Let's hear some...

I think the second rut is always more intense. It's almost like the bucks know this is it, its now or never. Find food for doe and you'll see bucks.

Deer need food and water!!!

My best advice for late season hunting is to hunt during the middle of the week, and stay off the ATV until you need it to haul one out of the woods. They have long since learned that everyone is after them, and any sound that signals the presence of a hunter will send them to cover.

The author of a recent article in Deer and Deer Hunting claimed there is no second rut as such because doe that are not bred during the initial rut are few and far between. According to him, the so-called second rut is made up mostly of fawns that come into estrus late.

I don't agree with him myself. When you consider that a buck will hang with a doe for many hours, waiting for her to come into that brief period where she will accept him, I can easily see doe not being serviced during this brief window. IMO, it is the mature doe that get missed, along with the fawns that cycle after the rut, that often make the second rut as good or better than the first.

Bucks are chasing hard and reckless here. They're on unusual trails and patterns. Hunt different areas if you have them... the bucks are like ghosts - boom! there they are.

In a perfect herd I'd agree with him. Most herds are no where near the 1:1 or 1:2 ratio that's needed for every doe to be bred during her first cycle.

We generally have a 2nd rut after Christmas. It is mostly fawns. It can be productive, and more or less intense depending on how late the fawn crop was. Last year was nuts as it seemed there were many late fawns as a result of the 2011 drought.

I have had luck hunting food areas in the post rut. Our bucks are way rutted down by early December, and will now generally grab a bite to eat where they totally ignored food in Nov. I will generally hunt later at this time as it seems the bucks take a late-morning break to eat.

watched a big buck with a doe fawn last friday morning in NETX, hopefully it will be winding down and they will be back hitting food....ASAP

We have bucks (mostly young) back in bachelor groups and bucks and does at the feeders together. We also have a group of 5-6 does hanging out together. I wouldn't have expected this behavior this early, but that's what's on the cameras.

I've seen bucks chasing everyday this week. Some real bruisers too. Unfortunately it hasn't been when I was in the stand. I seen some bucks Tuesday driving past NASA that made me want to cry. There are some huge deer in there.

All the doe do not come in heat the same day....each buck breeds multiple doe, therefore nearly all mature doe are bred the first estrus cycle. I see very few mature doe getting chased late in season...it's nearly always fawns coming in as they get old enough to cycle in late season. I live on and hunt our place 5-6 days a week. I should say watch or scout instead of hunt...lol ..I just enjoy videoing or taking pictures unless I see Mr. Monster Buck.

Watched a mature doe being dogged by 4 different buck on Tuesday. Like I said ratio is out of whack and there is simply no way all my doe can get bred in Nov. I've seen my doe fawn being chased all the way through mid January.

Hunt the food sources and use some Tinks 69. The stuff works.

When yal say fawns do you mean fawns or yearlings getting bred late season?

I wouldn't think fawns are ready to breed only 5-6 months after being born.

For the late season I will be using corn and ratling.

If there is more competition for fewer does, do you find that rattling and grunting is more effective at this point? I saw no fighting on my lease in east Texas earlier in the rut, but we have many more does than bucks. Now that does in estrous are fewer, I'm hoping that there'll be some fighting going on and they'll come in closer with a rattle or 2.

I would think that fewer does in heat would increase fighting.

I did a little ratling before the rut started in our area and had deer come in every time. They are curious they will come look.

Yes fawns born in May/June will be 8-9 months old at middle of December /January and a lot will come in estrus and be bred late or after season is over. Seen in many times.

You need to be out during bowseason to see majority of sparring and fighting in east tx. Maybe some places are the exception but many of big mature bucks are broken up already by opening of gun season at my place.

It seems to me most of my deer breed late but by late I mean around dec 10 our rut peaks in mid Nov but I say I have a lot of late breeders because I see a lot of fawns that still have fading spots come rifle season and it seems like everything is a little but behind the other properties I hunt all of which are within 15 miles apart from each other at the most. On my main place I noticed this again this year while they were rutting hard on my places in Palo Pinto & Erath counties I wasn't seeing much activity in Hood co and my neighbor was saying he thought they didn't rut at all out there but come Dec 10thish my friend kills the monster we had pics of (only at night) at 10am about 2 miles from the only place we had a pic of him and there was another good one spotted in a strange spot we had never seen before, the only thing I can think of that drew that monster out of the thick brush in broad daylight and took him into unchartered territory had to be a hot doe, when I got the pic of him I really regretted hunting one of my other places that morning.

This is the time of year when you might see nothing for several hunts and then have a bachelor group of several bucks show up at a feeder when you're not expecting it.

I poured some Tinks on a buddy's boot soles the other day as he walked to his stand, five minutes later he had a nice big spike follow his trail on a rope. He couldn't get a shot however.

I'm seeing more deer now that I have all season; both while hunting and driving down the roads. In my opinion, other than during the rut, late season is the best time to hunt. Its colder and there is less food available. Those bucks that have worn themselves out during the rut have to feed heavily to get their weight back up. I'm seeing bucks that I've never seen before at the feeders for 15+ minutes at a time. Only problem is that some of the good bucks have broken tines.