Most guys hang up their waders, guns and hunting gear after firearms seasons end or after the rut is over. This blows my mind. Typically I start getting more and more excited about hunting once mid November rolls around.

Late season duck hunting can be the most fun after November starts. Deer hunters aren’t hitting the water anymore. Competition for spots drops dramatically. Spots are fewer and fewer due to ice but the few that stay open can pay off exponentially. Without a lot of open water the spots that are open are especially intriguing to traveling birds. The best part though is every bird is plump full of fat making them even easier to fall in love with when they are on your plate.

Pheasant hunting gets more and more exciting when the marshes freeze. Watching a dog work cattails on the edge of a frozen Marsh is something every bird hunter needs to see. It also gets the bird to focus more on areas like this after fields are pulled and the disc destroys all their cover. They do wise up and run more but the benefit of fresh snow makes it easier to find tracks when the dogs have given up.

As far as archery hunting for deer goes there are a few benefits. One of the biggest is snow. You can see them coming a lot further away. You can here them crunching through the crust. Pin pointing their travel gets easier with fresh tracks. The bucks wise up but they also get lazy. In that what I mean is they tend to find a spot they like and hunker down. They aren’t traveling the country looking for love. So if they’re in your area they should stick around if you’re smart. Again there is the benefit of less pressure. The weekend warriors back off when it gets chilly. They might be sitting st home watching football when the buck of a lifetime is walking under their stand.

If you have long seasons the way we do here in MN take advantage of them. Don’t stop when mid November hits. Stick to it and fill your tags!!

-Joe