The Need To Feed

Honey locust pods are another preferred hard mast found in many areas of the country. Deer will hit these hard throughout the fall. Locust pods aren't as attractive as acorns, but deer will eat them when it's convenient.

Don't overlook soft mast, either. In fact, it would be smart to find every berry bush, apple, pear, plum or persimmon tree in your hunting area. All of these will draw bucks like iron filings to a magnet during the early season.

If you are wondering how to identify all of these various trees, log on to the Internet and type in "Trees of Michigan" (or whatever your state may be) in a popular search engine and you'll quickly find several identification guides.

Finally, clue in on agricultural crops in your area. Alfalfa, clover and winter wheat are best in early to mid-fall. Corn and beans, where available, tend to be better during the late season. Barley is another good late season food source in areas where farmers grow it (primarily in the north and northwest).

Once you've located food sources it's time to find a buck. After the regular gun season has been over for at least a week, deer start to calm down and once again venture out into their feeding areas.

This process speeds up in northern latitudes where deer will bunch up near preferred food sources as early as late November. Focus on known feeding areas on the properties you hunt and start looking for a nice buck that's coming in to feed.

You can also get out and scout for sign. Without snow, however, it can be tough to find tracks because winter temperatures can keep the ground frozen solid. Talk to farmers, mailmen and game wardens to find out where concentrations of deer have been spotted.

Keep glassing and looking until you find something interesting. If you get down to the last week of the season without seeing a good buck at a feeding area, you will need to pick the area with the most food and the most sign and take more aggressive action. However, it pays to be patient.

What you see or don't see while glassing feeding areas will give you all the information you need to create the proper strategy. When deer are entering a late season feeding area during legal hunting hours, stand hunting is the best bet. However, if the deer aren't visible during the day--if they are converging on the field after dark--still-hunting is a better option.

The last thing you want to do is barge right in and mess up the spot before you even have a good chance to pattern the deer using it. Remember, these are extremely wary deer. With the first hint of human intrusion, the buck will be back on a nocturnal pattern faster than you can say "wasted tag." If not alarmed, however, the deer are likely to continue to display much the same behavior for several days, at least until there is a major weather change or shift in wind direction.

Choosing a location for your stand is a delicate matter. Bucks won't use the same exact trails to enter their feeding areas each day, (in fact, they don't always come out before dark each day) so you'll have to play it conservatively. With a gun that is a lot easier than it is with a bow. But even at that, late-season hunting is a waiting game.

Make sure that you can get out of the area after shooting time expires without alarming a single deer. If you can't, you've got the wrong stand location.