The area that I hunt gets driven & pushed very hard during the regular firearm week and I have never done well or even seen much during this time. I am however most successful during bow & ML season and to answer your question about late season, I took a nice 10-point on the last day of the year(12-31-04), in an area that has a lot of preasure but had settled down the last few weeks of December. Never give up!
MB