Late season food sources

[trentthenoob]

I'm a new hunter, it's my first full season hunting. I tagged my first deer this year during bow season over a food plot on public, was a nice 9 point buck, which was sheer luck.

That being said I'm really just trying to kill some deer to fill the freezer before the end of season, so I'm trying to key in on what they are eating at this time of year.

I'm hunting a couple different WMA's, some hills and hollers and one that's more ag fields that are still holding corn. Earlier in the year I saw deer in those fields when there were greens growing, but I missed all of november because of family stuff so when I got back out there all the greens were gone from the freezing temps and I didn't see much sign that they were feeding on the corn still, though there is a ton of it.

Does anyone have advice on what food sources to focus on? I plan to do some scouting to try and find droppings and some evidence of where they are feeding so I can be more confident in where to hunt. I'm guessing in the hilly areas they'll be hitting whatever acorns are left, but I'm also wondering if I should look a little closer at the ag fields to see if the deer are still eating the corn. I didn't scout it very well, I kind of just went in blind to hunt it and realized later that was a bad approach.

For the hilly areas, does anyone have advice on finding the acorns they are still hitting? One of the WMAs has a big cutover that's real thick and I bumped some deer there when I was out squirrel hunting with my son, so I thought about scouting trails from that cutover to locate the food sources they are going to.

For the ag fields, I thought about maybe circling the fields looking for feed sign in the corn, they are big fields with 3-4 rows of corn on the edges.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[trout]

Green food plots are still attracting deer. In late season, you may have better luck with more remote areas with acorns near some heavy cover.

 

[Bone Collector]

Deer on public are most likely going to be pressured to death by now. Look for good cover with some food around it. Try to get down wind of the cover and the food and hope they feed out.

As for finding acorns, just look for them on the ground and take a knife and cut it open or bite it open, but you may pucker if it is an acorn with high tannic acid. If it is not rotten in the middle, doesn't have any worms in it, they are fresh. If you see fresh deer droppings near them, even better.

Other food sources could be sweet briar, honey suckle, even privet again think seclusion away from where people have been hunting them. So not the fields. Look for trails off the field to nasty cover. If you can get in between them without bumping them you might catch one heading to bed in the AM or heading to dinner right at dark. For the second scenario you will need to get closer to the cover without bumping the deer.

 

[Griswold]

On public look for thick out of the way hiding holes, food will be at night with all the pressure theyve had

 

[trentthenoob]

Deer on public are most likely going to be pressured to death by now. Look for good cover with some food around it. Try to get down wind of the cover and the food and hope they feed out.

As for finding acorns, just look for them on the ground and take a knife and cut it open or bite it open, but you may pucker if it is an acorn with high tannic acid. If it is not rotten in the middle, doesn't have any worms in it, they are fresh. If you see fresh deer droppings near them, even better.

Other food sources could be sweet briar, honey suckle, even privet again think seclusion away from where people have been hunting them. So not the fields. Look for trails off the field to nasty cover. If you can get in between them without bumping them you might catch one heading to bed in the AM or heading to dinner right at dark. For the second scenario you will need to get closer to the cover without bumping the deer.

Thank you, that's very helpful.

Would I be right to assume that the first couple weeks of gun season is the heaviest pressure and then it sort of tapers off after that to the end of season?

Hoping maybe they'll get back to a more typical routine in the next couple weeks, but I don't know. Curious what you've seen

 

[trentthenoob]

Green food plots are still attracting deer. In late season, you may have better luck with more remote areas with acorns near some heavy cover.

Thank you, that's kind of what I was thinking.

 

[Bone Collector]

Thank you, that's very helpful.

Would I be right to assume that the first couple weeks of gun season is the heaviest pressure and then it sort of tapers off after that to the end of season?

Hoping maybe they'll get back to a more typical routine in the next couple weeks, but I don't know. Curious what you've seen

On middle TN public land opening day of ML is the onslaught of the orange army. It gets worse when Gun season opens and gets pounded pretty good from then on, but yes it does taper off some after the first part of December. However at that point they are going to gravitate to thick cover. Don't be afraid to get into places that you will most likely need to hunt off the ground. Get you a low profile turkey hunting chair and you can sit for a while pretty comfortably in just about any habitat.

Not trying to discourage you, but mentally prepare yourself for some tough hunting. Then if you pick the right spot and the deer are there, maybe you get one easy and you will feel relieved. If not you knew what you were getting into

 

[trentthenoob]

On middle TN public land opening day of ML is the onslaught of the orange army. It gets worse when Gun season opens and gets pounded pretty good from then on, but yes it does taper off some after the first part of December. However at that point they are going to gravitate to thick cover. Don't be afraid to get into places that you will most likely need to hunt off the ground. Get you a low profile turkey hunting chair and you can sit for a while pretty comfortably in just about any habitat.

Not trying to discourage you, but mentally prepare yourself for some tough hunting. Then if you pick the right spot and the deer are there, maybe you get one easy and you will feel relieved. If not you knew what you

On middle TN public land opening day of ML is the onslaught of the orange army. It gets worse when Gun season opens and gets pounded pretty good from then on, but yes it does taper off some after the first part of December. However at that point they are going to gravitate to thick cover. Don't be afraid to get into places that you will most likely need to hunt off the ground. Get you a low profile turkey hunting chair and you can sit for a while pretty comfortably in just about any habitat.

Not trying to discourage you, but mentally prepare yourself for some tough hunting. Then if you pick the right spot and the deer are there, maybe you get one easy and you will feel relieved. If not you knew what you were getting into

haha I am all about realistic expectations. I certainly don't expect to get lucky again but I'm gonna try. It's a tough learning curve jumping in without any guidance or hunting buddies to help out, but I love it so if I can make all the mistakes now and learn from them maybe future seasons will be better.

I'm hunting from the ground anyways since my wife is suspicious of me spending more money on hunting before I know what I'm doing.. so I don't even own a tree stand. Maybe if I bag another one she'll lighten up a bit

 

[backyardtndeer]

I was watching a plot this morning, with oaks around all the edges. Deer have about wiped out those acorns so now they are hitting them just outside my yard. Had at least a half a dozen deer up beside the house when I was walking back this morning. They know the dogs won't go past the electric fence. If you have acorns on the ground, good chance that you will find deer there.

 

[Ski]

Around field edges search for locust trees that are dropping bean pods. Pure sugar and deer gobble them up. Dropping right now.

In forest areas search for thickets, specifically where bushes and saplings and vines and briers are waist high on you, no more than tits high. Deer diet consists mostly on that stuff. Acorns, fruits, beans, corn, etc are candy supplements. The bulk of their food is woody browse.

In hill country search for minor drainages, subtle dips in the side of the hill. Acorns get covered with leaves and are harder to find so deer ignore them until the easy acorns are gone, then they start sifting the leave litter in these otherwise ignored drainages. The acorns literally funnel in and pile up, then get covered by falling leaves. And deer know it. Find groves of oaks or single large oaks and search for drainages below them. Reds will be hot right now.

 

[Bone Collector]

haha I am all about realistic expectations. I certainly don't expect to get lucky again but I'm gonna try. It's a tough learning curve jumping in without any guidance or hunting buddies to help out, but I love it so if I can make all the mistakes now and learn from them maybe future seasons will be better.

That is how I learned in my teens. No hunters in the house, and I wanted to go. I just went out there and fumbled around. Killed a couple then got better and better, until it started "to make sense" and It does get easier.

 

[trentthenoob]

Around field edges search for locust trees that are dropping bean pods. Pure sugar and deer gobble them up. Dropping right now.

In forest areas search for thickets, specifically where bushes and saplings and vines and briers are waist high on you, no more than tits high. Deer diet consists mostly on that stuff. Acorns, fruits, beans, corn, etc are candy supplements. The bulk of their food is woody browse.

In hill country search for minor drainages, subtle dips in the side of the hill. Acorns get covered with leaves and are harder to find so deer ignore them until the easy acorns are gone, then they start sifting the leave litter in these otherwise ignored drainages. The acorns literally funnel in and pile up, then get covered by falling leaves. And deer know it. Find groves of oaks or single large oaks and search for drainages below them. Reds will be hot right now.

Those are some good tips, hadn't heard about locust trees as a food source before. Thanks for the reply

 

[Winchester]

They love the bean pods after frost hits them as well as lots of different green browse (honeysuckle, greenbriar, etc).
A year like this however will see the deer still hammering acorns where they are available all through Winter, especially if you have plenty of Red oaks available as they stay good for months after falling and deer love them. I would look for Oaks and or browse close to thick cover. If you dont mind shooting a doe you wont have much trouble. Good luck.

 

[trentthenoob]

They love the bean pods after frost hits them as well as lots of different green browse (honeysuckle, greenbriar, etc).
A year like this however will see the deer still hammering acorns where they are available all through Winter, especially if you have plenty of Red oaks available as they stay good for months after falling and deer love them. I would look for Oaks and or browse close to thick cover. If you dont mind shooting a doe you wont have much trouble. Good luck.

That sounds doable. I don't mind shooting a doe as I just need some experience shooting any deer at this point. I'll keep an eye out for those red oaks and browse near the thick stuff.