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Late Muzzleloader Strategies?

jjohnson

jjohnson

Well-Known Member
Basically I was wondering about some of your experiences hunting late muzzleloader season. Where do you set up for those late season big boys? Over food? Funnels? ETC. Do you hunt like you are bowhunting or do you sit in places where you have a pretty good vantage point?

This will be my second year of late muzzleloader hunting. I'm hunting the same property that I bowhunted all fall. It's a 470 acre chunk of land that is probably half crp and half big woods and big hills. I access all of my stand sights from up top through the crp. It was tough bowhunting because it's such big ground. I was basically confined to hunting ridges and figures that reached out into the crp fields. There is not one ag field on the property but one neighbor has a food plot on one end of the property (an acre or two of standing corn) and on the other end of the property is a fairly large hay field/chizle plowed corn field. The property got hunted pretty hard opening weekend of shotgun season but that will be it until late muzzleloader.

I'm wondering if I should be set up out in the ten year waiting and glassing to see what comes out later in the evenings or should I be set up in the woods trying to pin them down on their way out in the evening. I guess it won't hurt to do a little of both.

Just looking for some opinions from those that have experience with late season hunting. Thanks...
 
Late afternoon on a food source is probably the best. If you can play the wind right in the staging area, that's even better.

Late muzzle is also a great time to still hunt/stalk. Especially after a fresh snow. Go to the food source and follow the tracks back to the bedding area. Move slow, then cut your pace in half as you near thick cover. lean against trees (to break your outline) and use binoculars to thoroughly scan the area. I try to look for the horizontal line of a deer's back, but be on the watch for anything that looks like part of a deer ... you probably won't see the whole thing, at least not at first.

The last two deer I shot late muzzle were bedded down and they didn't go far!
 
Do some long range scouting and figure out what travel routes they are using and position youself somewhere in between. If it stays cold and snowy they will more than likely be heading straight to the fields from the bedding areas. If it warms up they don't seem to move much. At least during daylight. Sometimes I use a stand and sometimes I stay on the ground. With the snow cover you can see thier movement easier and position youself in a better spot if you hunt from the ground.
 
Great info guy's.The one thing I would stress is to try and pattern what the deer are doing from a distance before you move in.Once you spook them after gun season they are going to be almost impossible to get,especially any big buck's that are in the area.If the ground your hunting has been left unhunted you will have a much easier hunt.The more an area get's pressured the tougher the deer will be to harvest.Alway's play the wind,you cannot take risk at this time of the year.
I do all of my late muzzle hunting in the early afternoon's until it's to dark to see and almost alway's hunt feeding area's were I can see a way's.Stay until you cannot see to shoot and if you want a BIG BUCK wait until the does and smaller buck's are out there feeding contently.The big boy's will be with the does but they are alway's the last to enter the field.
Good luck
 
Pray for cold and snow! I love late muzzy, but the warm weather the last couple of years made harvesting a mature buck almost impossible.
 
I have to agree on the corn fields it's probably the number 1 food source if there is plenty of loose stuff laying around. If you have noticed the deer have gotten into a winter pattern the last 3 weeks or so and been hammering the food sources earlier in the afternoons. I think this year should be good if this weather pattern holds through the season, I would expect to see some hogs shot. It's been quite a few years since we have had this kind of weather this early.
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Hunt the food sources from early afternoon until dark and KEEP A LOW PROFILE! If the deer spot you your not likely to see them again for a few days and most likely there won't be any shooters
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with them. If you can do some long range glassing to find out the pattern and then play the wind, use a crosswind if at all possible. Most deer will come into the field with the wind to their backs if possible so they can feed and watch out in front of them and still smell what's behind them. I wear whites to hunt late season when we get snow. I love it when the deer look right at you and haven't got a clue what you are or even that your there.
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Good luck.
 
If the snow gets any deeper the deer will go to the coniferous (cedar, pine etc.) type trees to dine. I've notice they've started to hit them a little already, but in years past I've seen up to 50 deer in one cedar grove. Acorns will once again be revisited as they won't want to spend the energy going too far to a crop field. On the same note be extra careful going into your position because deer will bed much closer to the favored food source so they don't spend too much energy once again.

Pupster
 
I still think a bean field is better than corn as a late season attractant if there is adequate crop residue left.....not sure why but I find more sheds in and leading to the beanfields than I do leading to corn fields. Scouting from a distance then moving in should be the key strategy. Traditionally, I have hunted the late season with a bow so the ML should add about 110 yards to my range. Just need to find where they are feeding now
 
I like alfalfa the best for late season, I like it even better if alfalfa and corn border each other
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I have been seeing the deer in our area hitting the bean fields so far. Huge areas that they've pawed away and dug for more. So far just a few does were hitting these areas though. I'll be checking out the corn fields as well.
 
Don't overlook locus pods in late season. One ridge on my place has a bunch of mature locus trees on it and the ground is almost covered with the pods.

In years past when we have had deep snow, the deer will bed on this ridge and just get up for a snack whenever they want. The ridge gets splattered with beds and looks like a cattle feed lot.

Good luck late season guys!
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Ghost,
We found a spot last year just like that.It looked like a feedlot!There were deer coming in from all direction's,it was incredible the way they had been tearing that area up.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I just learned that a group does hunt this land second season shotgun so they will definitely be spooky. Also learned the neighbor shot one of the big guys I was after bow season. Don't know the specifics but he had a 25 in inside spread and was a big 10 pt. Oh well theres plenty more out there. Good luck to all the Late Muzzy Guys...
 
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