Speaker 6: and you might even find there's a lot of dozen

1010
00:51:57,800 --> 00:51:59,600
Speaker 6: falls in the bean field because they can take a

1011
00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:03,120
Speaker 6: lot more hunting pressure, human pressure. I'd rather cheat over

1012
00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:06,320
Speaker 6: towards that corner the Braska that deer are still coming

1013
00:52:06,360 --> 00:52:09,040
Speaker 6: to and there's still does come into it, obviously, if

1014
00:52:09,040 --> 00:52:10,960
Speaker 6: dose aren't going to it, I would a buck. I mean,

1015
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:15,600
Speaker 6: he wants some good food too, but unpressured should be

1016
00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:19,360
Speaker 6: the first, uh, you know, the first requirement of a

1017
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:22,440
Speaker 6: late season food source. And then you start looking at

1018
00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:25,400
Speaker 6: what's best, and you know, if it's forty degrees, it

1019
00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:28,440
Speaker 6: seems like they really like greens if it's warmer, so

1020
00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:30,640
Speaker 6: if they have high volume greens, even if they have

1021
00:52:30,680 --> 00:52:35,359
Speaker 6: stainy wheed to rye mixed with various greens clover down

1022
00:52:35,360 --> 00:52:39,200
Speaker 6: in Kentucky, West Virginia, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, where you

1023
00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:41,280
Speaker 6: might even get a little growth of clover in November

1024
00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:44,680
Speaker 6: because it hit sixty seven degrees a few days. So

1025
00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:47,120
Speaker 6: that's a little bit different too, versus something you might

1026
00:52:47,160 --> 00:52:50,000
Speaker 6: want to do in central Michigan or focus on so

1027
00:52:50,120 --> 00:52:52,240
Speaker 6: heavy greens of some kind when it's a little warmer

1028
00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:55,279
Speaker 6: later and then certainly those grains. But again it has

1029
00:52:55,320 --> 00:52:56,680
Speaker 6: to be unpressured.

1030
00:52:57,080 --> 00:53:00,919
Speaker 3: All right. So I think you know something worth mentioning here.

1031
00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:06,200
Speaker 2: Something that's very important is in identifying these places, right,

1032
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:09,879
Speaker 2: identifying you know, I guess everything, trying to find where

1033
00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:12,560
Speaker 2: these safe places are for deer, trying to find where

1034
00:53:12,600 --> 00:53:16,200
Speaker 2: these best late season food sources are, trying to find

1035
00:53:16,200 --> 00:53:19,920
Speaker 2: these pockets of bedding cover that's still available. You have

1036
00:53:20,040 --> 00:53:21,640
Speaker 2: to do some scouting to figure that out.

1037
00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:21,799
Speaker 5: Now.

1038
00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:24,799
Speaker 2: Hopefully, in a best case scenario, you have been, you know,

1039
00:53:24,880 --> 00:53:28,200
Speaker 2: doing this for years in a particular area and you

1040
00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:31,560
Speaker 2: know from history where these key late season hangouts are.

1041
00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:35,000
Speaker 2: But if you're not, or if you are still trying

1042
00:53:35,000 --> 00:53:37,200
Speaker 2: to figure it out as you go, you are going

1043
00:53:37,280 --> 00:53:38,360
Speaker 2: to have to do some scouting.

1044
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:38,560
Speaker 3: Now.

1045
00:53:38,560 --> 00:53:41,000
Speaker 2: There's you know, the same forms of scouting as we

1046
00:53:41,040 --> 00:53:43,920
Speaker 2: talked about in October, they applied now in December.

1047
00:53:44,239 --> 00:53:45,000
Speaker 3: You simply have.

1048
00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:47,920
Speaker 2: To do it with an even greater degree of concern

1049
00:53:47,960 --> 00:53:52,360
Speaker 2: and care because, as mentioned, these deer are very touchy.

1050
00:53:52,560 --> 00:53:54,520
Speaker 2: These deer have been pressured, they have been hunted, they

1051
00:53:54,520 --> 00:53:57,319
Speaker 2: have been harassed. They're not going to tell erate much.

1052
00:53:57,560 --> 00:54:01,279
Speaker 2: So on the ground scouting, if you have to do it,

1053
00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:03,600
Speaker 2: you've got to be very tactical about when you do

1054
00:54:03,640 --> 00:54:05,799
Speaker 2: it and how you do it because these deer, you know,

1055
00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:08,840
Speaker 2: they could blow out from a long ways away. I

1056
00:54:08,840 --> 00:54:11,200
Speaker 2: think a very important thing to be thinking about, A

1057
00:54:11,239 --> 00:54:13,680
Speaker 2: special consideration this time of year is how open the

1058
00:54:13,719 --> 00:54:16,960
Speaker 2: habitat is right where maybe you could have walked through

1059
00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:19,440
Speaker 2: a forest and nothing could see you unless they were

1060
00:54:19,440 --> 00:54:20,520
Speaker 2: within thirty yards of you.

1061
00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:21,719
Speaker 3: Now it might be.

1062
00:54:21,680 --> 00:54:24,400
Speaker 2: Two hundred yards away they can see you. So when

1063
00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:28,120
Speaker 2: you're scouting, be aware of that. And I would suggest,

1064
00:54:28,120 --> 00:54:30,319
Speaker 2: i think many other people would suggest taking a much

1065
00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:32,840
Speaker 2: lighter touch when it comes to on the ground scouting.

1066
00:54:33,120 --> 00:54:37,439
Speaker 2: This is when long distance observation is huge. Driving back

1067
00:54:37,520 --> 00:54:40,360
Speaker 2: roads and looking at these fields, getting up on a

1068
00:54:40,440 --> 00:54:43,239
Speaker 2: hill and watching from afar in a place that you're

1069
00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:44,719
Speaker 2: not going to spook a bunch of deer, but you

1070
00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:48,160
Speaker 2: can see into an important area. Of course, trail cameras

1071
00:54:48,160 --> 00:54:50,520
Speaker 2: play a part in this as well, you know, going

1072
00:54:50,560 --> 00:54:52,920
Speaker 2: out there midday once on your bike or your truck

1073
00:54:53,040 --> 00:54:56,839
Speaker 2: or your UTV, and moving cameras to late season food

1074
00:54:56,920 --> 00:54:59,560
Speaker 2: sources in places that you think they might be using,

1075
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:02,680
Speaker 2: using those trail cameras to confirm for you which is

1076
00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:04,000
Speaker 2: the hot food source.

1077
00:55:03,760 --> 00:55:04,280
Speaker 3: At the moment.

1078
00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:08,440
Speaker 2: All of that can be really helpful. But using a

1079
00:55:08,520 --> 00:55:11,359
Speaker 2: light touch, I can't emphasize that enough. I can't tell

1080
00:55:11,360 --> 00:55:15,400
Speaker 2: you how many different people have kind of mentioned this

1081
00:55:15,480 --> 00:55:17,800
Speaker 2: over and over and over again. In the late season,

1082
00:55:17,880 --> 00:55:21,120
Speaker 2: you have to wear white satin gloves. You have to

1083
00:55:21,200 --> 00:55:24,800
Speaker 2: be so careful. This is like a very fragile situation

1084
00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:27,120
Speaker 2: you're dealing with. If you happen to be so lucky

1085
00:55:27,360 --> 00:55:30,360
Speaker 2: to have that sanctuary where deer have felt safe, and

1086
00:55:30,440 --> 00:55:32,960
Speaker 2: if you are so lucky to have quality late season

1087
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:35,960
Speaker 2: food and to have that quality late season betting cover,

1088
00:55:36,080 --> 00:55:39,000
Speaker 2: if you have this special thing that many people don't have.

1089
00:55:39,320 --> 00:55:40,040
Speaker 3: You have a gift.

1090
00:55:40,480 --> 00:55:42,800
Speaker 2: You have a fragile, fragile gift, and you do not

1091
00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:45,839
Speaker 2: want to waste that and throw it away because you're

1092
00:55:45,880 --> 00:55:49,600
Speaker 2: not being careful. So that all said, sometimes you do

1093
00:55:49,719 --> 00:55:52,120
Speaker 2: still need to get on the ground and scout things

1094
00:55:52,120 --> 00:55:55,560
Speaker 2: out in person. John Eberhart advocates for that sometimes I

1095
00:55:55,600 --> 00:55:57,800
Speaker 2: want to read for you. Another excerpt from his book

1096
00:55:58,040 --> 00:56:01,640
Speaker 2: The Ultimate Guide to DIY Books, as he discusses a

1097
00:56:01,680 --> 00:56:04,520
Speaker 2: couple quick things when it comes to scouting in the

1098
00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:08,080
Speaker 2: late season. He says, if you need to scout if

1099
00:56:08,080 --> 00:56:10,640
Speaker 2: there's snow in the forecast, we recommend waiting until it

1100
00:56:10,680 --> 00:56:13,440
Speaker 2: falls and then scout twenty four hours after it has

1101
00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:17,480
Speaker 2: quit snowing. By late season, routines are somewhat consistent from

1102
00:56:17,480 --> 00:56:20,200
Speaker 2: betting to preferred feeding areas, and if you scout an

1103
00:56:20,239 --> 00:56:23,080
Speaker 2: area twenty four hours after a fresh snow, you will

1104
00:56:23,120 --> 00:56:26,080
Speaker 2: be able to identify exactly where the deer betting by

1105
00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:28,759
Speaker 2: the freshly used runways leading to them, and where they

1106
00:56:28,800 --> 00:56:31,120
Speaker 2: are feeding by the kicked up snow to access the

1107
00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:31,960
Speaker 2: food on the ground.

1108
00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:35,600
Speaker 3: The point is that a day or so after a fresh.

1109
00:56:35,320 --> 00:56:38,160
Speaker 2: Snow, you know exactly where the deer feeding, and while

1110
00:56:38,160 --> 00:56:40,799
Speaker 2: it's not advised to intrude into their betting areas during

1111
00:56:40,880 --> 00:56:43,520
Speaker 2: late season, you can backtrack to see the area they're

1112
00:56:43,520 --> 00:56:46,200
Speaker 2: betting in. You'll also be able to decipher if the

1113
00:56:46,239 --> 00:56:50,000
Speaker 2: transition corridor has adequate security cover for mature buck movements

1114
00:56:50,280 --> 00:56:56,160
Speaker 2: during daylight. In short, if you wait for this fresh snow,

1115
00:56:56,680 --> 00:56:59,480
Speaker 2: you can take one big swing with your scouting, which

1116
00:56:59,520 --> 00:57:01,480
Speaker 2: will make an impact. But if you do it just once,

1117
00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:04,759
Speaker 2: with this specific set of circumstances, you can learn a

1118
00:57:04,840 --> 00:57:08,319
Speaker 2: ton in one trip and then use that hopefully for

1119
00:57:08,360 --> 00:57:10,680
Speaker 2: the next week or two or three or whatever it

1120
00:57:10,719 --> 00:57:15,200
Speaker 2: is you need. So something to keep in mind there now,

1121
00:57:15,400 --> 00:57:17,280
Speaker 2: something we've alluded to which I haven't given you a

1122
00:57:17,320 --> 00:57:20,320
Speaker 2: whole lot of detail, is what makes for late season

1123
00:57:20,400 --> 00:57:23,360
Speaker 2: betting cover, What makes for that security cover, thermal cover

1124
00:57:23,480 --> 00:57:25,960
Speaker 2: the deer. Like I share a little bit, I want

1125
00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:27,840
Speaker 2: Don Higgins to give you just a little.

1126
00:57:27,640 --> 00:57:28,280
Speaker 3: Bit more insight.

1127
00:57:28,360 --> 00:57:31,080
Speaker 2: So here's an excerpt from a previous podcast I did

1128
00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:34,080
Speaker 2: with Don as he discusses late season cover.

1129
00:57:35,320 --> 00:57:39,040
Speaker 5: Well, it's extremely thick. It's also got some thermal cover.

1130
00:57:39,880 --> 00:57:43,840
Speaker 5: Seeds fines a lot of the oak species and not

1131
00:57:43,880 --> 00:57:45,600
Speaker 5: a lot of them. But some oaks species will hold

1132
00:57:45,600 --> 00:57:48,480
Speaker 5: their leaves in the winner pano oaks, saltyeth oaks, shingle oaks,

1133
00:57:49,240 --> 00:57:51,520
Speaker 5: those species will hold their leaves all winter along and

1134
00:57:51,600 --> 00:57:54,640
Speaker 5: provide you know, some wind and thermal cover for the deer.

1135
00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:57,560
Speaker 5: But the main thing is you want it thick, but

1136
00:57:57,680 --> 00:58:00,760
Speaker 5: you know you want it free of human intrusion, and

1137
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:02,520
Speaker 5: that goes for the entire year. You don't want to

1138
00:58:02,520 --> 00:58:06,560
Speaker 5: be stomping in your late season bedding area in October

1139
00:58:07,480 --> 00:58:10,400
Speaker 5: and ruin it months before you're planning to hunt it.

1140
00:58:11,560 --> 00:58:14,320
Speaker 5: That freedom of human intrusion is probably the most important thing,

1141
00:58:14,360 --> 00:58:18,680
Speaker 5: even more so than the type of plants and the

1142
00:58:18,720 --> 00:58:21,200
Speaker 5: little way of the terrain and everything. I like to

1143
00:58:21,200 --> 00:58:24,400
Speaker 5: say that every mature buck has a sanctuary, and if

1144
00:58:24,400 --> 00:58:26,560
Speaker 5: he didn't need to never make it to mature status,

1145
00:58:26,880 --> 00:58:31,320
Speaker 5: he'd been killed before that. The thing about sanctuaries is

1146
00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:34,520
Speaker 5: you can create them or you can find them on

1147
00:58:34,560 --> 00:58:37,400
Speaker 5: the properties that we have control over. The best thing

1148
00:58:37,400 --> 00:58:39,000
Speaker 5: to do is go out and create them because you

1149
00:58:39,040 --> 00:58:41,920
Speaker 5: can make the best cover possible, you can control the

1150
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:46,080
Speaker 5: human intrusion within that area and everything else, and you

1151
00:58:46,080 --> 00:58:50,000
Speaker 5: can make an excellent sanctuary. But sometimes that's not possible,

1152
00:58:50,440 --> 00:58:53,040
Speaker 5: like you mentioned, other hunters have access to the property

1153
00:58:53,080 --> 00:58:56,680
Speaker 5: or whatever. Well, then you let the deer find the

1154
00:58:56,720 --> 00:59:01,320
Speaker 5: sanctuary and created it, really create it. But he just

1155
00:59:01,360 --> 00:59:05,280
Speaker 5: finds those pockets, you know, where the human intrusion is

1156
00:59:05,320 --> 00:59:09,479
Speaker 5: not there, where he feels safe, and you can either

1157
00:59:09,520 --> 00:59:11,800
Speaker 5: create it or you can find it, and the bus's

1158
00:59:11,840 --> 00:59:13,800
Speaker 5: gonna be there either way.

1159
00:59:13,880 --> 00:59:14,240
Speaker 3: All right.

1160
00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:19,120
Speaker 2: So we have discussed the importance of security. We've discussed

1161
00:59:19,560 --> 00:59:22,280
Speaker 2: how do identify quality late season food sources and what

1162
00:59:22,400 --> 00:59:25,520
Speaker 2: some of those are. We have now discussed the betting

1163
00:59:25,600 --> 00:59:28,520
Speaker 2: and cover needs that deer have during the late season.

1164
00:59:28,960 --> 00:59:31,560
Speaker 2: I want to tie a bow a little bit on

1165
00:59:31,680 --> 00:59:34,960
Speaker 2: this general approach to hunting white tails in the late season,

1166
00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:38,800
Speaker 2: which is the find them, learn them, wait until the

1167
00:59:38,840 --> 00:59:41,800
Speaker 2: right conditions, and then strike kind of approach. I want

1168
00:59:41,840 --> 00:59:45,920
Speaker 2: to talk through just a couple special considerations when trying

1169
00:59:45,920 --> 00:59:48,760
Speaker 2: to execute those hunts, or when you know anytime you're

1170
00:59:48,760 --> 00:59:51,560
Speaker 2: in the woods. I allude to this first one a

1171
00:59:51,600 --> 00:59:54,200
Speaker 2: second ago when I talked about how the cover has changed,

1172
00:59:54,240 --> 00:59:56,800
Speaker 2: the habitat has changed in the woods. What used to

1173
00:59:56,840 --> 00:59:58,479
Speaker 2: be a spot where maybe you would only be seen

1174
00:59:58,480 --> 01:00:00,320
Speaker 2: from thirty yards away, maybe now you're seeing from two

1175
01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:03,520
Speaker 2: hundred yards away. This also applies not just to scouting,

1176
01:00:03,560 --> 01:00:07,360
Speaker 2: but to hunting. The woods are open, the grassy fields

1177
01:00:07,400 --> 01:00:09,600
Speaker 2: are knocked down by snow or cold weather.

1178
01:00:09,840 --> 01:00:10,800
Speaker 3: Everything is more open.

1179
01:00:11,120 --> 01:00:13,960
Speaker 2: So when you go into hunt, maybe an afternoon hunt

1180
01:00:14,040 --> 01:00:16,680
Speaker 2: or whatever it is, you can be seen from much

1181
01:00:16,720 --> 01:00:19,479
Speaker 2: further away. This is even more so if there's snow

1182
01:00:19,520 --> 01:00:21,520
Speaker 2: in the ground and you just kind of stand out

1183
01:00:21,560 --> 01:00:25,000
Speaker 2: as this big, dark silhouette against a perfectly white background.

1184
01:00:25,560 --> 01:00:28,840
Speaker 2: So access an entry or being up in the tree,

1185
01:00:29,320 --> 01:00:32,280
Speaker 2: all of that is so much more difficult. You really

1186
01:00:32,280 --> 01:00:34,880
Speaker 2: need to think about cover. Visual cover is very very

1187
01:00:34,880 --> 01:00:37,880
Speaker 2: important for late season hunts, So walking in, really be

1188
01:00:37,960 --> 01:00:40,200
Speaker 2: aware of what kind of cover you can take advantage

1189
01:00:40,200 --> 01:00:43,040
Speaker 2: of to sneak in without dear seeing you. When you

1190
01:00:43,120 --> 01:00:45,760
Speaker 2: choose a tree to hunt from, really be thinking about

1191
01:00:45,800 --> 01:00:48,440
Speaker 2: what's the cover up in the tree without leaves up there,

1192
01:00:48,480 --> 01:00:50,560
Speaker 2: are you still hidden or do you stand out as

1193
01:00:50,560 --> 01:00:53,280
Speaker 2: this huge object in a little tiny bean poul tree.

1194
01:00:53,720 --> 01:00:57,360
Speaker 2: That can really impact the success of your hunt. Another

1195
01:00:57,400 --> 01:01:00,760
Speaker 2: thing to think about here is sound. Sound travel so

1196
01:01:00,960 --> 01:01:04,040
Speaker 2: much further in the late season. You know, for one thing,

1197
01:01:04,200 --> 01:01:06,120
Speaker 2: all of the leaves are down, the grass is down,

1198
01:01:06,160 --> 01:01:08,680
Speaker 2: as we just mentioned, that just allows for sound to

1199
01:01:08,800 --> 01:01:11,440
Speaker 2: travel further. I feel like, for whatever reason, everything just

1200
01:01:11,440 --> 01:01:14,640
Speaker 2: seems like echo more. I can't say this with one

1201
01:01:14,720 --> 01:01:16,760
Speaker 2: hundred percent certainty, but it just seems like in the

1202
01:01:16,840 --> 01:01:20,439
Speaker 2: late season. I've had many more hunts where the wind

1203
01:01:20,520 --> 01:01:22,720
Speaker 2: is kind of down, and it just seems like any

1204
01:01:22,840 --> 01:01:25,800
Speaker 2: little thing will just be heard from a mile away.

1205
01:01:26,080 --> 01:01:29,160
Speaker 2: Every piece of metal seems to make more noise, like

1206
01:01:29,200 --> 01:01:33,480
Speaker 2: your your ladder steps, your trees stand. It just seems

1207
01:01:33,480 --> 01:01:36,200
Speaker 2: like things want to creak and pop and it just

1208
01:01:36,280 --> 01:01:36,920
Speaker 2: cause trouble.

1209
01:01:36,960 --> 01:01:38,360
Speaker 3: So you need to be aware of that. You need

1210
01:01:38,400 --> 01:01:40,560
Speaker 3: to be extra careful to stay quiet.

1211
01:01:40,920 --> 01:01:42,800
Speaker 2: If there's anything you can do ahead of a hunt

1212
01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:45,320
Speaker 2: to dampen sound, to tape things up a little bit,

1213
01:01:45,400 --> 01:01:49,200
Speaker 2: better do that because sound can really get you in

1214
01:01:49,240 --> 01:01:50,320
Speaker 2: trouble at this time of year.

1215
01:01:50,480 --> 01:01:52,840
Speaker 3: Again, deer are very.

1216
01:01:52,720 --> 01:01:56,000
Speaker 2: Averse two hunters right now, So any little extra sound,

1217
01:01:56,080 --> 01:01:59,240
Speaker 2: any little extra sout, you know, sight of movement, those

1218
01:01:59,240 --> 01:02:03,000
Speaker 2: things can really be big problem. All of that brings

1219
01:02:03,080 --> 01:02:06,640
Speaker 2: us to making decisions about when to hunt. We've talked

1220
01:02:06,640 --> 01:02:08,760
Speaker 2: earlier about you know, waiting for the right conditions, right

1221
01:02:08,880 --> 01:02:11,880
Speaker 2: waiting for that cold front, waiting for that precipitation, waiting

1222
01:02:11,920 --> 01:02:16,040
Speaker 2: for that you know, dire arctic tundra event. And that's

1223
01:02:16,080 --> 01:02:18,160
Speaker 2: what a lot of these people do, right because they

1224
01:02:18,600 --> 01:02:21,400
Speaker 2: find where this little special pocket of deer is and

1225
01:02:21,440 --> 01:02:23,080
Speaker 2: they don't want to go and hunt it over and

1226
01:02:23,120 --> 01:02:25,640
Speaker 2: over and over again and educate these deer right, So

1227
01:02:25,680 --> 01:02:28,200
Speaker 2: instead they wait for the right conditions, They wait for

1228
01:02:28,240 --> 01:02:31,640
Speaker 2: that cold front or for that you know, snowstorm, and

1229
01:02:31,680 --> 01:02:33,960
Speaker 2: then they go take their big strike and they do

1230
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:37,600
Speaker 2: it very very carefully. For many deer hunters, this also

1231
01:02:37,720 --> 01:02:41,760
Speaker 2: means evening hunts. Morning hunts are more difficult to pull

1232
01:02:41,800 --> 01:02:44,160
Speaker 2: off at this time of year for all the reasons

1233
01:02:44,200 --> 01:02:47,600
Speaker 2: we just discussed. Right, deer are traveling back to their

1234
01:02:47,600 --> 01:02:50,800
Speaker 2: bedrooms in the morning, they might already be back there early.

1235
01:02:51,200 --> 01:02:53,760
Speaker 2: If you are trudging through the woods when it's very

1236
01:02:53,800 --> 01:02:56,560
Speaker 2: loud out and it's wide open out and maybe you're

1237
01:02:56,600 --> 01:03:01,600
Speaker 2: crunching through ice or snow, it's just very risky to

1238
01:03:01,680 --> 01:03:04,640
Speaker 2: get there without educating deer. And you simply can't get

1239
01:03:04,680 --> 01:03:07,720
Speaker 2: away with educating deer now as much as you maybe

1240
01:03:07,720 --> 01:03:10,520
Speaker 2: could have in October or definitely in November. So because

1241
01:03:10,560 --> 01:03:12,800
Speaker 2: of that, a lot of folks prefer just to hunt

1242
01:03:12,800 --> 01:03:15,120
Speaker 2: the evenings. They have to be smart about how they

1243
01:03:15,160 --> 01:03:18,320
Speaker 2: get out after the hunt. But getting in, you know

1244
01:03:18,360 --> 01:03:20,320
Speaker 2: where deer are right there in their bedroom, so you

1245
01:03:20,400 --> 01:03:22,600
Speaker 2: can walk in being confident that as long as you

1246
01:03:22,640 --> 01:03:25,960
Speaker 2: avoid wherever that core betting area is, and as long

1247
01:03:25,960 --> 01:03:28,280
Speaker 2: as you're smart about where your wind's blowing, you should

1248
01:03:28,320 --> 01:03:29,840
Speaker 2: be able to get in there safely and then have

1249
01:03:29,920 --> 01:03:33,919
Speaker 2: a good hunt. All that said, morning hunts, of course,

1250
01:03:34,080 --> 01:03:36,360
Speaker 2: there's never you know, never say never. Things are never

1251
01:03:36,400 --> 01:03:39,280
Speaker 2: black and white. There are certainly people who hunt mornings

1252
01:03:39,320 --> 01:03:41,680
Speaker 2: in the late season. I know Jeff Sturgis is one.

1253
01:03:41,800 --> 01:03:44,120
Speaker 2: I know my buddy Tony Peterson is one. I know

1254
01:03:44,160 --> 01:03:46,200
Speaker 2: there's plenty of others. You just have to be very

1255
01:03:46,200 --> 01:03:48,520
Speaker 2: careful about how you do this. So I want to

1256
01:03:48,520 --> 01:03:51,280
Speaker 2: play for you an excerpt from a video that we

1257
01:03:51,480 --> 01:03:54,840
Speaker 2: produce for Wired to Hunt, Tony talking through his take

1258
01:03:55,000 --> 01:03:57,640
Speaker 2: on hunting late season mornings.

1259
01:03:58,160 --> 01:04:01,160
Speaker 7: When you're talking about late season bowing, we kind of

1260
01:04:01,320 --> 01:04:05,120
Speaker 7: default back to a mindset that we have during September

1261
01:04:05,160 --> 01:04:07,720
Speaker 7: and early October, where they say, don't hunt the mornings.

1262
01:04:07,880 --> 01:04:09,600
Speaker 7: There's no way to get in. All you do is

1263
01:04:09,680 --> 01:04:12,200
Speaker 7: damage your spots. Anyone who knows me knows that. I

1264
01:04:12,200 --> 01:04:15,520
Speaker 7: think that's total bunk. I look at it almost exactly

1265
01:04:15,560 --> 01:04:18,000
Speaker 7: the same way I look at it early season. There's

1266
01:04:18,080 --> 01:04:20,840
Speaker 7: probably a way to figure out a spot to have

1267
01:04:21,120 --> 01:04:23,360
Speaker 7: really good morning hunts, But you got to think about

1268
01:04:23,360 --> 01:04:26,120
Speaker 7: a couple different things. Where do I go to catch

1269
01:04:26,160 --> 01:04:28,480
Speaker 7: them staging, or how do I get close to their bedding.

1270
01:04:28,720 --> 01:04:30,560
Speaker 7: You're probably not going to get in on a food

1271
01:04:30,600 --> 01:04:32,840
Speaker 7: source in the morning and be able to hunt it

1272
01:04:32,920 --> 01:04:34,840
Speaker 7: very well. You're going to blow everything out of there.

1273
01:04:35,040 --> 01:04:37,479
Speaker 7: You don't want to do that. So you want to think, Okay, well,

1274
01:04:37,640 --> 01:04:39,960
Speaker 7: I know they feed in this field, where do they

1275
01:04:40,040 --> 01:04:41,920
Speaker 7: go back to bed? How do they travel? How do

1276
01:04:41,960 --> 01:04:46,200
Speaker 7: they get there? The main part of finding a spot

1277
01:04:46,200 --> 01:04:48,720
Speaker 7: to bowhunt a late season deer in the morning is

1278
01:04:48,760 --> 01:04:51,040
Speaker 7: all about your access. You got to figure out a

1279
01:04:51,040 --> 01:04:52,600
Speaker 7: way to drop in there. You got to figure out

1280
01:04:52,640 --> 01:04:54,600
Speaker 7: a way to use a creek, you got to figure

1281
01:04:54,640 --> 01:04:57,960
Speaker 7: out some way to come in from a direction where

1282
01:04:57,960 --> 01:05:01,160
Speaker 7: you're not going to alert the deer. And then you're

1283
01:05:01,200 --> 01:05:04,040
Speaker 7: talking more open woods than you've had all season. You're

1284
01:05:04,040 --> 01:05:06,919
Speaker 7: talking deer that are cagey after the gun season, after

1285
01:05:06,960 --> 01:05:09,360
Speaker 7: a bunch of weeks of bow hunting. You're talking about

1286
01:05:09,400 --> 01:05:11,040
Speaker 7: deer that are not gonna put up with a bunch

1287
01:05:11,080 --> 01:05:15,120
Speaker 7: of mistakes. So your access is really important. With any access,

1288
01:05:15,160 --> 01:05:18,120
Speaker 7: you're thinking about the wind, of course, but late season

1289
01:05:18,240 --> 01:05:21,960
Speaker 7: you're also really thinking about the sounds you make. It

1290
01:05:22,040 --> 01:05:25,400
Speaker 7: might be dead calm, you might have a little frost

1291
01:05:25,440 --> 01:05:28,360
Speaker 7: you might have a little snow, little ice, you might

1292
01:05:28,400 --> 01:05:31,760
Speaker 7: have just frozen leaves. You know, how far away can

1293
01:05:31,800 --> 01:05:34,680
Speaker 7: you park so they don't go, Oh, there's a truck

1294
01:05:34,720 --> 01:05:36,800
Speaker 7: park right up here. Now I heard him get out.

1295
01:05:36,840 --> 01:05:38,920
Speaker 7: Now I hear him walking through the woods. You got

1296
01:05:38,920 --> 01:05:41,280
Speaker 7: to think about how good their hearing is and how

1297
01:05:41,320 --> 01:05:45,280
Speaker 7: calm the conditions are. Really, pay attention to the forecast.

1298
01:05:45,360 --> 01:05:47,760
Speaker 7: If it's gonna be dead calm, I'm probably not gonna hunt.

1299
01:05:47,880 --> 01:05:50,200
Speaker 7: Even if I just summon my inner ninja and I'm

1300
01:05:50,240 --> 01:05:53,040
Speaker 7: sneaking through there, really well, I'm gonna make more noise

1301
01:05:53,080 --> 01:05:54,680
Speaker 7: than I want. Am I gonna get a little bit

1302
01:05:54,680 --> 01:05:56,560
Speaker 7: of rain? Am I gonna get a little bit of

1303
01:05:56,600 --> 01:05:58,439
Speaker 7: wind like I have here right now? Am I gonna

1304
01:05:58,480 --> 01:06:01,560
Speaker 7: get something to help me out to utilize that spot?

1305
01:06:01,840 --> 01:06:04,080
Speaker 7: Don't give up on mornings in the late season. If

1306
01:06:04,120 --> 01:06:05,800
Speaker 7: you have a chance to hunt, it just takes a

1307
01:06:05,800 --> 01:06:08,240
Speaker 7: little detective work to make sure you have that situation

1308
01:06:08,320 --> 01:06:09,240
Speaker 7: and you know how to hunt it.

1309
01:06:09,760 --> 01:06:10,120
Speaker 3: All right.

1310
01:06:10,840 --> 01:06:13,720
Speaker 2: There's Tony's take on the morning hunts in the late season.

1311
01:06:13,880 --> 01:06:15,720
Speaker 2: I want to circle back to this kind of wait

1312
01:06:15,760 --> 01:06:20,320
Speaker 2: and see approach one last time and explore what to

1313
01:06:20,400 --> 01:06:24,040
Speaker 2: do if you don't get that weather, because for many

1314
01:06:24,080 --> 01:06:27,760
Speaker 2: people the late season is find them wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

1315
01:06:27,840 --> 01:06:31,959
Speaker 2: strike when it's right. But what happens if you wait, wait, wait,

1316
01:06:32,000 --> 01:06:34,000
Speaker 2: wait and you never get the right moment. What if

1317
01:06:34,040 --> 01:06:36,040
Speaker 2: you never get that big call from What if you

1318
01:06:36,080 --> 01:06:37,560
Speaker 2: never get that big snowstorm.

1319
01:06:38,240 --> 01:06:41,480
Speaker 3: Here's what Don Higgins does. Here's his thoughts on what

1320
01:06:41,640 --> 01:06:44,160
Speaker 3: to do when you don't get the cold weather that

1321
01:06:44,200 --> 01:06:45,640
Speaker 3: you want during the late season.

1322
01:06:46,160 --> 01:06:50,920
Speaker 5: Well, I don't hunt very often, that's for sure, because

1323
01:06:52,360 --> 01:06:57,080
Speaker 5: I'm hunting the biggest bucks I can find, and a

1324
01:06:57,120 --> 01:07:00,520
Speaker 5: lot of times that means that I'm not looking at

1325
01:07:00,520 --> 01:07:04,920
Speaker 5: things from just a one season perspective. I'm looking to

1326
01:07:05,000 --> 01:07:08,360
Speaker 5: kill that beer and if it happens this season, great,

1327
01:07:08,600 --> 01:07:10,080
Speaker 5: But I don't want to go in and tip him

1328
01:07:10,120 --> 01:07:12,840
Speaker 5: off when the conditions aren't right. Next year, he could

1329
01:07:12,880 --> 01:07:17,120
Speaker 5: be twenty inches bigger, and if you've educated him, you've

1330
01:07:17,160 --> 01:07:21,240
Speaker 5: just made him. You know, three times it's hard to kill.

1331
01:07:21,320 --> 01:07:23,919
Speaker 5: So a lot of times, you know, if the weather

1332
01:07:24,120 --> 01:07:28,840
Speaker 5: isn't perfect, I'll hunt secondary locations. I will stay out

1333
01:07:28,840 --> 01:07:33,240
Speaker 5: of my prime locations, and you know, I might watch

1334
01:07:33,520 --> 01:07:35,760
Speaker 5: a feeding area from a distance just to see if

1335
01:07:36,080 --> 01:07:38,840
Speaker 5: there happens to be a buck coming out before dark

1336
01:07:38,880 --> 01:07:42,000
Speaker 5: and one that i'd want to target, which is very

1337
01:07:42,120 --> 01:07:44,760
Speaker 5: very rare for that to happen. But I'm not one

1338
01:07:44,800 --> 01:07:46,720
Speaker 5: just to sit home either. I've got to be out

1339
01:07:46,720 --> 01:07:50,240
Speaker 5: there to them something. So I just as soon sit

1340
01:07:50,320 --> 01:07:52,680
Speaker 5: back and watch from a distance and see if maybe

1341
01:07:53,040 --> 01:07:56,880
Speaker 5: there's a buck coming out that I wouldn't expect, you know,

1342
01:07:56,960 --> 01:08:01,840
Speaker 5: under those conditions. But you know much your bucks are unpredictable.

1343
01:08:02,440 --> 01:08:04,640
Speaker 2: All right, And I would just add to that that

1344
01:08:05,360 --> 01:08:08,760
Speaker 2: you know, you always have to think about timing available

1345
01:08:09,000 --> 01:08:12,880
Speaker 2: right in the implications of you know, how you might

1346
01:08:13,000 --> 01:08:15,560
Speaker 2: educate deer. So if you are waiting and waiting for

1347
01:08:15,600 --> 01:08:18,200
Speaker 2: the right moment but you never get it and then

1348
01:08:18,200 --> 01:08:20,400
Speaker 2: you just don't hunt that deer at all, well then

1349
01:08:20,400 --> 01:08:22,519
Speaker 2: you had zero percent chance to kill it. Here anyways,

1350
01:08:22,560 --> 01:08:24,559
Speaker 2: the whole idea here is that you're trying to not

1351
01:08:25,160 --> 01:08:29,080
Speaker 2: hunt so much on days when your odds were low

1352
01:08:29,840 --> 01:08:33,160
Speaker 2: that it impacts your chances some day later when the

1353
01:08:33,160 --> 01:08:35,240
Speaker 2: odds are high. But if you never get that some

1354
01:08:35,400 --> 01:08:38,559
Speaker 2: day later, what was the point of avoiding all of

1355
01:08:38,600 --> 01:08:42,639
Speaker 2: those lesser hunts. In the end, you have to eventually hunt.

1356
01:08:42,680 --> 01:08:44,880
Speaker 2: You have to get out there and try. So it's

1357
01:08:44,960 --> 01:08:46,880
Speaker 2: just a matter of finding that the best available.

1358
01:08:47,320 --> 01:08:50,160
Speaker 3: So maybe the best available is not the mega cold front.

1359
01:08:50,200 --> 01:08:52,439
Speaker 2: Maybe the best available is like, hey, you know, all

1360
01:08:52,439 --> 01:08:54,639
Speaker 2: I have left is this week or these next two weeks,

1361
01:08:54,680 --> 01:08:55,120
Speaker 2: and I'm not.

1362
01:08:55,080 --> 01:08:55,960
Speaker 3: Going to get that front.

1363
01:08:56,040 --> 01:08:58,000
Speaker 2: But I do have four or five days here this

1364
01:08:58,040 --> 01:09:00,519
Speaker 2: coming weekend when it's like Okay, it's not great, but

1365
01:09:00,560 --> 01:09:01,679
Speaker 2: it's not horribly warm.

1366
01:09:02,520 --> 01:09:03,200
Speaker 3: That's when you go.

1367
01:09:03,320 --> 01:09:05,960
Speaker 2: Then you just look for what's your best chance, what

1368
01:09:06,000 --> 01:09:08,360
Speaker 2: are your lowest odds for this being a swing and

1369
01:09:08,400 --> 01:09:12,120
Speaker 2: a miss, and then go take your chances. And I

1370
01:09:12,160 --> 01:09:14,799
Speaker 2: think maybe Jeff alluded to this or someone did earlier.

1371
01:09:14,800 --> 01:09:17,640
Speaker 2: But you know, if you can set yourself up in

1372
01:09:17,680 --> 01:09:20,479
Speaker 2: such a place that the odds of educating deer are

1373
01:09:20,520 --> 01:09:23,479
Speaker 2: really low, you know, if you have that amazing access,

1374
01:09:23,479 --> 01:09:26,320
Speaker 2: if you have that smart exit plan, if you can

1375
01:09:26,360 --> 01:09:28,400
Speaker 2: sit in a place that you've got a very safe

1376
01:09:28,400 --> 01:09:31,200
Speaker 2: place for your wind to blow. If you can do that,

1377
01:09:32,040 --> 01:09:34,519
Speaker 2: then you might have a situation where you could hunt

1378
01:09:34,600 --> 01:09:36,080
Speaker 2: over and over and over again. I know that Jeff

1379
01:09:36,080 --> 01:09:38,120
Speaker 2: Sturgis has talked about doing this in gun season. He

1380
01:09:38,200 --> 01:09:41,439
Speaker 2: sets up in late season locations for gun hunts quite

1381
01:09:41,479 --> 01:09:43,400
Speaker 2: a bit away from where the deer is gonna come

1382
01:09:43,439 --> 01:09:46,120
Speaker 2: out quite a bit away from that best stuff, just

1383
01:09:46,200 --> 01:09:48,720
Speaker 2: within gun range, so that he can actually hunt a

1384
01:09:48,840 --> 01:09:51,960
Speaker 2: larger number of days in the late season and give

1385
01:09:52,080 --> 01:09:54,760
Speaker 2: kind of the roll of the dice, enough rolls for

1386
01:09:54,840 --> 01:09:57,559
Speaker 2: that big buck to finally show up. So not just

1387
01:09:57,720 --> 01:10:01,040
Speaker 2: hunting the single best weather day, but instead maybe hunting

1388
01:10:01,120 --> 01:10:03,760
Speaker 2: seven of those days when some of them those days

1389
01:10:03,760 --> 01:10:06,120
Speaker 2: are great, some those days are okay, but you're giving

1390
01:10:06,120 --> 01:10:09,040
Speaker 2: yourself a chance to be there when the magic finally happens.

1391
01:10:09,280 --> 01:10:10,599
Speaker 3: But that only can work if you.

1392
01:10:10,600 --> 01:10:14,519
Speaker 2: Have that really really safe, bulletproof location that's well prepared,

1393
01:10:14,560 --> 01:10:17,120
Speaker 2: that's well planned out, that's not going to get you

1394
01:10:17,200 --> 01:10:19,280
Speaker 2: burned over and over and over again, because if you

1395
01:10:19,320 --> 01:10:21,479
Speaker 2: get burned several times, these deer are going to catch

1396
01:10:21,520 --> 01:10:24,400
Speaker 2: on very quick, quicker than any other time of the year,

1397
01:10:24,760 --> 01:10:26,599
Speaker 2: and you're simply not going to get any more chances.

1398
01:10:26,640 --> 01:10:29,280
Speaker 2: So that's kind of the key thing to be thinking

1399
01:10:29,320 --> 01:10:30,479
Speaker 2: about this time of year.

1400
01:10:41,720 --> 01:10:42,000
Speaker 3: Now.

1401
01:10:42,640 --> 01:10:45,960
Speaker 2: Not everybody has this situation. Not everybody is going to

1402
01:10:46,120 --> 01:10:48,840
Speaker 2: have some private land where they could build a sanctuary

1403
01:10:48,880 --> 01:10:51,320
Speaker 2: or plant food plots and have crops up for deer.

1404
01:10:51,880 --> 01:10:53,880
Speaker 3: Not everyone is going to have a lease where there's

1405
01:10:53,960 --> 01:10:55,719
Speaker 3: limited pressure, there's going.

1406
01:10:55,640 --> 01:10:57,679
Speaker 2: To be some folks out there. I've been in this boat.

1407
01:10:57,760 --> 01:10:59,720
Speaker 2: My buddy Tony's been in this boat. I know many

1408
01:10:59,760 --> 01:11:01,760
Speaker 2: of you have been in this boat where you just

1409
01:11:02,600 --> 01:11:05,360
Speaker 2: don't add that and then you're just searching and searching

1410
01:11:05,400 --> 01:11:09,280
Speaker 2: and hoping to find a gem out there. And that

1411
01:11:09,320 --> 01:11:12,200
Speaker 2: doesn't mean it's gonna, you know, be impossible. That doesn't

1412
01:11:12,240 --> 01:11:15,439
Speaker 2: mean that you can't have late season success during you know,

1413
01:11:15,600 --> 01:11:18,160
Speaker 2: or on public land or on by permission stuff.

1414
01:11:18,200 --> 01:11:19,040
Speaker 3: You definitely can.

1415
01:11:19,400 --> 01:11:21,960
Speaker 2: It just requires a little bit more work and trying

1416
01:11:21,960 --> 01:11:24,320
Speaker 2: to find these things out in the real world. So

1417
01:11:24,400 --> 01:11:26,280
Speaker 2: I want to play for you a couple more quick

1418
01:11:26,320 --> 01:11:29,400
Speaker 2: takes from Tony as he breaks down number one, why

1419
01:11:29,479 --> 01:11:32,040
Speaker 2: hunting public land in the late season isn't as bad

1420
01:11:32,080 --> 01:11:35,360
Speaker 2: always as some people think. And then finally, what to

1421
01:11:35,439 --> 01:11:38,080
Speaker 2: do when you don't have one of these dynamite built

1422
01:11:38,080 --> 01:11:40,280
Speaker 2: in food sources that we've been talking about so much.

1423
01:11:40,320 --> 01:11:44,400
Speaker 2: So two quick takes here from Tony on public land

1424
01:11:44,720 --> 01:11:46,960
Speaker 2: and hunting in the areas that aren't you know, carefully

1425
01:11:46,960 --> 01:11:49,160
Speaker 2: managed and manicured for late season.

1426
01:11:49,520 --> 01:11:53,080
Speaker 7: Probably ninety nine point seven percent of the late season

1427
01:11:53,080 --> 01:11:57,240
Speaker 7: bull hunting advice has come from people who have awesome

1428
01:11:57,640 --> 01:12:00,160
Speaker 7: properties to hunt. If you're a public land hunt or

1429
01:12:00,640 --> 01:12:02,479
Speaker 7: it might make you feel like you don't really have

1430
01:12:02,520 --> 01:12:04,400
Speaker 7: a chance in a late season, a lot of people

1431
01:12:04,439 --> 01:12:06,439
Speaker 7: just won't do it. But I'm here to tell you

1432
01:12:06,760 --> 01:12:08,840
Speaker 7: some of the best late season hunting I've found in

1433
01:12:08,880 --> 01:12:10,920
Speaker 7: my life has been on public land.

1434
01:12:11,080 --> 01:12:12,160
Speaker 3: I usually do.

1435
01:12:12,479 --> 01:12:14,880
Speaker 7: Sort of a quick turn and burn scouting trip. I

1436
01:12:14,920 --> 01:12:17,080
Speaker 7: just want to find fresh tracks. I want to find

1437
01:12:17,120 --> 01:12:19,400
Speaker 7: those trails that are pounded. I'm not looking for a

1438
01:12:19,400 --> 01:12:21,400
Speaker 7: big buck sign right now. I just want to see

1439
01:12:21,400 --> 01:12:23,760
Speaker 7: evidence that deer living there. The second thing you got

1440
01:12:23,800 --> 01:12:26,599
Speaker 7: to think about with this is what's going on out

1441
01:12:26,640 --> 01:12:29,519
Speaker 7: there right now. We always kind of think that public

1442
01:12:29,560 --> 01:12:32,320
Speaker 7: land is worse than private land, But there are a

1443
01:12:32,479 --> 01:12:36,719
Speaker 7: lot of areas where some of the best wintering cover

1444
01:12:37,280 --> 01:12:40,439
Speaker 7: is on public land because it can't be farmed. Even

1445
01:12:40,479 --> 01:12:43,240
Speaker 7: though those properties might be okay for most of the season,

1446
01:12:43,560 --> 01:12:46,800
Speaker 7: they really become something special when the deer opportunities are

1447
01:12:46,840 --> 01:12:49,720
Speaker 7: so limited to get into good cover to survive in,

1448
01:12:50,040 --> 01:12:53,800
Speaker 7: and so in some ways public land can be even

1449
01:12:53,920 --> 01:12:57,080
Speaker 7: better than you would expect in a late season. One

1450
01:12:57,080 --> 01:12:59,080
Speaker 7: thing that I know about public land in a late

1451
01:12:59,120 --> 01:13:03,280
Speaker 7: season is everybody's thinking the same thing. This is gonna suck,

1452
01:13:03,680 --> 01:13:05,200
Speaker 7: This is not going to be fun to hunt. I

1453
01:13:05,240 --> 01:13:06,559
Speaker 7: don't want to go do it when I know all

1454
01:13:06,600 --> 01:13:08,400
Speaker 7: the deer been blown out of there or shot out

1455
01:13:08,400 --> 01:13:11,960
Speaker 7: of there. I've found that I can have so many

1456
01:13:12,000 --> 01:13:14,759
Speaker 7: of these places almost to myself. It's almost like having

1457
01:13:14,760 --> 01:13:17,920
Speaker 7: your own private spot to hunt. At least ninety five

1458
01:13:17,920 --> 01:13:21,240
Speaker 7: percent of the hunters have given up. That's a big advantage.

1459
01:13:21,439 --> 01:13:23,080
Speaker 7: If you're sitting there and you're looking at the clock,

1460
01:13:23,120 --> 01:13:25,120
Speaker 7: kind of wine down on your hunting season and you

1461
01:13:25,240 --> 01:13:27,200
Speaker 7: only have public land, or you might want to go

1462
01:13:27,280 --> 01:13:29,160
Speaker 7: check out some public land do it like.

1463
01:13:29,280 --> 01:13:29,800
Speaker 3: You can have.

1464
01:13:29,720 --> 01:13:32,439
Speaker 7: Amazing late season bow hunts if you go in with

1465
01:13:32,479 --> 01:13:34,720
Speaker 7: the right mindset and you spend a little time trying

1466
01:13:34,760 --> 01:13:37,880
Speaker 7: to find those deer concentrations. The traditional late season hunting

1467
01:13:37,920 --> 01:13:40,760
Speaker 7: advice is to find that food source, sit on it,

1468
01:13:40,760 --> 01:13:42,320
Speaker 7: and wait for the deer to come out. Most people

1469
01:13:42,320 --> 01:13:45,519
Speaker 7: don't have that, and not every food source is created equal.

1470
01:13:45,640 --> 01:13:48,240
Speaker 7: When you're thinking about a late season bow hunt and

1471
01:13:48,280 --> 01:13:52,639
Speaker 7: you don't have that perfect food source, it doesn't mean

1472
01:13:52,640 --> 01:13:55,200
Speaker 7: you're out of the game. Deers still have to walk

1473
01:13:55,200 --> 01:13:57,280
Speaker 7: from the food to their betting areas. They're still going

1474
01:13:57,360 --> 01:13:59,720
Speaker 7: to mill around, they still might browse. There's still a

1475
01:13:59,760 --> 01:14:03,000
Speaker 7: lot of opportunities. You might be hunting thousands of acres

1476
01:14:03,000 --> 01:14:06,000
Speaker 7: of timber and not have a destination food source within

1477
01:14:06,520 --> 01:14:08,200
Speaker 7: three miles of you. Does that mean you're out of

1478
01:14:08,200 --> 01:14:12,120
Speaker 7: the game. Absolutely not. The first thing you gotta do

1479
01:14:12,760 --> 01:14:14,160
Speaker 7: is you've got to analyze your situation.

1480
01:14:14,600 --> 01:14:17,400
Speaker 3: What do you have to work with. Do you have.

1481
01:14:17,439 --> 01:14:19,920
Speaker 7: Access to a property that they might be betting in.

1482
01:14:20,520 --> 01:14:23,360
Speaker 7: Do you have access to a transitional property if you're

1483
01:14:23,360 --> 01:14:26,479
Speaker 7: in that big wood situation. Do you have some mast

1484
01:14:26,840 --> 01:14:28,960
Speaker 7: they might be on. Do you have some brows they

1485
01:14:29,040 --> 01:14:31,120
Speaker 7: might be on. A lot of times with hunting, we

1486
01:14:31,200 --> 01:14:33,680
Speaker 7: kind of focus on the negatives. What are the positives, like,

1487
01:14:33,680 --> 01:14:36,360
Speaker 7: what are you working with? The second thing you got

1488
01:14:36,360 --> 01:14:38,360
Speaker 7: to do is figure out where deer like to walk.

1489
01:14:38,520 --> 01:14:40,400
Speaker 7: When I'm sitting there and I don't have that destination

1490
01:14:40,479 --> 01:14:43,000
Speaker 7: food source for whatever reason, I kind of go back

1491
01:14:43,040 --> 01:14:45,639
Speaker 7: to this mobile strategy.

1492
01:14:45,120 --> 01:14:48,240
Speaker 3: Of observe, move, observe move.

1493
01:14:49,000 --> 01:14:51,559
Speaker 7: Those deer in the late season, even if they've been

1494
01:14:51,600 --> 01:14:55,639
Speaker 7: really pressured, they'll start to mill around, they'll browse, they'll stage,

1495
01:14:56,320 --> 01:14:59,479
Speaker 7: they'll stay in the cover, But if you've got good

1496
01:14:59,479 --> 01:15:02,400
Speaker 7: buy ando and you've got a good vantage point, you'll

1497
01:15:02,439 --> 01:15:04,880
Speaker 7: probably pick them up. I know these deer have to

1498
01:15:04,960 --> 01:15:06,960
Speaker 7: walk to get to food. I know they have to

1499
01:15:07,000 --> 01:15:09,000
Speaker 7: walk to get to where they're going to bed. Maybe

1500
01:15:09,000 --> 01:15:10,800
Speaker 7: in the right situation, they're gonna have to walk somewhere

1501
01:15:10,840 --> 01:15:12,400
Speaker 7: to get water. Depending on where you hunt. If you're

1502
01:15:12,400 --> 01:15:14,519
Speaker 7: down south, they're going to give you something to work with.

1503
01:15:14,840 --> 01:15:16,720
Speaker 7: You got to go in with the idea that the

1504
01:15:16,760 --> 01:15:18,720
Speaker 7: food source stuff that's for the people who have a

1505
01:15:18,760 --> 01:15:20,920
Speaker 7: thousand acres in southern I would to manage. You don't

1506
01:15:20,920 --> 01:15:23,599
Speaker 7: have that, And so you can get into the woods

1507
01:15:23,800 --> 01:15:26,479
Speaker 7: start watching them. They'll give you something to work with.

1508
01:15:26,600 --> 01:15:28,280
Speaker 7: Then the next step is to figure out how to

1509
01:15:28,280 --> 01:15:30,760
Speaker 7: get in on them a little bit closer. The other

1510
01:15:30,840 --> 01:15:32,320
Speaker 7: thing that you can do here, and I do this

1511
01:15:32,400 --> 01:15:34,400
Speaker 7: a lot in the late season, is I start running

1512
01:15:34,439 --> 01:15:37,040
Speaker 7: cameras a lot more. I'll mount them high up in

1513
01:15:37,080 --> 01:15:39,719
Speaker 7: a tree with a camera, mount angle them down on trails,

1514
01:15:40,040 --> 01:15:43,360
Speaker 7: and I can couple that with what I actually observe

1515
01:15:43,439 --> 01:15:44,880
Speaker 7: when I'm in there, and I play it safe, and

1516
01:15:44,920 --> 01:15:47,720
Speaker 7: you can start to pin down where those deer are

1517
01:15:47,800 --> 01:15:51,080
Speaker 7: killable when they're not on that food source that you

1518
01:15:51,120 --> 01:15:54,479
Speaker 7: can't hunt or that you don't have, So don't give

1519
01:15:54,560 --> 01:15:56,360
Speaker 7: up on your late season hunts. If you don't have

1520
01:15:56,400 --> 01:15:59,000
Speaker 7: that food source, figure out a way to get dialed

1521
01:15:59,040 --> 01:16:01,519
Speaker 7: into the current deer move then work your way in

1522
01:16:01,600 --> 01:16:05,120
Speaker 7: for the right setup. This can totally be accomplished if

1523
01:16:05,160 --> 01:16:08,280
Speaker 7: you're really careful about it. You will get on those

1524
01:16:08,320 --> 01:16:11,479
Speaker 7: deer and you will be successful just by figuring out

1525
01:16:11,479 --> 01:16:12,479
Speaker 7: where they like to walk.

1526
01:16:12,840 --> 01:16:16,560
Speaker 2: All right, now, I want to share one final alternative

1527
01:16:17,160 --> 01:16:19,640
Speaker 2: set of ideas for the late season, because I think

1528
01:16:19,760 --> 01:16:21,639
Speaker 2: much of what we talked here is kind of your

1529
01:16:21,680 --> 01:16:25,880
Speaker 2: standard late season December January hunting style.

1530
01:16:26,160 --> 01:16:29,400
Speaker 3: Right. You don't have to do it this way.

1531
01:16:29,560 --> 01:16:32,519
Speaker 2: There is another way that I have dabbled in, I

1532
01:16:32,520 --> 01:16:35,400
Speaker 2: have tried, I've learned from some folks on and is

1533
01:16:35,560 --> 01:16:38,720
Speaker 2: very fun, very interesting, and very compelling if you have

1534
01:16:38,760 --> 01:16:41,559
Speaker 2: the right set of circumstances, and that is tracking deer

1535
01:16:41,920 --> 01:16:45,840
Speaker 2: in the snow. Tracking deer in the snow. Typically this

1536
01:16:45,880 --> 01:16:48,000
Speaker 2: is something done in the big woods. This is you know,

1537
01:16:48,280 --> 01:16:51,360
Speaker 2: Maine is famous for this. I know people do this

1538
01:16:51,439 --> 01:16:55,400
Speaker 2: in northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, northern Michigan. I know people

1539
01:16:55,479 --> 01:16:57,640
Speaker 2: can do this in Pennsylvania, but really anywhere you have

1540
01:16:57,720 --> 01:17:01,360
Speaker 2: snow in some space to roam, some space to follow deer.

1541
01:17:01,640 --> 01:17:03,840
Speaker 2: So if you have some either big parcels of land

1542
01:17:03,880 --> 01:17:07,000
Speaker 2: you own or public land that stretches a decent bit,

1543
01:17:07,400 --> 01:17:10,160
Speaker 2: if you have snow, you can follow deer tracks in

1544
01:17:10,160 --> 01:17:13,240
Speaker 2: the snow during gun season, if you have that late

1545
01:17:13,280 --> 01:17:16,120
Speaker 2: firearm season, or maybe your gun season doesn't open untill December,

1546
01:17:16,840 --> 01:17:19,360
Speaker 2: and you can actually follow deer right to where they

1547
01:17:19,400 --> 01:17:22,920
Speaker 2: are and get a shot them, or you know, some

1548
01:17:22,960 --> 01:17:25,360
Speaker 2: of the things from hell I'm going to share with

1549
01:17:25,360 --> 01:17:28,799
Speaker 2: these excerpts from hell Blood, who's kind of the modern

1550
01:17:28,880 --> 01:17:31,519
Speaker 2: day og when it comes to tracking deer in the snow.

1551
01:17:32,240 --> 01:17:34,240
Speaker 2: There are things you can learn from tracking deer in

1552
01:17:34,240 --> 01:17:37,160
Speaker 2: the snow that even if you are bow hunting, you

1553
01:17:37,200 --> 01:17:39,760
Speaker 2: can use that to your advantage to set up in

1554
01:17:39,840 --> 01:17:41,479
Speaker 2: some of the ways we talked about. So you can

1555
01:17:41,520 --> 01:17:43,840
Speaker 2: go in and let's say you just don't know where

1556
01:17:43,840 --> 01:17:46,240
Speaker 2: these deer are right now, you have not found a pocket,

1557
01:17:46,320 --> 01:17:48,640
Speaker 2: you don't have that amazing.

1558
01:17:48,200 --> 01:17:49,479
Speaker 3: Spot like we've talked about.

1559
01:17:49,640 --> 01:17:51,719
Speaker 2: But maybe you can backtrack a deer in the snow

1560
01:17:51,800 --> 01:17:55,760
Speaker 2: and find where they're moving, find where they're betting, find

1561
01:17:55,800 --> 01:17:58,240
Speaker 2: where they're heading to feed, and yeah, you just made

1562
01:17:58,240 --> 01:18:01,200
Speaker 2: this aggressive scouting move today, probably going to blow things up.

1563
01:18:01,240 --> 01:18:03,439
Speaker 2: But again back to John Eberheart's take a couple of

1564
01:18:03,439 --> 01:18:06,599
Speaker 2: minutes ago, maybe doing that just once you can learn

1565
01:18:06,720 --> 01:18:09,479
Speaker 2: enough to then make some smart hunts later in the

1566
01:18:09,560 --> 01:18:13,200
Speaker 2: late season. All that said, I mentioned hell Blood. Hell

1567
01:18:13,280 --> 01:18:15,479
Speaker 2: Blood is the author of a number of books. He's

1568
01:18:15,479 --> 01:18:17,799
Speaker 2: done a lot of films. He's an outfitter up in Maine,

1569
01:18:18,479 --> 01:18:21,559
Speaker 2: tremendous deer hunter and deer tracker.

1570
01:18:21,920 --> 01:18:23,520
Speaker 3: I had the great privilege.

1571
01:18:23,040 --> 01:18:24,639
Speaker 2: Of getting to spend some time with him a few

1572
01:18:24,720 --> 01:18:27,479
Speaker 2: years ago and actually get to go to his camp

1573
01:18:27,560 --> 01:18:29,640
Speaker 2: and go out in the woods with him and have

1574
01:18:29,800 --> 01:18:31,519
Speaker 2: him teach me how he did this. And I got

1575
01:18:31,560 --> 01:18:33,800
Speaker 2: to watch him for a full twenty four hours, not

1576
01:18:33,840 --> 01:18:36,240
Speaker 2: full twenty four but a full day of hunting to

1577
01:18:36,320 --> 01:18:38,880
Speaker 2: see exactly how he tracks deer and kind of learn

1578
01:18:38,960 --> 01:18:41,519
Speaker 2: his style and approach to that. So what I want

1579
01:18:41,560 --> 01:18:43,840
Speaker 2: to do here is play for you a quick kind

1580
01:18:43,840 --> 01:18:47,120
Speaker 2: of overview of some of Hal's high level thoughts on

1581
01:18:47,360 --> 01:18:49,719
Speaker 2: tracking deer in the snow. This is a short video

1582
01:18:49,720 --> 01:18:50,960
Speaker 2: that we produced when I was there.

1583
01:18:51,479 --> 01:18:52,200
Speaker 3: Visiting with him.

1584
01:18:52,560 --> 01:18:54,200
Speaker 2: And then I'm going to kind of give you a

1585
01:18:54,320 --> 01:18:57,640
Speaker 2: very short rundown of some of the key lessons I

1586
01:18:57,720 --> 01:18:59,880
Speaker 2: learned from him, and then I would suggest if any

1587
01:18:59,880 --> 01:19:02,320
Speaker 2: of this is interesting to you, to go and listen

1588
01:19:02,360 --> 01:19:05,000
Speaker 2: to the two full podcasts that I did with this

1589
01:19:05,320 --> 01:19:07,639
Speaker 2: or did with him on this topic, or check out

1590
01:19:07,680 --> 01:19:10,559
Speaker 2: the episode that I filmed with him of our show

1591
01:19:10,640 --> 01:19:13,840
Speaker 2: called Deer Country. So just in advance, I'll tell you

1592
01:19:13,960 --> 01:19:18,120
Speaker 2: podcast episode two oh three and episode four ninety seven

1593
01:19:18,600 --> 01:19:20,360
Speaker 2: are the ones that you want to listen to if

1594
01:19:20,360 --> 01:19:23,120
Speaker 2: the idea of tracking deer in the snow is something

1595
01:19:23,160 --> 01:19:25,360
Speaker 2: you want to learn more about. But first, a really

1596
01:19:25,439 --> 01:19:29,000
Speaker 2: quick rundown of hell of three of his best pieces

1597
01:19:29,000 --> 01:19:31,360
Speaker 2: of advice for people trying to learn to track deer

1598
01:19:31,360 --> 01:19:31,800
Speaker 2: in the snow.

1599
01:19:31,960 --> 01:19:34,600
Speaker 8: I'm how Blood, and these are the three things that

1600
01:19:34,680 --> 01:19:37,840
Speaker 8: I think are the most important tips. The track in

1601
01:19:38,240 --> 01:19:41,360
Speaker 8: white tailed bucks. The first thing is is you got

1602
01:19:41,400 --> 01:19:43,880
Speaker 8: to keep moving. I've had days I've gone all day

1603
01:19:43,920 --> 01:19:45,559
Speaker 8: and not even pick up the big track.

1604
01:19:45,600 --> 01:19:46,680
Speaker 3: I want got to be.

1605
01:19:46,680 --> 01:19:49,160
Speaker 8: Willing to walk, maybe it's ten miles a day, whatever

1606
01:19:49,160 --> 01:19:51,559
Speaker 8: it is. You're not willing to do that, you're probably

1607
01:19:51,560 --> 01:19:53,559
Speaker 8: not going to be a tracker. You got to pick

1608
01:19:53,600 --> 01:19:56,240
Speaker 8: up that track. The goal is to catch up to

1609
01:19:56,320 --> 01:19:58,920
Speaker 8: the buck. Get where you can jump them, see him,

1610
01:19:58,920 --> 01:20:01,320
Speaker 8: shoot them, whatever it is. The quicker you can do that,

1611
01:20:01,520 --> 01:20:03,719
Speaker 8: the more time you have in the day to hunt

1612
01:20:03,720 --> 01:20:06,360
Speaker 8: for that buck. Second tip, if you jump the buck

1613
01:20:06,840 --> 01:20:09,360
Speaker 8: way to half an hour, sit down and have a sandwich,

1614
01:20:09,400 --> 01:20:11,519
Speaker 8: do whatever you want, but way to half an hour,

1615
01:20:11,640 --> 01:20:13,760
Speaker 8: let him settle down. If you go right after him,

1616
01:20:13,960 --> 01:20:17,040
Speaker 8: he's thinks something's chasing him, and you're gonna run after

1617
01:20:17,120 --> 01:20:19,400
Speaker 8: him all day. If you wait a half an hour,

1618
01:20:19,840 --> 01:20:22,799
Speaker 8: he might lay down again. He might keep on his circuit,

1619
01:20:22,960 --> 01:20:26,120
Speaker 8: go check, goes, do whatever he's doing in life. That's

1620
01:20:26,160 --> 01:20:28,360
Speaker 8: the best time to kill a buck. The third tip

1621
01:20:28,400 --> 01:20:30,880
Speaker 8: would be get in the mindset of the buck right

1622
01:20:30,920 --> 01:20:32,960
Speaker 8: from the beginning. When I first get on the buck,

1623
01:20:33,160 --> 01:20:35,320
Speaker 8: I'm trying to figure out what he's up to, what

1624
01:20:35,400 --> 01:20:37,960
Speaker 8: he's doing, what's going on is life. It's written in

1625
01:20:37,960 --> 01:20:40,360
Speaker 8: the snow for me. I gotta interpret it and react

1626
01:20:40,400 --> 01:20:45,040
Speaker 8: to it. He might have some little quirk idiosyncrasy that

1627
01:20:45,160 --> 01:20:48,479
Speaker 8: tells you he's going to do a certain thing before

1628
01:20:48,520 --> 01:20:50,720
Speaker 8: he lays down. A lot of times it's feeding, but

1629
01:20:50,840 --> 01:20:53,920
Speaker 8: sometimes it's other things. Try to learn that buck, and

1630
01:20:53,960 --> 01:20:57,839
Speaker 8: as you're learning the buck get that track, you imprint

1631
01:20:57,880 --> 01:21:01,759
Speaker 8: the track size and shape, and his feet made drag

1632
01:21:01,800 --> 01:21:05,200
Speaker 8: in the snow. You internalize that in your memory, and

1633
01:21:05,240 --> 01:21:07,679
Speaker 8: then when you get into all the tracks, you should

1634
01:21:07,720 --> 01:21:10,880
Speaker 8: always remember which one is your buck that you're on.

1635
01:21:11,040 --> 01:21:12,200
Speaker 8: It'll make it easier for you.

1636
01:21:12,960 --> 01:21:16,400
Speaker 2: Okay, so good stuff there from Hale. I'm gonna walk

1637
01:21:16,439 --> 01:21:19,599
Speaker 2: you through at a very high level. The key things

1638
01:21:19,640 --> 01:21:21,800
Speaker 2: that I learned when I walked out there with Hale,

1639
01:21:22,000 --> 01:21:24,160
Speaker 2: walked in his footsteps and tried to learn how to

1640
01:21:24,240 --> 01:21:29,000
Speaker 2: track deer. Number one was this idea of speed and

1641
01:21:29,120 --> 01:21:31,759
Speaker 2: needing to cover a lot of ground because you simply

1642
01:21:31,800 --> 01:21:34,400
Speaker 2: have to find a buck track, and once you find

1643
01:21:34,400 --> 01:21:36,680
Speaker 2: a buck track, then you're in the hunt. Then you're

1644
01:21:36,720 --> 01:21:38,800
Speaker 2: actually doing the thing. But because of that, there's two

1645
01:21:38,840 --> 01:21:41,000
Speaker 2: things that he does. A ton of drives, a lot

1646
01:21:41,000 --> 01:21:45,000
Speaker 2: of roads, drives a lot of backcountry forest roads, dirt roads.

1647
01:21:44,680 --> 01:21:45,360
Speaker 3: Two tracks.

1648
01:21:45,439 --> 01:21:47,720
Speaker 2: Anywhere he might be able to cut a track and

1649
01:21:47,800 --> 01:21:50,360
Speaker 2: find a relatively fresh track in the snow, he's doing that,

1650
01:21:51,000 --> 01:21:54,200
Speaker 2: or and I think he prefers this actually goes off

1651
01:21:54,240 --> 01:21:57,559
Speaker 2: in the woods and walks, loops, walks areas that he

1652
01:21:57,680 --> 01:22:00,760
Speaker 2: knows historically have been good for deer movement and kind

1653
01:22:00,760 --> 01:22:05,120
Speaker 2: of walks through funnels or deer concentrating topography where there's

1654
01:22:05,120 --> 01:22:07,040
Speaker 2: a good chance that a buck might have cruised through

1655
01:22:07,560 --> 01:22:09,760
Speaker 2: covers lots and lots of ground until he finds that

1656
01:22:09,880 --> 01:22:12,880
Speaker 2: track he is looking for. And I'm going to read

1657
01:22:12,880 --> 01:22:15,200
Speaker 2: you an excerpt of how he thinks about tracks. But

1658
01:22:15,240 --> 01:22:18,320
Speaker 2: he's looking for a big track that indicates to him

1659
01:22:18,320 --> 01:22:20,479
Speaker 2: it's a mature buck. And then he's looking for a

1660
01:22:20,520 --> 01:22:23,360
Speaker 2: relatively fresh track. Best case is that he wants to

1661
01:22:23,360 --> 01:22:25,639
Speaker 2: find a track from the night before. So he's out

1662
01:22:25,640 --> 01:22:28,679
Speaker 2: there looking for a track that happened in the dark

1663
01:22:29,040 --> 01:22:32,559
Speaker 2: the previous evening or early that morning. What that looks

1664
01:22:32,680 --> 01:22:35,320
Speaker 2: like for him. The thing that's stuck with me is

1665
01:22:35,320 --> 01:22:38,439
Speaker 2: that he's looking for a crispy track. So he's looking

1666
01:22:38,439 --> 01:22:42,320
Speaker 2: for the edges of this track still having crisp, sharp

1667
01:22:42,439 --> 01:22:44,880
Speaker 2: lines and edges to them. If you touch it with

1668
01:22:45,000 --> 01:22:47,439
Speaker 2: your fingers, some of the snow might actually still just

1669
01:22:47,479 --> 01:22:50,320
Speaker 2: like kind of fall down. You can just see like

1670
01:22:50,400 --> 01:22:55,320
Speaker 2: a fresh track in the snow. It's it's really hard

1671
01:22:55,320 --> 01:22:57,400
Speaker 2: to describe with words, but if you were standing out

1672
01:22:57,400 --> 01:22:58,639
Speaker 2: there in the snow, and if you took your hand

1673
01:22:58,720 --> 01:23:02,080
Speaker 2: just like flick some snow. You would see crisp lines

1674
01:23:02,080 --> 01:23:04,240
Speaker 2: where your fingers went into the snow. But then you

1675
01:23:04,240 --> 01:23:07,960
Speaker 2: would actually see crisp little snowflakes, some bunches of snow

1676
01:23:08,000 --> 01:23:10,800
Speaker 2: and stuff scattered on top of the snow. And it's

1677
01:23:10,920 --> 01:23:15,040
Speaker 2: very clearly defined. Versus an old track where you're gonna

1678
01:23:15,040 --> 01:23:18,160
Speaker 2: see very rounded edges, things just start to deteriorate, they

1679
01:23:18,200 --> 01:23:20,360
Speaker 2: start to round out, they start I mean, it's kind

1680
01:23:20,360 --> 01:23:22,920
Speaker 2: of like they're melting, right, melting or freezing, but everything

1681
01:23:22,960 --> 01:23:26,479
Speaker 2: gets rounded more so it's not as crisp. So if

1682
01:23:26,479 --> 01:23:30,040
Speaker 2: you find that very crisp track, that's going to tell

1683
01:23:30,080 --> 01:23:33,040
Speaker 2: you this probably happened the night before, This probably happened

1684
01:23:33,160 --> 01:23:36,519
Speaker 2: sometime relatively recently, and Hal's mind, that was enough to

1685
01:23:36,520 --> 01:23:40,479
Speaker 2: get after now here. Again, it's fast moving once you

1686
01:23:40,520 --> 01:23:43,519
Speaker 2: get on that track. He recommended covering ground fast. You

1687
01:23:43,520 --> 01:23:45,840
Speaker 2: don't need to be too careful. If that deer is

1688
01:23:45,880 --> 01:23:48,800
Speaker 2: on the move in a relatively straight line, you should

1689
01:23:48,800 --> 01:23:52,120
Speaker 2: be in a move fast covering ground because he might be,

1690
01:23:52,479 --> 01:23:54,439
Speaker 2: you know, hours and hours and hours ahead of you

1691
01:23:54,520 --> 01:23:56,840
Speaker 2: or miles ahead of you. You've got to catch up.

1692
01:23:57,240 --> 01:24:00,559
Speaker 2: You're looking at two things to slow you down, one

1693
01:24:01,160 --> 01:24:04,880
Speaker 2: if you see in his movements that he is circling,

1694
01:24:05,080 --> 01:24:07,960
Speaker 2: that he is feeding, that he is zigzagging, that he's

1695
01:24:08,000 --> 01:24:10,439
Speaker 2: heading up into an area of really thick cover, and

1696
01:24:10,439 --> 01:24:13,559
Speaker 2: all of a sudden his straight line turned into this zigzag, slow,

1697
01:24:13,640 --> 01:24:16,720
Speaker 2: circle around, stand around kind of thing that would be

1698
01:24:16,720 --> 01:24:19,400
Speaker 2: indicative of this deer as getting ready to bed, then

1699
01:24:19,439 --> 01:24:23,160
Speaker 2: you should slow down. Or if you have a situation

1700
01:24:23,200 --> 01:24:25,320
Speaker 2: where you see that you bump to the deer, then

1701
01:24:25,360 --> 01:24:28,960
Speaker 2: you should slow down. Two different forms of slowing down

1702
01:24:29,160 --> 01:24:32,280
Speaker 2: Hell talked about to me. One would be if you

1703
01:24:32,360 --> 01:24:35,400
Speaker 2: get in there and you see this sign of slowing

1704
01:24:35,439 --> 01:24:38,040
Speaker 2: down and getting ready to bed, but you haven't yet

1705
01:24:38,040 --> 01:24:40,960
Speaker 2: spooked him. This is when he recommends going into what

1706
01:24:41,040 --> 01:24:43,120
Speaker 2: I think he called like the death creep. This is

1707
01:24:43,120 --> 01:24:45,760
Speaker 2: when you really slow down. This is when you are

1708
01:24:45,960 --> 01:24:49,040
Speaker 2: very careful not to make noise, not to make big movements.

1709
01:24:49,240 --> 01:24:51,160
Speaker 2: This is when you're scanning ahead of you and trying

1710
01:24:51,160 --> 01:24:53,240
Speaker 2: to pick apart the terrain and trying to see that

1711
01:24:53,280 --> 01:24:55,759
Speaker 2: little flicker of a tail or that gleam of an antler.

1712
01:24:56,840 --> 01:24:59,080
Speaker 2: You do the death creep to hopefully not spook that

1713
01:24:59,120 --> 01:25:01,679
Speaker 2: deer and hopefully lucky enough that you happen to see

1714
01:25:01,680 --> 01:25:03,760
Speaker 2: it before it sees you, then you can pull up

1715
01:25:03,800 --> 01:25:06,719
Speaker 2: and get a shot. In many cases that doesn't happen,

1716
01:25:06,720 --> 01:25:08,680
Speaker 2: though you do spook the deer, and you're gonna come

1717
01:25:08,760 --> 01:25:10,599
Speaker 2: up and you're gonna find a bed, or you're gonna

1718
01:25:10,600 --> 01:25:12,560
Speaker 2: find where the deer kicked up and ran off, and

1719
01:25:12,560 --> 01:25:15,080
Speaker 2: you're gonna see mud and dirt and snow kicked out

1720
01:25:15,120 --> 01:25:18,200
Speaker 2: behind and then tracks changing from walking tracks to now

1721
01:25:18,280 --> 01:25:21,880
Speaker 2: bounding tracks when you see that. Another key thing, and

1722
01:25:22,000 --> 01:25:24,400
Speaker 2: Hall mentioned this in that YouTube clip, this is when

1723
01:25:24,439 --> 01:25:27,800
Speaker 2: you take the sandwich break, his kind of famous sandwich break.

1724
01:25:27,840 --> 01:25:29,599
Speaker 3: Take thirty minutes, sit.

1725
01:25:29,439 --> 01:25:32,760
Speaker 2: Down, relax, give that deer time to run off and

1726
01:25:32,840 --> 01:25:35,320
Speaker 2: slow down and look behind him and not see something

1727
01:25:35,320 --> 01:25:38,400
Speaker 2: coming after him, and then feel safe again and resume

1728
01:25:38,439 --> 01:25:41,559
Speaker 2: what he was gonna do. As Hell discussed, if you

1729
01:25:41,680 --> 01:25:44,320
Speaker 2: don't give it that thirty minute break, you're probably just

1730
01:25:44,400 --> 01:25:46,519
Speaker 2: gonna push that deer further and further, and he's gonna

1731
01:25:46,560 --> 01:25:47,200
Speaker 2: bound and.

1732
01:25:47,200 --> 01:25:49,599
Speaker 3: Just kind of leave your life. But if you give.

1733
01:25:49,560 --> 01:25:52,120
Speaker 2: Him that time, he'll slow back down and you can

1734
01:25:52,160 --> 01:25:55,760
Speaker 2: hopefully catch back up and get that second chance. So

1735
01:25:56,640 --> 01:25:59,080
Speaker 2: those were the key things that I took away from

1736
01:25:59,160 --> 01:26:02,320
Speaker 2: Hell's approach to tracking deer in the snow. Again, this

1737
01:26:02,439 --> 01:26:07,080
Speaker 2: is obviously not comprehensive. Go and listen to episodes two

1738
01:26:07,160 --> 01:26:10,200
Speaker 2: oh three and episodes four ninety seven of the Wired

1739
01:26:10,280 --> 01:26:14,120
Speaker 2: Hunt podcast. Look up My Dear Country episode in Maine

1740
01:26:14,120 --> 01:26:17,040
Speaker 2: with Hal. There's so much to learn from him and

1741
01:26:17,080 --> 01:26:17,920
Speaker 2: others like him.

1742
01:26:18,520 --> 01:26:19,080
Speaker 3: They've got a.

1743
01:26:19,040 --> 01:26:21,680
Speaker 2: Podcast, they've got all sorts of great resources. So if

1744
01:26:21,680 --> 01:26:23,320
Speaker 2: you want to learn about tracking deer in the snow,

1745
01:26:23,320 --> 01:26:25,840
Speaker 2: which is a really fun thing to consider in the

1746
01:26:25,920 --> 01:26:27,920
Speaker 2: late season, go and check those out.

1747
01:26:28,439 --> 01:26:29,599
Speaker 3: I've gotten a kick out of it.

1748
01:26:29,720 --> 01:26:31,320
Speaker 2: I want to do more of it in the future,

1749
01:26:31,760 --> 01:26:34,080
Speaker 2: and I think there's something that all of us can

1750
01:26:34,160 --> 01:26:38,240
Speaker 2: learn from when it comes to studying tracks, learning about

1751
01:26:38,280 --> 01:26:41,640
Speaker 2: deer tracks and really getting to not only following their

1752
01:26:41,640 --> 01:26:43,519
Speaker 2: footsteps and try to shoot a deer like that, but

1753
01:26:43,600 --> 01:26:46,759
Speaker 2: also just like learning how to interpret tracks in general.

1754
01:26:47,000 --> 01:26:48,800
Speaker 2: So that mind, I do want to read you a

1755
01:26:48,800 --> 01:26:52,839
Speaker 2: little excert here from Hale's book Hunting Big Woods Bucks.

1756
01:26:53,560 --> 01:26:55,759
Speaker 2: He's got a lot here about tracking deer in the snow.

1757
01:26:56,160 --> 01:26:58,000
Speaker 2: I'm just going to pick out a couple little bits

1758
01:26:58,040 --> 01:27:01,120
Speaker 2: here about what he looks for in to help them

1759
01:27:01,120 --> 01:27:05,160
Speaker 2: determine if it's one worth following. So he says, when

1760
01:27:05,160 --> 01:27:07,120
Speaker 2: I look at a deer track, there's three things. I

1761
01:27:07,160 --> 01:27:09,720
Speaker 2: want to determine the size of the deer, if it's

1762
01:27:09,720 --> 01:27:11,840
Speaker 2: a buck or dough, and when the track was made.

1763
01:27:12,600 --> 01:27:14,240
Speaker 2: The first thing I look at is the size and

1764
01:27:14,280 --> 01:27:16,680
Speaker 2: shape of the track itself. Keep in mind that when

1765
01:27:16,680 --> 01:27:19,439
Speaker 2: a deer is walking, the rear foot is placed directly

1766
01:27:19,479 --> 01:27:22,120
Speaker 2: into the front footprint, so the track you see is

1767
01:27:22,160 --> 01:27:25,000
Speaker 2: the rear foot. Keep in mind also that the rear

1768
01:27:25,000 --> 01:27:27,519
Speaker 2: foot is smaller than the front. If the track is

1769
01:27:27,560 --> 01:27:29,840
Speaker 2: two and a half inches wide and three inches long,

1770
01:27:30,040 --> 01:27:32,439
Speaker 2: and the dew claws are half inch outside of the

1771
01:27:32,439 --> 01:27:36,640
Speaker 2: hoofs is most likely a mature buck. I personally like

1772
01:27:36,720 --> 01:27:39,120
Speaker 2: tracks that are three inches wide, as they are usually

1773
01:27:39,160 --> 01:27:41,800
Speaker 2: made by the old monster bucks. I don't recommend that

1774
01:27:41,840 --> 01:27:43,800
Speaker 2: all hunters hold out for what I call a three

1775
01:27:43,800 --> 01:27:46,400
Speaker 2: by three track, as in most places these tracks are

1776
01:27:46,439 --> 01:27:50,000
Speaker 2: few and far between. As I noted earlier, bucks from

1777
01:27:50,000 --> 01:27:52,960
Speaker 2: different areas have different size feet. The sizes that I'm

1778
01:27:53,000 --> 01:27:56,479
Speaker 2: referring to are the northern boreal forest bucks of northern Maine.

1779
01:27:56,920 --> 01:27:58,960
Speaker 2: Make sure you know what's realistic for the size of

1780
01:27:59,040 --> 01:28:02,400
Speaker 2: foot on the bucks in the area you're hunting. The

1781
01:28:02,439 --> 01:28:05,000
Speaker 2: shape of a track can also help you determine whether

1782
01:28:05,120 --> 01:28:07,360
Speaker 2: or not it was made by a mature deer. As

1783
01:28:07,400 --> 01:28:09,800
Speaker 2: a buck gets older, his feet will tend to flatten out.

1784
01:28:10,160 --> 01:28:12,400
Speaker 2: This will cause the dew claws to show more. Even

1785
01:28:12,439 --> 01:28:15,040
Speaker 2: in a minimal amount of snow. A mature buck will

1786
01:28:15,040 --> 01:28:17,320
Speaker 2: have dew claws that show one to two inches behind

1787
01:28:17,360 --> 01:28:19,320
Speaker 2: his hoofs, and they'll be noticeably.

1788
01:28:18,880 --> 01:28:19,960
Speaker 3: Wider than them.

1789
01:28:20,080 --> 01:28:22,799
Speaker 2: A mature buck's toes will often be rounded or blunt

1790
01:28:22,880 --> 01:28:25,360
Speaker 2: in the front from where of the years. The print

1791
01:28:25,360 --> 01:28:28,000
Speaker 2: of an older buck will appear to be square. This

1792
01:28:28,160 --> 01:28:30,880
Speaker 2: is because they get older their feet splay, causing the

1793
01:28:30,920 --> 01:28:33,879
Speaker 2: toes to be spread. This square shape will be apparent

1794
01:28:33,960 --> 01:28:36,679
Speaker 2: no matter how deep the snow may be. The next

1795
01:28:36,720 --> 01:28:38,600
Speaker 2: thing I look at is the length of the stride.

1796
01:28:38,720 --> 01:28:40,680
Speaker 2: I like to see the distance between prints to be

1797
01:28:40,720 --> 01:28:44,320
Speaker 2: twenty four to thirty six inches. This measurement can vary, though,

1798
01:28:44,400 --> 01:28:47,639
Speaker 2: depending on how fast the buck is walking. Generally speaking,

1799
01:28:47,680 --> 01:28:50,080
Speaker 2: the longer buck stride is the longer his body is,

1800
01:28:50,160 --> 01:28:52,200
Speaker 2: which is a good indication of how much the buck

1801
01:28:52,320 --> 01:28:55,599
Speaker 2: might weigh. Long bodied bucks will typically weigh much more

1802
01:28:55,680 --> 01:28:57,880
Speaker 2: than a short bodied buck. The other thing I look

1803
01:28:57,960 --> 01:29:01,400
Speaker 2: for is the stagger. This is the distance side to

1804
01:29:01,479 --> 01:29:05,519
Speaker 2: side between the tracks on a mature buck body. Excuse me,

1805
01:29:05,640 --> 01:29:08,080
Speaker 2: on a mature buck, this distance will be eight inches.

1806
01:29:08,439 --> 01:29:10,920
Speaker 2: This measurement is an indication of how wide a buck's

1807
01:29:10,920 --> 01:29:13,519
Speaker 2: body is and another indication of how much he might weigh.

1808
01:29:14,120 --> 01:29:16,639
Speaker 2: As a buck mature is, his body and chest get wider.

1809
01:29:17,000 --> 01:29:19,040
Speaker 2: If you find a truck a track with a twelve

1810
01:29:19,080 --> 01:29:21,840
Speaker 2: inch stagger, you are looking at an old mossy horned

1811
01:29:21,840 --> 01:29:24,479
Speaker 2: bucks track. The last thing I look for is that

1812
01:29:24,520 --> 01:29:27,599
Speaker 2: the buck is dragging his feet in the snow. Mature

1813
01:29:27,640 --> 01:29:29,720
Speaker 2: bucks have a tendency to drag their feet, and the

1814
01:29:29,760 --> 01:29:32,200
Speaker 2: older they get, the more they drag them. I call

1815
01:29:32,280 --> 01:29:35,720
Speaker 2: these old bucks cross country skiers. These bucks drag their

1816
01:29:35,720 --> 01:29:38,160
Speaker 2: feet so much, even in an inch of snow. That

1817
01:29:38,280 --> 01:29:40,160
Speaker 2: is when you see the tracks, it looks like someone

1818
01:29:40,280 --> 01:29:42,679
Speaker 2: was skiing through the woods. I can assure you I'll

1819
01:29:42,720 --> 01:29:44,679
Speaker 2: never walk past one of those tracks.

1820
01:29:45,280 --> 01:29:47,599
Speaker 3: All right. So much more you can take from Hale.

1821
01:29:47,520 --> 01:29:50,120
Speaker 2: On these books or the other resources I meant I mentioned,

1822
01:29:50,280 --> 01:29:53,880
Speaker 2: but hopefully there's something to get you started and intrigued

1823
01:29:54,120 --> 01:29:56,599
Speaker 2: in what you can take from studying the snow.

1824
01:29:57,200 --> 01:29:59,080
Speaker 3: So there is what.

1825
01:29:59,160 --> 01:30:03,639
Speaker 2: Is hopefully a helpful high level overview of the late

1826
01:30:03,680 --> 01:30:08,240
Speaker 2: season conditions to expect how all these things impact deer,

1827
01:30:08,960 --> 01:30:13,799
Speaker 2: the general approach to the learn, wait and then strike

1828
01:30:13,960 --> 01:30:17,840
Speaker 2: approach to late season hunting, and then a couple alternative

1829
01:30:17,880 --> 01:30:21,479
Speaker 2: ideas to consider as these weeks go on. And I

1830
01:30:21,520 --> 01:30:23,519
Speaker 2: guess I'll leave you just one final thing, and this

1831
01:30:23,560 --> 01:30:26,280
Speaker 2: is similar to what I mentioned in November, and I

1832
01:30:26,320 --> 01:30:28,600
Speaker 2: think it is especially important here at the end of

1833
01:30:28,600 --> 01:30:35,400
Speaker 2: the year, which is remembering what makes this whole thing fun.

1834
01:30:35,840 --> 01:30:38,519
Speaker 2: And the late season is a perfect time to lean

1835
01:30:38,560 --> 01:30:41,160
Speaker 2: into that, because if you're like me, once you get

1836
01:30:41,160 --> 01:30:43,800
Speaker 2: to December or January, you have been grinding at this

1837
01:30:43,840 --> 01:30:47,000
Speaker 2: thing for many, many weeks and months. You're probably exhausted.

1838
01:30:47,040 --> 01:30:50,760
Speaker 2: You've probably been beaten down. You've probably been on the

1839
01:30:50,800 --> 01:30:54,680
Speaker 2: wrong side of the equation many many more times than none. Right,

1840
01:30:55,120 --> 01:30:57,960
Speaker 2: even the very best hunters in the world still, you know,

1841
01:30:58,439 --> 01:31:00,720
Speaker 2: they come out on the losing end nine percent of

1842
01:31:00,760 --> 01:31:03,519
Speaker 2: the time. So when it comes to this part of

1843
01:31:03,520 --> 01:31:07,000
Speaker 2: the season, it's very easy to be disheartened.

1844
01:31:07,040 --> 01:31:09,120
Speaker 3: It's very easy to want to give up. It's very

1845
01:31:09,160 --> 01:31:10,920
Speaker 3: easy to not enjoy.

1846
01:31:10,680 --> 01:31:13,320
Speaker 2: Those cold, nasty days out there in the tree. So

1847
01:31:13,439 --> 01:31:17,360
Speaker 2: because of that, my suggestion to you is double down

1848
01:31:17,439 --> 01:31:20,800
Speaker 2: on the things that do bring you joy as a

1849
01:31:20,840 --> 01:31:24,719
Speaker 2: deer hunter. For me, that means taking my kids out more.

1850
01:31:25,120 --> 01:31:28,160
Speaker 2: The late season is when I get my kids, my

1851
01:31:28,200 --> 01:31:31,080
Speaker 2: two sons out and hunt a lot. This is when

1852
01:31:31,120 --> 01:31:34,920
Speaker 2: I really focus on dough hunts. It's a great time

1853
01:31:35,120 --> 01:31:37,400
Speaker 2: to kill those before the season ends. We got to

1854
01:31:37,400 --> 01:31:39,840
Speaker 2: do We've got to do our part as managers. But

1855
01:31:39,880 --> 01:31:43,400
Speaker 2: it's also you know, when the mature bucks have been

1856
01:31:43,680 --> 01:31:47,160
Speaker 2: seriously you know, limited, and how many are left, all

1857
01:31:47,160 --> 01:31:50,360
Speaker 2: of a sudden, you can create a target rich environment

1858
01:31:50,439 --> 01:31:52,920
Speaker 2: that you wouldn't have had otherwise by setting your sights

1859
01:31:52,960 --> 01:31:55,360
Speaker 2: on dos. So it just makes every hunt more exciting

1860
01:31:55,720 --> 01:31:58,599
Speaker 2: and more you know, raises your expectations for every hunt.

1861
01:31:59,680 --> 01:32:03,439
Speaker 2: It's easier to deal with meat and processing and all

1862
01:32:03,479 --> 01:32:05,160
Speaker 2: that because you've got the colder whether you need, you

1863
01:32:05,160 --> 01:32:06,519
Speaker 2: can hang a deer up and leave it for a

1864
01:32:06,520 --> 01:32:08,800
Speaker 2: while where you can wait until you get several deer

1865
01:32:08,800 --> 01:32:10,920
Speaker 2: and then process them all at one time. So from

1866
01:32:10,920 --> 01:32:14,519
Speaker 2: that perspective, it's a great time to shoot does. I

1867
01:32:14,600 --> 01:32:18,400
Speaker 2: also highly recommend doing whatever you can to include your

1868
01:32:18,400 --> 01:32:20,840
Speaker 2: family and friends during your late season hunts. This is

1869
01:32:20,880 --> 01:32:23,280
Speaker 2: a great time to not only bring your kids out,

1870
01:32:23,280 --> 01:32:25,719
Speaker 2: but plan to hunt with your dad or your grandpa,

1871
01:32:25,840 --> 01:32:28,839
Speaker 2: or go to the family deer camper, invite your buddies

1872
01:32:28,840 --> 01:32:31,160
Speaker 2: to your hunting property. That usually you just focus on

1873
01:32:31,240 --> 01:32:33,160
Speaker 2: trying to kill a big deer, but maybe now is

1874
01:32:33,200 --> 01:32:35,320
Speaker 2: the time to have everybody over for a big group

1875
01:32:35,360 --> 01:32:37,360
Speaker 2: dough hunt. That's the thing I do every year in

1876
01:32:37,400 --> 01:32:39,799
Speaker 2: the late season, kind of around Christmas or New Year's.

1877
01:32:39,920 --> 01:32:42,559
Speaker 2: It's become a very fun tradition. It's a great way

1878
01:32:42,600 --> 01:32:45,840
Speaker 2: again to be a good manager, but also to you know,

1879
01:32:45,960 --> 01:32:50,320
Speaker 2: just enjoy the camaraderie and the community that hunting builds

1880
01:32:50,320 --> 01:32:53,280
Speaker 2: for us. That sometimes we get a little bit too

1881
01:32:53,320 --> 01:32:56,040
Speaker 2: focused on the deer to take advantage of so don't

1882
01:32:56,080 --> 01:33:00,639
Speaker 2: do that. Make sure to enjoy these special days here

1883
01:33:00,840 --> 01:33:04,200
Speaker 2: as deer season wraps up, with your friends, with your family,

1884
01:33:04,720 --> 01:33:08,000
Speaker 2: with your kids, get out there, enjoy the heck out

1885
01:33:08,000 --> 01:33:12,840
Speaker 2: of it. We have planned for, dreamed about, obsessed over

1886
01:33:12,920 --> 01:33:15,280
Speaker 2: hunting season for all of these months, and then all

1887
01:33:15,280 --> 01:33:17,800
Speaker 2: of a sudden it came, and then just like that,

1888
01:33:18,200 --> 01:33:23,320
Speaker 2: it's almost done. So soak it up, really, really squeeze

1889
01:33:23,439 --> 01:33:25,679
Speaker 2: the marrow out of the bone that is these last

1890
01:33:25,720 --> 01:33:26,760
Speaker 2: few weeks of the year.

1891
01:33:27,320 --> 01:33:29,519
Speaker 3: I'm wishing you well. I hope this sets you.

1892
01:33:29,560 --> 01:33:32,280
Speaker 2: Up for a great last act or a great final

1893
01:33:32,320 --> 01:33:35,360
Speaker 2: part of the year. Hopeing there's something here that's given

1894
01:33:35,400 --> 01:33:37,840
Speaker 2: you a new idea or inspired you to get out

1895
01:33:37,840 --> 01:33:40,120
Speaker 2: there and tried just a little bit more, to bring

1896
01:33:40,200 --> 01:33:43,439
Speaker 2: some friends or bring your family out, because the late

1897
01:33:43,479 --> 01:33:45,760
Speaker 2: season can be great, and I'm hoping it is for you.

1898
01:33:46,080 --> 01:33:48,960
Speaker 2: So thank you for tuning in, and until next time,

1899
01:33:49,360 --> 01:33:51,479
Speaker 2: stay wired to Hunt.