Winter food sources

[mack34]

I don't post here much, but I do read alot of what is written and I must say I have learned a great deal. That being said, I have a question about winter food and deer movement. I will try to make this short...I hunt public ground in Ohio. We got about 6-7" of snow on Sunday. Now I have been hunting the inside corner of a corn field and have seen many deer, and was lucky enough to take a nice 9 pointer from this area. I actually have not hunted this area for about a month just to avoid overhunting it. There are ALOT of small game hunters that walk through this area, plus alot of dogs. I figured with the recentsnow that the corn fields would be filled with deer tracks and sign. But I haven't seen ANYTHING the last 2 days. Not even tracks in the fields. It is as if the deer have abandoned the whole area. Are they eating something else or do they just switch their routine once we get into the dead of winter?

Thanks, and an early Happy Holidays to everyone
Mack 34

[MichaelHunsucker]

It has been my experience that mature buck will usually not travel very far to their primart food source in late season. Many does and young bucks my be hitting the fields, but the mature bucks may stick back in the timber and feed on browse close to their bedding area. I would look for acorns and locust pods - anything that is "close to home" for the deer.

Right now i am hunting over a food plot because i have seen several good bucks using it. I am yet to score on one so i plan on gettin a little more agressive as the season winds down here in MO.

Good luck!