Dial in Patterns for Better Success in Late-Season Deer Hunting

After nearly a decade of hunting Midwest public land, I’ve realized that between life, work and family obligations, I may only get one real chance at a mature buck on public ground each year. Given hunting pressure and how little a buck moves during daylight throughout the season, you must be dialed into patterns before the opportunity presents itself. Therefore, my public-land success usually depends on how well I hunt “second-stage” locations.

Broadly, this strategy entails scouting for fresh intel and setting up cameras in spots for the pre-rut and rut instead of burning valuable time hunting the early season and always being one step behind. Sure, in some situations and states, the early window is a great time to hunt. However, I’ve found that my second-stage program maximizes my most important asset: time. Let’s break it down.

SCHEME FOR THE SHIFT

A lot of Midwest public land contains big, hilly timber with little or no direct contact with agriculture or key food sources beyond browse and mast. This creates opportunity, or lack thereof, depending on how you view the situation. Some Midwestern archery seasons (Kentucky’s, for example) open in early September, while others (like Indiana’s and Illinois’) open October 1. September hunts can be quite productive—bucks are often still in bachelor groups and moving within summer core ranges—especially on public ground near early-season food sources. However, because more Midwestern public land is forested and doesn’t abut ag fields, I’ll focus predominantly on October and November.

In 2020, one buck showed me the merits of prioritizing scouting more than hunting on heavily timbered public ground in October. I’d left Kentucky after chasing velvet in September, and just days from Indiana’s opener, mature deer had all but disappeared from areas they’d occupied earlier in September. I had no clues to their whereabouts. This caused a panic, as I had found a public-land stud earlier that summer. After a few days of moving cameras back into his core area and still catching only nocturnal movement, I decided he’d shifted to the “safest” part of his core. This was likely due to changing food sources (moving from beans to acorns) and pressure from other hunters’ last-minute scouting.

Realizing scouting was more important than hunting, I scoured the area in an attempt to find some of his sign on October 2. A few hours into my scouting mission, I kicked him up in the gnarliest thicket in that area of public ground and as far away from access points as you can get. I placed a camera and waited for the pre-rut and cold fronts to arrive.

A few weeks later, he became very consistent, hitting a particular scrape on his way back to his bed almost daily. On October 25 at 5 p.m., I watched him stand up out of the same bed I’d found earlier that month, and with a short rattling sequence, I swayed him into bow range. In just one season of focused public-land hunting, I’d learned the basics of when, where and how to harvest mature whitetails in their second-stage core areas.

This simple strategy can help you capitalize on key windows of activity and set high-odds ambushes for mature whitetails in sprawling wooded environments. I’d always suspected that prioritizing in-season scouting over hunting could yield results, and this proved it. In my experience, most big, hilly timber is usually barren of deer from summer until early fall, when cold fronts hit, acorns begin dropping and the pre-rut and rut start cranking up. Statistically, this shift is likely the most probable time to encounter a mature buck in daylight in this type of environment. And by planning ahead, you maximize your time and killing opportunities while avoiding burnout and limiting days spent away from work and family.

FIND THE FORMULA

In late summer or early fall—and even in-season when learning new spots—I bring a decent number of cameras and hang them in promising second-stage locations. These are usually the gnarliest pieces of public I can find, which I feel offer the best opportunities at large, mature bucks. I’ll walk past the usual ag field edges (if any exist), past the first or second obvious oak flats leading to the field and even past the first big scrapes, rub lines or water sources. While doing so, I remind myself to walk past good sign to reach great sign.

Often, though, great second-stage sign doesn’t exist from July to September. In fact, it typically won’t appear until mid to late October. If you have historical intel on the specific area of the property you’re hunting, great. If not, scout more than you hunt. The best time to find second-stage areas is during the season itself. Even if you don’t score immediately, you’ll gather great intel for next year.

On large, big-timber properties, I specifically target habitat diversity and terrain that come together to provide ideal scenarios. That may be a clear-cut or cedar thicket merging with a white oak ridge top. Or it could be a bench of cedars or pines giving way to rich white oak flats before descending through non-mast-bearing hardwoods and dumping into private land. Regardless, habitat diversity is crucial. When one habitat abuts another, it creates an edge, and edges bring security cover and different food sources, creating a preference in travel routes for mature bucks.

When this mix features quiet, concealed access routes that allow for minimal disturbance, such as a dry creek bottom or a drainage system with predictable sinking/rising thermals, you have the advantage. I killed the buck in 2020 because he was bedded where two clear-cuts merged with a pine-and-oak-flat edge just above a big drainage. The mature buck backed himself into this spot—his safe core area (the second stage)—for his fall home range shift. And it was an attractive second-stage area for three key reasons: diversity (food and cover), distance (away from hunting pressure) and doe groups (presence of does in the area during the rut). A prospective spot must have these three items before I deem it worthy of an observational hunt or a camera for a second-stage setup.

MONITOR CAM CAPTURES

Trail camera—and especially cellular trail camera—regulations vary from state to state and change often, so know the specific rules in your area. That said, much of my current scouting effort revolves around cell cameras. A word of caution when setting up cams in mid- to late summer: You might not get a single image of a deer for weeks or even months at first, which can be discouraging. Your cameras may still be devoid of life a week or two into the season. Just wait.

By mid- to late October, does and mature bucks will start appearing on oak flats, benches and edges, hitting acorns and scrapes in the late-morning hours. By late October and early November, they’re typically all over the cameras, but often still only at night or for just a few daylight encounters. By mid- to late November, they’ve become less wary and frequent the second-stage zones on public parcels that feature the three “Ds”—diversity, distance and doe groups—listed above. While most hunters are scratching their heads, you enter the game in a new, fresh and (hopefully) mostly untouched piece of public. This is your shot to bag a mature buck where he’s already spending time during daylight.

The other thing to consider with this strategy is what I call the “3-in-1 rule,” which I’ve touted for several years in articles and on podcasts and believe in fully. Cell cameras condition us to expect to see deer daily or weekly. If they suddenly don’t show for a few days or weeks, panic ensues.

However, a buck may appear in an area even if he isn’t caught on camera. Basically, for every instance you see a buck on camera, it’s safe to assume that he’s been in the area three to five times as often. (The one exception to this is a bait site, where you’d expect a more accurate representation of captured visits).

Think about every time you’ve hunted near a camera. I’ll bet that you’ve seen three to five times the number of deer that happen to step foot in front of—and trigger—that camera. Treat a camera on public as a rough census not a patterning tool. Once you’ve confirmed the presence of a shooter, go hunt him.

TRY IT OUT

After honing this strategy, I spent 2024 in a more relaxed state. I chased Kentucky bucks from September to October and didn’t touch Indiana until November. While chasing fresh sign, I had six encounters with Kentucky bucks at less than 70 yards—all without a shot opportunity. Once they entered the second stage, I backed off the over-pressured Bluegrass bucks.

By early November, I rushed back to my Indiana spots, where I knew some larger-caliber public bucks would show up. Within a few days, five shooters over 140 inches had appeared, three of which I considered mature bucks. Days in, I picked up three more encounters with a few of these bucks, including the biggest, which was over 160 inches. On November 23, I climbed a tree in the most remote bedding area just downwind of a known doe bedding spot and within shooting distance of a funnel between a clear-cut, cedar thicket and oak-flat ridgetop. The 160-inch 12-pointer slipped in around 8 a.m. and bedded for more than an hour. Just as the group of does came in to bed down, he promptly stood up to begin scent-checking just 25 yards from my tree.

The second-stage strategy works. It keeps you from expending a lot of time and energy—and spending a lot of money—in the offseason and the early season, and instead lets you focus on planning for prime pre-rut and rut windows. By God’s grace, I was blessed with my 2024 Indiana public-land buck. I’ll continue using this approach until a better one reveals itself. The beauty of chasing mature bucks on Midwestern public land is that the challenges and lessons never stop.

THE THREE D’S

• A good second-stage area must have these characteristics.

Determining the part of a buck’s core area that he shifts to in the fall may seem straightforward. However, a variety of things must come together to form “ideal” second-stage areas. These three are the most important.

1. Diversity: Working edges and terrain are a must. This includes old fields (early successional growth), cedar or pine thickets, hardwoods, oak flats or any dramatic habitat changes. Emphasize great bedding areas with consistent thermals that not only provide the buck with cover but also play to his advantage in terms of both sight and smell.
2. Distance: The area must be “far enough” from accesses to escape most hunting pressure. Some pressure is fine, but we are attempting to get away from early-season—and sometimes, private-land—hunters pushing in on borders.
3. Does: Doe family groups also push back into these areas to escape pressure (the safety of cover, distance and consistent thermals) and to dine on new food sources (acorns). Does must use the area for it to remain active into late November.

---

• This article was featured in the August 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe.

---