Late season buck HELP PLZ!!!!

Hi everybody,

want to start off by saying thank you for any help in advance.

Ive been hunting for 4-5 years now and continuously run into the same issue… nocturnal bucks!!!

every year I have a decent amount of bucks coming to corn and apples which I keep stocked but it’s only ever after dark. 4-6. This year I have a 10 at one location and at the other I have a 8/9, a 6, a 4, a spike. The odd time I’ll get one on camera within like 10 minutes of the half hour shooting window… but I’m usually working obviously.

does are plentiful at both stands… up to 5 doe/fawn mix at a time on a single picture. I don’t know if it’s the same ones feeding at both stands. I’m not sure exactly total how many are feeding off my piles.

ive tried doing research on how to proceed with my situation but to no avail… other than tracks in the snow I can’t find much sign. Most of the videos on YouTube which I can find are American and I’m not sure what relates and what doesn’t.

so my main questions with the end of my hunting season being this coming Sunday evening would be…

- how should I proceed? Am I screwed and should just sit on the bait piles and hope one slips up this year?

EDIT: if anybody knows of a place I could find all the right information and how it relates to hunting in Ontario that would be helpful!! I’m in zone 55A. It could be information from early season, to run, to bedding, late season, off season. ANYTHING helps!!!

thank you.

have you tried different spots in the bush you hunt, to late for this season, unless you start bow hunting. I know in the bush I hunt it took me years to find a couple of spots where the deer traveled during the day. I now see deer pretty much any time of the daylight. I don't have my cameras turn on at night as I figure I can't shoot them anyway, so they come on for legal shooting or close to it. When I first started hunting this bush I never saw a deer, now I see them all the time in legal shooting times. So my only suggestion is to move your cameras to different spots and see if you can find where they are moving in legal times.

Oh and welcome. nice to see someone asking for advise not locations. Good luck someone on here will probably have much better information than I do

Mature bucks know the game, they have been shot at over bait piles before.

Try hunting 60 yards downwind of your bait, hunt high in the tree, practice good scent control, and most importantly: only hunt when the wind is in your favour.

American info is useful. Deer in the US are the same we have up here.

Big bucks are smart, and the problem you are having isn't unique to you.

Some tips:
- figure out where the buck is coming from to your bait and hunt his staging area, not the bait pile
- double check that the your path to your stand has the wind in your favour (in 55A area, this means an approach from the south or east)
- never hunt your stand with a bad wind
- turn down the heat at your site - don't hunt it more than once a week
- if you have a cell cam, stay away until you see the buck show up in daylight hours

When you're getting near the end of the season - last couple of days - likely sit on the bait pile as as much as you can. Looks like you're going to have about +4 and rainy for the weekend, so not an ideal situation. The real time to be out is when a front moves through - like last Sunday/Monday - but I'm guessing you were at work then (me too).

BTW - No guarantees. I'm in 55B. I've done all of the above and only visit once a week to restock and the big buck I'm seeing still only shows up middle-of-the night.

Not much to add to this except to say the weather plays a lot in hunting sucess. Back 30 years ago by this time of year we could have feet of snow and very cold temperatures. Those elusive bucks would still be in to your bait piles as they need to put on weight after a rought rutting period. Bucks are so sneaky that they are probably moving around during the day hours, but it takes a lot of detective work to figure out where. Most of us who are not living on the land year round have much more challenges in relation to time to figure these things out.

Werner's reply is pretty much bang on if you had more time. However, with the end of your season at hand, I'd throw caution to the wind and pick up and follow one of his fresh tracks in the snow (based on camera proving the track is his and hopefully it's big enough compared to others to be able to keep on it when mixed with others). It might be an all day stroll (I'm assuming you are hunting crown land and can wander at will) but be ready for a snap shot especially when the tracks turn downwind. Ideally you can see the tracks far enough ahead so that if they do turn downwind, you can parallel them at a bit of a distance rather than be right on top of them.

If nothing else, it will give you the info you need as to where he goes that will help for next season,

I haven't deer hunted in December in a very long time. I have been tagged out for the last 5 years by the first controlled hunt. :)

I did however party hunt with a family member that still had his buck tag over the Christmas break a few years ago.. Cold and miserable and zero deer to be seen...

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Originally Posted by bellerivercrossbowhunter

I haven't deer hunted in December in a very long time. I have been tagged out for the last 5 years by the first controlled hunt. :)

I did however party hunt with a family member that still had his buck tag over the Christmas break a few years ago.. Cold and miserable and zero deer to be seen...

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that was very helpful… thank you.

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Originally Posted by Jlabelle92

EDIT: if anybody knows of a place I could find all the right information and how it relates to hunting in Ontario that would be helpful!! I’m in zone 55A. It could be information from early season, to run, to bedding, late season, off season. ANYTHING helps!!!

thank you.

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Pick up a book called 'Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails' By John Eberhart, he hunts Michigan which is close to Ontario in terms of deer habitat and hunting pressure. He has U-tube videos also but they are not connected together like chapters in the book, for someone just getting started his videos may seem like a pieces of a jigsaw puzzle where the watcher does not know what the whole picture looks like. The book puts it all together. He is over the top in his hunting strategies as he targets record book deer antlers, but if you do 50% of what he says you will be successful in putting meat on the table. For a nocturnal mature deer like you described showing up on the trail camera, you will need to put in the same effort as he does. For me, I fit into the 50% effort and I usually fill my tag.

Good luck in your hunting.

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Originally Posted by Marker

Pick up a book called 'Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails' By John Eberhart, he hunts Michigan which is close to Ontario in terms of deer habitat and hunting pressure. He has U-tube videos also but they are not connected together like chapters in the book, for someone just getting started his videos may seem like a pieces of a jigsaw puzzle where the watcher does not know what the whole picture looks like. The book puts it all together. He is over the top in his hunting strategies as he targets record book deer antlers, but if you do 50% of what he says you will be successful in putting meat on the table. For a nocturnal mature deer like you described showing up on the trail camera, you will need to put in the same effort as he does. For me, I fit into the 50% effort and I usually fill my tag.

Good luck in your hunting.

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That's a good reference book. Deer hunting info from Maine or Michigan (particularly the UP) has more in common with this part of Ontario (55A) than hunting info from farm country in southern Ontario would. But don't get too hung up on the specifics of Ontario deer. It's not like the Ontario deer are different.

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Originally Posted by werner.reiche

That's a good reference book. Deer hunting info from Maine or Michigan (particularly the UP) has more in common with this part of Ontario (55A) than hunting info from farm country in southern Ontario would. But don't get too hung up on the specifics of Ontario deer. It's not like the Ontario deer are different.

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I agree deer behaviour is deer behaviour, but they do adapt. I hunt 79 and 87, never hunted big woods deer so I cant speak to that. In 79 there are a lot of small parcels around 10-20 acres, I estimate 50% of those are hunted so assuming a deer's core range is 640 acres that means any deer in 79 is being exposed to multiple hunters. Adjacent to 79 is 87, this is where the lot sizes increase to 100's and one I know of 1000's of acres per owner. I am quite sure there are deer in 87 that live their entire lives without seeing a hunter, and they behave very differently. Any deer big or small taken in 79 is a trophy in my opinion.

It's almost a catch 22 with this little of the season left
in my opinion you need to know if the deer live (on your property or on the neighboring land) if you have snow you can walk the perimeter hoping to catch tracks. here comes the catch 22 is you could potentially blow the deer out of an area if they have experienced human pressure and associate your scent with danger.
if you know where they live if the wind allows you set up on the highest traveled rout between where they live (bedding) and the bait. you probably won't get a ton of chances using this technique but in my opinion this is the best way to shoot a late season buck

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Originally Posted by DanE

It's almost a catch 22 with this little of the season left
in my opinion you need to know if the deer live (on your property or on the neighboring land) if you have snow you can walk the perimeter hoping to catch tracks. here comes the catch 22 is you could potentially blow the deer out of an area if they have experienced human pressure and associate your scent with danger.
if you know where they live if the wind allows you set up on the highest traveled rout between where they live (bedding) and the bait. you probably won't get a ton of chances using this technique but in my opinion this is the best way to shoot a late season buck

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yea I think because of the rain coming on Sunday I’m going to try and sit out by the feed till then and then on Sunday after a morning sit I’m gonna try and follow a fresh track and see if I can narrow in on one.

probably won’t get one but because of the rain coming nothing is going to be moving anyway so I may as well try my luck with the rain as cover.

rain can work to your benefit. they will still move around as I have shot deer in the rain just moving around, but agree they tend to not move as much , so going for a really slow quiet walk may be just the trick. Keep an I to the sides as I believe they will leave a trail then hook back a bit to watch for anything following them, this could be your chance.

Take up water foul. lol.

Don’t count on the weather forecast. You may get a stoppage of rain at the perfect time.

From the sounds of it you have been placing bait all season and probably have made sure there is always bait in place. It may sound counter intuitive but use less bait and let it run out semi regularly. If there is always food at a particular spot the deer figure that out pretty quickly. Once they know there is always food somewhere they often become nocturnal as they know it is a sure thing and why risk going in the daylight. Letting the bait run out regularly makes it unpredictable to the deer and they will check it at different times as it will be first come first serve and create competition for a limited resource.

Deer are pretty much creatures of habit. If you can tell which way they are entering your bait pile via your trail cams I'd hunt maybe 50 to 75 yds towards the area they are walking in from making sure you set up on the downwind side of where he'll come in from. Some times they'll hang up 25 to 50 yds down from your bait waiting for low light or even dark. Getting in there prior to them wandering in is a must... Good luck....

And I agree with what Species said...

One thing to add to those good remarks-DO NOT,ever ,walk on deer paths towards your stand/bait.Regardless if doe trail ,buck trail or whatever.
I see this mistake made countless time,and wondering,what the hunter has been thinking.
Go around,few 100 extra yards counts for nothing for YOU in the big scheme of things.

if you absolutely MUST use the path,then do it very short distance,very very sparingly.

If absolutely need to -try only to cross the path-but try to cross on the spot where you CAN shoot the deer,standing and wandering(for a very short time)what next

it amazing to me how some people set up stands. few years ago there were 2 other guys allowed to hunt where I hunt. they put a tree stand up between my to shooting lanes, where I have a ground blind, which they were well aware of. there was a deer trail that crossed both shooting lands. they put the tree stand up right in the middle of the deer trail, the ladder was right in the middle of the trail. they walked in the trail to get to the stand. needless to say there was no deer even seen at that location that year and it was the most productive spot and is again as they finally moved the stand. So yes do not walk on the deer trail, you can cross it but don't use it because it is easy to get to where you want to go.

A little unrelated but during the controlled hunt in 92B this year I watched a coyote out in the field. I could have easily shot him but decided to pass because I didn't feel like re-loading.. lol
Anyway, when the coyote hit the path, I walked in on he stopped on a dime and bolted out of there. It's amazing how good the sense of smell is on deer and coyotes.

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Originally Posted by bellerivercrossbowhunter

A little unrelated but during the controlled hunt in 92B this year I watched a coyote out in the field. I could have easily shot him but decided to pass because I didn't feel like re-loading.. lol
Anyway, when the coyote hit the path, I walked in on he stopped on a dime and bolted out of there. It's amazing how good the sense of smell is on deer and coyotes.

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When a dog can come across a trail (cross track) left by another critter 24 hours earlier (or a human) and immediately know the direction of travel it shows how much we as humans do not comprehend the world of scent.

Scent has been described as colours of a rainbow, with red being the hotest trail and gradually loosing colour until it turns black about three days later.

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Originally Posted by Jlabelle92

Hi everybody,

want to start off by saying thank you for any help in advance.

Ive been hunting for 4-5 years now and continuously run into the same issue… nocturnal bucks!!!

every year I have a decent amount of bucks coming to corn and apples which I keep stocked but it’s only ever after dark. 4-6. This year I have a 10 at one location and at the other I have a 8/9, a 6, a 4, a spike. The odd time I’ll get one on camera within like 10 minutes of the half hour shooting window… but I’m usually working obviously.

does are plentiful at both stands… up to 5 doe/fawn mix at a time on a single picture. I don’t know if it’s the same ones feeding at both stands. I’m not sure exactly total how many are feeding off my piles.

ive tried doing research on how to proceed with my situation but to no avail… other than tracks in the snow I can’t find much sign. Most of the videos on YouTube which I can find are American and I’m not sure what relates and what doesn’t.

so my main questions with the end of my hunting season being this coming Sunday evening would be…

- how should I proceed? Am I screwed and should just sit on the bait piles and hope one slips up this year?

EDIT: if anybody knows of a place I could find all the right information and how it relates to hunting in Ontario that would be helpful!! I’m in zone 55A. It could be information from early season, to run, to bedding, late season, off season. ANYTHING helps!!!

thank you.

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Some information to ponder.


https://www.deer.psu.edu/one-square-mile/


Penn State Deer-Forest Study (psu.edu)

Using bait to attract bucks during daylight hours can be an exercise in futility. Hunting small properties (<80 acres) can also be tough as a bucks home range is considerably larger.

A good way to increase your odds is to break down the area that you hunt by determining what areas are used by deer and why. Air photos, satellite images, topo maps, and on the ground scouting in the post season can really help. Think of it as a process of elimination. You also need to consider the land around your property to get the big picture. What you are trying to do is figure out feeding, bedding, travel corridors and ways to exploit those areas. Increase your odds by hunting the right spots at the right time.

I wonder if he saw any deer.

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Originally Posted by glen

I wonder if he saw any deer.

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I did not. Went for a walk at one point, saw a lot and learned more. It’s a win for me.

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Originally Posted by Gilroy

Some information to ponder.


https://www.deer.psu.edu/one-square-mile/


Penn State Deer-Forest Study (psu.edu)

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Good info in the first link. Particularly the paragraph about rifle season. This is what I call the "hunkering down and riding it out" behavior.

"The Deer Rifle Season
This is where it gets interesting. Of course, the rifle season is only 2 weeks long so you would expect the home range to be smaller just because it’s only a partial month.

But home ranges are half their size – they shrink 60% for males and 48% for females.

And look at this – both buck and doe home ranges shrink to about 100 acres during daytime (the two points don’t even separate on the graph because they’re almost identical)! Of course, if you watched the movies from the rifle season in our previous posts this makes perfect sense."

The second article - I can only excuse the writer by assuming he's not a deer hunter. He's missed the point. Most hunters hunt in and around feeding areas and deer feeding patterns. The buck behaviour described isn't feeding. It's a rutting buck travelling. You could get one these guys on a buck trail - but you might sit all week over the trail and not see a thing. Re: feeding - they do become nocturnal. That isn't a hunter misconception. Almost every deer hunter has run into this after the first few days of the season and with the widespread use of trail cams - there is more photo evidence of this than you could imagine. More than my 1000 photos a month can handle.

The term “nocturnal” can be misunderstood and improperly used to describe the lack of buck sightings. Certainly some buck activity/behaviours e.g feeding in open fields might only occur once darkness sets in. However bucks do move during the day, but probably in forest/brush habitat where they feel more secure. An abundance or steady human encroachment into a bucks core area can cause it to avoid those areas and move to areas that are quieter. People often say things like “The bucks are/have gone nocturnal as I only get trail cam photos of bucks at night”. In reality, those bucks are likely somewhere else during the day. It’s important to know that a buck’s home range can be 640 acres or more and the boundaries can very irregular. For example, a buck that lives along a river might have a home range several miles long.

Deer are crepuscular animals, meaning that they are most active during twilight hours i.e. late evening/early morning and by their nature, they don’t move in the open that much during the day anyway. A deer’s daily cycle usually consists of feeding and bedding several times a day plus travelling from the dining room to the bedroom. A deer has a 4-chambered stomach which means that it can quickly stuff its paunch then retire to a safe and quiet area to chew its cud. A deer has to bed down to chew its cud in order to complete the digestive cycle. Despite being crepuscular, deer will feed and move during the day; however, it will only do so in areas where it feels safe… often in the woods and out of sight from hunters.

Sorry for the rambling.