Today is December 24th. For most of us, we've been out hunting whitetails for the past 3-4 months. For those of you that have not filled a tag you've wanted to fill, by now with not much season left, it can be easy to throw in the towel, and call it a season. But I urge you not to. Every year, more and more guys that I know talk about how they are "hunted out" and they don't hunt up to the end of the season, yet complain after the season about how they weren't able to get that buck they wanted. I feel strongly about grinding it out until the end of the season, and here's why. 

When it comes to late season hunting, there is usually one common theme that comes with increased deer movement - harsh weather.  Extremely cold temperatures tend to get deer on their feet, but can make for brutal hunting conditions. If there is one thing I've learned over the years, it's how to hunt in cold weather. I've hunted many times when the temperatures have reached all the way to negatives, including some days when it's pushed negative thirty degrees with the wind chill (i.e this past weekend). I'll be back out this weekend when the temps will again be brutally cold. Staying warm in this weather is no easy task, but here are a few tricks I've picked up along the way that seem to help. 

The late season is officially here. For some, December signifies the end of the season. For others, you know that you've still got time to get it done. Depending on where you live, most states in the Midwest wrap up their bow seasons at the end of December, or during January. With that in mind, know that if you play your cards right, and can stand the sometimes miserable weather that strikes during this time of year, the late season can produce some of the best hunting of the year. 

As I start gearing up for my late season hunting, I have taken some time and done a lot of reading. I've gone back and read many old magazine articles, various articles on the web, and watched a number of my favorite hunting videos. I've also spent a good amount time looking at trail camera pictures.

Have you been hunting the rut as hard as you can, and still haven't had a chance to wrap your tag around a mature buck? I'm in the same boat with you! But, all is not lost yet. The very end of the rut can produce some of your best opportunities at harvesting a truly mature buck. Recently, I wrote an article for Wide Open Spaces on this very topic that I wanted to share with you. 

Recently, I set out to learn a little more about hunting bedding areas during the rut specifically. The first person that came to mind was Dan Infalt, who is notorious for killing big mature bucks by hunting bedding areas. I reached out to Dan, and he was nice enough to help me put together a Q&A post with him, and let me tell you, he contains a wealth of knowledge. With that said, here is how he hunts bedding areas during the rut, get your notes out, because this one is good. 

Sweet November. The magical rut. However you refer to this time of the year, it's usually got to do with the rut, and how exciting this time of year is. No doubt, it can be the best time to be in the woods, and things can happen at literally any moment. But, at the same time, the rut can be hard. It can be tough. It can be tiring. And it can be utterly frustrating. That's about how I feel right now. I think many of us can relate to the love hate relationship we have with the rut, and the roller coaster we are sometimes put on. 

This past weekend, I pulled my first all day sit of 2016, and I was reminded pretty quickly it's not easy to do - especially when the action is slow. I've got more all day sits lined up for this week, and with that being said, I thought this would be an opportune time to dive into the factors that help accomplish an all day sit as successfully as possible. 

This year has been an absolute grind already for me. And we're not even into the month of November yet. I haven't had an encounter with a shooter buck since September 23rd. That's 16 sits in the stand without seeing a mature buck. You could say it's easy to be down right now. I have numerous shooters showing up regularly on most of my trail cameras, just nothing in daylight. It could be easy to not be mentally ready to see a shooter buck, but it is critical that you are, or you just might mess up your next opportunity.