Late Season Muzzleloader Hunt Pays Off In Ohio

North American Whitetail's Gordon Whittington is on a late season muzzleloader hunt in Ohio and finds himself facing a difficult situation.

Legal shooting hours in Ohio end at sunset (the law has since been altered to allow for hunting up to 30 minutes after sunet) which means he has to hunt the travel corridors from bed to feed. The classic late season muzzleloader hunt plan of watching a favored food source in the afternoon is a risky proposition because mature whitetails often show up during the last minutes of daylight -- which is well after Ohio's then-legal shooting time.

To score, Whittington has to hunt differently.

For several evenings, he's in deer and has a good buck on its feet but legal shooting hours close before a shot can be taken. In this situation, Gordon has to adjust his approach and hunt closer to the bedding and sanctuary areas or hope weather-related conditions encourage deer to move just a bit earlier in the day.

Finally, the buck is in range and the timing is right.