My favorite time to hunt a particular or maturebuck is in December on evening hunts.

1. Food sources become much more concentrated due to the snow levels here. I hunt big forest land country in which deer are spread way out and densities are low. This is the only time of the year that deer are forced to congregate due to the snow pack. Temperatures drop drastically. Below 0 temperatures are common.

2. Does converge on the feed. Bucks use the feed as wellwhile keeping tabs on any does that might comeinto heat. The old boys here almost always let all the other deer buffer their approach. Set up carefully. Be able to exit without letting every deer in area hear you crunch through the snow. Or smell you. The nice thing about centralized feed, its much easier to play the winds.

3. Mature bucks are recovering from the rigors of the rutting phases and they return to a core wintering ground thatthey havegrown accustom too.Carbohydrates are essential for replenishing energy levels. Hunting pressures drops off and the old bucks tend to let their guards down just a bit during last light.

if I had to rank them...

1. Snow
2. Feed
3 Possibility of estrus doe

its nice that they are all forced together..its a pretty good hand to play for a bowhunter..