Most of the country’s whitetail range is now locked solidly in the post-rut/late-season phase, which brings both increased challenges and opportunity. Some areas will see some solid second-rut breeding activity in traditional rutting areas, but the primary challenge now is mostly about locating pockets of hot deer activity. And it’s likely these areas will be different — in some cases very different — from preferred travel routes earlier in the fall. One answer to finding these late-season honey holes is with help from a well-set observation stand or two.
Most hunters consider observation stands strictly an early season technique, especially to narrow down preferred entrance and exit trails to large agriculture fields. But the technique is just as sound right now, as Old Man Winter begins its icy grip on the landscape.
In most cases, deer have dealt with varying levels of hunting pressure over the past few months, including the highly-intense state gun seasons. It should come as no surprise that type of pressure has likely altered travel patterns. If you’re lucky enough to hunt where snow flies, you can add fresh tracks and trails in the snow to help sort this all out. However, sans snow, an observation stand can help clue you in almost as quickly, and with more certainty.
I regularly hunt large tracts of public land and post-gun season, I have found deer often hole up in isolated, large marshy/swampy areas mostly devoid of suitable stand trees. But if you find a few trees overlooking large tracts of such marshy terrain, you can set up and devote a day or two to gathering valuable intel for future hunts.
And unlike reading tracks in the snow that will have you guessing whether they were made in daylight, the sighting of a few deer on their feet in shooting light is the type of definitive evidence you need to move in for an effective late-season ambush. When you find yourself without suitable stand trees, prepare to sit on the ground or use a portable chair system while dressed in a ghillie suit, or with the help of a lightweight, smartly set portable ground blind.