It’s almost Christmas, and an unfilled buck tag is burning a hole in your pocket. You’re starting to worry. Maybe even panic. I’ve hunted hard like I always do every year…What am I doing wrong? Did I miss my chance? Will I get my buck? Take a deep breath and look at your predicament as an opportunity. You still get to go for a few more days, and the buck hunting, while not easy, is better than you might think. Use these 5 tips to score at the buzzer. Hunt the Food Your main strategy through the end of season should center around the limited food sources that remain for deer. Both does and bucks are run down from the [...]

Sometimes the only way to fool a gnarly old buck is to get bold and hunt near his bedroom. Risky, but it can be done. First, find which patch of cover a big deer favors. Spend a few sunrises glassing field edges, fencerows, brushy ditches, and the like. Try to spot Mr. Big slipping home after a late night on the woods. Consult an aerial photograph and draw on your past experiences to predict where the buck is holing up. One day around lunchtime go in from downwind and hang a stand on a ridge flat, along a trail, or near a funnel 100 to 150 yards downwind of the cover where you think he’s bedding. Some days. your target [...]