Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 256: Rut Radio 12/5/18

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Ep. 256: Rut Radio 12/5/18 · Wired To Hunt Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for
0:06
Speaker 1: deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host,
0:11
Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast. I'm
0:15
Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan. This episode number two hundred and
0:18
Speaker 1: fifty six, and today we're back with another Rut radio
0:22
Speaker 1: episode in which we're hearing from hunters all across the
0:24
Speaker 1: country to find out about the progress of the White
0:26
Speaker 1: Tail Rut, about how current conditions are impacting deer and
0:29
Speaker 1: what tactics are working right now for deer hunters across
0:32
Speaker 1: the country. All right, welcome to another episode of the
0:46
Speaker 1: Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by Onyx and Uh.
0:50
Speaker 1: I am sitting today in my pickup truck in the
0:54
Speaker 1: woods of northern Michigan at my family deer camp, and
0:58
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta camp full of guys inside. They're
1:01
Speaker 1: sitting by the woodburning stove drinking cold beers, and Spencer
1:05
Speaker 1: has forced me to go sit in the truck and
1:07
Speaker 1: record a podcast with him. Um, so it's better to
1:11
Speaker 1: be a good one man, right, Yeah, it will be.
1:13
Speaker 1: You know what happened the last time you left me alone,
1:15
Speaker 1: So uh, going out of your way to to be
1:18
Speaker 1: on this episode not gonna let that happen again. So
1:21
Speaker 1: for for anyone who hasn't heard these episodes before the
1:25
Speaker 1: twenty the ten second cliff notes is that we hear
1:28
Speaker 1: from hunters all across the country about what's happening right now,
1:32
Speaker 1: what's happening in the woods, what are the deer doing,
1:34
Speaker 1: how are different current conditions impacting deer, and what can
1:38
Speaker 1: we as hunters be doing right now to have a
1:40
Speaker 1: little bit more success in the woods. So we're in
1:42
Speaker 1: December now, things are changing, aren't they. I mean, this
1:46
Speaker 1: is sweet. November came and went, and it came and
1:48
Speaker 1: went fast, and yeah, it feels like it. And you
1:52
Speaker 1: mentioned we're now in December. Some of the late season
1:56
Speaker 1: stuff is what you're gonna be hearing, uh, you know
1:59
Speaker 1: for these next few episodes, in our final episodes, um,
2:02
Speaker 1: and for the first time in probably a month, we
2:05
Speaker 1: are hearing a lot of weather talk. Um. That is
2:08
Speaker 1: something that you get in September, in October, but then
2:11
Speaker 1: the rut comes in November, and just the rut and
2:15
Speaker 1: the time of year, Trump's everything else. But now that
2:18
Speaker 1: we are in December, you hear a lot more of
2:21
Speaker 1: of what the forecast looks like. And how that's going
2:24
Speaker 1: to affect dear movement. It's very true. Um, I'm also
2:29
Speaker 1: curious about what the emotional forecast is for your right now, Spencer,
2:32
Speaker 1: how are you feeling emotionally now that you've made it
2:36
Speaker 1: through the month of November, Because it's always a little
2:38
Speaker 1: bit of a grind. It always kind of wears me
2:41
Speaker 1: down a little bit, but also at the same time,
2:43
Speaker 1: it's also it's like adrenaline rush of excitement for several
2:47
Speaker 1: weeks there. Now we're kind of coming out of that.
2:50
Speaker 1: Where are you are you? Are you a little bit?
2:53
Speaker 1: Do you have like that postpartum depression happening right now
2:56
Speaker 1: post November depression? Or you rejuvenated after nice Thanksgiving and
3:01
Speaker 1: you're excited for the late season. So most years I
3:04
Speaker 1: would be bummed that it is December and we now
3:06
Speaker 1: have snow on the ground and it's gotten cold. Um,
3:10
Speaker 1: But this year I drew a rare muzzleloader tag in
3:13
Speaker 1: South Dakota and it's good for the whole month of December,
3:16
Speaker 1: So I'm very excited. Um. You know, I'm one of
3:19
Speaker 1: the few people in the state who have this tag.
3:20
Speaker 1: There's only like a thousand of them given out, which
3:23
Speaker 1: sounds like a lot, but it's good for the entire state,
3:26
Speaker 1: so it's a tough jaw. I'm very excited for this December,
3:30
Speaker 1: more excited than I normally would be. Uh, you know,
3:34
Speaker 1: to see the calendar flip. That's good man. I feel
3:37
Speaker 1: like South Dakota. It just seems like you've got like
3:41
Speaker 1: seven buck tags every year. It just seems like every
3:43
Speaker 1: time I hear from you, I killed another South Dakota buck.
3:45
Speaker 1: Got another South Dakota buck. Teg. How do they do this? Uh?
3:49
Speaker 1: A lot of deer and few hunters. It's a good situation.
3:54
Speaker 1: And I was gonna say, you want to keep that
3:55
Speaker 1: a secret so you can you can edit this out
3:57
Speaker 1: when we're done. Um So I am. I am taking
4:01
Speaker 1: this wildly off the rails, though I know you probably
4:03
Speaker 1: had a plan as far as what you want to
4:05
Speaker 1: talk about from the theme standpoint, I will say, um,
4:10
Speaker 1: answering the question that I asked you that I am.
4:14
Speaker 1: I'm on the emotional upswing. I had, like my post
4:17
Speaker 1: November depression a little bit like the rut came and
4:20
Speaker 1: went so quick, it seemed like, and then was a
4:22
Speaker 1: little worn out. Now I'm getting a little bit of
4:24
Speaker 1: you know, re excited for that late season time period
4:27
Speaker 1: because the bright side of November being gone is that
4:31
Speaker 1: now that we are moving into December, we do get
4:33
Speaker 1: more pannable deer. These deer return to more consistent bed
4:38
Speaker 1: defeat patterns that if you're a hunter who's got deer
4:41
Speaker 1: that are that are you know, at least unpressured enough
4:44
Speaker 1: that they stick to a daylight movement pattern, you can
4:47
Speaker 1: you can get on those deer now, um, in a consistent,
4:50
Speaker 1: relatively consistent fashionately. So that is that's like my silver lining.
4:54
Speaker 1: I get excited about this time of year, and I
4:55
Speaker 1: gotta believe that's probably something our guests talk about this week.
4:58
Speaker 1: Is that? Is that true for sure? Yeah, that's something
5:01
Speaker 1: you'll hear all four of our guests talk about. And
5:04
Speaker 1: something that came up with a few colors this week,
5:06
Speaker 1: UM that I've never really considered before until I heard
5:10
Speaker 1: them talk about it was how December can look based
5:14
Speaker 1: on how November went. Specifically, here two of our people
5:18
Speaker 1: UM talk about how they felt it was more of
5:21
Speaker 1: a trickle trickle rut this fall, UM and coming into
5:25
Speaker 1: early December, that bucks are probably more war down than
5:29
Speaker 1: they typically are, and so that's gonna change some things that, Um,
5:34
Speaker 1: you know they're going to be betting right on top
5:36
Speaker 1: of food. Um, they're not going to be really interested
5:40
Speaker 1: in anything rut related at this point as far as
5:44
Speaker 1: like sparring or chasing does that kind of thing, um,
5:48
Speaker 1: because you know, these hunters felt that they observed what
5:52
Speaker 1: some people would say is a trickle rud based on
5:54
Speaker 1: how the moon came through or what the weather was
5:57
Speaker 1: doing in November. Um. So that's something that I think
6:02
Speaker 1: I'm going to pay attention to going forward. You know,
6:04
Speaker 1: how those bucks uh we're acting over the last month,
6:09
Speaker 1: you know, and how that's going to affects the affects
6:11
Speaker 1: some things late season. Yeah, that is uh, that's an
6:14
Speaker 1: interesting observation observation. Who who are these people that we
6:18
Speaker 1: talked to this week? We start off in Minnesota with
6:21
Speaker 1: Mike Fitzgerald from bohunting dot Com and then from Stewart
6:24
Speaker 1: Ranch Outfitters in Oklahoma. Is Clay Force that we talked to,
6:27
Speaker 1: T J Unger from the Virtue TV in Indiana, and
6:30
Speaker 1: then we end in Georgia from Seque Productions. Is Lee
6:33
Speaker 1: Ellis Lee Ellis that guy gets after some real big
6:37
Speaker 1: city bucks. I'm interested here. I we talked to him
6:39
Speaker 1: earlier this year on the main episode. I haven't heard
6:42
Speaker 1: about how his season has gone, so I'm interested to
6:43
Speaker 1: hear what he has to say. What I like this
6:46
Speaker 1: week about talking to Lee is that you know and
6:48
Speaker 1: already we try to cover the whole country and cover
6:51
Speaker 1: different regions and stuff, um and and for this episode,
6:55
Speaker 1: it felt like we covered completely different species of deer
6:58
Speaker 1: almost because we talked to like in Minnesota, who's hunting
7:01
Speaker 1: the big woods around Duluth, and then we also talked
7:04
Speaker 1: to Lee Uh in Georgia, who is hunting bucks that
7:08
Speaker 1: are as urban as it gets. So you'll get some
7:11
Speaker 1: really unique insight. I think on this week's episode, I'm
7:14
Speaker 1: very interested to hear that insight. And I think I'm
7:16
Speaker 1: more interested in hearing that than I am in hearing
7:19
Speaker 1: myself talk any longer. So unless you have something you
7:22
Speaker 1: want us to touch on, I'd say we should just
7:24
Speaker 1: get right to it. Let's go to the first color.
7:26
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you next week because sounds a good spencer.
7:28
Speaker 1: Before we get to our first color, they'll let's pause
7:30
Speaker 1: for a word from our sponsors at white Tail Properties.
7:34
Speaker 1: This week, with white Tail Properties, we are joined by
7:37
Speaker 1: Neil Hagger, a land specialist out of Wisconsin, and Neil
7:40
Speaker 1: is going to be talking to us about what buyers
7:42
Speaker 1: should look for when they want to put food plots
7:44
Speaker 1: on a property that doesn't currently have any. Well, I
7:48
Speaker 1: always like to try to add food plots in areas
7:52
Speaker 1: that are kind of a natural line of travel. So
7:55
Speaker 1: let me speak to my own experience of my own place. Um,
7:58
Speaker 1: I'm in big woods and there are no food plots
8:02
Speaker 1: and there are are no agricultural fields for miles. So
8:06
Speaker 1: my limitations were that I only have so many places
8:10
Speaker 1: I can put them. That was the first limitation of
8:12
Speaker 1: where can I put them? Where is it flat enough?
8:15
Speaker 1: Where is it dry enough? Um? But what I tried
8:18
Speaker 1: to do on my own place is I try to
8:20
Speaker 1: design with line of travel for the animals in mind,
8:24
Speaker 1: and also approach so my own line of travel, and
8:29
Speaker 1: from my point of it, my side of it, I
8:31
Speaker 1: try to approach my foot plots in a perpendicular manner,
8:35
Speaker 1: meaning kind of have a ninety degree angle, so that
8:39
Speaker 1: I have I minimized the opportunity to cross paths with
8:43
Speaker 1: the animals as they're moving on their natural travel lines,
8:47
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. So, uh, cover bedding cover to
8:52
Speaker 1: food to maybe more bedding cover, and I put my
8:55
Speaker 1: food in the middle, and then I try to approach
8:57
Speaker 1: it at a ninety gree angle. So there's one point
8:59
Speaker 1: of content on that line, if that makes sense. If
9:03
Speaker 1: you'd like to learn more and to see the properties
9:05
Speaker 1: that Neil currently has listed for sale, visit white Tail
9:09
Speaker 1: properties dot com. Backslash Hogger. That's h A U G
9:14
Speaker 1: E R alright, And joining us on the line first
9:17
Speaker 1: is Mike Fitzgerald in Minnesota from bow hunting dot com. Now,
9:21
Speaker 1: Mike in Minnesota, what would you say the bucket activity
9:24
Speaker 1: has been lately on the scale of one to ten.
9:26
Speaker 1: On a scale to one to ten, I'd probably put
9:28
Speaker 1: it around a seven or eight. Seemingly been a little
9:32
Speaker 1: bit of increase of daytime activity now um bucks are
9:36
Speaker 1: starting to get out with these colder weather and uh,
9:39
Speaker 1: you know, they're recharging their batteries, they're hitting any food
9:42
Speaker 1: sources um that are available up here. And you know,
9:46
Speaker 1: our our winter is really kicked off already. We got
9:48
Speaker 1: quite a bit of ice on the lake and quite
9:50
Speaker 1: a bit of snow in the woods already, so of
9:53
Speaker 1: deer are starting to move in the deer that do
9:55
Speaker 1: migrate into wintering areas are starting that process. But we're
9:58
Speaker 1: seeing um certain areas deer are kind of vacating, but
10:01
Speaker 1: those areas where they like to winter, where they have
10:03
Speaker 1: those um winter food sources, they're really starting to move in.
10:07
Speaker 1: And if you have one of those spots, that's a
10:09
Speaker 1: great place to be this time of year. So what
10:11
Speaker 1: are some of those winter food sources that you look
10:14
Speaker 1: for In northern Minnesota. One of the biggest ones really
10:17
Speaker 1: for us are signs of logging activity, nuclear cuts. UM.
10:22
Speaker 1: There's kind of that sweet spot that two of probably
10:25
Speaker 1: five year old clear cut um has a lot of
10:28
Speaker 1: woody brows. Those asked and tend to be the first
10:31
Speaker 1: trees to regenerate UM up here, and so they browsed
10:35
Speaker 1: the crap out of those things. UM. So that's one
10:39
Speaker 1: of the main areas. And then any any spot where
10:42
Speaker 1: there's you know, little towns, that kind of thing they
10:45
Speaker 1: key and on people's bird feeders. There's always people that
10:47
Speaker 1: are feeding deer throughout the season. So UM are the
10:52
Speaker 1: biggest yard of the areas that we see around here
10:54
Speaker 1: tend to be on one of two of those two
10:57
Speaker 1: kinds of areas. What do you look for in bedding
11:00
Speaker 1: with these deer kind of manking that winter migration as
11:03
Speaker 1: they get into some new areas this time of year
11:06
Speaker 1: with it being cold. Um, you know, we have a
11:09
Speaker 1: lot of uh, rocky ridges and outcrops things finding those
11:14
Speaker 1: self facing UM bedding ridges that make good bedding area. UM.
11:19
Speaker 1: It exposes them to the sun on those sunny days.
11:22
Speaker 1: UM if it's not that sunny. UM. Anywhere where there's
11:26
Speaker 1: stick tree cover, if you've got a feed or grow
11:29
Speaker 1: or something like that, UM, that will protect them from
11:32
Speaker 1: the cold, holding the heat a little bit and keep
11:34
Speaker 1: the snow off of them. They like that kind of stuff.
11:37
Speaker 1: In your part of the country, imagine everything has ice
11:40
Speaker 1: on it at this point. Is water a factor for
11:42
Speaker 1: late season hunts. UM. If you have an area, whether
11:47
Speaker 1: it's a stream or river, where there is open water,
11:50
Speaker 1: they'll try to key towards that. But honestly, UM, for us,
11:54
Speaker 1: most most streams um even by now, have started ice over,
11:59
Speaker 1: and you know, the white tail they get all the
12:01
Speaker 1: moisture they need from the snow on the ground and
12:03
Speaker 1: and uh you know even a little bit out of
12:06
Speaker 1: the you know, woody brows that they have, and so
12:08
Speaker 1: it's hard to key in on on water here in
12:10
Speaker 1: the late season, it's more about food and cover. Once
12:13
Speaker 1: these white tails move into that late season range, Uh,
12:16
Speaker 1: do you have better success hunting them in the mornings
12:19
Speaker 1: or evenings. It's honestly mid day, especially this time of year. Uh.
12:26
Speaker 1: In the early part of December, UM seems to be
12:30
Speaker 1: one of the best spots. That's the temperatures have come
12:32
Speaker 1: up from that morning dip. Um, the sun is out.
12:35
Speaker 1: If the sun is going to be out in the day, um,
12:38
Speaker 1: And you know they're in energy conservation mode, so they
12:41
Speaker 1: want to move during the warm part of the day
12:44
Speaker 1: if they can. They want to stay better down if
12:46
Speaker 1: it's extremely cold or windy. UM. You know, eventually they
12:49
Speaker 1: have to move anyway. But if if the pattern works
12:52
Speaker 1: out well where you have one of those sunny mornings, UM,
12:54
Speaker 1: that's gonna in. The temperatures are gonna bump up a
12:56
Speaker 1: little bit. That you know, ten thirty to two clock
13:00
Speaker 1: period of time can be dynamite. How do you go
13:03
Speaker 1: about scouting for these late season deer? Are you out
13:06
Speaker 1: there in person looking for sign or are you trying
13:09
Speaker 1: to glass from a distance, or are you actually running
13:11
Speaker 1: any trail cameras in some of these spots. UM. I
13:15
Speaker 1: still try to run trail cameras, but honestly, boots on
13:18
Speaker 1: the ground this time of year is the best way.
13:19
Speaker 1: We have snow cover, UM, and we get snow frequently,
13:23
Speaker 1: so you have a good um indication of of current
13:26
Speaker 1: activity from the last you know, anywhere from twenty four
13:30
Speaker 1: hours to four days UM. Getting out in the woods
13:33
Speaker 1: and find those trails you know, just like you know
13:36
Speaker 1: any creature UM in the winter. Once those trails are
13:40
Speaker 1: established and the snow starts to get deeper, they like
13:43
Speaker 1: to stick to those trails unless they have to get
13:45
Speaker 1: off of them. So if you find an established trail,
13:47
Speaker 1: they're going to use that rather than break trails through
13:50
Speaker 1: the snow. Going forward, Then in a sex week or so,
13:53
Speaker 1: what do you think that bucket activity is going to
13:54
Speaker 1: be on a scale of one to ten in Minnesota, UM,
13:58
Speaker 1: I think it's going to maintain kind of that similar
14:00
Speaker 1: seven to eight. UM. Again, those midday hunts, you can
14:04
Speaker 1: get out there UM and catch them in that activity
14:07
Speaker 1: mid day, and you know there's always that last little
14:10
Speaker 1: you know, that last half hour forty five minutes of
14:12
Speaker 1: light is good. But uh, those temps drop fast here,
14:15
Speaker 1: especially on those clear nights and um, you know, they'll
14:18
Speaker 1: get to where they're going to get their food, but
14:20
Speaker 1: they're going to be quicker in the evening where they
14:22
Speaker 1: might hang around a little longer in the afternoon. Alright, Michael,
14:25
Speaker 1: good luck in the north Woods. Thanks for joining me.
14:28
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Than to take care alright enjoining us online.
14:32
Speaker 1: Next is Clay Force from Stewart Ranch Outfitters in Oklahoma. Now,
14:36
Speaker 1: Clay in Oklahoma, What would you say the buck activity
14:38
Speaker 1: has been lately on a scale of one to ten. Um,
14:42
Speaker 1: I believe our our buck activity is still pretty high. Um,
14:46
Speaker 1: I'm gonna call it about a six to seven right now.
14:49
Speaker 1: So what we're seeing right now, at least in our
14:51
Speaker 1: part of the state, which is the southwest part of
14:53
Speaker 1: the state, UM, I believe the rut is winding down
14:57
Speaker 1: to almost finished. With the time frame we're all right now,
15:01
Speaker 1: there's a very small percentage of doves that are still
15:04
Speaker 1: still coming in the heat and still seeing a few
15:06
Speaker 1: little dear little deer chasing bucks. Excuse me, little bucks
15:11
Speaker 1: chasing does um. And so I believe right now food
15:15
Speaker 1: sources are gonna be key. We just got done with
15:19
Speaker 1: our last rifle hunt. Uh, this past Sunday and almost
15:22
Speaker 1: every buck that we shot was over some sort of
15:24
Speaker 1: food source. So I believe with this big weather we've
15:28
Speaker 1: got coming in this weekend, that food source is gonna
15:30
Speaker 1: be key. As far as uh are as far as
15:33
Speaker 1: chasing deer this week, this week and the week into
15:35
Speaker 1: the weekend. What specific food sources are you focused on
15:39
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma? Uh So for our part of the state,
15:42
Speaker 1: winter wheat um is the main food source for our
15:46
Speaker 1: part of the state. Um So, really, anybody that's got
15:50
Speaker 1: anything green right now is gonna be I think a
15:53
Speaker 1: hot ticket item, whether that's a turnip patch, winter wheat, oates, rye,
15:59
Speaker 1: you know, anything that you had planted for a fall
16:01
Speaker 1: food plot, that winter food source right now, I think
16:04
Speaker 1: it's gonna be be key. You have a pretty high
16:07
Speaker 1: to your population at your place there. Um do you
16:12
Speaker 1: always see a secondary rut and do you always see
16:14
Speaker 1: a consistent secondary rut or is that something that varies
16:17
Speaker 1: for you from year to year. It varies a little bit,
16:20
Speaker 1: but definitely see that that secondary rut for the most part,
16:23
Speaker 1: our heights as far as rut activity, is going to
16:26
Speaker 1: be about November twentie h for about a week or
16:30
Speaker 1: ten days, uh, and then things will start slowing down
16:33
Speaker 1: a little bit, and we're seeing that secondary rut right now.
16:35
Speaker 1: Like I said that those handful of dose that didn't
16:38
Speaker 1: get bred the first go around are are coming back
16:41
Speaker 1: into heat and we're starting to see see a little
16:44
Speaker 1: bit of a secondary rut. But like I said, it's
16:46
Speaker 1: gonna be probably you know, two out of ten something
16:49
Speaker 1: like that. It's pretty minimal as far as rut prime
16:52
Speaker 1: rut activity right now going on. So we really shifted
16:56
Speaker 1: gears and concentrated on foods, horses, and like so we're
16:58
Speaker 1: pretty successful. We had uh, four hunters in this past
17:01
Speaker 1: week and we killed four pretty nice books. So that's
17:04
Speaker 1: really where our focus concentrated on. You mentioned a promising
17:09
Speaker 1: forecast coming up. What are the weather patterns that you
17:12
Speaker 1: usually look for in December to get bucks on their feet?
17:16
Speaker 1: Just big cold snaps, big cold fronts. We're expected some
17:19
Speaker 1: snow and some freezing rain with this. So I believe
17:23
Speaker 1: with the rut winding down with a really big cold
17:27
Speaker 1: blast for at least for our standards in Oklahoma, bucks
17:30
Speaker 1: are gonna be on food sources. They're gonna be really
17:32
Speaker 1: looking to replenish from the from the rut and going
17:37
Speaker 1: into this winter. So with this really big cold front
17:40
Speaker 1: coming in, I would camp out on a food source,
17:43
Speaker 1: and I believe your chances should be pretty pretty high.
17:46
Speaker 1: With your recent successful rifle hunters, what time of day
17:50
Speaker 1: did those kills come? Where? Any of them mornings? That
17:52
Speaker 1: were there? Mostly evenings? Honestly a lot of them, Uh,
17:57
Speaker 1: mid morning to actually midday. We actually had some success
18:02
Speaker 1: between like twelve and two. Um. So, honestly, if you've
18:06
Speaker 1: got a good comfortable stand, I still think in all
18:09
Speaker 1: day set is worthy, especially with deer wanting to hit
18:14
Speaker 1: that food source and a little bit of that secondary road,
18:16
Speaker 1: I think you're catching a little bit all of the
18:18
Speaker 1: above right now. So Um, like I said, mid morning
18:21
Speaker 1: to mid day, we had I think one shot mid afternoon,
18:24
Speaker 1: but for the most part it was kind of a
18:26
Speaker 1: mid morning to midday situation this past week. In states
18:29
Speaker 1: like Oklahoma, we're baiting is legal? Is that something that
18:33
Speaker 1: will help you find the mature buck in December? Or? Uh?
18:37
Speaker 1: Do mature bucks not really kind of fall for that trick? No,
18:41
Speaker 1: I believe so. Um, at least in our state where
18:44
Speaker 1: feeders and and that sort of thing are are legal,
18:47
Speaker 1: they're gonna go hunt that food source. Um, either be
18:51
Speaker 1: a big patch of food plot when are we that
18:54
Speaker 1: sort of thing, or whether that's a protein feeder, gravity
18:58
Speaker 1: fed feeder, spinner feeders, that sort of thing. I really
19:00
Speaker 1: think bucks are hunting whatever that food source. Maybe. So
19:04
Speaker 1: if you've got a small track of ground or something
19:06
Speaker 1: like that with just a feeder in the middle of it,
19:08
Speaker 1: I believe they're gonna be be fined in that with
19:11
Speaker 1: with what they're looking for right now. Going forward, Then
19:13
Speaker 1: in a six week or so, what do you think
19:15
Speaker 1: that bucket activity is going to be on a scale
19:17
Speaker 1: of one to ten in Oklahoma? Um, Almos, I'm gonna
19:21
Speaker 1: keep it right around that six to seven mark. I
19:22
Speaker 1: don't want to go too much higher than that, um,
19:25
Speaker 1: just with the weather the weather is coming in and
19:26
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. But I think it should be
19:28
Speaker 1: a pretty good, pretty good week to ten days coming up,
19:31
Speaker 1: So about a six to seven. Great intel, Clay, Good
19:34
Speaker 1: luck to your hunters in camp, and thanks for joining me,
19:37
Speaker 1: all right, thanks Spencer, alright and joining us on the line.
19:40
Speaker 1: Next is t J Unger in Indiana from the Virtue TV. Now,
19:44
Speaker 1: t J in Indiana, what would you say the bucket
19:46
Speaker 1: activity is been lately on a scale of one to
19:48
Speaker 1: ten Spencer. It's been about one month exactly since we
19:53
Speaker 1: did the rout Fresh Route report, and things have changed
19:56
Speaker 1: pretty significantly here in Northeast Indiana. UM I would give
20:01
Speaker 1: I would give things on scale from one of the
20:02
Speaker 1: ten probably a three, a three out of ten right now.
20:06
Speaker 1: UM gun season closed last weekend, UH, and now we're
20:10
Speaker 1: entering as three weekend long muzloader season coming up here
20:13
Speaker 1: this weekend. So the woods have been really pressured. They
20:16
Speaker 1: continue to be really pressured. UM. And you know, bucks
20:19
Speaker 1: are are recovering from a really hard rut so far
20:23
Speaker 1: as I'm concerned. I mean, it was a trickle rut um,
20:25
Speaker 1: but it was long and drawn out. So UM temperatures
20:29
Speaker 1: all season long, so you know for Northeast Indiana UM
20:33
Speaker 1: have been highly variable from October first December one really
20:38
Speaker 1: UM so a couple of days of super cold and
20:40
Speaker 1: then it would warm right back up. UM. I really
20:43
Speaker 1: think that this coupled with kind of some off moon
20:47
Speaker 1: phases than what we would hope for UM have like
20:50
Speaker 1: I said, turned it into a long, really drawn out rut,
20:53
Speaker 1: a trickle rut um, which as you guys know it,
20:56
Speaker 1: it can really take a toll on on bucks. We
20:59
Speaker 1: actually we started seeing chasing activity. My number one was
21:02
Speaker 1: on his feet during gaylight hours on October eleventh, um,
21:07
Speaker 1: chasing dose. So things started early, um and just tip
21:11
Speaker 1: drug out. Not real hot all season, but just drug out.
21:15
Speaker 1: So for our farms, you know, we run a lot
21:18
Speaker 1: of traill cameras, We do a lot of scouting and
21:20
Speaker 1: um for our farms. So far as I'm concerned, bucks
21:23
Speaker 1: are shut down right now. They are in that hard
21:25
Speaker 1: recovery phase from that drawing up right. Um. You know
21:30
Speaker 1: what we're seeing right now is is those bucks are
21:32
Speaker 1: are sticking to really tight core areas. They're not traveling
21:35
Speaker 1: like they once were. Um, you know in that in
21:38
Speaker 1: that seeking phase or in the rut so um, you know,
21:41
Speaker 1: I think they're bedded down and just trying to put
21:44
Speaker 1: on some calories and gets back up here before you know,
21:47
Speaker 1: the heart of the winter, the winter hits. You mentioned
21:50
Speaker 1: that chuckle rud. Is that something that is familiar to you, Like,
21:54
Speaker 1: is that something in the years past that you've seen
21:56
Speaker 1: and has that changed how you haunt in December? Yeah?
22:00
Speaker 1: Actually it really has you know for years past, um,
22:04
Speaker 1: and I've I've been lucky enough or fortunate enough to
22:07
Speaker 1: hunt the same farm for going on thirty years, um,
22:11
Speaker 1: which has really offered me, you know, an ability to
22:15
Speaker 1: kind of trend and get an idea of what happens
22:17
Speaker 1: on the same farm. Um. But unfortunately for the last gosh,
22:21
Speaker 1: I have three or four years. UM, it's been a
22:24
Speaker 1: trickle rut for us. Whether it was you know, extreme
22:27
Speaker 1: heat in the month of November or you know, moon
22:30
Speaker 1: phases or whatever it's it's been. I don't remember the
22:33
Speaker 1: last time that we had. You know, you're you're famous
22:37
Speaker 1: rut where you know you should be in the stand
22:39
Speaker 1: every day, uh, and you're seeing chasing every day during
22:42
Speaker 1: late you know, daylight activity hours. So um, it's been
22:46
Speaker 1: a long time. So because of that, I've really changed
22:49
Speaker 1: it up on how we hunt. So you know, going
22:53
Speaker 1: into where we're at now we're in December. UM, I'm
22:57
Speaker 1: actually still focusing on dough activity. Now. Don't get me wrong,
23:02
Speaker 1: the majority of the dose, uh, at least on our farms,
23:06
Speaker 1: they're all bred, they've all been bred, but truck cameras
23:09
Speaker 1: and and you know what we're seeing from the stand.
23:11
Speaker 1: We actually we had a really high success rate or
23:14
Speaker 1: I had population of fawns this year, and a lot
23:19
Speaker 1: of those fonds came on early. UM. So we've got
23:22
Speaker 1: big yearling does um big enough. You know, they say
23:26
Speaker 1: that threshold about sixty five to seventy five pounds um
23:29
Speaker 1: could initiate a late estras cycle. So I'm hopeful that
23:35
Speaker 1: some of these yearling does are big enough that that
23:38
Speaker 1: they could hit estrius here um during this late season. So,
23:42
Speaker 1: like I said, I'm still focusing on does um or
23:44
Speaker 1: not hunting nearly as hard as what we are. But um,
23:47
Speaker 1: those those are still feeding. They're feeding pretty hard right now.
23:51
Speaker 1: On grain. We actually still have some fields that are
23:54
Speaker 1: holding standing beans um just because of that weather so
23:59
Speaker 1: um showing little decent daylight activity for those does. UM.
24:03
Speaker 1: So we're just gonna keep an eye, uh, you know,
24:05
Speaker 1: on on what you know, what bucks starts to show
24:07
Speaker 1: up during the day. UM. You know, I made a
24:11
Speaker 1: pretty pretty big change up the weekend after Thanksgiving. I
24:15
Speaker 1: moved all of my trail cameras to food and and
24:18
Speaker 1: greens and that sort of thing, and then two major
24:20
Speaker 1: travel routes, whereas before, you know, all of us had
24:23
Speaker 1: our trail cameras on scrapes and communication points and you know,
24:27
Speaker 1: where we're seeing that hot and heavy rout activity. So
24:30
Speaker 1: I've changed it to you know, really more populated locations, UM,
24:35
Speaker 1: feeding sources and routes. Um. Honestly, where we're at December,
24:40
Speaker 1: I don't even know the day to day December four.
24:42
Speaker 1: I think, um, the cameras are really going to kind
24:45
Speaker 1: of dictate when and where I'm gonna hunt, following the
24:50
Speaker 1: ruts and following those gun seasons in Indiana. Do you
24:53
Speaker 1: notice a shift in the bedding by mature bucks? Yeah? Absolutely, so.
24:58
Speaker 1: You know these deer where before I was seeing bucks,
25:02
Speaker 1: you know bed, I had it pretty pretty tacked down
25:05
Speaker 1: um on where they were bed and at least on
25:07
Speaker 1: my farm, they've really broken up a ton um. Obviously,
25:11
Speaker 1: you know, they sorted out their dominance, but they're in
25:15
Speaker 1: the thickest, gnarliest cover, but at the same time, as
25:18
Speaker 1: close as they can get to food and water. You know,
25:21
Speaker 1: I really do believe that their primary focus right now
25:25
Speaker 1: is refueling. Um. It's just like you and I. You know,
25:28
Speaker 1: we put in a ton of time during that rout
25:31
Speaker 1: all days six. We gotta get our batteries recharts. So UM,
25:35
Speaker 1: you know, I do expect to see a little bit
25:37
Speaker 1: of late season activity, um, but nothing like you know,
25:42
Speaker 1: nothing like what what November should have brought. Um. But
25:45
Speaker 1: I think because of that trick, all right, it should
25:47
Speaker 1: drag out a little bit into December going forward. Then
25:50
Speaker 1: in the six week or so, what do you think
25:52
Speaker 1: that buck activity is going to be on a scale
25:54
Speaker 1: of one to ten in Indiana? Yeah, So, you know,
25:57
Speaker 1: I love it when we're in October going into November
26:01
Speaker 1: because we can talk about changes on a daily or
26:04
Speaker 1: even hourly basis. You know, things can change any minute. Um. Unfortunately,
26:09
Speaker 1: where we are in the season, I probably a three
26:14
Speaker 1: or four out of ten. But as soon as we
26:17
Speaker 1: get more favorable winter conditions, that should create a little
26:20
Speaker 1: bit more urgency in their seating. I'd actually, I think
26:24
Speaker 1: I can go out on limits and say I expect
26:26
Speaker 1: to see an update uptick of maybe five to six, um,
26:31
Speaker 1: you know, out of ten. And when that happens, I'll
26:33
Speaker 1: probably focused on afternoon hunts. Um over green. So we
26:37
Speaker 1: put a lot of time into our food plots late
26:41
Speaker 1: summer for this time right now. So, um, once we
26:44
Speaker 1: get some snow on the ground, I expect you to
26:46
Speaker 1: really funnel into those greens. But um, with you know,
26:50
Speaker 1: with still a heavy drop of beans and corns still
26:53
Speaker 1: laying out there. They're gonna hit that until it gets
26:55
Speaker 1: a little more drastic, you know, a little more drastic
26:58
Speaker 1: so um, you know, heavy weather, I think we could
27:02
Speaker 1: see a pretty significant uptick. But until then, I'm probably
27:05
Speaker 1: gonna do what the bucks do and like I said,
27:07
Speaker 1: recover from those all day russis and and uh at
27:11
Speaker 1: least for now, rely pretty heavily on the cell cameras
27:14
Speaker 1: to give us the information that we need to make
27:17
Speaker 1: a new plan. Alright, t J, well, good luck during
27:19
Speaker 1: your late season hunts. Thanks for joining me. I really
27:22
Speaker 1: appreciate it, Spencer, have a good one, all right, and
27:26
Speaker 1: joining me on the line. Next is Lee Ellis from
27:28
Speaker 1: Seek One Productions in Georgia. Now, Lee in Georgia, what
27:31
Speaker 1: would you say the buck activity has been lately on
27:33
Speaker 1: a scale of one to ten? Uh, this last week
27:38
Speaker 1: has probably been an eight. Usually our prime week or
27:42
Speaker 1: you know, second third week in November, and for some
27:46
Speaker 1: reason this year, I don't know if it was weather
27:48
Speaker 1: or what, but I did not see chasing, wasn't seeing
27:53
Speaker 1: much activity from the mature box on cameras, um, and
27:58
Speaker 1: it was just it was just off and the last week, Um,
28:03
Speaker 1: I've seen more bucks chasing, more those coming in the heat,
28:08
Speaker 1: uh than I have all of November. And actually last
28:11
Speaker 1: night I had about a pointer. I got two pictures
28:16
Speaker 1: of them actually mounting and breeding a dog and turning
28:19
Speaker 1: the camera last night. That's where I'm going to sit
28:21
Speaker 1: this evening. What phase of the row would you say
28:24
Speaker 1: that we're currently in, and what phase of the row
28:26
Speaker 1: would you say you're normally in this time of year.
28:30
Speaker 1: Normally it slows down big time this time of year.
28:32
Speaker 1: But I think that um, like I said, I don't
28:35
Speaker 1: know if it was weather, but I think a lot
28:36
Speaker 1: of those just didn't really come into heat very strong
28:40
Speaker 1: or just weren't weren't didn't get bread um. And normally
28:45
Speaker 1: it's slow this time of year. It's really post rut.
28:47
Speaker 1: But I'm telling you right now, this is the time
28:51
Speaker 1: to be entry. Uh. Like I said, I'm seeing way
28:54
Speaker 1: more hard like hard chasing. I had an encounter with
28:58
Speaker 1: a year last week dog and two does and I
29:03
Speaker 1: having at forty yards, but I couldn't get a shot
29:05
Speaker 1: on them. Um. This last the last five days, I
29:09
Speaker 1: had seen all I've had encounters with all of my
29:11
Speaker 1: mature bucks. Uh, that I'm after. Is your rut in
29:16
Speaker 1: Atlanta normally difference than the rest of the state or
29:19
Speaker 1: do things typically time out the same. I think most
29:22
Speaker 1: of the state is typically the same. Uh. Second third
29:26
Speaker 1: week is kind of you know, around Thanksgivings, really kind
29:29
Speaker 1: of the heat of the rut um. But I've talked
29:34
Speaker 1: to a lot of people and that's a lot of
29:36
Speaker 1: people are saying the same thing. It's just been an
29:38
Speaker 1: off year and they're starting to see that second I
29:41
Speaker 1: think we're having a I think we had a soft
29:43
Speaker 1: first rut. I think we're having a really hard second
29:46
Speaker 1: rut with those coming back in the heat. It didn't
29:48
Speaker 1: get bread and things like that. Also, the weather is
29:51
Speaker 1: just getting trime this week. It's gonna be like in
29:54
Speaker 1: the twenties in the mornings and so it's it's gonna
29:57
Speaker 1: force the dear get up and feed. And I think
30:00
Speaker 1: you're gonna have dose coming the heat. I think that
30:03
Speaker 1: they're also going to be thinking about food again. Um.
30:08
Speaker 1: So I've been trying to stick to my thicker areas
30:10
Speaker 1: getting around, you know, private bushes and things like that.
30:13
Speaker 1: We're losing a lot of cover in our trees too,
30:17
Speaker 1: and it's just there's a more open field, and I
30:19
Speaker 1: think that those doer like to really kind of hug
30:22
Speaker 1: tighter to that thicker cover. You've got the food with
30:25
Speaker 1: the privet, and you've got a combo of kind of
30:29
Speaker 1: later season than going to food, but also the second
30:32
Speaker 1: right kicking, and I think that's that's at least where
30:34
Speaker 1: I'm focusing my efforts. You were touching on food there.
30:39
Speaker 1: What are some of those food sources that you focus
30:42
Speaker 1: on in Georgia really when it comes to late season.
30:46
Speaker 1: One of the primary obviously there's still you know, still
30:49
Speaker 1: some acorns around, but really the primary food source I
30:52
Speaker 1: see is printed. We've got a lot of printed bushes,
30:55
Speaker 1: uh kind of in low lying creek areas and things
30:58
Speaker 1: like that. And then they've pile start to pile the
31:01
Speaker 1: private bushes this time of year. With it being an
31:04
Speaker 1: unusual rut this year, have you seen some weird signmaking
31:09
Speaker 1: as well, or is that something that's still relevant for
31:11
Speaker 1: you in December? Oh? Yeah, I mean all the bucks
31:15
Speaker 1: I've seen have been chasing hard. I've had you know,
31:18
Speaker 1: younger bucks come in and our blast and scrapes and stuff,
31:20
Speaker 1: and usually that kind of cools off this time of year.
31:23
Speaker 1: But I just think this this cold snap late rut.
31:27
Speaker 1: I mean, I just think that they're you know, a
31:28
Speaker 1: couple of weeks behind this year. I was gonna say, so,
31:31
Speaker 1: I've seen I've seen a lot of activity, beer making,
31:33
Speaker 1: rubs and scrapes, a lot of you know, grunting and chasing.
31:38
Speaker 1: You've touched on weather patterns a few times. But are
31:40
Speaker 1: there any moon faces that get you excited in early December?
31:45
Speaker 1: I really like the new moon. Um, and that's kind
31:48
Speaker 1: of where you're around the new moon, but i'd really
31:50
Speaker 1: like a new moon. I just think that full moons
31:53
Speaker 1: I believe anyways that they just roam around all night
31:56
Speaker 1: and usually I'll see moment really late in the mornings
31:59
Speaker 1: and midday during full moons. But new moons, I think
32:02
Speaker 1: that it's like as soon as they like cracks, they're
32:05
Speaker 1: up a moment, they're ready to go. Um. I don't
32:09
Speaker 1: think the heat around as much, and especially when you
32:11
Speaker 1: have these brutally cold nights, which which we're about to have.
32:15
Speaker 1: Sometimes I laugh at the night and then first cracking on,
32:19
Speaker 1: they're up, moving and feed, looking to feed or yea
32:22
Speaker 1: if it doesn't heat, coming to check her. Going forward.
32:25
Speaker 1: Then in a six week or so, what do you
32:27
Speaker 1: think that bucket activity is going to be on a
32:29
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten in Georgia. I think it's
32:31
Speaker 1: gonna get better this week. Like I said, I saw
32:33
Speaker 1: that about that brock breeding a dough. It was in
32:36
Speaker 1: heat last night. It's gonna be brutally cold this week.
32:39
Speaker 1: If it was an eight last week, last week was
32:41
Speaker 1: really good, I think it's gonna be better this week.
32:42
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna at the nine. All right, Lee, Well,
32:44
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to seeing what giant white tail you
32:47
Speaker 1: kill next. Good luck and next for joining me. Cool. Thanks,
32:51
Speaker 1: and that concludes this week's episode of Wired Hunt's Brought Radio.
32:55
Speaker 1: Good luck to all the late season hunters out there.
32:59
Speaker 1: Stay warm when you're in the field. You can tell.
33:01
Speaker 1: I obviously didn't because I've had a nasty cold for
33:04
Speaker 1: this entire episode, So my apologies for you guys having
33:07
Speaker 1: to listen to that. So thank you guys for listening.
33:10
Speaker 1: Thanks to our guests Mike, T J. Clay, and Lee,
33:14
Speaker 1: and until next week, stay weird, Haunt