It was a very cold morning in late-December when a lone hunter walked the quarter-mile distance to his stand before dawn. He was glad he'd hung the climber on the longleaf pine the day before so he would not have to deal with frigid wing nuts with his popsicle-cold fingers.

An hour later, the sun had risen to a bluebird sky, but the frigid temperatures were slow to warm. The cold air, enhanced by a significant wind chill, kept the hunter hunkered in his stand. Between his wool toboggan coat and his facemask, only his eyes were exposed, but they were in constant motion. He kept surveying the cutover in the direct light of the morning sun. Nothing had stirred and now it was approaching 10 o'clock.

The temptation to get down was great, but this was to be his last chance to hunt this season. He figured he'd give the buck he knew was in that area another 90 minutes to show up.

About 11 o'clock that morning, he saw two does slipping through the cutover area about 80 yards away. Then another deer, a smallish 6-pointer, slipped along the edge, walking almost beneath his tree.

As he scanned the area again, his eyes locked in on a patch of brown he'd not seen before. The vegetation was thick, but the pattern looked out of place. He made out horizontal lines where only vertical lines should be. He waited patiently, and in about five minutes the brown patch moved and the deer stepped quickly through a small opening. It was a big buck, at least 4 points on one side not counting brow tines.

It took 10 more minutes of watching and waiting before the animal stepped into full view again. But this time the rifle was shouldered, the scope cross hairs locked onto the target. The .30/06 brought down the trophy 10-point buck.

What made this story most interesting to me was the hunter had been on a real quest to take a big buck. He found out where a big buck was located. He received permission to hunt the right tract of land. He'd studied maps of the terrain and was in the right spot for the weather conditions. When the buck made his move, he was ready to take the trophy he had so diligently sought, even though the season was about over.

The moral of the story is simple. It's never too late to make a plan for late-season hunting. Whether you want to target a big buck, or to just bring home meat for the freezer, you can use available information to get the answers you need to help you plan your late-season strategy.

Most deer hunters are usually looking for answers by the end of the long deer season in South Carolina, from one point of view or another.

One set of answers would be for the question: "Where can I just go kill a deer to put meat in the freezer?" The second question would likely be for the guy who has put meat in the freezer: "Where can I finish the year with a trophy buck?"