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.

Next, be flexible. By late season, even young deer realize that bad things can happen to good deer that hang out too close to deer stands and deer feeders. Older deer will be on full alert and will avoid all of them. Instead of jumping into your stand out of habit, find a travel corridor and catch whitetail moving around your setup. Deer move even when you are not seeing them from your stand, they just know how to avoid the average hunter by late season. Deer will not expect you to be somewhere else, out of your stand. Put the wind in your favor and you will see deer.

Another great late season deer hunting tip is to watch the moon. Deer naturally become more nocturnal, feeding during the night, as temperatures drop into the fall and winter, but their nightly movements are greatly reduced during the dark of the moon. Avoid full moon periods and stick with hunting the days around a new moon. This hunting tactic will also work in between nights that are hampered with heavy cloud cover. Whitetail will hold tight overnight, so be in the woods when daylight comes, especially when these conditions coincide with really cold temperatures.

This next hunting tip is a no-brainer, but it works. Look for deer foods. As mentioned previously, deer do not stop traveling altogether, but their movements will be modified late into the deer hunting season. Hunt food sources such as cool season forbs, winter food plots, or even deer feeders at non-traditional times. Whitetail deer have to move and eat more as the mercury drops, so find a food source and camp out on between late morning and early afternoon.

A last, but often overlooked, deer hunting tip is to pay attention to the wind speed. Many deer hunters pay attention to wind direction, and rightfully so, but wind speed alone can dictate deer movement. High wind speeds (more than 15 mph) make for difficult hunting conditions and deer do not like to move during these times either. Whitetail deer are nervous creatures already, so high winds and lots of moving limbs do not help. High wind inhibits their ability to detect danger, so deer movement will be greatly suppressed.

Use a weather web site such as AccuWeather.com to get hour-by-hour temperature and wind direction and speed information for your hunting area. It may be the late season, but there is still plenty of deer hunting to be had. Find time to use these deer hunting tips and tactics in combination before the end of the season and the odds will be in your favor. Happy holiday hunting!

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.

Alan Cain, the whitetail program leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), said looking into the crystal ball months ahead of a season is never easy, but one thing is certain: The old saying about Texas weather and waiting 5 minutes for it to change is right on.

“We just can’t seem to win,” he said. “It goes from one extreme to another with rain and drought. Unfortunately, much of the state has received minimal rainfall since last September and facing tough drought conditions. Although we’ve received some decent rain in May it will not be enough to sustain or improve habitat conditions throughout the summer unless the rain continues on into June and July.”

TPWD said overall production from this last year should definitely help hunters, including having a good fawn crop across much of the state and a good carryover of 1½ year old bucks and does. With an estimated whitetail deer population between 3.7 million and 4.2 million animals in Texas, that means there are a lot of hungry mouths out there as temperatures increase and soils continue to dry. Deer will be actively searching for food, which will help hunters this fall.

“Harvest appeared to be average last season and possibly slightly below average in a few areas in East Texas and down in the Oak Prairie region,” he said. “However, much of that was likely due to the great range conditions last fall that offered lots of acorns and green vegetation. With all that food, deer just weren’t showing up to feeders. Reports from the Hill Country did indicate an above-average harvest, but that region of Texas is a deer factory and high harvest is good to help keep populations in check with native habitat. With that said, there was probably a decent carryover this past winter and hunters can expect to have plenty of deer to hunt this fall.

If the drought continues through the rest of the summer we will see lower fawn recruitment this fall, deer will probably readily come to feeders as a result of less than desirable range conditions and hunters should have pretty good success,” he said. “We always encourage landowners and managers to encourage hunters to meet their harvest goals for the ranch, regardless of drought or wet conditions.”

It is recommended that both hunters and landowners stay on top of the deer populations found on their property. Whitetail can drastically impact the habitat where they are found. There is rarely an average year in Texas, only years of extremes that when put together make some sort of average. With too many deer and/or exotics on the range, particularly during poor range conditions, whitetail deer performance suffers and antler quality decreases as well as fawn production and survival. Landowners that diligently practice good deer management year-in and year-out will always have better, healthier deer.

Alan Cain may have summed it up when he said, “If the dry conditions continue this year, I would encourage hunters to try to fill their tags and for those deer hunting on managed (MLD Permit) properties try to meet their harvest recommendations this year.” It seems as though hunters may benefit in the short-term, but the drought may have long-term impacts on Texas’ whitetail deer herd.

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.

Bucks create scrapes to stake claim to “their” area. When a dominant buck works the ground he is leaving a sign that recommends other bucks should respect his presence, but more importantly he is letting receptive does in the area that he is available for breeding and ready to get to work. Whitetail scrapes will always have visual sign on the ground (made with a buck’s hooves) and scent from the pre-orbital glands on a licking branch positioned directly above the scrape.

In addition to scent located on the licking branch from a buck’s pre-orbital glands, a buck will also urinate in the scrape to add even more of his scent to the scrape. For young or new hunters that have never seen this type of deer sign, buck scrapes are relatively easy to find and identify. Scrapes are typically round-ish or oval in shape, roughly 24 inches in diameter, and the ground will have been scraped to bare earth. The licking branch is usually located about 4 foot above the ground and the tip will be broken or twisted off.

When a receptive doe encounters a buck scrape, she will urinate in it to let the scrape’s owner know that she is in estrous. Since the range of a whitetail doe is smaller than that of a buck, a buck checking a series of scrapes can begin to pin-point exactly where his hot lady is located. Seasoned deer hunters have long known that bucks return to these calling cards they created in the woods to check them and deposit some fresh scent, but the trick has always been to catch a buck at his scrape.

Game cameras, in addition to using them to scout feeders, watch food plots, and collect deer management data, can be used to monitor active scrapes and identify the buck or bucks using them. However, cameras can not shoot a buck for you so you must be present to win.

In my experience, the best time to hunt a buck scrape is immediately after a rain. Game cameras have taught me that after a rain bucks are more likely to visit their scrapes. With that said, I’m not sure if it’s because bucks that are bedded-up during the rainfall event move around to check their scrapes afterword, or if it’s because bucks know that they must freshen their rain-diluted scent. I suspect it’s the former. Either way, hunting an active buck scrape after a rain could help you bag your buck this year. Let’s just pray for some rain.

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!

Rattling can work at any time during the hunting season, but it is typically most effective just prior to the rut, during the pre-rut. At this time, antler rattling can be an effective way to bring bucks right up into spitting distance. I’ve seen bucks come running out of the brush with as little as two seconds worth of antler rattling! Of course, many times I’ve rattled antlers together only to attract the attention of  area squirrels, or even worse, nothing at all. During the pre-rut, bucks are establishing dominance for breeding purposes, setting up territories, and working off an excess in testosterone. It is also during this time in which they are most vulnerable to rattling. 

When it comes to rattling, you never really know what you are going to attract. I’ve had all sorts of deer respond to rattling. I guess they all want to run over and see who is fighting—and who will win. Some buck even want to participate, some are just curious. I’ve had does, spikes, middle-age bucks, and mature bucks all come to a set of rattling antlers. All age classes of bucks will respond to rattling at the proportion in which they occur in the population.

If a good percentage of the local buck herd is made up of young bucks, then that is probably what you will bring in. If, on the other hand, there are a good number of older bucks in the area, then you have just as a good of a chance of bringing them to you as younger-aged bucks. In fact, you probably have a much better chance of bringing them to you rather than simply sitting and waiting to see them. Because that may never happen.

I had a friend of mine spot a huge whitetail buck last year on public land right as season started. The buck showed up on a couple of his game camera photos before season, but he got a glimpse of the buck the second day of archery season as the animal walked by at 200 yards. He then made it his personal mission to hunt that deer for the remainder of the season, even if it meant he ended the year with no buck at all. To make a long story short, he hunted and hunted, but one cold morning a few weeks later he rattled that deer to within 25 yards and shot it with his bow. He said after his first rattling sequence he could see the buck, which scored over 170 Boone and Crockett inches, running at him from over 400 yards! Sometimes it helps to bring them to you.

So rattling can work, but don’t expect it to work every time.

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!