Post Rut Deer Strategies

rhino519

rhino519

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hi guys,
tried searching but no results, not often i have a chance to go post rut deer hunting, and im yet to have a succesful post rut hunt, so hoping to avoid eating the tag soup till the next season, Im asking for input on strategies;
what times, any bait, calling, stalking or blinds?
Ill be doing archery trips, mostly one day outings
any help is apreciated
 
I'll be heading out to bowhunt most of the day tomorrow. Considering how cold it was today and will still be tomorrow, I'll be focusing on food sources (browse), thick cover, and likely ridge bottoms, where the deer can stay out of the cold wind. If you have a patch of junipers or something similar, I'd be concentrating on them. They offer good bedding and from what i understand are also a good late season food source. Good luck!
 
Baiting can spread CWD in deer threw saliva. Just some food for thought there.


Don't completely give up on the rut yet. Hunting over food will be key but an easy doe bleat with no sign of other bucks will be a nice ahhhhh for the bucks still. I believe it's still warm there in Ontario as well eh?
 
best time to rattle in a buck if when there is a shortage of estrus does...like the tail end of the rut...

find a spot with fresh sign and rattle.
set up so you can see downwind
give each spot a couple of hours
have fun and be patient,you may be surprised.
 
Food food and food. Feeders. I picked up a feeder on a timer at sail for 65 bucks. Also have a PVC feeder. Have both out two weeks over a ground blind. Deer are scaried of the ground blind so going to pull the blind and ground hunt or use a climber.
 
its been around freezing mark and below where i hunt, rut was bang on the gun season
ive got two feeders but they were disused this year due to work scheduling, damn work gets in a way of huning :(, ive sure havnt put in as much time in the bush as usually
guess ill top of the feeders than, got to pay the dues, right?
im pretty familiar wih the area, last day of the gun season there was plenty of green grass in some patches of the woods, read some info on line reagarding food sources like that and oak trees, just need to know when to set up around them, morning or evening, tracking should be a breese since weve been getting snow for some time now
 
Here in SE Ontario I believe that peak breeding occurred within the past 7-10 days or so as it usually does. Bucks will still be on the prowl for does late coming into estrus. You can usually determine this because backs will start to scrape again for a week or so and you'll start seeing fawns back with the does again (during peak breeding you will see fawns without does on a regular basis).

Once this phase passes then you need to get onto the food sources as bucks will be looking to get some calories into them to survive the winter. Find those preferred food sources and you will find the deer. One farm we hunt the bucks will come out to the corn dryer to eat the spilled kernels.

Monday the muzzleloader season starts around here and we usually still see bucks out looking for does in daylight hours. Plenty of hunters in these parts will tell you that December is the best time to hunt for bucks as they get back into early season patterns providing we don't get a pile of snow. If the snow comes heavy you need to find those preferred wintering areas - usually thick areas in confer forests or cedar swamps.

Remember that rut timing has nothing to do with the temps outside but rather the number of daylight hours and that "the rut" means different things to different people. Temps will affect how much they move around but will not affect whether or not does get bred. If its warm out they still get bred you just won't see as much movement during daylight hours.

Good luck!
 
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