Not many things can get a deer hunter more excited than a fresh scrape with large tracks right in the middle of it. However effectively hunting a scrape can be a tricky task. As most of us know, 90 percent of scrape activity is conducted under the cover of darkness, with the occasional juvenile or button buck visiting during daylight. The exception to this rule is if you have found a mature bucks primary scrape. Usually it will be in or on the skirt of some type of security cover or near a known buck bedding area, and most definitely will not be on the edge of a large field, trail, road or any other compromising place. Another exception is immediately after a heavy rain. A mature buck might feel inclined to keep his scrape freshened up. (INSIDE TIP!! If you want to get a mature buck fired up.) find a fresh scrape in another area. preferably with droppings in it and and pungent odor. Shovel some dirt and droppings into a ziplock bag. bring it to your bucks scrape and lightly broadcast some of soil. Take the rest and freeze it for later.

Topo photos and aerial maps are one of the modern deer hunters most efficiant tools, if used properly. People talk about using satellite imagery to study their hunting grounds, but the facts are that 9 out of 10 have no idea what they are really looking at. Being able to fully understand and interpret what you are looking at takes lots of time and effort. The simplest way to begin, is to look at an aerial image of an parcel you are extremely familiar with study all the ins and outs of the image as if you were looking for Waldo. Find all the known roads and trails, cedar or pine thickets, overgrown CRP fields, creeks and ditches, hills and humps. Everything you are familiar with. Spend plenty of time studying this image and the looks of these different features. Apply this knowledge to a new area and test yourself! Once you get the hang of knowing what you are looking at, picking out bedding areas, pinch points, oak groves, and other deer related features will become second nature.

Hunting late season is probably one of the most important times to be cautious about your human odor. Late season usually means you will have a bow in hand so you wont be able to take that buck at 200 yards. You will need to sneak in his back door. Doing this requires being borderline obsessive compulsive. Because by now, after all he has been through this season that big buck is a pro at avoiding human contact. You must monitor the wind and spray down head to toe with scent eliminating spray (not cover scent). Emphasis being on the feet, spray your boots liberally (preferably rubber boots) make sure there are no chunks of mud or dirt in your boot tread from another location this will alert mature deer if it falls of in you track somewhere. Also don't touch anything with your bare hands that might be on a deers level. The scent from the oils in your hands takes 10 times as long to evaporate than normal disturbances. All that being said, The late season is my favorite time to get on a mature whitetail.

When temps drop and winds swirl, it is easy to sit in the living room and think about how good the deer are moving..... Instead of sitting there, muster up a little energy and get outdoors. Hunting in cold weather is literally prime time. Deer are forced to move when they normally wouldn't, if there is snow on the ground tracking becomes ideal, hap-hazard rut patterns are diminishing and deer are becoming predictable again, and probably the most important in my book is that human traffic drops dramatically during late season. Now the precautions. It is really easy to take the weather for granted. DON'T! The cold is not forgiving. But beating the cold is easy enough, it takes a few simple steps.. Make sure you keep you mid-section warm, your vital organs need the warmth more than your extrimities. Don't let yourself get sweaty when walking, this may sound silly but it happens all the time. Layer down when walking, carry your outter layers in your pack. Finally when you stop and sit, wait a few minutes until you cool down then dawn your outter layers. Keep your melon warm. 90 percent of your heat escapes through your head. Good luck... Now get outside!

The Christmas holiday hunt is knocking on the door. Remember.... This time of year bucks are more inclined to key in on a food source than doe congregation areas. Find secluded safe havens that have good food and  might lure a mature buck into visiting it during day light to ease his hunger pains. Honeysuckle is a popular menu item in Arkansas, also winter wheat fields, cut corn fields always produce. But try to get back into cover to find some food sources. If you would like to schedule a late season archery hunt you better get on it.