Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Wired To Hunt Podcast #168: Rut Radio 9/20/17

Transcript

Wired To Hunt Podcast #168: Rut Radio 9/20/17 · 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
0:16
Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan. This is episode number one sixty eight,
0:19
Speaker 1: and today on the show, we're kicking off our two
0:22
Speaker 1: thousand seventeen RUT Radio miniseries, in which we're getting real
0:26
Speaker 1: time from the field updates from across the country about
0:30
Speaker 1: how dear behaving, current conditions affecting deer, and the tactics
0:34
Speaker 1: that are working right now. All right, guys, welcome to
0:48
Speaker 1: the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by Sitka Gear,
0:51
Speaker 1: and today we've got a special episode for you. This
0:56
Speaker 1: is the first episode of the two thousand seventeen edition
1:00
Speaker 1: of the RUT Radio miniseries that we launched last fall.
1:04
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if you guys, if you're new, you
1:06
Speaker 1: may not know what I'm talking about. But if you
1:07
Speaker 1: were listening in the fall of two thousand and sixteen,
1:09
Speaker 1: you're probably familiar with RUT radio. But with me today.
1:14
Speaker 1: The guy who's helping make all this happen is one
1:16
Speaker 1: of our producers and the host of RUT Radio, Spencer
1:20
Speaker 1: new Hearth Spencer, thanks for coming back to help us
1:22
Speaker 1: do this again this year. Well, thanks for having me. Um.
1:27
Speaker 1: Just as much as I hope people enjoy listening to them,
1:29
Speaker 1: I enjoy making them because this is all great information
1:33
Speaker 1: that I can use to So I'm I'm happy to
1:36
Speaker 1: be doing this, and I'm happy that we started them
1:38
Speaker 1: a little bit earlier this year. Yeah. Yeah, so so
1:40
Speaker 1: that's that's something I think a lot of people will
1:42
Speaker 1: notice different. So last year we started RUT Radio is
1:45
Speaker 1: a mini series within while You're to hunt to give
1:48
Speaker 1: people up to date information during the run. I'll let
1:51
Speaker 1: you explain in more detail, but at a super high level.
1:54
Speaker 1: That was our our high our high level thought and plan.
1:57
Speaker 1: This year, we're still going to call it the radio miniseries,
2:01
Speaker 1: but I thought, let's share what's going on throughout the
2:04
Speaker 1: entire deer season. So so I guess before I go
2:06
Speaker 1: any further, Spencer, can you walk us through what the
2:10
Speaker 1: RUT Radio series is going to be about? What are
2:13
Speaker 1: what are we going to cover on these special episodes?
2:16
Speaker 1: So each week for like the next three months or so,
2:20
Speaker 1: I will talk to a number of different contacts in
2:23
Speaker 1: the white tailed world and see what the deer activity
2:27
Speaker 1: looks like where they're at. And so for example, this week, uh,
2:31
Speaker 1: you know, we've got four states that kind of cover
2:33
Speaker 1: the US, and and next week we'll try to have
2:36
Speaker 1: like four different states they do the same thing and
2:38
Speaker 1: just kind of hear what these guys are seeing in
2:41
Speaker 1: their region, and hopefully the information that you get from
2:44
Speaker 1: that can just be another piece of the puzzle that
2:47
Speaker 1: you use for your hunts. And you know, for this
2:50
Speaker 1: first episode, I'm in the same boat, Uh, is that
2:54
Speaker 1: what I've heard from these guys has been really relevant
2:57
Speaker 1: to me because as someone who's Deer season doesn't open
3:01
Speaker 1: until this weekend, I have not been in the woods
3:04
Speaker 1: hardly at all, and so talking to some of these
3:06
Speaker 1: people gives me a really good idea of what I
3:09
Speaker 1: should be looking for in these early haunts as far
3:11
Speaker 1: as bachelor groups and field edges and and being turning
3:15
Speaker 1: colors and stuff like that. And hopefully, uh, you know,
3:19
Speaker 1: as we get deeper into this, that you can use
3:21
Speaker 1: that same bit of information in October and November and December. Yeah,
3:25
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it because I think, you know,
3:26
Speaker 1: so often we want to know what's coming our way
3:29
Speaker 1: or what we should expect if we haven't been in
3:31
Speaker 1: the woods in a little while, or or different things
3:33
Speaker 1: like that. So, so what I thought about last year's
3:36
Speaker 1: you know episodes when we talked to a whole bunch
3:38
Speaker 1: of different people from different parts of the country every year,
3:41
Speaker 1: and you were you were asking them, Okay, what kind
3:42
Speaker 1: of dear activity is seeing? Um, how are you seeing
3:46
Speaker 1: these dear react to the current weather? Um? What types
3:49
Speaker 1: of related behavior? All those different things. You're getting this
3:51
Speaker 1: intel from somebody maybe in Iowa or South Dakota or
3:55
Speaker 1: Kansas or New Hampshire or whatever it might be. And
3:58
Speaker 1: then depending on where I was hunting or where you know,
4:00
Speaker 1: a friend was, honey, I can say, Okay, you know
4:02
Speaker 1: so and so was hunting in Iowa. I'm heading. You
4:05
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna be heading the Iowa next week. Sounds
4:07
Speaker 1: like they're seeing a BC that's gonna help me plan
4:10
Speaker 1: what I do when I go there, or in particular,
4:13
Speaker 1: like right, you get these weather systems ahead to go
4:15
Speaker 1: from the west towards the east. So when I hear
4:17
Speaker 1: about what's going on in Missouri or Iowa or Illinois
4:20
Speaker 1: a couple of days before I'm gonna be hunting here
4:22
Speaker 1: in Michigan, I know what to expect come my way. UM.
4:25
Speaker 1: So my hope is with this this year, you know,
4:27
Speaker 1: not just runt related things, but even early season related things,
4:31
Speaker 1: late season related things, We're gonna get a really good
4:34
Speaker 1: pulse of what's happening in the white tailed world across
4:37
Speaker 1: the country, what kind of conditions we're seeing, what kind
4:40
Speaker 1: of deer behavior we're seeing. And also what I liked
4:42
Speaker 1: about last year was that you did a good job
4:44
Speaker 1: of of talking to people about not only what they're seeing,
4:47
Speaker 1: but also what they're trying. So what types of tactics
4:50
Speaker 1: are trying, what types of stand sets are trying, and
4:52
Speaker 1: then how are those working so you can see Okay, yeah,
4:54
Speaker 1: it sounds like rattlings really starting to work for people
4:56
Speaker 1: right now. Or it's interesting. Three of the five guys
4:59
Speaker 1: said that a doin Estrus blip worked for them, and
5:02
Speaker 1: it's the first week in November. Maybe yeah, I should
5:04
Speaker 1: be trying that. Um, I found that really helpful. I
5:07
Speaker 1: don't know if if if you found that helpful for
5:09
Speaker 1: yourself as you did, that is that the case at all? Spencer, Yeah, definitely,
5:13
Speaker 1: And like this time of year with the guys we
5:15
Speaker 1: talked to, UM, you'll kind of notice it's a lot
5:18
Speaker 1: of like very vanilla setups that it's field edges, it's
5:23
Speaker 1: evening haunts, um, it's looking for water, stuff like that.
5:27
Speaker 1: And I think you'll really start to notice the difference
5:29
Speaker 1: in those kind of haunts once we get to October.
5:32
Speaker 1: And I remember one episode last year for example, where um,
5:36
Speaker 1: I kind of hit everyone with the same question the
5:37
Speaker 1: beginning and say, on the one scale of one to ten,
5:40
Speaker 1: what do you think that do your activities band? And
5:41
Speaker 1: I remember it was like mid October, and we got
5:43
Speaker 1: everything from a two to a nine. And so you know,
5:48
Speaker 1: right now, it might seem like, um, things kind of
5:52
Speaker 1: are the same from North Carolina to North Dakota, But
5:55
Speaker 1: as we get a little deeper into the season, especially
5:57
Speaker 1: right before the Rod kicks off, there's a lot to
6:00
Speaker 1: take in as far as local deer activity. Yeah. Well,
6:04
Speaker 1: I'm hoping this is gonna be helpful for people to get,
6:06
Speaker 1: you know, real time updates and perspectives from different people
6:10
Speaker 1: across the country. So I'm excited about it. I know
6:13
Speaker 1: I know you are, And I guess we should probably
6:15
Speaker 1: just stop beating around the bush and get right into
6:17
Speaker 1: stuff today, Spencer, because I know you've got a good
6:19
Speaker 1: slate of um of contexts for us to hear from. So,
6:22
Speaker 1: so what do we have in store for this episode?
6:24
Speaker 1: So we opened an up talking to Cole Stevens from
6:27
Speaker 1: Hawk Hunting and he was on in North Carolina where
6:29
Speaker 1: he actually tagged out on an awesome buck. And then
6:32
Speaker 1: we then we go to Mike hunt Sucker from Hartland
6:34
Speaker 1: bow Hunter and Missouri do we have a j goal
6:37
Speaker 1: in Wisconsin with legendary white Tails? And then we ended
6:40
Speaker 1: in North Dakota with Alex comp Stack from white Tail
6:44
Speaker 1: d n A awesome. Well, it sounds like we've got
6:47
Speaker 1: some interesting stuff in store, so I will leave it
6:51
Speaker 1: to you, Spencer, take us from here, all right, talk
6:53
Speaker 1: to you next week. Mark. Before we get to our
6:56
Speaker 1: first update, though, let's pause for a word from our sponsors.
6:59
Speaker 1: Let's sit Year, And for this week's Sitka story, we're
7:03
Speaker 1: joined by Sitka photographer Sam Sold who tells us about
7:06
Speaker 1: a recent elkom that started with an unexpected snowstorm but
7:09
Speaker 1: ended with a bowl on the ground. So, on Friday September,
7:15
Speaker 1: my buddy Andrew Whitney and I and his girlfriend Katie,
7:20
Speaker 1: probably against better judgment, hiked into about four miles in
7:23
Speaker 1: a snowstorm, and I got there just before dark and
7:26
Speaker 1: set up camp and had a very cold, sleepless night
7:30
Speaker 1: because there was trees falling all around us. And the
7:34
Speaker 1: next morning we woke up and it had cleared a
7:36
Speaker 1: little bit, but the storm had pretty much shut down
7:39
Speaker 1: any elk uh like any elk talking, so it was
7:43
Speaker 1: just a long cold day. We started a fire and
7:46
Speaker 1: stayed warm and heard a couple of bogles that night,
7:48
Speaker 1: but just nothing um nothing coming into the calls and
7:51
Speaker 1: nothing nothing excited enough to approach. So we went back
7:55
Speaker 1: to camp and um crashed for the night and got
7:59
Speaker 1: up the next morning it was like totally clear, crisp,
8:02
Speaker 1: and we hiked over to this ridge and as we
8:06
Speaker 1: crested the ridge, I'm pretty sure a bowl heard us
8:09
Speaker 1: our footprints in the snow because the snow had frozen,
8:12
Speaker 1: it was really crunchy, And as we crested the ridge,
8:14
Speaker 1: it's bull fired off a google, so Andrew bogle back
8:18
Speaker 1: and he h cut him off again and bugled, and
8:21
Speaker 1: then another bull fired off, and so we started moving
8:24
Speaker 1: in and all of a sudden we saw this six
8:26
Speaker 1: point running down the hill and he was actually running
8:29
Speaker 1: towards the other bowl that had fired off, and about
8:32
Speaker 1: thirty seconds later we heard him start to fight, and
8:35
Speaker 1: we just sprinted towards the noise and we got down
8:39
Speaker 1: the hill about four yards and they literally let us
8:42
Speaker 1: walk to within twenty yards at one point, and they
8:45
Speaker 1: were just fighting back and forth in the trees. We
8:47
Speaker 1: had both come to full draw. We thought they were
8:49
Speaker 1: gonna stop, and we thought we were both gonna loose
8:51
Speaker 1: and narrow and ended up fighting back down into the trees.
8:55
Speaker 1: And then when they finally fought back up, the winner
8:59
Speaker 1: of the fight pushed the other bowl off and then
9:01
Speaker 1: was just standing there watching him, watching the other bowl
9:04
Speaker 1: walk away, and I grabbed the camera to make sure
9:07
Speaker 1: I was filming the bowl, and Andrew came to full
9:09
Speaker 1: draw and sent a narrow and it was done so
9:13
Speaker 1: from the moment we heard the bugle to an elk
9:16
Speaker 1: being on the ground, it was like seven minutes in
9:18
Speaker 1: sixteen seconds according to the time log on my camera
9:23
Speaker 1: on Samsung. He was wearing Sitka's jet Stream jacket and
9:27
Speaker 1: mountain pants. If you'd like to create a sick of
9:29
Speaker 1: story of your own, or to learn more about sit
9:31
Speaker 1: because technical hunting apparel, visit Sitka gear dot com. Alright,
9:38
Speaker 1: So joining us on the phone first is Cole Stevens,
9:40
Speaker 1: the digital coordinator for haw Hunting. Cole has been hunting
9:44
Speaker 1: in North Carolina for the last week, where he actually
9:46
Speaker 1: just punched a tag on an awesome buck nicole. During
9:50
Speaker 1: your time there, what would you say the bucket activity
9:53
Speaker 1: was on a scale of one to ten while I
9:56
Speaker 1: was there, I would say anything about six. The deer
10:00
Speaker 1: movement had slowed down just every day. It seems like
10:05
Speaker 1: um some long the time he got there to turn
10:07
Speaker 1: it last. I think that was due to the transitioning
10:11
Speaker 1: as there's summer patterns to fall patterns. A lot of
10:16
Speaker 1: the deer and a lot of the stands that we're
10:18
Speaker 1: hunting or summer patterns stands, and it seemed like every
10:21
Speaker 1: night they were they were coming out a little bit later.
10:24
Speaker 1: So it was starting to decrease. Are are hunting the
10:27
Speaker 1: activity while we're in the stand And so with all
10:31
Speaker 1: the Hurricane UM talk that was affecting that area, did
10:35
Speaker 1: you guys feel that in that part of North Carolina?
10:38
Speaker 1: And do you think that affected the deer hunting at all?
10:40
Speaker 1: I do, Uh, the gentleman that was supposed to um
10:44
Speaker 1: the hurricane actually didn't hit there. But he said that
10:47
Speaker 1: the days that it was supposed to hit there, with
10:49
Speaker 1: the cold front that had hit and the rain that
10:52
Speaker 1: they had gotten, that the deer were just acting a
10:54
Speaker 1: lot different than normal. Well, they weren't hitting the cameras
10:57
Speaker 1: that they were normally on. So I really do think
11:00
Speaker 1: that that hurricane had some sort of effect on them
11:05
Speaker 1: post and during that time frame that they were there. Well,
11:09
Speaker 1: for a Midwesterner, that is a scary and really foreign
11:12
Speaker 1: thought to have to worry about hurricanes affecting your deer hunting.
11:17
Speaker 1: But going forward, you talked about how you expect to
11:19
Speaker 1: see more of a transition from summer patterns to more
11:23
Speaker 1: of their fall pattern So cool. With that transition, what
11:26
Speaker 1: do you think that's gonna look like? Is there going
11:28
Speaker 1: to be more daylight activity or less daylight activity? Yeah,
11:32
Speaker 1: they were definitely getting away from those fields during daylight. Um,
11:38
Speaker 1: the stands that we were in, we're usually just those
11:41
Speaker 1: tringe points where they're on their way to those stands,
11:44
Speaker 1: and you could tell um that they weren't just crossing
11:47
Speaker 1: through those like they're average throw Um. I think right
11:52
Speaker 1: now the acorns are sitting in the stand you could
11:54
Speaker 1: hear and dropping NonStop. So that's really going to hurt
11:59
Speaker 1: h the hunter because they're they're not gonna move during
12:01
Speaker 1: the day. They're gonna hit those eight corns, they're gonna
12:04
Speaker 1: they're not gonna need to find the food sources out
12:06
Speaker 1: in the open fields. They could be more fields, and
12:09
Speaker 1: I think in the next couple of weeks here that
12:11
Speaker 1: they're gonna be really hard to During your time there,
12:14
Speaker 1: you killed that awesome book, and congrats on that, But
12:17
Speaker 1: why don't you tell us a little bit specifically about
12:19
Speaker 1: that setup that you had for for that hunt. That
12:23
Speaker 1: set up was a really exciting one actually. Um. Previous
12:27
Speaker 1: to me coming down there, Carson Corey had sent me
12:31
Speaker 1: a few pictures of that book and said that he
12:33
Speaker 1: had been coming into a regular spot and that he'd
12:36
Speaker 1: really like to get me on. Well, like we're talking about,
12:39
Speaker 1: with that hurricane, the buck disappeared, he quick calling to
12:42
Speaker 1: his normal spots, so we kind of had to adjust
12:45
Speaker 1: to that. And the first night that hunted it, it
12:48
Speaker 1: was dead. There wasn't a single deer walking through there. Um,
12:51
Speaker 1: but Carson kept telling me that that was his bedroom
12:54
Speaker 1: and that's where he was gonna work his way back to.
12:56
Speaker 1: So the following night, I'm not going the same stand.
13:00
Speaker 1: It was almost like clock where he he must have
13:02
Speaker 1: watched his way back into that bed, and I caught
13:05
Speaker 1: him right before dark, taking the exact steps that we
13:08
Speaker 1: thought he would. Um, I don't know where he was
13:11
Speaker 1: the previous day. He had just disappeared like a ghost,
13:13
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden I had him at
13:14
Speaker 1: ten yards right underneath my stand, doing his his nightly walk.
13:19
Speaker 1: How about with bachelor groups? Are you still seeing deer
13:22
Speaker 1: that are grouped up at this point? Not not like
13:25
Speaker 1: they were? Um, this book he had been showing up
13:29
Speaker 1: almost regularly by himself. Um, but there was another book
13:34
Speaker 1: coming into the same area at similar times. But they
13:37
Speaker 1: were never really grouped up together. They were, they were
13:41
Speaker 1: definitely on different terms at that point when we were
13:44
Speaker 1: hunting there. Alright, cool, we're going forward in North Carolina
13:48
Speaker 1: in this next week or so. What do you think
13:50
Speaker 1: the deer activity is going to look like? On the
13:52
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten, there's still one of ten.
13:55
Speaker 1: I think it would be almost down to a five
13:58
Speaker 1: because of the the amount of acorns dropping and just
14:02
Speaker 1: the transitioning. I mean, the bucks were losing their velvet.
14:05
Speaker 1: They're kind of acting funky. So now they're going to
14:07
Speaker 1: start hitting that testosterone and and really just breaking apart.
14:12
Speaker 1: And now the I just the place you'd want to
14:16
Speaker 1: be is finding where they're moving, um, right before dark
14:20
Speaker 1: and writing in the early morning side of their beds,
14:23
Speaker 1: and they're not gonna be looking for food so much.
14:25
Speaker 1: Is starting to get on those doors and starting to
14:27
Speaker 1: get a little more aggressive. Alright, cool, It sounds like
14:32
Speaker 1: your timing played out well then to to get a
14:34
Speaker 1: deer on the ground. So thanks for your time and
14:37
Speaker 1: good luck the rest of your season. Yeah, thanks, Bencing
14:40
Speaker 1: you too, alright Enjoining us on the line. Next, it's
14:43
Speaker 1: Mike han Sucker, host of Heartland bow Hunter. Now, Mike,
14:47
Speaker 1: I know Missery just had their opener and you've been
14:49
Speaker 1: hunting thus far. What would you say the deer activity
14:52
Speaker 1: has been on a scale of one to ten? Man,
14:55
Speaker 1: I'd have to say it's been Actually depends on what
14:59
Speaker 1: you're talking about. No, I've I've so far, um in
15:02
Speaker 1: the past few days. If I'm two different properties, and um,
15:05
Speaker 1: one property I'm seeing a lot of movement, another property
15:08
Speaker 1: I'm not seeing much. So um it's it's always season,
15:11
Speaker 1: it hit a miss, that's typically how it goes. But
15:13
Speaker 1: this is absolutely one of my favorite times of the
15:16
Speaker 1: year to hunt antargeted specific buck, especially in Missouri. Uh,
15:21
Speaker 1: the last two weeks of September can be really really effective.
15:25
Speaker 1: And is there something that you can put your finger
15:27
Speaker 1: on as far as why you're seeing property one property
15:30
Speaker 1: with such great movement the other one without. Yeah, I
15:33
Speaker 1: mean there's a lot of variables. Um. You know, the
15:35
Speaker 1: deer have been obviously the key on the beans throughout
15:38
Speaker 1: the summer. Um. And as long as you still have
15:40
Speaker 1: beans that are still grinning, typically you know you're gonna
15:42
Speaker 1: see good deer movements. So. Um. On one of our
15:45
Speaker 1: properties that I'm hunting, Um, we we just have really
15:49
Speaker 1: really green beans. We've got them in late Um, a
15:51
Speaker 1: deer just absolutely annihilating them. Um. There's still definitely fruit
15:55
Speaker 1: preferred to a food source. And on that particular property
15:58
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of mature oaks, so we're not
16:00
Speaker 1: seeing much of an acorn crop um, which you know
16:04
Speaker 1: keeps him in the fields as opposed to you know,
16:07
Speaker 1: our other property that you know we still actually have
16:09
Speaker 1: green beans on as well. Um, but the deer have
16:12
Speaker 1: all vanished off of the bean field. It's it's unbelievable
16:15
Speaker 1: it's kind of a uh surprise to me actually. You know,
16:19
Speaker 1: typically as long as the beans stay green, we're gonna
16:22
Speaker 1: see deer in there. But man, I cannot believe the
16:24
Speaker 1: difference past couple of weeks is made. The acorns must
16:27
Speaker 1: just be dropping like crazy, and we've seen them h
16:29
Speaker 1: to a certain extent, but I mean the deer have
16:32
Speaker 1: literally vanished. In these deals. Where we were seeing thirty
16:35
Speaker 1: forty deer at night, we're not seeing hardly any So
16:38
Speaker 1: it's a pretty pretty crazy difference. Now with that property
16:42
Speaker 1: that you are seeing good movement, um, the pattern that
16:45
Speaker 1: those de are on. How long of a pattern has
16:47
Speaker 1: that been that that you've observed just like days or
16:50
Speaker 1: weeks that these two yeah, I mean all all summer basically.
16:54
Speaker 1: I mean they've been, um, you know, sticking to the
16:56
Speaker 1: same patterns um, you know, for for at least the
16:59
Speaker 1: past couple of months. Know that the beans really kind
17:01
Speaker 1: of established and they haven't really really got off the beans. Um.
17:06
Speaker 1: So it just pends, you know, on property and on
17:07
Speaker 1: the food available to cover available, and when the deer
17:10
Speaker 1: are at I mean every property is unique and different,
17:12
Speaker 1: but one thing is that's pretty much remained constant. Um.
17:16
Speaker 1: You know that if you have beans that are greening,
17:18
Speaker 1: I mean they're gonna be they're gonna be eating them,
17:20
Speaker 1: and um, you know they may for prefer acorns, you know,
17:23
Speaker 1: when when they can feed and be in the being
17:26
Speaker 1: the secluded timber where they're not being you know, exposed
17:29
Speaker 1: and stuff, but until at least till until dark. But um,
17:34
Speaker 1: it definitely makes a difference. The acorn crop is definitely
17:36
Speaker 1: makes a difference on the amount of activity between in
17:38
Speaker 1: the field. And so what does a setup look like
17:42
Speaker 1: for you this time of year? Is it almost strictly
17:45
Speaker 1: all field edgies that you're hunting, Yeah, you know, it
17:47
Speaker 1: kind of depends. Um, I like to kind of lightly
17:51
Speaker 1: this time of year. I mean, you know, you got
17:54
Speaker 1: deer that have been undisturbed all summer long and they
17:56
Speaker 1: haven't been messed with, and um, they're they're pretty regular
17:59
Speaker 1: for them. Start and the last thing you want to
18:02
Speaker 1: do is just you know, dive in and blow blow
18:04
Speaker 1: the deer out and ruin your opportunity. And if you're
18:06
Speaker 1: haunting a big mature deer, you know, you just don't
18:08
Speaker 1: get that many opportunities. So, um, my favorite thing is
18:12
Speaker 1: to kind of start start from the outside start from
18:15
Speaker 1: some vantage points and and kind of get the overview
18:18
Speaker 1: of what's going on before you actually move and dive in. UM.
18:22
Speaker 1: You know, we're primarily focusing on evening hunts this year.
18:25
Speaker 1: Morning hunts UM are really tough. Depending on the situation.
18:28
Speaker 1: If you have a certain property that sets up good form,
18:31
Speaker 1: it might be might be acceptable. But for the most part,
18:35
Speaker 1: work working on evening hunts and just playing that safe,
18:38
Speaker 1: waiting for the right the right wind and the right conditions. UM.
18:42
Speaker 1: That makes a huge difference to obviously the weather patterns.
18:45
Speaker 1: And anytime you can get a cold front UM this
18:48
Speaker 1: time of year with a high pressure system, you know,
18:50
Speaker 1: it seems like it's just the deer just on their feet,
18:53
Speaker 1: moving like crazy and feet and has moisture played any
18:57
Speaker 1: kind of role there for you, um early in the
18:59
Speaker 1: year like this, Yeah, absolutely so. UM. These two particular properties,
19:05
Speaker 1: one of them we've gotten pretty pretty ample and not
19:08
Speaker 1: the rain. UM. You know, the beans are things are
19:10
Speaker 1: doing well, the food plots are doing well. UM. And
19:15
Speaker 1: our other property. You know, it's a little further north
19:17
Speaker 1: and we've missed a lot of the rain that we've
19:19
Speaker 1: gotten down down further south, and UM, it just makes
19:23
Speaker 1: a huge difference. I think that has a lot to
19:25
Speaker 1: do with the acorn and dropping a little bit early
19:27
Speaker 1: because it's so dry. Um, they're dropping a little sooner
19:29
Speaker 1: than they they would and so um, you know, obviously
19:32
Speaker 1: the beans aren't doing as well there. Uh, food plots
19:36
Speaker 1: are struggling. We had to actually replan a couple of
19:38
Speaker 1: them this week that just didn't hardly even germanate because
19:40
Speaker 1: there wasn't anymore sturn the down so um. You know,
19:44
Speaker 1: you get up the north of the very southern isle
19:46
Speaker 1: of border that area, we've just we've had a lot
19:48
Speaker 1: of a lot of drought this summer. We're going forward here, Mike,
19:52
Speaker 1: at the end of September, what do you think that
19:54
Speaker 1: your activity level is going to be like on a
19:57
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten, you know, it typically decreases
20:02
Speaker 1: as you get later and later in the month September. Um,
20:05
Speaker 1: you know, I kind of experienced the first you know,
20:08
Speaker 1: five to seven days of them, as they tend to
20:10
Speaker 1: be the best, and a lot of that, like I said,
20:11
Speaker 1: get relates to beans turning, acorns dropping, um, and that
20:17
Speaker 1: type of stuff. But um, you know, as it we
20:19
Speaker 1: get later in the month September, I mean, I think
20:21
Speaker 1: the movement's gonna be down a little lower um, depending
20:24
Speaker 1: on your area. But um, you know, I think that
20:27
Speaker 1: the wanted to get into those times where where the weather,
20:32
Speaker 1: the weather is so much more a factor um and
20:35
Speaker 1: and has them on the you know, the cold front
20:37
Speaker 1: that comes through gonna really have them on the feet
20:39
Speaker 1: moving um, when otherwise they may not be moving until
20:42
Speaker 1: till after dark. You know, I would say, dear movement,
20:44
Speaker 1: you know this time of year is up there, you know,
20:46
Speaker 1: eight or nine um as far as you know, moving
20:49
Speaker 1: in daylight consistency, and you know later in the year
20:52
Speaker 1: you're probably gonna get you know six five. I mean
20:55
Speaker 1: it's not not the best, you know, late late September,
20:58
Speaker 1: early October, you know, into the middle October gets to
21:00
Speaker 1: be gets to be tough, but really rely on what
21:03
Speaker 1: other systems. Alright, Mike, well, great insight there on Missouri
21:07
Speaker 1: and good luck the best of the fall. All right,
21:09
Speaker 1: thank you very much. How we go on before we
21:12
Speaker 1: get to our next update, let's pause here from our
21:14
Speaker 1: friends at white Tail Properties. This week. With white Tail Properties,
21:18
Speaker 1: we are joined by Neil Hogger, a land specialist out
21:21
Speaker 1: of Wisconsin, and Neil is going to be telling us
21:23
Speaker 1: about what habitat. Improvements can be made to northern properties
21:26
Speaker 1: like that in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Well in northern Wisconsin
21:31
Speaker 1: in particular where I live, what you deal with is
21:34
Speaker 1: monoculture of force for the most part, especially in the
21:37
Speaker 1: upper third of the state, and as such the most
21:40
Speaker 1: important thing you do revolves around food. The deer are
21:43
Speaker 1: gonna go where the food is, and without monoculture you
21:46
Speaker 1: can have a biological desert in the in the timber.
21:49
Speaker 1: So if you can create food plot, that's fantastic, But
21:53
Speaker 1: if you really want to make it special, you want
21:55
Speaker 1: to recreate what I calls a trifecta. Try to create
21:59
Speaker 1: a food plot year a structure such as a creek
22:02
Speaker 1: or perhaps a ridge point that the deer must navigate around.
22:06
Speaker 1: And now you've created a pinch point. And uh, if
22:09
Speaker 1: you want to really spice it up, you can maybe
22:12
Speaker 1: put in a watering hole or um. You can maybe
22:16
Speaker 1: do a blocking hinge cut and then you've created maybe
22:19
Speaker 1: a trifecta or a quad factor. But the goal here
22:22
Speaker 1: is to give the deer a reason to be on
22:25
Speaker 1: the spot and make sure your tree stand is in
22:28
Speaker 1: that spot. If you'd like to learn more and to
22:30
Speaker 1: see the properties that Neil currently has listed for sale.
22:34
Speaker 1: Visit white Tail properties dot com. Backslash Hogger that's h
22:38
Speaker 1: A U G E R. And joining us on the
22:42
Speaker 1: line next is A J Goal, the content coordinator for
22:46
Speaker 1: Legendary white Tails Now a J in Wisconsin. What would
22:50
Speaker 1: you say the deer activity has been on the scale
22:52
Speaker 1: of one to ten, Hey, Spencer, I would say it's
22:55
Speaker 1: probably sitting right around the three right now. Three and
23:01
Speaker 1: so that's you know, obviously pretty poor. Do you think
23:03
Speaker 1: it has been better in the past or why do
23:06
Speaker 1: you think it's so low right now? Yeah, I think
23:09
Speaker 1: we just got struck with Well, now it's going to
23:12
Speaker 1: be a full week of continuous heat to hit the opener,
23:16
Speaker 1: which was coming out of a relatively cool August and
23:20
Speaker 1: beginning of September. So, um, we got a little unlucky
23:23
Speaker 1: heat wave here for opening weekend and now it looks
23:26
Speaker 1: like it's gonna be mid eighties again heading into the
23:29
Speaker 1: second week in a hunting and so with that heat wave,
23:32
Speaker 1: do you think it's just uncomfortable for the dear to
23:35
Speaker 1: be moving right now or do you think they're they're
23:37
Speaker 1: hitting other food sources and water sources. Yeah, I would
23:41
Speaker 1: say it's probably just a little bit later in the evening. UM.
23:46
Speaker 1: I did notice on Sunday night versus Saturday Sunday night,
23:51
Speaker 1: it dipped about ten degrees. There's a little bit of
23:54
Speaker 1: a cool front that came on through, and it seemed
23:57
Speaker 1: like there's pretty good deer activity during the evening. Um,
24:02
Speaker 1: and you know there's some sparring bucks. Um, does and
24:05
Speaker 1: fawns were out feeding. Most of most of what I
24:09
Speaker 1: saw was was out in either alfalfa or being fields. Yet, Um,
24:14
Speaker 1: you know, beings, they're just starting to change around here.
24:17
Speaker 1: So and so you mentioned, uh the sparring bucks. Does
24:21
Speaker 1: that mean that the bachelor groups are all broken up
24:23
Speaker 1: there in Wisconsin right now? Uh, there's you know, they're
24:28
Speaker 1: definitely not completely yet there's some traveling together based on
24:32
Speaker 1: trail cams and and what we what we saw. Um,
24:35
Speaker 1: I just had that one instance. Actually it wasn't me.
24:38
Speaker 1: I just got got a video from my cousin that
24:40
Speaker 1: was onstance Um Sunday night and he had he had
24:44
Speaker 1: the old UM text on the screen staying turn the
24:47
Speaker 1: volume up, and sure enough there's two bucks going at
24:50
Speaker 1: it pretty good. So, UM, you know it's right at
24:54
Speaker 1: that stage where their testasterone starts starts to rise in
24:58
Speaker 1: elevate and they'll be they'll be split en up here shortly.
25:01
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the beans a little bit earlier also
25:04
Speaker 1: to um, are the deer hitting the beans right now
25:07
Speaker 1: like they have been or are they changing colors for
25:10
Speaker 1: you there in Wisconsin? Yeah, they're definitely changing colors. Um.
25:15
Speaker 1: It's been highly variable, um, especially on the western side
25:20
Speaker 1: of the state where the we had a ton of
25:23
Speaker 1: rain and farmers got in there a little bit later
25:26
Speaker 1: than the normal. So I know on our one farm
25:29
Speaker 1: out in Burning County, there's gonna be green beans around
25:34
Speaker 1: there for quite some time because they didn't get planted
25:37
Speaker 1: until July, and then down around here in the southeastern
25:41
Speaker 1: part of the state, pretty much everything got planted on time,
25:44
Speaker 1: so it's just a matter of what variety being they used.
25:47
Speaker 1: And uh, but I would say a majority of the
25:50
Speaker 1: fields around here are starting to turn gold, so they'll
25:53
Speaker 1: be turning off here shortly. Yeah. That sounds like what
25:58
Speaker 1: what most people are experienced in the midi West right now.
26:00
Speaker 1: I know Wisconsin just had their opener. Have you been
26:03
Speaker 1: hunting any mornings at or are you strictly evenings this
26:05
Speaker 1: time of year? Uh, pretty much strictly evenings. I did
26:09
Speaker 1: said Saturday morning, um, just because it's the the typical
26:15
Speaker 1: thing to do on opening day. UM, but just saw
26:18
Speaker 1: a little five pointer and that was about it. UM.
26:22
Speaker 1: So yeah, mainly sticking to evenings, get ahead of them
26:25
Speaker 1: and beat them out to the field edges and just
26:28
Speaker 1: inside the wood lots and going forward. Uh. In Wisconsin
26:32
Speaker 1: for this next week or so, do you think your
26:35
Speaker 1: activity is gonna improve? And what would you think that's
26:37
Speaker 1: going to be on a scale of one to ten, Yeah,
26:39
Speaker 1: this weekend, Uh, I think it's gonna be pretty close
26:43
Speaker 1: to similar results in other uh. Rise and temperature, so
26:47
Speaker 1: I don't think it's gonna be too great. UM, pretty
26:50
Speaker 1: hot afternoons for anybody that's looking to do hanging hunt.
26:54
Speaker 1: So I I would say it's gonna be right about
26:58
Speaker 1: the same, So three or four I would get us. UM,
27:01
Speaker 1: just just makes it tough to try to get out
27:04
Speaker 1: there and want to shoot a go and or even
27:06
Speaker 1: a buck and and have the chance of it going
27:10
Speaker 1: going wrong and not hitting it perfect and dealing with
27:13
Speaker 1: these temperatures. So our ag. Well, I hope some cooler
27:17
Speaker 1: weather comes through for you in Wisconsin. Thanks for your
27:20
Speaker 1: time and good luck and no problem, Yeah, it'll come.
27:25
Speaker 1: Joining us on the line. Last is Alex Comstock, the
27:28
Speaker 1: founder of White Tailed d n A now Alex in
27:31
Speaker 1: North Dakota, you guys have already been hunting for quite
27:33
Speaker 1: a while and in that area, what would you say
27:35
Speaker 1: the deer activity has been on a scale of one
27:37
Speaker 1: to ten, I'd say overall it's probably been at a
27:42
Speaker 1: bouttle four. It's been kind of hit and miss, some
27:44
Speaker 1: good nights, some bad nights, and so has it gotten
27:48
Speaker 1: a little bit worse as you guys have gotten further
27:51
Speaker 1: into September or is that four? Have been pretty consistent? Yeah,
27:54
Speaker 1: I'd say it's been pretty consistent. I mean we've had
27:57
Speaker 1: a couple of days where we had a you know,
28:00
Speaker 1: all cool front pushed through and we had some better
28:02
Speaker 1: deer movement. But lately the last week or so, it's
28:05
Speaker 1: been pretty warm, so not much has been moving. So
28:09
Speaker 1: with you guys have been hunting already now, you know,
28:12
Speaker 1: for almost three weeks. What kind of encounters have you
28:15
Speaker 1: had this season in North Dakota? Um? Pretty much all
28:20
Speaker 1: of our I mean seen a lot of you know,
28:22
Speaker 1: does one and a half two natural bucks? Um, you know,
28:26
Speaker 1: mostly all, I mean, all evening hunts. I've I've sat
28:29
Speaker 1: one morning and didn't see anything, and mornings usually don't
28:33
Speaker 1: produce much of this time of the year. But any
28:35
Speaker 1: we've had a few mature buck counters between me and
28:38
Speaker 1: a couple of my buddies, and they've all been in
28:40
Speaker 1: that last you know, ten twenty minutes of light, you know.
28:44
Speaker 1: But still I've been in a few until hunting a
28:47
Speaker 1: lot of public ground, like you do. Are you feeling
28:49
Speaker 1: any hunting pressure this time of year? You know, I
28:54
Speaker 1: really don't see a ton of pressure where I'm at.
28:56
Speaker 1: And that's like probably my favorite thing of being where
28:58
Speaker 1: I am in North Dakota is there's this there's a
29:01
Speaker 1: lot of people at bow hunt and it's mainly all
29:03
Speaker 1: on the private land, so it can be really tough
29:05
Speaker 1: to get permission. But on the public you just really
29:08
Speaker 1: don't see many people. And so what are some things
29:11
Speaker 1: on that public ground that you're keying in on right now?
29:14
Speaker 1: Water or food or betting? What is it? Kind of
29:19
Speaker 1: all the above, depending which property and hunting. I've got
29:22
Speaker 1: one property where I'm targeting a specific buck and with him,
29:26
Speaker 1: it's trying to get as close to his bed as
29:28
Speaker 1: possible because where he's betting on public is the most
29:32
Speaker 1: it's pretty thick um and there's crops all around on private,
29:37
Speaker 1: and then some other pieces of public you've got some
29:40
Speaker 1: bean fields, and then there's a place where I've got
29:43
Speaker 1: a pond trying to get on water. It's kind of
29:45
Speaker 1: just to get on anything where they're kind of keen
29:48
Speaker 1: in on the evenings. And what kind of role does
29:52
Speaker 1: what you played for you hunting this early in the season,
29:57
Speaker 1: this time of year, If you can get a you know,
29:59
Speaker 1: a good cold front to come through it, that's really key.
30:02
Speaker 1: Our best a few days of hunting was when we
30:05
Speaker 1: had temperature drops you know, degrees within a couple of
30:09
Speaker 1: days and we're able to get eyes on some good
30:11
Speaker 1: bucks and one of my buddy was able to he
30:14
Speaker 1: passed a pretty good deer um. So yeah, I mean weather,
30:18
Speaker 1: it's weather's everything. And then if it's not a cold front,
30:20
Speaker 1: it's you know, rain. I like hunting after right before
30:24
Speaker 1: heavy rain tonight we're getting thunderstorms all night and with
30:28
Speaker 1: hail and everything. And then so I'm gonna be out
30:30
Speaker 1: tomorrow trying to get out there after that. Now, are
30:33
Speaker 1: you seeing a lot of books that are still grouped
30:35
Speaker 1: up or they pretty much separated at this point. I
30:39
Speaker 1: think right now where I'm at there just starting to separate.
30:43
Speaker 1: I've got a few bachelor groups, um that you know,
30:46
Speaker 1: four bucks running together, and now only two of them
30:49
Speaker 1: aren't showing up every time. And I don't know if
30:51
Speaker 1: the other two of transitions, if they're moving to their
30:53
Speaker 1: fall range already. Um, so i'd say the next week
30:57
Speaker 1: or so they'll be splitting up. What bug going forward
31:00
Speaker 1: in North Dakota? What do you think that deer activity
31:02
Speaker 1: level is going to be on the scale of one
31:04
Speaker 1: to ten in this next week or so. I'm hoping
31:08
Speaker 1: it's gonna creep its way up to about a six
31:10
Speaker 1: or seven. We're supposed to get temperatures down in the
31:13
Speaker 1: fifties this weekend next week, so I'm hoping with those
31:17
Speaker 1: temperature drops and you know, being a lot cooler than average,
31:21
Speaker 1: look at those deer moving a lot earlier before we
31:23
Speaker 1: get here in uh in October. Alright, Alex, Well, very
31:27
Speaker 1: jealous that you've already had haunted North Dakota and good
31:31
Speaker 1: luck for the rest of the season. Yeah, I appreciate it,
31:34
Speaker 1: thanks so much. And that's gonna do it for this
31:38
Speaker 1: first episode of the two thousand seventeen RUT Radio mini series.
31:43
Speaker 1: We'll be back with a new episode like this every
31:46
Speaker 1: week from here on out through the rest of the year,
31:49
Speaker 1: so we're gonna get you those real time updates and
31:51
Speaker 1: conditions as we go throughout the hunting season. I'm pretty
31:54
Speaker 1: pumped about that and I hope you guys find it helpful.
31:57
Speaker 1: And then of course we will be back as well
31:59
Speaker 1: with our regular our episodes of the Wired Dunk podcast
32:01
Speaker 1: every week as well, so you're gonna get two episodes
32:04
Speaker 1: a week, one regular podcast with me and Dan, one
32:07
Speaker 1: of the RUT Radio episodes with Spencer, and the rest
32:10
Speaker 1: of these updates. So thanks for tuning in, and before
32:13
Speaker 1: we go, we want to give a big thank you
32:14
Speaker 1: to the rest of our partners at Sitka Gear Yeti
32:17
Speaker 1: Cooler's Matthews Archery may have an optics, White Tail, Institute
32:21
Speaker 1: of North America, Trophy Ridge and hunt Terra maps, And
32:24
Speaker 1: of course thank you guys all for listening. If you're
32:27
Speaker 1: out there hunting, I wish you good luck and until
32:30
Speaker 1: next time, stay Wired to Hunt.