Realtree's Deer Hunting Forecast | December 5-11

The rut is over for hunters in most of the country. With the exception of pockets of activity in the Southeast (where the rut has yet to begin in a few places) and areas of the Southwest, all of Realtree’s regional Rut Reporters are saying that deer are switching to late-season patterns — and quickly. A major winter cold front swept through most of the country last week, and it’s left below-average temperatures and some early snowfall in its wake.

Personally, I’ve been trying to fill a couple late-season doe tags here in Kentucky. The action has been feast and famine. Large groups of does and yearlings are “yarding” during this extended blast of arctic weather. They seem concentrated on greenbriar and forbs, red oak acorns, and bait piles. Baiting is extremely effective this time of year, but the deer know the score. Getting drawn on a mature doe over a corn pile from the barren canopy above is a real challenge. Yesterday morning, I did see a nice 8-pointer march through the timber, right past the bait, searching for does. Bucks, particularly older ones, are still feeling frisky, but even that will fade in these parts, as well as in the Midwest and Northeast, over the next week to 10 days.

Don’t Miss: A 2-Stage Plan for Big December Bucks

Still, firearms seasons are open in a number of places and in others, hunters have late muzzleloader and archery opportunities to anticipate. Most deer hunters know to look for good food sources this time of year. But be on the lookout for other important ingredients of a late-season sit. You need a spot to hide, since the leaves are gone. I like to put lock-on or climbing stands up a little higher than normal in the late season, and tuck them in close to a cedar or pine tree that I can use for cover while drawing. Stands need to be completely bust-proof as well. Deer bed close to food in the late season, and bumping much of anything en route to your stand can spoil an entire sit. Finally, stands must be comfortable. It’s cold out there right now. If you can get away with a shooting house or ground blind and a small Buddy Heater, do it. Those tools can mean the difference in staying out there or not.

WEATHER AND MOON FORECAST

A few mild fronts are in the forecast for the next week, but the overall weather pattern for most of the country remains chilly to downright frigid. The extended forecast for Dubuque, Iowa, for example shows overnight lows in the single digits and daytime highs not breaking the 20s. A buddy in Wisconsin told me that “real winter is here, and it’s early this year.” Indeed, much of the country will remain below the seasonal average. Cold weather can be a good thing for deer movement, but extremes like this can shut things down, too, at least in my experience.

The full moon was yesterday (Dec. 4), and Realtree’s Fish & Game Forecaster predicts good to excellent movement throughout the day through Tuesday, Dec. 9, with peaks in daylight activity on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The hunting was better a few weeks ago, but the game isn’t over yet. Overall, we give this week’s deer hunting forecast 3 out of 5 stars. Now, let’s take a look at the regional updates from Realtree’s Rut Reporters.

Midwest Regional Rut Reporter Darron McDougal says the late season is here in his home state of Wisconsin. The nine-day firearm season was productive and hunters enjoyed some early rutting activity, but bucks are now hitting food sources and paying little attention to does, McDougal says. Sources in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Ohio reported much the same.

Read the full Midwest Region Rut Report here.

Northeast Regional Rut Reporter Timothy Kent says it looks and feels like winter in the Northeast, and the whitetails are responding in kind, feeding hard when weather allows and hunkering down when the wind and snow blow. He says bucks are still covering ground on the hunt for does, but the activity has subsided a good bit. Right now, browse, acorns, green food plots, and crop fields are good places to intercept a deer.

Read the full Northeast Region Rut Report here.

The biggest bright spot for rut activity is definitely in the Southeast, as some areas of that region are just getting started. Regional Reporter Stephanie Mallory says bucks are beginning to cruise in the Mississippi River Delta region, and contacts there believe things are about to get good in parts of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In areas of Alabama, bachelor groups of bucks are breaking up and just beginning to bump does around. Elsewhere in the Southeast, Mallory’s contacts are reporting a hard shift to late-season patterns.

Read the full Southeast Region Rut Report here.

With hunting seasons coming to a close in Colorado, guide and Regional Reporter Miles Fedinec shifted his attend farther south, down to Texas in particular. While the rut is ending in much of the Lone Star State, same as it is in much of the country, hunters in parts of West Texas and down in the Brush Country are just getting started.

Read the full Southwest Region Rut Report here.

Big game seasons are closing across the Northwest Region, and Rut Reporter Jackie Holbrook says the mule deer rut is about over as well. Holbrook says some of the best rutting action, particularly for whitetails, was late in the Montana gun season, around Thanksgiving. Only a few opportunities remain for late-season archery and muzzleloader hunters in the Northwest.

Read the full Northwest Region Rut Report here.