The author poses with just one of the rewards of his late-December bowhunting. Bragging-grade bucks can be taken in North Dakota this month, but special stealth tactics will be required. Photo by Curt Wells

Dakota bowhunters experienced in their sport know that there are essentially three distinct deer seasons during any one fall: the early season, from September to mid-October; the pre-rut and rut, from mid-October to mid or late November; and the late season, comprising mostly December and/or early January.

If I were to rank them by degree of difficulty associated with tagging a good buck in each, the late season would be the hardest, followed by the early season; for obvious reasons, the rut would be the easiest.

What makes the late season so trying, particularly in North Dakota, is what precedes it: all the other seasons. For three months from the end of August through November, someone is pursuing deer pretty much all the time. Bowhunters, riflemen and those who enjoy hunting with a muzzleloader are all out there working to get a shot, so by December, those deer are hunt-weary, and more than wise to the game.

The bucks with a few years under their belts are especially affected by this prolonged hunting pressure. If one pokes his head out of heavy cover during daylight, it's because he either has been kicked out or is taking a chance in trying to rebuild fat reserves lost to the rutting season. He must pack on some calories if he hopes to get through the North Dakota winter.

But fear is stronger than hunger. And December deer are scared! Nothing's more nervous or jumpier than a late-season whitetail doe. (With the possible exception of a kudu cow in Africa -- but the kudu has to worry about assorted fangs and claws!)

That intense nervousness in late-season deer accordingly obliges you to hunt mistake-free. Blunder into their bedding area, or spook them off their feeding grounds, and chances are good that the deer will disappear. By the time you locate them again and discover their patterns of movement, the season could be over. It's imperative that you hunt carefully, not forcing the action, unless you get real aggressive. More on that later.

First, let's look at some of the conditions we face when bowhunting late-season deer in North Dakota

WINTER CONDITIONS
Sometimes winter arrives on the northern Great Plains in late October; sometimes it doesn't show up until after the archery deer season. And in this case, "winter" means "snow cover," the presence or absence of which will be crucial to your hunting strategy. In 2004, for instance, we didn't have much winter during the archery season, and that made the hunting more difficult than usual.

During open winters, North Dakota's deer don't "yard up." There's no need: Food and cover are everywhere. Deer tend to hang out wherever they were when the gun season ended, and that could be anywhere from large cattail sloughs to massive Conservation Reserve Program fields. Their movement patterns inconsistent, they go where they please, often traveling long distances between bedding and feeding areas.

Because they're traveling at will, and have no reason to seek heavy cover, you'll have to work harder at getting in front of them. No snow usually also signals a milder winter, so deer require fewer calories to stay alive, and thus spend less time up moving about and feeding.

Snow cover changes all that. The degree of "yarding" is directly proportional to the amount of snow. When the snow is deep and the temperature frigid, deer tend to congregate into denser concentrations, gathering from miles around into well-known wintering areas. They'll be much easier to locate, because they leave obvious evidence of the whereabouts of their bedding and feeding areas, and of the routes they take to get from one place to another. You might not find a single deer for many miles, but a few hours spent driving around or talking to landowners will help you find those wintering areas. Snow makes a tough hunt a bit easier.