It is early December and the main gun season is over here in Wisconsin. The rut is winding down to the post rut stages and the deer are starting to fall into more natural patterns again. The does are back to normal feeding routines of bedding close to food sources and trying to put on weight for the upcoming winter. The bucks are still active trying to find the last receptive doe or any that may be entering a second cycle. This can be a great time to hunt but you may run into some nasty weather here in southern Wisconsin. It may be 50 or it may be 0 and snowing. But don’t give up on the hunting now though. There are still plenty of deer and many big bucks left to be taken.

But now that you have decided to hunt late season what techniques will you use? Do you try to stalk, sit in a tree stands, ground blind, or do drives?

I still do a little stalking in the late season but it can be very difficult especially with a bow. The deer are pretty weary after the regular gun season and can become very skittish for a while. I tend to stay away from this technique until later in the month when things have settled down a bit. But if I am going to stalk it will usually be in a standing corn field as the deer will bed down right in the corn field. It provides great cover and all the food they want to put on the extra weight for winter. In this technique I will slowly peak my head and broad head through a row of corn looking both directions before stepping into the row. Once deer is spotted I will back my head out of the row and draw my bow before entering the row. I will usually do this technique on windy days as the corn can be very noisy.

Another stalking technique is in the woods. It is important here to walk very slowly and use the available cover to aid in hiding your presence. I will walk slowly from tree to tree to aid in not only hiding me from the deer but to give me a block in which to draw behind. I tend to sneak up to a tree and then look around it for the presence of deer. I move as slow as possible not to tip off my location to the deer. Another trick I will use when stalking is to use my turkey diaphragm call as I walk to make it sound like I am a turkey feeding along. This does help relax the deer a little bit and has aided in allowing me to get closer to several deer.

I do a lot of tree stand hunting in the late season as I have many stands already setup from the early bow season near food sources. As long as you still have a good food source you will find most of the deer. The does will be close to the food and the bucks will still be searching for a couple of weeks yet. Once the bucks stop looking for receptive does they will be in the food source as well. The wind is one of the most important things to consider when hunting the food source so make sure you have several options to use the wind to your advantage.

Ground blinds will be used in much the same was a tree stand except you have to be more careful with their placement as you are now eye level to the deer. But trails leading to food sources will usually be your best bet. You may have to setup in some thicker cover and only have a couple small shooting lanes but again the wind is the key factor. Set up near a trail but use the wind to your advantage, always staying on the downwind side of the trail.

One method that is very popular in the late season is deer drives. Deer drives can be very successful but can be extremely difficult with the bow. Many deer on drives will be running and it is not wise to shoot at a running deer as shot placement will be very difficult. Deer drives can be done successfully if done right though. Usually you will put standers (the people designated to stand on deer trails and wait for the deer to come to them) on the know escape routes of the deer and major trails. Try to use terrain breaks where deer may stop or pause before continuing on such as a ditch or where woods meet a field where they may hesitate to survey the land in front of them for danger.

The drivers have to move a lot slower than they do with a gun. They must move slowly and zigzag through the woods or area that is being driven. The drivers’ moving slowly is the key to success because if they move too fast the deer will run instead of just walk out of the woods. You don’t want to scare them just push them along. If a driver moves slowly enough often times they will get a shot on a deer that is bedded.

Late season is a fantastic time to be out in search of harvesting a deer. So once gun season is over don’t hesitate to go back out because many of the big bucks have not been harvested and may become more accessible as they will start feeding to prepare for the long winter ahead.

Good luck and don’t forget to introduce someone new to the wonderful outdoor lifestyle so they can be enjoyed for years to come.