The white-tailed deer hunting season will be ending shortly, so there’s no better time than right now to employ a few late season deer hunting tips and tactics to bag that last-second buck. In Texas, many hunters take time off between Christmas and New Year’s in anticipation of putting deer on the ground, but whitetail bucks that have made it this far into the deer hunting season are well educated. Still, no need to panic. Careful planning combined with the wise use of time in the field can still result in a successful deer hunt.

The hunting season has been on for a while and the deer are most definitely in the know. Patterns are extremely important to them. Not so much their patterns, but the patterns of hunters. A deer knows that the sound of a four wheeler running or a truck door closing means a hunter is in the area. Deer will stick with moving very early, before sunrise, and then after mid-morning, when most hunters have long left the field. It’s time to change things up. First, be quiet. (more…)

With the official start of summer almost upon us and whitetail bucks rapidly putting on new antler growth, it is never to early to speculate about the fall white-tailed deer hunting seasons in Texas. Unfortunately for everyone, dry weather has kept a damper on many deer and habitat management practices to date, but poor habitat conditions may help hunters across the state this fall.

Most folks know that dry weather is not good for wildlife. Deer hunters are also aware that low rainfall equates to below average antler sizes for bucks relying on natural forage to get them through the year. That being said, it comes as no surprise that severe drought across the state has dimmed what usually is a bright outlook for white-tailed deer quantity and quality. (more…)

White-tailed deer management is about controlling the age, genetics, and nutrition of a deer herd. These components are the nuts and bolts of producing and growing big, healthy deer. Hunters understand that whitetail, like other game animals, are a renewable natural resource that can be used for both recreation and food. This is exactly why we enjoy getting out in the woods and doing a little deer hunting each fall. Although proper doe harvest is essential for maintaining a deer population within the carrying capacity of the habitat, let’s face it, hunters really look forward to hunting for big ole mature bucks.

There are several strategies that can be used to bag a buck, but for the most part hunters are limited to hunting food, water, travel areas, or deer sign. Whitetail bucks often leave visual evidence of where they have been in the form of rubs and scrapes. Of the two, scrapes can predict the location that a buck is likely to return. Despite the fact that many mature bucks check scrapes under the cover of darkness, hunting scrapes after a rain could increase your chances of crossing paths with a big whitetail buck. (more…)

Fall is here and the food plots are in the ground, so except for conducting some controlled burns in the near future, the only thing left to do deer management wise is to harvest and record the deer we need (or would like) to remove. Though most deer hunters hunt whitetail by setting up over a food source, whether it be a feeder or a food plot, there are more active ways to bag a buck. There really are only two ways to go: Either you can go to the deer, or you can bring the deer to you.

Though many hunters have read about rattling bucks in, or have seen it on TV, many have yet to give this method a shot. Well, at least on a regular basis. I suspect many hunters have picked up a set of antlers and have at least attempted to rattle up a buck, but their lack of success caused them to quickly dismiss the effectiveness of antler rattling. Those antlers then went back to collecting dust at camp. So as effective as rattling can be, most of time it just will not work. But when it’s hot, it’s hot! (more…)

The General Deer Hunting Season has ended across much of Texas, but whitetail hunters still have an opportunity to take some deer during the Special Late General Season for spike bucks and antlerless deer. Although deer are very wary right now after a full season of being hunted, the late season gives deer managers one last chance to harvest the few remaining deer needed to achieve their deer harvest goals. Now, not all Texas counties have a Late Season in place for white-tailed deer, but most 5 deer counties do have the special season that runs from January 5-18. Make sure to review your county’s deer hunting regulations before heading out into the field.

As valuable as Texas’ Late Season may be for some hunters,  it’s not the only option for harvesting white-tailed deer outside the General Season. For deer managers looking for some additional flexibility, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has the Managed Lands Deer Program (MLDP) that not only allows for an early start in some cases, for the early harvests of does, spikes, and other undesirable bucks, but for an extended season that runs until the end of February. I would recommend that any landowner interested in sound deer harvest and habitat management look into the specifics of the MLDP program. The winter weather is cold as I write, so deer are moving. Get out there and take advantage of Texas’ late season — and pray for rain! 

In Texas, most of the white-tailed deer are on the tail-end of the rut. There are a few areas of the state that are notable exceptions, with the south Texas rut just warming up. However, deer in most parts of the state have finished the first and most important breeding cycle. Does that were not bred during their first cycle will come back into heat 28 days later, so bucks will continue to search out these ladies. But even if the rut is almost over and only a single un-bred doe exisits in your area, there are still some tactics you can use to be successful at late season, post rut whitetail.

Once the primary rut is over, does will search out winter food sources and start to re-group. Early season hunting strategy usually calls for hunters setting up along scrapes or rub lines, but the success rate of this technique drops rapidly after the majority fo the rut as occurred. Rather than looking for buck sign, look for signs of does. Find the portion of the property where you hunt that has the highest concentration of does. Go there. This is probably not the place where your stand is located. Deer can pattern hunters just as easy, if not easier, than hunters can pattern deer. After all, the deer are out there all of the time! (more…)

When it comes to timing your deer hunting activity, every deer hunter knows that hunting during the rut is a great time to be in the woods. Sure, this can a great way to harvest a white-tailed buck because during the rut bucks can be downright stupid. In addition to bucks having only one thing on their mind, they may stray up to several miles from their summer range in search of does or chasing does to breed. And as exciting as this may be, there is another way to bag your buck that can take some of the guess work out of the equation.  

The secret is patterning the movement those early season bucks way before the breeding season kicks off. Early season bucks are motivated by safety and food. Bucks feel rather safe during the early fall because for 9 months no one has bothered them — no hunters in the woods, no funny scents, no 4-wheelers running around both before and after dark, and nothing strange at all. It has been quiet. 

It’s during this time of year that whitetail bucks find food sources and eat in preparation of the breeding season and winter. They may be hitting a feeder, a food plot, or an ag field, but they are all the same as far as you are concerned. If you can figure out a buck’s pre-rut pattern you drastically improve your chances of bagging that big boy. Now as I mentioned earlier the rut can cause bucks to travel long distances, so once the rut begins the buck you may have had your heart set on may no longer be in the area, so why wait? You don’t want him throwing caution to the wind somewhere else now do you? (more…)

Looking to harvest a good white-tailed buck? Who isn’t? I’m going to first assume that you have a place to hunt and know the terrain of your hunting property. If not, this is critical information you need to know, so get out there. In addition to learning the lay of the land, another one of a hunter’s first objectives should be to determine whether or not the hunting area holds any sizable bucks. And I use the term “sizable” as defined by you. To some, sizable may go hand-in-hand with the term “mature buck” while others may put a number to it, such as 140 Boone and Crockett points.

Big bucks are territorial. You can find these areas by looking for both scrapes and rubs, but scrapes are really what you want to be looking for and I will explain why. Other than how they are made, do you know how scrapes and rubs differ? For one, it’s seldom that one particular buck rub will be worked again later in the year. In fact, a certain tree may be rubbed in consecutive years by a particular buck, but seldom is it ever worked again during that same year. This is not the case with buck scrapes because they will often be revisited and reworked throughout the breeding season. Keep in mind that I am not saying that all whitetail scrapes will be revisited, but the odds are more in your favor than against you. (more…)