SI Whitetail 2011 Episode 5: Junior

SI Whitetail 2011 Episode 4

SI Whitetail 2011 Episode 3

SI Whitetail 2011 Episode 2

Blizzard Bucks and the Secondary Rut

We are getting some pretty heavy snow this evening throughout most of Indiana. I love hunting in the snow. It is a change of scenery after the first 70 days of the season.

Winter hunting centers around one thing. Food! All deer and bucks especially after the rut are looking to hang out somewhere close to food and filter in and eat in the evening. I try to find a heavily used trail into a grain field (usually corn) and sit on the southeast side as the prevailing winds are usually from the northwest this time of year. Does will generally make their way into the field much earlier than the big bucks (much like early season) and as shooting light is fading the mature bucks will get on their feet. If you're lucky, he'll use your trail.

Because of the heat and drought, a lot of the corn was picked very early in Indiana this year. That means that a lot of what the combines missed has already been eaten. The good news, though, is that the deer will be more concentrated into fields that still have food left. Think back to October about which fields were latest to get picked. This seems like the best place to start in my area.

I've found that this type of hunting takes a guess and check strategy. Find a good trail, set up, and see where they come out. If they come out on another trail, I may need to move. Another way to go about it may be to scope the field one evening and see what kind of action you see and make note of where the deer enter the field.

In areas with a higher doe population, this period in early and mid December can produce some pretty good rut activity. It's not quite the rut, but a lot of yearling does will come in to estrus in this period and bucks won't let them go unbothered.

A buddy of mine has had a big buck nearly run him over as it chased does into a corn field twice in the past week. Unfortunately, this happened after shooting light. He has now moved his stand up further into the staging area hoping to get a shot with a little shooting light left.

So if you can brave the cold, this could be a fun final 20 days of the season in Indiana.

Hunt Report December 8th

I bundled up this morning and headed to the "Sanctuary" for a half day hunt. It was going to be a full day, but I ended up getting some tickets for the UK game so I had to get home to get some work done before the game.

It was 8 degrees with a WSW wind. The "Sanctuary" had been flooded earlier this week, so there were still some ice puddles. The pylon, where I wanted to hunt, was surrounded by an ice puddle. I still got in it, but i couldn't get my safety harness over all of my clothes. Like I said, it was 8 degrees! I got down and kicked out a spot in some down timber. Had three does come from the poplars to my east at about 8 o'clock, and a decent 9 pointer followed about ten minutes later. That was really the full extent of the action. I left about 12:30.