Early-season whitetail hunting is generally wonderful.

Early-season bowhunters will set up on relatively unwary animals that haven't had to worry about humans pursuing them for eight months. Hunters will be excited after seeing bucks and does at agricultural fields most mornings and evenings during August. Archery hunters who pay attention can easily plan where to set up their stands.

Later, the pre-rut season generally occurs when the nights turn cooler, and bucks stake out breeding territories. That activity (rub trees, scrapes, trails) also means it's simple to pinpoint some general locations where a wallhanger is likely to be. Such deer sign also may offer hunters an idea about the size of an unseen buck that made those markings -- the general rule is the bigger the rub, scrape or track, the heavier-antlered will be the deer.

During the rut, or mating season, deer, especially formerly super-wary bucks, will chase receptive does 24/7. Auto-deer collisions always peak at this time, as bucks and does play tag all day and night for about three weeks.

About all a hunter needs during the first half of the 11th month is a well-sighted-in gun, a stand in the woods or at the edge of a field that affords good lines of sight and a pocketful of patience. A hunter who can sit all day in a tree stand is almost certain to see a buck with his nose to the ground at some time during the day.

But then comes the winter doldrums, starting for most of us with a capital "D" -- as in December

However, by December in most of the South, the primary rut has finished. Plus, most deer will associate humans with gunshots and will have watched their relatives hauled out of the woods on ATVs or tossed into pickup truck beds.

Also by December, most does no longer are interested in randy bucks but concentrate on finding proper nutrition to feed themselves and the fawns growing inside them. Mast, such as acorns, has been consumed by then, along with unharvested crops left in fields.

Hunters mostly agree that post-rut, late season is a tough month to hunt whitetail bucks.

But is that sentiment entirely accurate? Can the 12th month still be a prime time to hunt a big whitetail?

Listen to what some successful deer hunters have to say:

THE LOCAL KNOWLEDGE FACTOR
Michael Clifton has taken a string of bucks with at least 130 inches of antler, including a 9-pointer that grossed 138 inches in 2003.

"But I'd never killed a non-typical buck," the 43-year-old said. "I'd never even seen one around here."

Like many hard-core hunters who know their region is saturated with trophy potential, through the years, Clifton has garnered permission to hunt from several landowners.

"I have some leased land and some that's private," he said. "The place I got this deer was a small tract of private land where only a few people are allowed to hunt."

During 2005 and 2006 pre-season scouting, he found signs at one of his hunting areas that indicated a very decent buck.