Late Season Strategies

    Forty three does and six bucks-all in one afternoon of hunting.  No, it wasn't on a Texas ranch or around bait piles up in Canada.  This is late season archery in central Illinois!  They've been running all over the country side for the past month; first with the rut, then with shotgun seasons.  Now that most hunters are out of the woods and the peak of the rut is past, deer are finally able to catch their breath and recoup some of the energy they've spent.  Add to this a cold snap, and the deer around here are in winter survival mode. 
   

   After hunting light faded Sunday, I hopped in my van and drove around the "block" (back country roads), only to count up all the does and bucks I mentioned above.  Two of the bucks were very nice shooters.  A snow covered backdrop coupled with a bright moon made the deer easy to pick out.  Only a few of the deer were on my hunting property-at the other end from where I was hunting, but I couldn't help but think this time of the year may be the easiest of all to kill a deer-as long as you know what food the deer are after. 

   

    Scouting food sources is really easy this time of year- just as I did yesterday, hop in the car and cruise around back roads right after the sun goes down.   This time of year, deer are more concentrated and gather in larger groups, they tend to gravitate toward fewer food sources (because there are fewer good food sources available this time of year), and their survival mode mentality makes them quite predictable.  Although I guessed wrong when I went hunting last Sunday, I now know the preferred food sources of these deer.

 
   My only regret is that I don't have any late season food plots on this hunting property.  Instead of only having a handful deer on my hunting property last Sunday evening, I could easily attract more than a dozen if I had some winter wheat or brassicus planted.  Not only that, but if my property had the most nutritious, tastiest food available, then I'd have a much better chance of luring one of the two shooter bucks close enough for a shot.  The formula is quite simple: the dominant buck in the area will have his choice of the available food.  If I had the best food on the block, there is a good chance that a dominant buck would be hanging around.
  
   There should be some excellent late season bow hunting coming up in central Illinois over the next few weeks.  The cold isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and the forecast calls for additional snow.  Get out there and find the preferred food sources, and you'll likely get a chance at a deer.  That's my plan anyway.