Like most avid whitetail hunters I look forward to deer hunting season with a great deal of excitement and hopeful anticipation. It doesn’t always turn out as hoped or planned but over the years archery season has not only been my most successful hunting period but my second most favorite time to hunt.
The woods are quiet and void of gunshots, there are fewer hunters, deer have yet to be pressured, the woodlands are starting to change color and the weather is still nice enough that you don’t have to dress like the Michelin Tire Man. It’s just a nice time to be in the deer woods.
I enjoy the November gun season for various reasons but primarily because of the rut. It’s a time of change for both hunter and hunted, an exciting period when anything can happen as the rut intensifies and reaches its peak.
But as much as I like the early hunting seasons and the unique challenges each brings, it is the late season, the muzzleloader season, I look forward to most. Part of the reason is personal, which we’ll get into, but there are other reasons as well.
It’s not that I’m a hog when it comes to hunting or like to have the woods to myself, actually I am, but putting that aside, the late season offers the conditions I enjoy.
By December, many tags have been filled. Missed shot opportunities, discouragement, drastic changes in the weather and other obligations are reasons many hunters call it a season. Whatever the reasons, there are far fewer hunters in the woods. For someone who prefers hunting solo and undisturbed like me, the late season woodlands are as close to idyllic as they get.
Winter and the bone-chilling cold and snow that comes with it have never been my favorite time of year despite being born, raised, and still living in Maine, a state that traditionally gets its share of both.
But when it comes to hunting whitetails, the presence of snow adds a whole new perspective and opens the door to a world of possibilities.
A fresh layer of snow muffles the snap and crackle of dried leaves and twigs, allowing for stealthy mobility when entering hunting areas. Deer stand out like a sore thumb against the white background. When moving slowly or elevated in a stand and letting your eyes do the hunting, it’s amazing how easily things come into view.
Snow also makes it easier to find fresh tracks that lead to reliable food sources, bedding areas, travel routes and prime ambush points. For those who like a challenge, snow makes it possible, and somewhat easier, to strike fresh tracks and still hunt or stalk big bucks. I’ve never hunted that way but greatly admire those who do.
Killing deer is always a challenge and it’s no different in the late season.
The majority of muzzleloader hunters these days use scoped in-line rifles loaded with a coefficient, saboted projectile and a propellant other than blackpowder. With the right combination, properly sighted in, these new in-line guns are reliable, accurate, offer greater range potential and are deadly. But they still have their limitations.
The biggest is they are muzzleloaders and provide just one shot. There are no second, third or fourth shot opportunities. That first and only shot has to count.
Even before Maine established the December muzzleloader season in the early 1980s, I hunted with a muzzleloader during rifle season. I think it’s because I enjoyed the challenge of having to make that one shot count.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in the woods and heard the distant “pow pow pow” of a rifle, perhaps followed by “pow pow,” and wondered, “How many shots does it take?” We all hunt for different reasons, hold different philosophies and have different ways of doing things, but when it comes to target acquisition, shot placement, patience and other skills, hunting with a muzzleloader has made me a better hunter. Not always successful, mind you, just better. That is why the late season has been my favorite since its inception.
When it comes to my better half, I got lucky, real lucky. My wife Diane has never complained or suggested hunting consumes too much of my time each fall.
One of the smartest things I did was get Diane into hunting right after we met, so she hunts almost as much as I do. On days she stays home or hunts for other reasons, I’m in the woods if I haven’t already tagged out.
Hunting, deer hunting in particular, is not my sole reason for living but come each fall, it’s a big one. Out of the twelve months in a year, Maine allows roughly two and a half months of whitetail hunting, not including Sundays. That’s almost enough time to satisfy my addiction — almost.
The late season isn’t just about fewer hunters, the one-shot challenge or snow on the ground. It’s about having more time to hunt, to do what I love, to be where I love.
Typically, I hunt to put venison in the freezer during the early seasons, willingly taking a fat doe or small buck for that purpose.
But with the current antlerless deer permit system, which generally offers multiple bonus permits in my district, I try to make sure I have a permit for the late season. During the rare years when I fail to draw a bonus permit or forget to purchase one and extra permits sell out early, I’ve actually passed on opportunities in October and November, saving my one deer limit for the late season.
Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t, and it’s up to Diane to put venison in the freezer. But all things considered, for me at least, it’s more about the love of hunting and extending the season that truly matters.
