So, again this year I’ll be running a daily (hopefully daily) late muzzleloader blog.

I can honestly say, I don’t have a single deer I will be targeting this late season. There are a couple reasons for this. First, there is one giant buck on our cabin farm this year but our daughter Lily has a late muzzy tag that she can hunt on that farm…so at least for now I won’t be doing any hunting on that farm saving it for her. Second, there are some really nice bucks close to home where I live but I would much rather have Amy get one, or even let them go until next year. My estimation is now that they’ve made it through early archery and both first and second shotgun, there’s a great chance they’ll make it until next year. If I thought there were a bunch of up and comers maybe I would target one of those deer, but there really aren’t that many up and comers this year. A large land owner near us has really run the hunters through on their land this year taking a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds, and a couple bucks were poached this year too near us. Kind of one of those things you can’t control.

Amy will be archery hunting some. I’ll be muzzy hunting on farms we don’t own and archery hunting on the farms (we have two) that we own with my land owner archery tag. To be sure, there are still some great bucks around, and I’ll be hunting every day to see if I can get in front of one.

12/20 Tonight, I actually sat a leased farm that I sell hunts on. I had two archery hunters on it this year and neither got a buck. The farm has been great in the past but not so much this year. I have 3-4 acres of standing beans and about an acre of brassicas I was hunting over. I saw 14 does and fawns tonight, no bucks. The baldies eat in both the beans and the brassicas. I also had to chase away 5 cows from the plot at about 3 o’clock and they came back again at around 5:30. I chased them away again. That could very well be the problem over there because when they came back, they cleared the beans and brassicas of deer. The neighbor over there doesn’t really take care of his fences at that well. I will not be leasing that farm again. Too costly putting in over $1200 in food plots to have cows eat them?

Looking for ward to the next 20 days of archery/muzzy hunting and then habitat stuff right after.

12/21 I sat a small woodlot close to home tonight. It’s a piece of land that gets no pressure during the first and second shotgun seasons, while everything around it gets pounded. Deer know to go in there when the guns start blazing. I tried to slip into an archery stand on the south end of the timber. We had pretty strong NW winds today so I thought the wind would help me get in clean. I got all the way to my stand when I saw a small buck bedded about 80 yards to my west. I slowly and quietly as I could got dressed and prepared to climb into the stand. Just as I put my first foot on the stand I caught a glimpse of movement to my NW not far from that little buck. It was another buck on its feet…he had me pegged. In a few moments that buck took off and there was another buck with him that was pretty nice. I don’t know if either were shooters…it’s pretty thick in there and I couldn’t see them very good. When they ran, the original buck got up and ran also. I ended up seeing maybe 15-20 does and fawns come through around 4-4:30 and one more little buck.

12/22 Amy went hunting tonight with her archery equipment. She sat a neighboring farm in a ground blind overlooking a mostly gone green plot of rye. She saw two buck, one possible shooter and a handful of does and fawns. The deer were working through the timber and nothing came to the now decimated plot. She is pretty sure they are headed toward a harvested corn field to the NW. I will be setting up a new blind for her in the next day or two so that she (and possibly Lily) can take advantage of that movement or bed to feed pattern.

I sat the opposite side of that small woodlot that I sat last night because we had opposite winds tonight. Movement was late, I saw nothing until around 4:50, then the parade took place. A dozen or more does and fawns mixed in groups of 2, or3, or 4 as they moved south to north and past me. Then a parade of mostly bucks with a couple does and fawns mixed in. There were a couple 2 year olds, a couple 3’s, and 2 mature bucks. The mature bucks were the last through to come through and were only about 35 yards away. I had the muzzleloader up but I just couldn’t do it. This time of year, after these bucks have made it through so much, I have a really hard time killing one. It’s just a thing for me. They were both big enough, that’s not the issue. I just have a hard time killing a buck during the late season. The bigger of the two was a super nice 10 point framed buck with good mass and nice overall antlers. Amy and I saw him cross while we were long range glassing the night of the 19th the day before late season opens again. Where I sat tonight was right where he crossed 3 days ago. The setup was perfect…I just didn’t want him bad enough.

12/23 It was near 50 degrees today when I went out to my stand. I was going to sit behind the house with my bow, but pulled the switch to a different farm adjacent to home. I’m purposely staying away from some spots so that pressure remains low (or zero) until Lily shows up in camp in a few days. I went back to the spot I hunted last night. I figured…well let’s take one more look at those bucks and see if they don’t change my mind?

Movement was near 4:30 and after. I saw maybe 6 or so does and fawns. A couple 2’s and 3’s and little bucks. Then about 5:00, a doe came in all nervous and there was a 3 year old behind her, chasing her with his neck outstretched and grunting. I noticed two bigger deer with antler coming in just before that…and when that 3 year old chased and grunted at that doe one of the bigger bucks came right into my area. It was one of the 10 pointers from last night. This time I got a great look at him. He is a great buck. Nothing overly exceptional but a really nice deer. I had the muzzleloader up and he was in the crosshairs but again, not what I was going to shoot. A few minutes later the other buck did finally move and walked through a natural opening in the timber. He was a new buck, one I had never seen before. A really pretty and great 10 pointer also with great tine length, nice mass, and maybe 18 or so wide. He was in by me for about 5 minutes at about 60-80 yards. I switched between looking at him with my binos and aiming at him with the gun. Ultimately choosing to let him walk as well. He was a solid 160″ and fully mature. Exactly the kind of buck I would love to shoot, but didn’t.

My goals for the season, for really the past few seasons is to be able to hunt as much as I can, and to be able to hunt big mature deer. Had I shot either of those two bucks my season would effectively be over because the only tag left would be my landowner tag. With both Amy and Lily still hunting, the farms we own they will be hunting. It was a super fun and outstanding night for me! All the deer I’ve been seeing are on food, or on a set bed to feed pattern.

12/24 So, tonight I decided to sit a ground blind that acts as an observation spot during bow season, but with a muzzleloader it is in range of many deer…in theory. I’ve gotten a couple questions about how I’m hunting these past couple days and seeing so many deer and good bucks. Well, to review a little, the small woodlot I’ve been hunting sees low hunting pressure from me, has outstanding bedding habitat, and is in an area that sees pretty high pressure from some of the neighbors during archery and a lot during the shotgun seasons. So the deer really pile in there. The bedding area is a few hundred yards, to almost a half mile or more from good food sources. The blind I was sitting tonight is about 1/2 mile from the stand I sat last night.

I saw a ton of deer tonight. The first does and fawns were out at about 3. Then I saw more and more deer come out and feed from all directions all night. By quitting time I had seen close to maybe 40-50 deer total. Realize many of these deer are very far away and I can really watch hundreds of acres of cut beans and corn. Within range of my blind, I saw maybe 20 deer, maybe 25. 15 bucks total in range. I saw 4 different 3 year old 10 points, a buck we call Hader, a buck we call Kaminski, and a busted up mature 8 point. The two bucks from last night didn’t show or were too far away for me to see them…or were in a low draw, etc. Another great night. It was near 60 degrees when I went out tonight!! Crazy.

I used to believe and even preach deer movement based on cold weather. But the more I listen to the science, and the more I adjust my hunting tactics and realize whats going on with hunting pressure, I’m beginning to realize what a fool I was years ago. I don’t have any of these hunting apps you buy that tells you when to hunt based on their algorithms, but I’m convinced (I actually was convinced before) that it’s all bullshit. Unpressured deer will move every day of the year before quitting time! Period! Tonight was one of the most fun hunts I’ve been on in a long time. A ton of beautiful bucks coming up for next year too.

12/25 Tonight, we had variable winds. So, I went back to the farm I hunted on the 20th because it has a fully enclosed plastic blind on it. I figured I could get away with more crappy winds hunting out of that blind. I got in around 2:30. At 3:15 the first deer came into the plot. The plot is about 3-4 acres of standing soybeans, and maybe 1/2 acre of brassicas. The deer came into the brassicas first, then eventually fed into the beans. Shortly after, more does and fawns came into the plot about 200 yards away eating in the beans. Around 4:15 back where the does and fawns were, a buck entered the soybeans coming up from a steep ditch. From 200+ yards I could see he was pretty good. I watched him with my binos as he eventually came to within 70 yards or so of my blind. He was a solid mature 8 point, good mass, decent tine and beam length, just not what I would take with 2 weeks left to hunt. He was sure run down too…I first thought he was a 3 year old because he was really quite skinny. But after being able to watch him for almost 45 minutes work toward me he was clearly a mature buck that was run down. Some more does and fawns came in after that, and eventually all the deer spooked off the plot around 5:15 when a coyote trotted through. Perfect timing!!! Oh, and the cows payed another visit too.

So, again tonight it was about 50 degrees when I got in my spot. It was a good night. I feel that those standing soybeans will draw more deer when it does get cold. I feel that many more deer are probably feeding east of where I was tonight on more green fields when it’s so warm. I don’t know if it’s a fact or not, but it seems like deer will be more willing or maybe likely to be on green food when it’s so warm, and then corn or beans when it’s cold. Is this all in my imagination? I don’t know for sure, but that’s what I would say. So, would I be seeing more deer if the cows wouldn’t have eaten all my greens on this plot? Probably.

12/26 Well, camp is full right now with Lily hunting muzzleloader now, and Amy is back at it with archery equipment. Amy sat a ground blind overlooking winter rye and saw three spikers and one shooter buck. The only buck not in range OF COURSE was the shooter. It never came out of the timber.

I sat with Lily in a ground blind behind the house where I saw a bunch of deer the other day. We saw maybe a dozen deer and one little buck. Most of the deer were actually running? Don’t know what that was all about. I was expecting to see more deer but we didn’t. It was very windy tonight with gusts near 40mph.

Lily’s boyfriend Mason sat an observation sit tonight watching deer cross a road from cover to cut soybeans. He saw 20-30 deer and several really nice bucks cross the road…he too said most of the deer were running or moving quickly.

Tomorrow it looks like a NW wind so we will be heading to the cabin farm. We’ve killed some giants over there in the past. I have some standing corn and beans over there so things should be good. We’ll see. That’s the one farm though that I am really picky about what I’ll let Lily shoot so there’s that? And, we’ve been aggressive with keeping deer numbers low over there too so we generally don’t see a ton of deer. Looking forward to it.

12/27 Well, Lily, Mason and I sat the cabin farm tonight overlooking corn and beans. It was a highly anticipated hunt. We saw deer start coming into the plots around 4:15 and they kept coming off and on until quitting time. All in all we saw around 12-15 or so does and fawns and we think 8 bucks. The biggest buck was a two year old 8 point. The deer fed heavily in the plots. We also saw more deer on a plot we call candy cane which is about 400+ yards away and it was late…so we couldn’t tell what was out there.

Amy sat a ladder stand on a play for Ranger. She saw 12-15 does and fawns and a couple little bucks.

Tomorrow looks like a front will be coming through with rain. It’s hard to say where we’ll will be going in that weather? We’ll decide tomorrow but the plan is to not hunt the cabin farm for sure, then head back on Wednesday.

12/28 Lily and I sat a neighboring farm in a new blind I put out a week ago trying to catch deer going to a cut corn field. We saw 7 does and fawns that were very nervous and nothing else.

Mason did long range glassing tonight and saw several good deer on a bed to feed pattern going to cut soybeans.

Amy sat a ground blind and saw a few deer feeding in cut corn a long way off from her position. Nothing too spectacular to talk about tonight!

12/29 So, today the temps, as compared to what we’ve seen so far in December plummeted. As we went to the stand tonight, the temp was 21. Now, just to be clear, low temps don’t mean deer “will be on their feet tonight”, but, I did feel good about them being on grain food sources. So, I took Lily to the farm where I saw that great 8 pointer a few days ago to see if he would show again on those standing beans. This is the plot with the cows eating everything. Well, the cows were there when we got in so we chased them off. We saw maybe 25 does and fawns come in and feed in the soybeans and one little buck. A couple minutes from quitting time, Lily saw a bigger deer enter the soybeans in the same spot I saw that big buck…and it was him. Literally with only 3 minutes left to hunt, and there he was. It was about 225 yards away, too far to shoot especially at that light level. He ended up working away from us.

Lily and I waited another 1/2 hour or so then crawled out of there on our hands and knees to avoid bumping any of the deer. So far, we are having a pretty darn good hunt! Let’s see if it keeps up.

12/30 Today, Lily and I split up. She sat behind the house with Mason very near the north ditch crossing and saw a few does and fawns. They did bump 7 does and fawns on the way in just as they were getting into their blind.

I sat that small woodlot again and saw a few does and fawns and a buck we call Kaminski. Most of our movement was later right at quitting time. I didn’t like the fact that there was no wind either as it sure seemed like maybe we both had bad hunts because of our entrances. Don’t know for sure.

12/31 Sat New Year’s Eve on the same farm with the cows getting lose all the time. Our idea was to go in early and move our blind about 75 yards south so that when that big 8 point comes out we are already in range. Well, it was a hunt from hell. The farmer decided that tonight was the night he was going to chase in all the cows that have been loose all fall. He rounded them up with horses. There was horse shit all over in the plot and around our blind. Well, we decided to try it anyway as it was too late to pull a switch plus we wanted the blind moved. A doe and a fawn came in late around 5:00, got really nervous, and then bolted when…you guessed it the cows came back in. We were both hot!!! At quitting time, even with cows in the plot, a few does came in and the shooter 8 but it was too dark and after quitting time. The blind is moved, but what a waste of a hunt.

1/01 Today, or rather over night, a winter storm came in bringing some snow and high winds and very cold temps. By noon, we had about 4-6 inches of snow, the temps were about 5 degrees with wind chills near -20. We decided that with that kind of cold and snow, deer would be feeding on grains tonight for sure. So, we went back to the cabin farm to hunt over standing soybeans and corn. It was a good night!

Buster goes down. Click HERE for Lily’s buck

01/02 Tonight I talked Amy into going muzzleloader hunting. Another good night. For the full story of Crabby. click HERE for Amy buck.

01/03 Update. So, with Amy and Lily both done for their hunts, I’ll be back at it. There are several bucks I would like to maybe get one more good look at in person while hunting. I’ve seen all these bucks both with pictures from my cameras, and while on stand but in only one case, I felt I wanted to harvest one of them. Two of the bucks I had within range and maybe could’ve shot this late muzzleloader, and the one buck is a really big main frame 10 I saw at the cabin farm during the latter parts of archery season. I’ll be hunting now mostly by myself until the end of the season, but maybe not as hard as I have been. By this time of year, a small part of me just wants to leave these deer alone. They’ve been hunted hard for over 3 months by the local hunters. We’ll see. My goal at the beginning of the season was to be able to hunt as much as I possibly could, and to be able to hunt big mature bucks. I’d hate to miss out on the last few days knowing it will be 9 months before I can hunt again.

01/03 With south winds today, I didn’t have any options to sit over grains. So, I just decided to sit a stand that I hunt out of for archery season to spend the night in the timber. I did see 10 deer or so move through the timber the last hour or so of hunting.

01/04 Today I sat that small woodlot I sat last night, only tonight I sat a stand mabye 200 yards from where I was last night. At 4:30 I started catching glimpses of deer very close to where I sat last night. Over the next 1/2 hour or so I watch 11 different bucks come out of cedar bedding cover and walk through that area. There were single deer, groups of 2, or 3, and all told I think I saw 11 total. It was a long way through timber but I got at least a decent look at most of the bucks. There was one buck that to me looked mature and had a pretty good set of antlers…but like I said it was a long ways through the timber and I could only catch short looks using my binos.

Closer to quitting time, I had a group of does and fawns come through by me, maybe 7 or 9 total and there were 3 bucks behind them. The biggest buck was a nice buck we call Kaminski but not one I would shoot right now.

The problem I’m having here at home is there isn’t a defined evening food source. There are no standing crops at all. So, the deer are eating on anything they can get their mouths on. That means some night they are leaving that piece of timber and going north, sometimes south, sometimes west. East is a cow pasture so that’s about the only way they aren’t going. And it’s random. The bucks aren’t even on a set pattern when they do head in a direction. For example, last night I sat bed to feed with a south wind hoping deer (bucks) would be traveling north. They did, but they were way east of my location. Tonight, they traveled right where I sat last night. Now, maybe they are seeing or hearing me come in but that is doubtful because my access is really pretty good. And, we’ve also sat some observation sits this late season with nobody hunting with the same results. That’s why I really really like to having standing grains or some other defined food source to narrow down their movements.

I’ve kind of decided to keep hunting, but with much less purpose. The next couple days are supposed to be brutal with cold and wind. If I can hunt a blind during that brutal weather, I’ll go. But I’m probably not going to sit an open hang on tree stand when temps are in the single digits with 30 or 40 mph winds. I’m perfectly happy to not take any more bucks this year. I will however make sure I’m hunting on the last day!!! I might not be updating this blog daily from now until the 10th. I might if there is something noteworthy…otherwise check back on the 10th for the final post.

1/10 Today was the last day of the 2021/2022 season. Since Amy and Lily got their deer, I’ve tried to bounce around a bit and almost start to scout for next year. Don’t get me wrong, I was still trying to kill a buck (not making excuses), but I was doing so with scouting in mind. I saw a ton of deer these past few days of the season. I’ve gone every night, and I’ve seen a whole host of great deer. At every farm I can hunt next year, I’ve seen multiple great bucks that were 2 and 3 years old. The mature bucks I was targeting never showed up again during daylight…but again I was mainly bouncing around trying to scout and hunt at the same time. As of now, I have two cameras remaining in the field…they are only still out because I didn’t want to go in to pull them until the season was over. It really is a sad time for me and many hunters who live for the hunt, but I’m equally excited to start on my long list of things to do for next year. l

Check back in a few days or a week and I’ll have a new blog post “2021 Season Review” where I’ll share what I’ve learned this past season!