“The deer season ain’t over until it’s over.” Those aren’t Yogi Berra’s exact words, but the meaning is there.
Many states have seasons that run until the end of January. Texas has a special management season that extends into February. The rut doesn’t get hot until late January in Alabama’s famed Black Belt region.
I hunted a February management season a few years back, and my cull buck was a trophy for a guy that hunts the Mid-Atlantic woods. Many hunters bail on the late season because they believe that most of the biggest bucks are gone, or that the chances of bagging a deer are low. Neil Dougherty is a wildlife habitat expert and tells a different tale in this Outdoor Life post.
With the whitetail rut in the rearview mirror for most of us, you’re likely thinking that the best days of the 2015 deer season are behind you. But that might not be the case. In fact, the coming weeks could actually offer an even better opportunity at filling your tag than you had during “Sweet November.”
Neil Dougherty, a whitetail habitat consultant and author, is one hunter who subscribes to this belief whole-heartedly.
“During the rut, everybody is equal and you’re basically just grinding it out in a tree, hoping that sooner or later a buck will run by you,” Dougherty says. But during the late season, he explained, serious strategy once again can be employed as mature bucks return to consistent patterns and the coming winter conditions force deer to get on their feet… [continued]
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