Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Wired To Hunt Podcast #178: Rut Radio 10/25/17

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Wired To Hunt Podcast #178: Rut Radio 10/25/17 · 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
0:15
Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan. This episode number one and today
0:19
Speaker 1: we're back for another RUT Radio episode in which we're
0:22
Speaker 1: getting real time updates from hunters across the country on
0:24
Speaker 1: current deer and running activity and the tactics that are
0:27
Speaker 1: working right now. And for the second week in a row,
0:30
Speaker 1: we've got Don Higgins with us to talk about how
0:32
Speaker 1: he's killed his second buck in the last week. That's
0:36
Speaker 1: right around the two. All right, Welcome to the Wired
0:48
Speaker 1: to Hunt podcast, brought to you by Sitka Gear and uh,
0:52
Speaker 1: here we are again another RUT Radio episode in which
0:56
Speaker 1: we talk to hunters all across the country about what
1:00
Speaker 1: happening right now. You know, what kind of deer activity,
1:03
Speaker 1: what kind of rutting activity, what kind of conditions are
1:05
Speaker 1: out there, and how are all these things impacting how
1:07
Speaker 1: we should be hunting. Um, that's what we do each
1:11
Speaker 1: week during RUT Radio. That's what we're gonna do today.
1:14
Speaker 1: And we're getting out to the point where the RUT
1:18
Speaker 1: Radio deal that the title makes a little more sense
1:21
Speaker 1: because we're getting right into that time period, aren't we, Spenser, Yes,
1:25
Speaker 1: and uh, we will hear that from our context, there
1:28
Speaker 1: is some chasing going on. There are maximum amount of
1:32
Speaker 1: rubs and scrapes. So the RUT radio title is now accurate,
1:37
Speaker 1: very very appropriate, and I'm and I'm getting excited about it. Um.
1:42
Speaker 1: I know I've got some stuff to share on that front.
1:44
Speaker 1: As far as what's going on in Michigan. Um, I
1:47
Speaker 1: know you might be able to share a little bit
1:49
Speaker 1: about Kentucky, right, um. And then we have another bonus
1:54
Speaker 1: today too. If people had heard last week's episode, we
1:58
Speaker 1: had Illinois bow On or Don Higgins on the show
2:02
Speaker 1: to kind of tell us about the latest exciting thing.
2:05
Speaker 1: It's his hunt. You know, we had him on in
2:07
Speaker 1: the summer. He told us about these two potentially two
2:10
Speaker 1: bucks he's after this year, and last week he killed
2:13
Speaker 1: one of them, the buck he called Smokey. So we
2:16
Speaker 1: had him on the show last week to talk about that. Well,
2:18
Speaker 1: he went out the next his next hunt out that
2:22
Speaker 1: Thursday and that's something a gun and killed the other
2:25
Speaker 1: monstrous buck that he's after. So so today I've got
2:29
Speaker 1: down back with us to talk about that hunt and
2:31
Speaker 1: how that all went down. It's really unbelievable. I don't
2:34
Speaker 1: know if anyone else in the world maybe that's ever
2:36
Speaker 1: killed two bucks of this size within like a five
2:40
Speaker 1: or six day period. Um, it's unbelievable. Did you see
2:44
Speaker 1: the pictures, Spencer? I did. Yeah, and I uh, I'm
2:47
Speaker 1: gonna have some serious questions if we end up having
2:49
Speaker 1: him on the podcast again next week if he kills him. Yeah, seriously,
2:55
Speaker 1: I think he's I think he's all tagged out, so
2:56
Speaker 1: this should be the end of his run. But but yeah,
3:00
Speaker 1: he had a heck of a go. So we'll have
3:02
Speaker 1: that here for you in a minute. We'll get to
3:04
Speaker 1: have that little kind of separate bonus interview and then Spencer,
3:06
Speaker 1: we'll take us through the rest of our contacts. But
3:09
Speaker 1: I guess before we do that, Spencer, should we give
3:11
Speaker 1: our own little rut radio reports here from our from
3:13
Speaker 1: our own hunts. Yeah. Yeah, tell me about Michigan because
3:16
Speaker 1: it looks like we have some colder weather coming through
3:19
Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, so we finally are getting the kind
3:22
Speaker 1: of conditions that you really want to see. But even
3:25
Speaker 1: you know, we have this cold front moved through over
3:27
Speaker 1: the last couple of days. Um, it really hit yesterday
3:30
Speaker 1: and over the weekend it was in the seventies, yesterday
3:33
Speaker 1: it was down in the sixties, and now today we're
3:35
Speaker 1: down into the forties and it's looking like it's gonna
3:37
Speaker 1: stay like that for for quite a while now. So
3:40
Speaker 1: I'm really thinking that things are gonna are gonna light
3:43
Speaker 1: up in the coming days because yesterday, today, and we're
3:46
Speaker 1: recording this on Tuesday night. Um, so today and yesterday
3:49
Speaker 1: has been really really windy and rainy, So that's kind
3:51
Speaker 1: of kept some of the movement down from what I've
3:53
Speaker 1: been hearing. I know, I've heard of a couple of guys.
3:55
Speaker 1: I know a guy down in my neck of the
3:56
Speaker 1: woods that shot a hundred sixty inch type class uck
4:00
Speaker 1: last night in the rain and wind. So you definitely
4:03
Speaker 1: can do it, um. But I think it's it's slowed
4:05
Speaker 1: things down just to touch. But I think tomorrow, so Wednesday,
4:08
Speaker 1: when this podcast comes out, those wind speeds are dying down,
4:11
Speaker 1: the pressure that very much of pressure starting to rise.
4:14
Speaker 1: It's gonna be in the low forties as a high. Um.
4:18
Speaker 1: I think, really we're gonna really see that pre rod
4:20
Speaker 1: action explode. And I was already seeing that even before
4:23
Speaker 1: all this at the end of last week, I was
4:25
Speaker 1: starting to see a year and a half and two
4:27
Speaker 1: and a half year old bucks up on their feet
4:29
Speaker 1: in daylight, chasing does around, bumping them around, chasing them.
4:32
Speaker 1: My trail cameras have just lit up, um my cell
4:35
Speaker 1: camera that is on a little mock scrape tree that's
4:38
Speaker 1: in the middle of a food plot, probably since the
4:41
Speaker 1: middle to late of last week, so prior on the October.
4:47
Speaker 1: Those scrapes just haveetting getting pounded, so lots of bucks
4:51
Speaker 1: hitting those. Um. So I think we're seeing everything like
4:53
Speaker 1: we should, at least here in Michigan. And I think
4:57
Speaker 1: the best is ahead of us in these next few
4:58
Speaker 1: days could be really really good. With this cold front
5:01
Speaker 1: coinciding with this testosterone ramping up in the late October,
5:05
Speaker 1: I think it could be a really good handful of
5:08
Speaker 1: days here leading into the end of the month. Yeah.
5:10
Speaker 1: And I was just in Kentucky for their mustle loader
5:13
Speaker 1: season this last weekend and we had warm weather so
5:17
Speaker 1: they kind of suppressed things. But like you just said, um,
5:21
Speaker 1: the woods are just full of sign right now, and
5:24
Speaker 1: that might not directly help you kill a buck, you know,
5:27
Speaker 1: seeing all these rubs and scrapes, but you'll have an
5:30
Speaker 1: idea of what's in the area. Uh, you know, kind
5:33
Speaker 1: of shows you that the switch is flipped. Um, the
5:37
Speaker 1: rud is here. I gotta love it too. It's it's
5:40
Speaker 1: just the stuff that, like you said, it lets you
5:41
Speaker 1: know the ruts here. It gets you excited and and
5:45
Speaker 1: it kind of if nothing else, it adds a little
5:47
Speaker 1: bit of confidence for me as a hunter. When I
5:49
Speaker 1: go into a tree standards, I'm walking and I see
5:51
Speaker 1: a fresh rub or fresh scrape, it just gives you
5:54
Speaker 1: a little bit more of a sense like, all right,
5:57
Speaker 1: I'm in I'm in it there here, it's happening. This
6:00
Speaker 1: could be good and that's a good feeling. Yeah. And
6:02
Speaker 1: so this time of year is notorious for bucks that
6:06
Speaker 1: are moving better, but they're also still on somewhat of
6:09
Speaker 1: a pattern. So what are your setups look like right now? Mark,
6:12
Speaker 1: like with you specifically going after Holy Field. Yeah, that's
6:16
Speaker 1: a great point. And that that's why this time of year,
6:19
Speaker 1: I think is is one of the its possibly one
6:21
Speaker 1: of the if not the very best time of year
6:23
Speaker 1: to get after a specific buck because just like you said,
6:27
Speaker 1: they're moving more during daylight now, but they're sticking to
6:29
Speaker 1: their patterns. They're not going crazy like they're in the ruts.
6:31
Speaker 1: So so for me with holy Field, um, without beating
6:34
Speaker 1: a dead horse. Because I talk about this deer so much,
6:37
Speaker 1: some people are probably getting sick of it. Um. But
6:40
Speaker 1: I know a tight little core area that he has,
6:44
Speaker 1: and a little bit of that overlaps into property that
6:47
Speaker 1: I can hunt. So there's a couple of food sources
6:49
Speaker 1: that he comes into to check does at this time
6:51
Speaker 1: of year. Traditionally he has the past couple of years.
6:54
Speaker 1: So I've got four different setups that kind of are
6:57
Speaker 1: all along this line between we're beds and where he
7:01
Speaker 1: transitions out to feed and or check does at this
7:03
Speaker 1: time of year. So there's a there's two tree stands,
7:06
Speaker 1: there's an elevated box blind, and then there's a hay
7:09
Speaker 1: baill blind and they're all kind of positioned to take
7:12
Speaker 1: advantage of different wind directions. So over the next week
7:16
Speaker 1: or so, I'm gonna be hunting along this transition line,
7:19
Speaker 1: um and just getting in whichever one I can based
7:22
Speaker 1: on the wind. So you know, tonight I tried to hunt,
7:26
Speaker 1: but the wind actually started swirling and gusting on me,
7:28
Speaker 1: so I actually bailed out after I just got set
7:31
Speaker 1: up in the one standard could with a wind but
7:32
Speaker 1: it bailed because of the crazy stuff going on tomorrow.
7:35
Speaker 1: There's only one spot I can hunt with a new
7:37
Speaker 1: wind direction, and then the third day it looks like
7:39
Speaker 1: another wind direction, so I'm gonna have to hunt in
7:41
Speaker 1: the ground blind. So so I've got four options to
7:43
Speaker 1: move across, um, and hopefully that's going to keep me
7:46
Speaker 1: in the right general area and I'll need to count
7:49
Speaker 1: on a little bit of luck for him to pass
7:51
Speaker 1: by that spot. But um, that's my game plan at
7:55
Speaker 1: least at a very high level. So let's let's move
7:58
Speaker 1: on then to the to the meat of the podcast. Uh,
8:02
Speaker 1: we start with Alex Gilstrom with white tail properties in Illinois,
8:05
Speaker 1: and then we have Bryce Lamley and Nebraska with Sitka,
8:08
Speaker 1: and then we go to Arkansas to talk to Philip
8:10
Speaker 1: Vanderpool from the Virtue TV and then we go to
8:12
Speaker 1: Virginia with the Virginia Deer Hunters Association. Is Denny quaf
8:17
Speaker 1: That sounds like a good lineup, Spencer. I'm looking forward
8:19
Speaker 1: to hearing this, and UM, I guess we'll we'll get
8:22
Speaker 1: Don Higgins on here real quick in my conversation with
8:24
Speaker 1: him to hear about his hunt and then we'll get
8:27
Speaker 1: right into the full right report. Thanks, Spencer, talked to
8:29
Speaker 1: you next week, Mark. Alright, So I am. I am
8:34
Speaker 1: excited and kind of shocked that we are here again
8:38
Speaker 1: with Don Higgins on the line. Donna, are you just
8:41
Speaker 1: the luckiest guy in the world right now? The most
8:46
Speaker 1: blessed for sure? Just almost speechless because I'm telling you,
8:50
Speaker 1: nobody is more surprised than I am. Yeah. I was
8:54
Speaker 1: just floored when I saw the news come across my
8:57
Speaker 1: Facebook feed, um, And and I don't know, it's just
9:02
Speaker 1: it's unbelievable the week that you had. Um. So I
9:06
Speaker 1: guess nobody wants to hear from me. They want to
9:09
Speaker 1: hear from you. Can you tell us what happened, um,
9:12
Speaker 1: last week? And how somehow this incredible story, that incredible
9:17
Speaker 1: plan that you talked about to us in the summer
9:19
Speaker 1: has actually all come true. Now. Yeah, the last Tuesday,
9:26
Speaker 1: you and I spoke midday and did that last recording,
9:30
Speaker 1: And that was Tuesday midday, Tuesday afternoon evening, I was
9:35
Speaker 1: taking Smoky to the taxidermist and on my way to
9:39
Speaker 1: the taxidermist, I've got that and I left. You know,
9:42
Speaker 1: it was still you know, an our daylight left, and
9:46
Speaker 1: my cell phone goes off and I've got some spartan
9:48
Speaker 1: cell cams, and uh I get my first picture of
9:52
Speaker 1: Trump in daylight. And I was just absolutely unbelievable, because
9:55
Speaker 1: I just told you earlier that day I had dropped
9:58
Speaker 1: my chances of success to I'll be one percent from
10:03
Speaker 1: and uh so here I got a picture of him
10:05
Speaker 1: in daylight, and the pictures within twenty yards in one
10:08
Speaker 1: of my stands. But you know, I was on the
10:13
Speaker 1: way that the taxidermist was smoky, so you know that.
10:16
Speaker 1: And besides, the wind was wrong. I would not have
10:18
Speaker 1: been in that stand if I had I been honey,
10:20
Speaker 1: I would have been elsewhere because the wind was wrong
10:22
Speaker 1: to begin that stand. But anyway, he was on his
10:24
Speaker 1: feet in daylight, and uh, I was just shocked, you know,
10:29
Speaker 1: to see that at this time of the year, especially
10:31
Speaker 1: if it had been the rut or something. You know,
10:33
Speaker 1: that's a bit different story. But so anyway, and the
10:36
Speaker 1: next day would have been Wednesday, and my grandson's were
10:39
Speaker 1: here from Indiana, and I took them. I wasn't able
10:42
Speaker 1: to hunt. I took them to the pumpkin patch that day.
10:45
Speaker 1: Uh I spent some time with them, but Thursday, I
10:47
Speaker 1: was back in the stand and the wind was still
10:51
Speaker 1: wrong for the stand where I got the photo on Tuesday,
10:56
Speaker 1: but that I had another stand about two hundred yards
10:58
Speaker 1: away that the wind was perfect war and that's where
11:01
Speaker 1: I went. Um, you know, I was sitting to my stand.
11:05
Speaker 1: It was getting close to quitting time. Ever still probably
11:09
Speaker 1: twenty thirty minute, twenty minute anyway, uh of you know,
11:14
Speaker 1: before quitting time, and it was dead calm. I mean,
11:17
Speaker 1: it was so calm, it was. It was probably the
11:19
Speaker 1: calmest evening that I've hunted this year. And I was
11:24
Speaker 1: in a hedgerow out in the middle of nowhere, and
11:27
Speaker 1: right in front of my stand, I was standing corn,
11:31
Speaker 1: and and of standing soybean field. They met right here
11:34
Speaker 1: in front of my stand, so off to my right
11:36
Speaker 1: with soybeans. Off to my left was standing corn, and
11:38
Speaker 1: I was looking right down the road where they met.
11:42
Speaker 1: So I'm sitting to my stand and it's gitting towards
11:44
Speaker 1: quittin time, and I hear corn leaf for us all
11:47
Speaker 1: out there in the cornfield, probably thirty forty yards out
11:50
Speaker 1: in front of me, and I could just tell by
11:52
Speaker 1: the sound of I knew it was a deer and
11:54
Speaker 1: the crazy thing about it. This is my tenth hunt
11:56
Speaker 1: for Trump all year, and I had not seen a
12:00
Speaker 1: single deer on those ten hunts. And it actually it
12:03
Speaker 1: became kind of a joke between me and my business
12:06
Speaker 1: partner Kevin. We text back and forth and I'd say,
12:09
Speaker 1: on my sixth hunt for Trump, you had to see
12:12
Speaker 1: a deer. On my seventh hunt for Trump, you have
12:14
Speaker 1: to see it here. On my eighth hunt for Trump,
12:17
Speaker 1: you have to see a deer. So we're on I'm
12:18
Speaker 1: on the tenth hunt, and I was joking with anyone.
12:20
Speaker 1: I said, I bet you the first dear I see,
12:22
Speaker 1: he's gonna be Trump, but I might have to sit
12:24
Speaker 1: here in fifteen or twenty times. So anyway, I'm sitting
12:28
Speaker 1: there in the corn leaf russels, and I know it's
12:30
Speaker 1: a deer, but I only heard it once and it
12:32
Speaker 1: was so calm, like I couldn't believe it's just that
12:34
Speaker 1: one rustling in the corn stalks, and you know, maybe,
12:39
Speaker 1: but I still I know it was a deer and
12:40
Speaker 1: it was coming to I figured it was coming in
12:43
Speaker 1: my direction because that's kind of a hub right there
12:45
Speaker 1: where those two fields meet, right there in front of
12:47
Speaker 1: the hedgerow, a hub of activity and and uh, so
12:51
Speaker 1: I stood to get ready just in case it was
12:54
Speaker 1: no Trump, and uh it wasn't. Probably a minute later,
13:00
Speaker 1: Trump steps out of the corn into those soybeans on
13:03
Speaker 1: the first row. And I'm telling you what I was,
13:08
Speaker 1: in a way, I was expecting him. At the same time,
13:10
Speaker 1: I was just so shocked that I was really seeing
13:12
Speaker 1: this deer in daylight. And I had said, you know
13:15
Speaker 1: on the podcast last week, if I laid eyes on
13:18
Speaker 1: that deer in daylight, I would consider the success. So
13:22
Speaker 1: here he steps out, you know, maybe thirty yards from me,
13:26
Speaker 1: and I'm laying eyes on him in daylight. So I'm thinking, well,
13:29
Speaker 1: my seasons of success, I guess, because there he is.
13:33
Speaker 1: And uh he turns and he walks right down the
13:37
Speaker 1: edge of the corn, uh, between the corn and the soybeans,
13:40
Speaker 1: and he walks right towards me. And uh. I mean
13:45
Speaker 1: it happened fast. But from the time he stepped out
13:48
Speaker 1: and started walking towards me until I shot him was
13:50
Speaker 1: less than ten seconds. Um. He starts walking down that
13:55
Speaker 1: edge right towards me, and right in front of my stand.
13:58
Speaker 1: I had piled up um rush that I'd cut because
14:01
Speaker 1: I cut a a path for those dear to to
14:04
Speaker 1: get in and out with that hedgerow off to my
14:06
Speaker 1: left just a little bit, so I didn't want him
14:09
Speaker 1: right there in my lap. And uh so he was
14:11
Speaker 1: headed right towards that brush pile, and I knew he
14:14
Speaker 1: was either going to turn right or left. And well,
14:18
Speaker 1: I first reached down for the video camera and turned
14:21
Speaker 1: it on. I looked up, and I mean, here, he's
14:23
Speaker 1: coming on a fast walk, and I'd like, there's no
14:25
Speaker 1: time for this. You better grab your bow. And I
14:27
Speaker 1: grabbed my bow and I'm snapping my release on. I
14:30
Speaker 1: look up and he's right there, and I pulled back
14:32
Speaker 1: and draw, and I'm just waiting on him to turn
14:34
Speaker 1: which direction, and uh, you know, I got it. I
14:39
Speaker 1: shot him right. He turned slightly to the to his right,
14:42
Speaker 1: to my left, and uh, I shot him. And I
14:46
Speaker 1: did not get an ideal hit um. But he ran
14:50
Speaker 1: out into the beans about a hundred fifty yards and
14:52
Speaker 1: he laid down. And I thought, to anybody where he
14:55
Speaker 1: laid down at he was only probably less than twenty
14:58
Speaker 1: yards from the stand and corn um, and I thought, shoot,
15:03
Speaker 1: he's gonna lay right there, and I'm gonna give him
15:06
Speaker 1: plenty of time, but he'll be right there when I
15:07
Speaker 1: come come back, and I got my I'm looking at
15:11
Speaker 1: him and everything, and in a second box steps out
15:14
Speaker 1: of the corn and walked out to him. Apparently this
15:17
Speaker 1: is a deer I didn't see that was right there
15:19
Speaker 1: on the edge, and he gets trump back on his feet,
15:23
Speaker 1: and they're both out there until it's too dark for
15:26
Speaker 1: me to see. So I slipped out, and uh yeah,
15:31
Speaker 1: I left my bow hanging in the tree, the camera everything.
15:33
Speaker 1: I didn't want to take a chance I'm making any noise,
15:36
Speaker 1: and uh, I climbed down as quiet as I could,
15:39
Speaker 1: and I left the opposite direction. I even left my
15:41
Speaker 1: a t V. I drove up on that hunt I
15:43
Speaker 1: had left hidden, nodded in the direction they went, but
15:47
Speaker 1: kind of off to the side. I even left that
15:49
Speaker 1: out there over night, and I slipped away and in
15:52
Speaker 1: uh the opposite direction, went out to the road and
15:55
Speaker 1: called my wife on my cell phone, had her come
15:58
Speaker 1: pick me up. I um, And then the next day
16:02
Speaker 1: I come back with my friend and business partner, Kevin Bowyer.
16:06
Speaker 1: And and also there's a local guy, Ron Sliper, that's
16:10
Speaker 1: a bloodhound service that helps people look for the lost deer.
16:13
Speaker 1: And I never had to call him before, and I
16:16
Speaker 1: wasn't sure if I was even gonna need him. I
16:18
Speaker 1: was open Trump was just laying right there in the beans,
16:20
Speaker 1: but I thought, I'm gonna I'm gonna just go ahead
16:24
Speaker 1: and call him and have him show up and not
16:26
Speaker 1: take any chances. Well, we go, we get on the
16:29
Speaker 1: blood trail and uh the dog does and tracks uh
16:33
Speaker 1: Trump right into the corn. I mean, he's bleeding good.
16:35
Speaker 1: You could have easily blood trailed him. And we get
16:39
Speaker 1: into the corn and then we're headed back towards my
16:42
Speaker 1: stand and then we jump him and Trump wasn't dead yet,
16:47
Speaker 1: and he takes off, and I don't know, to make
16:50
Speaker 1: a long story short, we jumped him two more times
16:53
Speaker 1: and finally I said, you know, and that's enough. Let's
16:56
Speaker 1: give him a chance to die. We we thought we
16:58
Speaker 1: could slip up on him and maybe get an their
17:00
Speaker 1: ara when because he bled the entire way, I mean
17:02
Speaker 1: he was bleed good. Um, so I made the decision
17:08
Speaker 1: to back off and come back later. And he's gonna
17:11
Speaker 1: come back that afternoon. And the more I thought about
17:13
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, the last time we jumped him,
17:16
Speaker 1: he was actually laying in the creek and water, and
17:19
Speaker 1: I thought he's hurt bad. And we by that point
17:22
Speaker 1: we'd gone close to a mile from where we originally
17:25
Speaker 1: jumped him, and he had bled the entire way along
17:28
Speaker 1: that I mean good. So and then the last time
17:32
Speaker 1: we jumped in landing in the creek, I thought, man,
17:34
Speaker 1: he's got to be on about his last leg. That's
17:36
Speaker 1: just back off and he'll be dead in his next bed.
17:39
Speaker 1: And we was gonna come back that afternoon, and I
17:40
Speaker 1: just said, you know what, well I think about it.
17:43
Speaker 1: I think I'll just wait till morning, and then I'll
17:45
Speaker 1: be a dent. Sure, there's no way to be a
17:48
Speaker 1: hundred percent, but maybe a whole lot more sure that
17:51
Speaker 1: he'll be laying in that first bed. Well, Kevin and
17:55
Speaker 1: I came back the first of the next morning, and uh,
17:58
Speaker 1: the plan was Kevin was gonna take up the blood trail,
18:01
Speaker 1: and he ran into another small patch. It probably wasn't
18:03
Speaker 1: less than ten acres, just along a little ditch. Um.
18:08
Speaker 1: So Kevin was going to take up the blood trail,
18:10
Speaker 1: but first I got on the other end and and
18:12
Speaker 1: found a spot, ambush spot, And if if Kevin happened
18:16
Speaker 1: to push the buck out ahead of him, then I
18:19
Speaker 1: was gonna be waiting and hopefully get a shot at him. Well,
18:22
Speaker 1: I had just about gotten position and and found a
18:24
Speaker 1: good place to to sit where I could see good
18:26
Speaker 1: and everything and possibly have a chance for a shot.
18:29
Speaker 1: When Kevin called me, he says, this is gonna be
18:32
Speaker 1: a short track and job. He says here, he's right here,
18:35
Speaker 1: and the deer it literally went like thirty ft from
18:38
Speaker 1: where we'd stopped the day before, thirty and he had
18:42
Speaker 1: died on it. He didn't even bed down. He had
18:44
Speaker 1: died on his feet, you know. So if we just
18:47
Speaker 1: kept looking, you know, two minutes after where we quit,
18:51
Speaker 1: we had made a scene ing for sure. But that
18:56
Speaker 1: that's just kind of the story of Trump. That's incredible.
18:59
Speaker 1: What why do you think that he all of a
19:02
Speaker 1: sudden started moving daylight at this time period when you
19:05
Speaker 1: really maybe wouldn't expect it to happen, because what were
19:08
Speaker 1: these dates? This was like the twentie or something like that.
19:13
Speaker 1: It would have been the nineteenth would have been a
19:15
Speaker 1: dast shot him. Do you have any theory on why
19:19
Speaker 1: that happened? No, I don't. In fact, at first, when
19:23
Speaker 1: I got that picture, I thought, you know, maybe he'd
19:27
Speaker 1: been bettered in a cornfield. The combine jumped him, but
19:31
Speaker 1: there was no harvest going on right there that day. Um,
19:36
Speaker 1: so that wasn't in at all. I mean, he was
19:37
Speaker 1: on his feet natural, I guess, um, But I have
19:42
Speaker 1: no explanation what whatsoever. I mean, if somebody would have
19:44
Speaker 1: told me before season, you're gonna kill them bucks on
19:47
Speaker 1: back to back days and it's gonna be I thought
19:50
Speaker 1: there was nuts. And then if they sit in mid October,
19:53
Speaker 1: I'd have known it was nuts. But sometimes the reality
19:57
Speaker 1: is stranger than fiction. And that the here because that's
20:02
Speaker 1: how it happened. Yeah, yeah, I guess so so so
20:05
Speaker 1: looking back on this hunt, um, and then maybe even
20:07
Speaker 1: if you wanted to look back on the two hunts,
20:09
Speaker 1: your two most recent hunts where you've killed these you know,
20:12
Speaker 1: two of the three biggest deer you've ever killed. Um,
20:15
Speaker 1: if you had to put your finger on why you
20:19
Speaker 1: think it happened, you know what led to this? You
20:22
Speaker 1: know what were the key things you did that actually
20:24
Speaker 1: allowed you to to have that success. I don't know if
20:26
Speaker 1: you've been able to kind of reflect back on it
20:27
Speaker 1: in this way yet, but but can you kind of
20:29
Speaker 1: give us where your heads at at least right now
20:32
Speaker 1: as far as what you think were the keys to
20:34
Speaker 1: this incredible stretch you've had in mid October. Well, preparation
20:40
Speaker 1: for one thing, And you know, I was like the
20:43
Speaker 1: stand I shot Trump out of. I put that stand
20:46
Speaker 1: up last winter just for Trump, and I had several
20:50
Speaker 1: other stands that I had put up just for him.
20:53
Speaker 1: So I didn't I wasn't out there in September before
20:56
Speaker 1: season or August, you know, right before season putting up hands.
21:00
Speaker 1: I was. I got all my work done early, like
21:02
Speaker 1: I always do, and that way I'm not disturbing the
21:06
Speaker 1: area at all right before season. So preparation was was key.
21:10
Speaker 1: But determination also, like I I said, that was my
21:13
Speaker 1: tenth hunt on that in that little area wasn't all
21:17
Speaker 1: from one stand. It it it was all from two stands.
21:19
Speaker 1: That was my third hunt from that stand. And there
21:21
Speaker 1: was another stand close by that I had hunted seven times.
21:24
Speaker 1: So you know, I've done my homework enough that I
21:29
Speaker 1: knew where I needed to be, and I just I was,
21:37
Speaker 1: you know, I was determined that that was the spot
21:39
Speaker 1: and I wasn't gonna start second guessing myself. And it's
21:44
Speaker 1: just I knew he was there, but he was so
21:47
Speaker 1: nocturnal that that was the key I mean a lot
21:50
Speaker 1: of times its hunters were in the right spot, but
21:53
Speaker 1: you got to be in the right spot at the
21:55
Speaker 1: right time. And I knew I was in the right spot,
21:58
Speaker 1: and I just just kept plugging away until the time
22:02
Speaker 1: was right. I guess, why, why do you think that
22:07
Speaker 1: was the right spot or this couple stands that you
22:09
Speaker 1: had what led you to believe that this was these
22:12
Speaker 1: are the right spots to be? What was so great
22:13
Speaker 1: about that those locations, well they were it's wide open
22:18
Speaker 1: farm country, just torn and soybean fields and there's very little,
22:22
Speaker 1: you know, cover other than the crop fields, which crop
22:26
Speaker 1: fields are great cover, but it's structure. It's it's no
22:29
Speaker 1: different than fish. You know, if you've got a pond
22:33
Speaker 1: and you've got one brush pile underwater in that pond,
22:35
Speaker 1: that the fish are going to relate to it. And
22:37
Speaker 1: it's the same way with these deer in the open prairie.
22:41
Speaker 1: If there's just a little bit of cover out in
22:42
Speaker 1: a wide open prairie, those deer are going to relate
22:45
Speaker 1: to that that cover, just like fish relate to structure.
22:49
Speaker 1: And uh so, I mean where I was at, I
22:53
Speaker 1: wasn't about to see another bow hunter because there wasn't
22:55
Speaker 1: another deer hunter out there. But uh, you know the
22:59
Speaker 1: other thing I always do as I want to get
23:02
Speaker 1: away from other hunters as far as possible because bucks
23:04
Speaker 1: want to do the same thing. And a lot of
23:08
Speaker 1: times that means you you give up some of the
23:10
Speaker 1: best looking cover in an area. And you know, in
23:12
Speaker 1: Trump's situation, that box is the real world as it gets,
23:16
Speaker 1: because I don't I doubt if he ever said stepped
23:19
Speaker 1: footing the food plot. Um, I don't know that any
23:23
Speaker 1: any properties with food plots in the range that he
23:25
Speaker 1: was covering that I know of, So I mean I
23:30
Speaker 1: just the trail cameras helped immensely. Getting his daylight picture
23:36
Speaker 1: on Tuesday basically just reinforced and me the idea that
23:41
Speaker 1: he was still on that summer range. He had not
23:43
Speaker 1: yet shifted to his fall winter range, which where he
23:46
Speaker 1: had where he goes in the fallen winter. I have
23:48
Speaker 1: like ten cameras scattered throughout that area, and I've been
23:52
Speaker 1: checking him every I'll probably four or five days, because
23:56
Speaker 1: when he shifted his range, I needed to shift my
23:58
Speaker 1: focus and I need to start there. So I was
24:01
Speaker 1: I was trying to stay on top of that, and
24:03
Speaker 1: and some of those were sparking cameras too that were
24:05
Speaker 1: sending me pictures instantly. So I was doing everything I
24:08
Speaker 1: could to be where he was at and I didn't
24:11
Speaker 1: want to leave that summer range until I knew he did.
24:15
Speaker 1: And that picture on Tuesday kind of confirmed that he
24:17
Speaker 1: was did confirm without a doubt that he was still
24:19
Speaker 1: on that summer range. So you know that's where I
24:22
Speaker 1: continued to plug away. That makes sense. Wow, Well, uh,
24:28
Speaker 1: h's an incredible story done. And uh, I don't know
24:32
Speaker 1: where where's your head that? Now? You just had probably
24:35
Speaker 1: the best week of deer hunting, maybe ever in the
24:38
Speaker 1: history of white tail deer hunting. Um, you've killed her
24:41
Speaker 1: two target bucks, one that is definitely over two, one
24:44
Speaker 1: that I don't know if you've officially scored him yet,
24:46
Speaker 1: but he's got to be in that ballpark. Um, where's
24:50
Speaker 1: your head at? Now? Where do you go from here?
24:52
Speaker 1: How do you feel? Well? I'm just to be clear,
24:57
Speaker 1: Trump is not gonna make two. He's not got my
25:00
Speaker 1: or miss it very far, but he's not gonna hit it. So, UM,
25:04
Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of stuff on social media that
25:06
Speaker 1: I've killed two bucks in a week, and I just
25:10
Speaker 1: I don't want to mislead anybody because Trump is not
25:12
Speaker 1: quite gonna make it. But you know, I'm already focused
25:16
Speaker 1: on next year. Um, I've you know that I'm getting
25:21
Speaker 1: ready to go shift some some trail cameras that, like
25:24
Speaker 1: I said, I have ten cameras focused right there in
25:26
Speaker 1: Trump's range. I'm gonna move some of them. I'm gonna
25:29
Speaker 1: be going to Iowa in the next couple of weeks
25:32
Speaker 1: for a couple of days. I've got a property out
25:35
Speaker 1: there I've got permission on that supposed to be just
25:39
Speaker 1: absolutely awesome. But I did not join in Iowa Tag
25:42
Speaker 1: this year. This would have been the year I needed
25:43
Speaker 1: it because now sitting here was nothing to do. But
25:47
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go out to Iowa anyway, even without a TAG,
25:49
Speaker 1: and I want to just have a look at the
25:51
Speaker 1: property as it is in November, so that next year November,
25:55
Speaker 1: you know, I've got to kind of a leg up
25:57
Speaker 1: on if I'm just instead of showing up line, I'm
26:00
Speaker 1: gonna leave some trail cameras on the property, um, all
26:04
Speaker 1: through the fall and probably go back and spring on
26:08
Speaker 1: the shift antler hunt and pick up the cameras then.
26:11
Speaker 1: So yeah, it never ends for me. I'm always either
26:14
Speaker 1: chasing a buck or looking for a buck to to chase.
26:17
Speaker 1: So right now I'm looking for a buck to chase.
26:20
Speaker 1: Um Here in Illinois, the biggest buck that I know of,
26:24
Speaker 1: it's probably about a hundred and so I'm sure there's
26:27
Speaker 1: some bigger ones around. I just need to find them
26:29
Speaker 1: and figure out where they're staying. Well, uh, if if
26:34
Speaker 1: you don't leave some of these guys, some of these
26:36
Speaker 1: bucks alone, there won't be many of these really big
26:38
Speaker 1: ones because it seems like if they're in your area,
26:40
Speaker 1: they're in trouble. So don I want to thank you
26:44
Speaker 1: for taking the time again two weeks in a row
26:46
Speaker 1: now to to chat with us and tell us your story.
26:49
Speaker 1: And uh, just congratulations again, really really incredible. Well thanks
26:54
Speaker 1: a lot, Mark. I appreciate you having me on. And
26:56
Speaker 1: I also want to thank everyone that is congratulated me
27:00
Speaker 1: and sent words of encouragement. And I mean, I've got
27:04
Speaker 1: so many texts. I can't imagine what it would be
27:06
Speaker 1: like to be a guy like Leelakoski, because this last
27:09
Speaker 1: week I couldn't even keep up on texts and stuff.
27:11
Speaker 1: I mean I look at my phone and I would
27:14
Speaker 1: I would reply at every opportunity, and then I'd look
27:16
Speaker 1: at my phone and I just had twenty more. So
27:19
Speaker 1: I wasn't staying on top of things. I was following behind.
27:22
Speaker 1: And then you had emails and phone calls and Facebook
27:25
Speaker 1: messages and everything else, and it was all encouraging and
27:28
Speaker 1: I just, you know, I want to thank everyone has
27:33
Speaker 1: offered congratulations, and it just means the world to me
27:36
Speaker 1: to to see the hunting community, uh, you know, be
27:40
Speaker 1: so positive around this, and I'm just blessed and grateful
27:44
Speaker 1: for everybody's kind words and encouragement. That's that's that's great
27:49
Speaker 1: to hear that that's been the case, and uh, I'm
27:52
Speaker 1: glad to hear. And it's been a nice example of,
27:54
Speaker 1: like you said, the hunting community being positive and railing
27:56
Speaker 1: around someone and lifting them up rather than trying to
27:58
Speaker 1: drag someone down or be jealous or something like along
28:01
Speaker 1: those lines. So that's that's great, son. I wish you
28:05
Speaker 1: luck in your coming weeks of scouting and trying to
28:08
Speaker 1: find a new buck and and checking out the isle
28:10
Speaker 1: of property, and just do me one favor and send
28:13
Speaker 1: a little bit of your good luck my way. Could
28:15
Speaker 1: you do that? Well? If I could bottle it up
28:18
Speaker 1: I'd be selling it, that's for sure. I mean, I
28:21
Speaker 1: can't even explain how I feel. I did go out
28:24
Speaker 1: and by my first lottery take a long time on
28:27
Speaker 1: last week, so I hope it continued. But good luck
28:31
Speaker 1: to you this season, Mark and all your listeners as well.
28:35
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I'll be keeping an eye on
28:37
Speaker 1: your website for you know, your future podcast with other
28:41
Speaker 1: Deer Hunterson. Just keep up the good work. Sounds like
28:45
Speaker 1: good plan. Done, have a good one. Before we get
28:48
Speaker 1: to our first update, they'll let's positively think our sponsors
28:51
Speaker 1: at Sitky Gear And for this week's story, we're joined
28:54
Speaker 1: by Nick Kravitz tells us about how he was able
28:57
Speaker 1: to tag the biggest buck of his life. So about
29:01
Speaker 1: three years ago, my brother Tyler and I had got
29:04
Speaker 1: trail cameras of this buck back three years ago, and
29:07
Speaker 1: we called him sling Shot just because of his unique
29:10
Speaker 1: rack style and uh we lost track up in the
29:13
Speaker 1: past few years. But two weeks ago, I was gonna
29:18
Speaker 1: sit a stand. It was the first night of a
29:19
Speaker 1: cold front. It's been really warm, and uh it was
29:22
Speaker 1: the first time I'd sit this stand all year long.
29:24
Speaker 1: It was alongside of a cornfield in the swamp and
29:27
Speaker 1: I got in the stand. I had seen really good
29:30
Speaker 1: buck movement that night. I saw three or four other buck.
29:32
Speaker 1: And then right after sunset, I just got done taking
29:36
Speaker 1: some pictures of the sunset and my bow and whatnot,
29:39
Speaker 1: and I look over to my left and all I
29:41
Speaker 1: see is just a giant G two and G three,
29:43
Speaker 1: And I immediately knew shooter. And sure enough, this buck
29:46
Speaker 1: walked out into my shooting lane no more than two
29:48
Speaker 1: or three minutes later, while I was full drawn by
29:51
Speaker 1: the way, and uh, I put an arrow fume and
29:53
Speaker 1: it turned out to be my biggest buck to date.
29:55
Speaker 1: And it's just gonna be a really hard buck to beat.
29:57
Speaker 1: And I'm super grateful and leased, and you know, I
30:01
Speaker 1: can't be more happy. On Nick's hunt, he was wearing
30:04
Speaker 1: sikest Fanatic system. If you'd like to create the sickest
30:07
Speaker 1: story of your own, or to learn more about Sitkause
30:10
Speaker 1: technical hunting apparel, visit Sitka gear dot com. Alright, and
30:15
Speaker 1: joining us on the line first is Alex Gilstrom with
30:18
Speaker 1: white Tail Properties out of Illinois. Now, Alex, on a
30:21
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten, in this last week or so,
30:24
Speaker 1: what would you say the buck activity has been I'd
30:28
Speaker 1: say on the skill one attend it's probably sitting right
30:30
Speaker 1: now about a seven UM. And that's mainly because of
30:34
Speaker 1: just the weather we've It seems like all October we've
30:38
Speaker 1: just kind of looked out as far as timely cold fronts. UM,
30:41
Speaker 1: it's not been really consistently more more cold. It's been
30:45
Speaker 1: you know, warm like we've experienced the last couple of years,
30:48
Speaker 1: probably unseasonably, but um with timely cold fronts, and it
30:52
Speaker 1: really gets the bucks up and moving. And I think
30:55
Speaker 1: it's really kind of kind of started to we're now
30:58
Speaker 1: moving into, like in this last week, really moving into
31:01
Speaker 1: that seeking phase to where I mean even here hearing
31:04
Speaker 1: some rumors of of Bucks lockdown or Bucks with does
31:08
Speaker 1: um from time to time. Even from those first couple
31:11
Speaker 1: I haven't seen anything like that, but uh, definitely starting
31:14
Speaker 1: to see the scrapes open up, seeing more rubs um
31:16
Speaker 1: pop open. The particular farm that I hunt has spent
31:19
Speaker 1: most of my time on here in Illinois, it doesn't
31:21
Speaker 1: it doesn't hold the deer all year long. There's not
31:23
Speaker 1: really much food on it, but it's got a lot
31:25
Speaker 1: of cover um and it's a it's it's a great
31:27
Speaker 1: transition area between the bedding and the food. So when
31:31
Speaker 1: it gets closer to the rut, the does are here
31:33
Speaker 1: and then and then the bucks move in. So the
31:34
Speaker 1: cameras have been showing more and more mature bucks just
31:36
Speaker 1: starting to pile into the ground. So it's it's exciting
31:39
Speaker 1: to see. Well, it sounds like you're basing a lot
31:41
Speaker 1: of that off of trail cameras and just seeing sign
31:44
Speaker 1: in general. But have you seen anything in person as
31:46
Speaker 1: far as chasing does or bucks that are sparring yet? Um,
31:51
Speaker 1: a little bit. So I was actually out this past
31:54
Speaker 1: Sunday morning, um, and it rained all Saturday night and
31:58
Speaker 1: Sunday morning here, so I did kind of some speed
32:00
Speaker 1: scouting Sunday morning, check some cameras, um, and actually, uh
32:06
Speaker 1: kind of bumped the bedded buck. He didn't know what
32:08
Speaker 1: I was. He just kind of kind of got up
32:10
Speaker 1: and just kind of took one hop and then stood
32:11
Speaker 1: there and looked around and just kind of walked off
32:13
Speaker 1: and he didn't see me, but he was he was
32:15
Speaker 1: definitely mature buck. And uh, he was actually still betted
32:18
Speaker 1: with a year and a half old buck, so there's
32:21
Speaker 1: definitely uh. And I kind of I was kind of
32:24
Speaker 1: following a scrape line that had been opened up, just
32:27
Speaker 1: kind of looking through the thick cover and um, so
32:31
Speaker 1: they're definitely not quite uh again getting too aggressive yet,
32:36
Speaker 1: but it's definitely starting to see them and the and
32:39
Speaker 1: then in the food sources over a couple of sis,
32:41
Speaker 1: We've got some food plots out here, seeing some two
32:43
Speaker 1: and a half and even a couple of three and
32:45
Speaker 1: a half year old deer just just sparring. Not really
32:47
Speaker 1: the knockdown, drag out stuff, but um, definitely starting to
32:50
Speaker 1: get with it. We'll say, we get a good cold
32:52
Speaker 1: front this weekend and you're going to be in one
32:55
Speaker 1: of your best setups. What does that look like? Are
32:57
Speaker 1: you gonna be hunting your betting in the mornings yet
32:59
Speaker 1: or you a little bit cautious until we had November. Um,
33:04
Speaker 1: probably I have enough. I'm lucky enough, less enough to
33:08
Speaker 1: have enough property here to where I can kind of
33:10
Speaker 1: push the envelope a little bit, um and I'll time
33:13
Speaker 1: some of those cold fronts around that accordingly. So UM,
33:16
Speaker 1: I will probably get in tight to some bedding, especially
33:19
Speaker 1: as there's more sign and it looks what it looks
33:22
Speaker 1: like some primary scrape areas and some community scrapes that
33:24
Speaker 1: have kind of opened up, and just in the past,
33:27
Speaker 1: I've had some really good luck targeting that, targeting that
33:30
Speaker 1: sign in the morning. Um So I probably will start
33:33
Speaker 1: to target some of those areas this coming towards the
33:35
Speaker 1: latter half of this week and this weekend, um and
33:38
Speaker 1: then in the evenings. UM I'm probably going to be
33:40
Speaker 1: concentrating most of my time on transition areas. The particular
33:44
Speaker 1: property a hunt. It's it's pretty hilly here in western Illinois.
33:47
Speaker 1: Um So there's kind of these these timber ridges that
33:50
Speaker 1: kind of dumped down into these thicker bottoms, and then
33:53
Speaker 1: there's quite a bit of CRP. There's some patches of CRP,
33:55
Speaker 1: a couple different CRP fields, and um I've got some
33:58
Speaker 1: really good locations set up for for cruising, the kind
34:01
Speaker 1: of fingers of timber that jut out into the CRP,
34:03
Speaker 1: and just some really good pinch points and funnels the
34:06
Speaker 1: where deer can hug those transition lines, and um it
34:09
Speaker 1: just seems to really concentrate the buck movement at least
34:13
Speaker 1: as they're starting to be on their feet more in
34:15
Speaker 1: daylight and start to seek more. Um So I'll probably
34:18
Speaker 1: gonna start honing on those for evenings, all right, Alex,
34:21
Speaker 1: with those scrapes and those robs starting to pop up more,
34:23
Speaker 1: does that change anything for you as a hunter or
34:27
Speaker 1: how do you use that as another piece of the
34:29
Speaker 1: puzzle and the end of October. Yeah, I mean those
34:33
Speaker 1: are huge for me personally, just because kind of, like
34:35
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, the way the property just the type
34:38
Speaker 1: of property that I have access to hunt. Um, I've
34:41
Speaker 1: got permission to hunt on. Um, it's kind of like
34:43
Speaker 1: my indicator of It's kind of like my light bulb,
34:46
Speaker 1: if you will, because it's like I said, the deer
34:48
Speaker 1: don't don't summer on this property. They don't live The
34:51
Speaker 1: bucks especially don't live there year around. It does hold
34:53
Speaker 1: some doughs, quite a few does actually, just because the
34:55
Speaker 1: cover is so good. But um, the food sources are
34:58
Speaker 1: kind of on the perimeters, are on the the edges.
35:00
Speaker 1: So when I start seeing more of that activity, it's
35:03
Speaker 1: it's telling me a couple of things that I need
35:05
Speaker 1: to shift my trail cameras um. And I usually shift
35:08
Speaker 1: them before that anyway, just to kind of prepare for it.
35:10
Speaker 1: But um, if it's a new new area or a
35:13
Speaker 1: new part of the farm, UM, it makes in season
35:16
Speaker 1: scouting super important because at half the cruise. I have
35:19
Speaker 1: to kind of like I call it, I kind of
35:20
Speaker 1: called speed scouting, where you kind of go through and
35:22
Speaker 1: just kind of look for that sign and when you
35:23
Speaker 1: start to see more activity. But ultimately that's what it indicates,
35:26
Speaker 1: is more activity on the property from bucks. Um. So
35:30
Speaker 1: when I start to see more of that stuff pop up,
35:31
Speaker 1: and it's not just I mean, you know, you have
35:33
Speaker 1: your little field edge where they're kind of pulling at
35:35
Speaker 1: the ground and just making some little scrapes as you
35:36
Speaker 1: can tell their cruising buy. But but really you know,
35:39
Speaker 1: the trees that are shredded and take security cover, um,
35:42
Speaker 1: you know where there's obviously spending more time and and
35:45
Speaker 1: you know scrapes that are just really uh torn up
35:48
Speaker 1: or the licking branches are thrashed, and and and where
35:51
Speaker 1: they're they're obviously hitting it multiple times um or at
35:54
Speaker 1: least you know, once once a day, every once every
35:56
Speaker 1: couple of days, UM. More established scrape areas is kind
36:01
Speaker 1: of what I'm looking for. But I want to start
36:03
Speaker 1: seeing more of that. I know bucks are spending more
36:04
Speaker 1: time on the property and ultimately, um, that's when I know,
36:08
Speaker 1: you know, I can start putting in more more quality
36:11
Speaker 1: sits long term sits and start keying in on the
36:13
Speaker 1: on the areas that that they should be, you know,
36:15
Speaker 1: to intersect one kind of cruising back and forth from
36:18
Speaker 1: thick cover to the food sources on the edge, um
36:21
Speaker 1: or coming back in the morning, spending more time transitioning
36:24
Speaker 1: through the property as they go back to bed. Now,
36:26
Speaker 1: going forward in this next week or so, Alex, what
36:29
Speaker 1: do you think that Bucky activity is going to be
36:30
Speaker 1: on a scale of one to ten in Illinois? Like
36:34
Speaker 1: I said, I think it's probably it's holding strong at
36:37
Speaker 1: a at a seven right now, and I think it's
36:39
Speaker 1: probably gonna get back. I think it's probably gonna either
36:41
Speaker 1: either maintain that or it might even jump up to
36:44
Speaker 1: a to a nine. I hate to I'm not even
36:46
Speaker 1: gonna say attend because I don't want to drink sit.
36:48
Speaker 1: But but I think it's gonna just get really good.
36:50
Speaker 1: I mean, we've got some colder temperatures we're getting I
36:53
Speaker 1: mean we're getting into the part that you know that
36:54
Speaker 1: we Gosh scout for dream about loosely but overall year long.
36:59
Speaker 1: Just in the next two weeks coming up, So I
37:01
Speaker 1: think it's really gonna start getting good. And it looks
37:03
Speaker 1: like we're gonna get blessed with some good weather too. So, um,
37:06
Speaker 1: high pressure alter the rest of this week, uh, falling temperatures,
37:10
Speaker 1: a little bit of wind and a little bit of rain.
37:12
Speaker 1: But I don't mind that at all. As long as
37:13
Speaker 1: that that pressure is up and the temperatures are down,
37:15
Speaker 1: it should should continue to get really good. So I'll
37:18
Speaker 1: confidently say right around the eight eight, eight or nine,
37:21
Speaker 1: moving forward. All right, Alex Well, I like your optimism
37:24
Speaker 1: and good luck going forward. Thanks for joining me. Thanks,
37:28
Speaker 1: that's appreciate it alright, and joining us on the line.
37:31
Speaker 1: Next is Bryce Lamley, an outdoor writer from Nebraska. Now
37:35
Speaker 1: Bryce in Nebraska, what would you say the buck activity
37:38
Speaker 1: has been lately on the scale of one to town. Well,
37:41
Speaker 1: I hate to sound like Debbie down here, but I
37:43
Speaker 1: would say afore it's been slower than usual. Say, the
37:47
Speaker 1: bucks are just now starting to show interest in scrapes,
37:50
Speaker 1: and I realized it's still October and so forth. But um,
37:54
Speaker 1: usually I've got some major, you know, perennial scrapes that
37:58
Speaker 1: get opened up even in September, and you know, the
38:01
Speaker 1: first cold night in September will be tore up. And
38:04
Speaker 1: I just haven't been seeing that this year, and part
38:07
Speaker 1: of that, I think the dude there's still being a
38:08
Speaker 1: lot of crops in the field and deer spending less
38:10
Speaker 1: time in the in the woods. But it's been it's
38:13
Speaker 1: been off to a slow start. Now having said that,
38:15
Speaker 1: I think things are in the process of changing right
38:18
Speaker 1: as we speak, Well, Brighten a lot of the Great Plains. Uh,
38:21
Speaker 1: this summer and fall, we've had odd stretches of dry
38:24
Speaker 1: periods and wet periods. Has that affect anything for you
38:27
Speaker 1: in Nebraska? It really has, And I think, uh, you know,
38:31
Speaker 1: in some cases it's really affected deer movement patterns because
38:35
Speaker 1: we've still got a lot of standing water left here
38:37
Speaker 1: in eastern Nebraska's keeping not only farmers out of the field,
38:41
Speaker 1: but it's keeping the it's it's making dear movement. And
38:46
Speaker 1: in some case, I think it's actually helped me because
38:48
Speaker 1: it's helped me define deer traffic where they had many
38:51
Speaker 1: options to cross a you know, a swamp or a
38:53
Speaker 1: marshy stretch where they barely get wet, and now that
38:56
Speaker 1: waters up to you know, their chests or their back
38:59
Speaker 1: and so it has defined there there movement a little
39:02
Speaker 1: bit for me. Um, but you know, it's interesting. I
39:06
Speaker 1: just talked to a farmer here the other day and
39:07
Speaker 1: he said that, you know, even that standing water in
39:09
Speaker 1: the field, he said, we can still get in there
39:11
Speaker 1: and and uh pick pick the crops. He said, it's
39:14
Speaker 1: not a problem for the combine, but he said the
39:16
Speaker 1: grain cards will get stuck. And we're just starting to
39:19
Speaker 1: see some of the irrigated corn that's down on the
39:22
Speaker 1: river bottoms start to come out just right as we speak,
39:25
Speaker 1: just right now. So do you see that water receding
39:29
Speaker 1: anytime soon or is this something that people are going
39:32
Speaker 1: to be dealing with, you know, all of the rut
39:35
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be an issue as we
39:37
Speaker 1: go forward, because you know that there's a place on
39:40
Speaker 1: one property it's usually just a mud puddle, and it's
39:42
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's a oh, I don't know, it's
39:45
Speaker 1: it's twenty yards across, and and right now that when
39:48
Speaker 1: I walk in there's a flock of twenty wood ducks
39:50
Speaker 1: on it. Most days it's and it used to be
39:53
Speaker 1: just a mud puddle that would barely get your tire wet.
39:55
Speaker 1: And so I think we're still going to see this
39:57
Speaker 1: going forward, that the water doesn't seem to be going anywhere,
40:01
Speaker 1: and I think the ground, you know, it's just not
40:02
Speaker 1: accepting anymore, or sister him really slow to to um absorb. Well,
40:08
Speaker 1: you talked about scrapes a little bit earlier. How about
40:11
Speaker 1: for other ud sign as far as rubs or you know,
40:14
Speaker 1: bucks chasing at this point, Well, honestly, the rubs have
40:18
Speaker 1: started to show up and and show up more frequently
40:21
Speaker 1: in the year I killed in October eight, he was
40:23
Speaker 1: in I mean he literally three or formens before I
40:26
Speaker 1: shot him, was making a pretty serious rub. And I've
40:30
Speaker 1: got a friend from Grand Island out in central Nebraska,
40:32
Speaker 1: and he has seen the activity around scrapes and rubs
40:36
Speaker 1: pick up dramatically here just in the last few days. Well,
40:40
Speaker 1: going forward, then in this next week or so, Bryce,
40:43
Speaker 1: what do you think the buck activity is going to
40:44
Speaker 1: be on the scale of one to ten in Nebraska.
40:48
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be up there around seven
40:50
Speaker 1: or and then maybe I'm being you know, maybe I'm
40:53
Speaker 1: a little bit conservative on that. Um. You know, it's
40:56
Speaker 1: it's not November yet, but I do see things take up.
41:00
Speaker 1: My trail camera has shown strangely some bucks moving past
41:06
Speaker 1: it at nine in the morning and nine dirty and
41:08
Speaker 1: stuff like this, and that's kind of unusual given what
41:12
Speaker 1: I'm not seeing very much from stand and so I
41:14
Speaker 1: think that round the verge is something big. I listened
41:17
Speaker 1: to you guys last week talked about the cold fronts
41:19
Speaker 1: and so forth, and I totally agree with that. We
41:20
Speaker 1: haven't had a night here in Fremont, Nebraska on the
41:23
Speaker 1: thirty two degrees. I believe this fall that's supposed to
41:26
Speaker 1: change here in the next few days, and I think
41:28
Speaker 1: that will change the hunting and kind of goose these
41:31
Speaker 1: bucked into two more of an activity, whether as they're
41:33
Speaker 1: really searching for those all Right, Bryce, well, I hope
41:36
Speaker 1: you get a chance to take advantage of cold front
41:38
Speaker 1: and good luck this year. Well, thank you very much.
41:42
Speaker 1: Before we get to our next call, though, let's pausitively
41:44
Speaker 1: thank our sponsors at white Tail Properties. And this week
41:48
Speaker 1: with white Tail Properties, we are joined by Billy O'Connor,
41:51
Speaker 1: a land specialist out of Kansas, and Billy is going
41:54
Speaker 1: to be giving us some advice for those hunters who
41:56
Speaker 1: are planning a vocation in Kansas. Um. Well, a lot
42:01
Speaker 1: of people want to come to Kansas in the middle
42:03
Speaker 1: of the rut, which is typically the second week in November. So,
42:06
Speaker 1: and it's a great time to come because you see
42:08
Speaker 1: a lot of deer movement. Uh, there's deers tine everywhere.
42:11
Speaker 1: The acting is hot, and it just feels like fall.
42:14
Speaker 1: But personally, um, if you're looking to get mature bucks,
42:18
Speaker 1: my favorite time is the last few days of October,
42:20
Speaker 1: kind of over the Halloween weekend time period. Um, the
42:24
Speaker 1: rust is starting to get going in the bigger bucks. Um.
42:27
Speaker 1: They're not necessarily pinning down with does just yet. Um.
42:30
Speaker 1: Often during the peak of the rut you'll see a
42:32
Speaker 1: lot of deer, but they're typically smaller and younger, and
42:35
Speaker 1: the big mature ones have already got with their dough
42:37
Speaker 1: and are are not moving around quite as much. UM.
42:39
Speaker 1: With that said, it is Kansas, so anytime you're in
42:42
Speaker 1: the woods, you have a shot at a giant and
42:44
Speaker 1: there's a plenty of deer to go around. UM. So
42:48
Speaker 1: for a few days of October into the first three
42:49
Speaker 1: weeks of November, you can't really go wrong and just
42:52
Speaker 1: kind of focus on pinch points in between betting and
42:54
Speaker 1: cover and go to where the does are because the
42:58
Speaker 1: bucks are gonna be coming to the EXACTERFI if you'd
43:01
Speaker 1: like to learn more and to see the properties that
43:03
Speaker 1: Billy currently has listed for sale. Visit white Tail properties
43:07
Speaker 1: dot com. Backslash O'Connor. That's O C O N N
43:12
Speaker 1: O R. Alright, and joining us on the line next
43:16
Speaker 1: is Philip Vanderpool, the founder of the Virtue TV. Now,
43:20
Speaker 1: Philip and Arkansas. What would you say the buck activity
43:23
Speaker 1: has been lately on a scale of one to ten. Well, Uh,
43:27
Speaker 1: it's actually been a little bit slow because of the hot,
43:30
Speaker 1: dry weather and we have an unbelievable mass crop this year,
43:35
Speaker 1: lots of acorns, uh for simmons and stuff like that.
43:39
Speaker 1: And um, I I say the activity has been slow,
43:43
Speaker 1: but I can tell you right now it's really Right
43:46
Speaker 1: now it's starting to pick up. The scrapes are opening up, uh,
43:50
Speaker 1: fresh reb lines. The bucks are starting to feel it
43:52
Speaker 1: because the temperature is changing. We have a weather front
43:56
Speaker 1: moving in as we speak. The wind is bowing really
43:59
Speaker 1: hard grown in cold front and northwest wind. Uh. It's
44:04
Speaker 1: it's really looking good coming up here in the next
44:07
Speaker 1: week or so. Right now, I think it's about a
44:09
Speaker 1: six out of ten there in Arkansas. Alright, boy, I
44:13
Speaker 1: know you hunt all over the Midwest, Um, but how
44:16
Speaker 1: does Arkansas's rout timing different than other places. For example,
44:20
Speaker 1: are you guys in pre rout right now and coming
44:22
Speaker 1: up on seeking and chasing or how does that work
44:24
Speaker 1: for either right there? I think you know, usually the
44:27
Speaker 1: muzzleoader season opens and that's and that's going on right now.
44:32
Speaker 1: It's really a good time, uh for the the It
44:39
Speaker 1: seems like it usually hits when those big bucks are
44:42
Speaker 1: starting to get on their feet just about this time. Uh,
44:45
Speaker 1: they're starting to show up in the daylight. So how
44:49
Speaker 1: does that muzzleloader season affect other thing for you guys,
44:52
Speaker 1: deer patterns and change with their betting, feeding, any of
44:55
Speaker 1: that stuff. Not not really, It probably does in some
44:59
Speaker 1: areas you have obviously a little more hunting pressure on
45:03
Speaker 1: your public lands and stuff there, um. But for the
45:07
Speaker 1: most part that seems like the musloading hunting is spread
45:10
Speaker 1: out and so it's not as big a factor. Um.
45:14
Speaker 1: And it's a very good time for a bowl hunter
45:16
Speaker 1: to get out there though and start getting it on
45:18
Speaker 1: their mind. And with this weather front moving in as
45:22
Speaker 1: we speak, it's and for this next week it's I mean,
45:26
Speaker 1: things are going to really get cranked up. Well, you
45:29
Speaker 1: talked about the big mass crop earlier. Is that something
45:32
Speaker 1: that is more of an immediate factor or is that
45:34
Speaker 1: something you think will be dealing with the next, you know, month,
45:36
Speaker 1: all the way through their run. Well, obviously you're gonna
45:40
Speaker 1: deal with that through the through the rut because there's
45:44
Speaker 1: such a huge mass crop. It's not really what I've noticed,
45:49
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty much everywhere that I've been, even in
45:52
Speaker 1: the Midwest, Uh, traveling away, I've noticed an unusually large
45:57
Speaker 1: mass crop everywhere I've been this year, and so you
46:01
Speaker 1: know they're again hunting along these edges of your fields.
46:04
Speaker 1: Can be good because you're looking for your rubs and
46:07
Speaker 1: your scrapes, but you also have a mass crop there.
46:11
Speaker 1: And where I'm from there in the Ozarks, we don't
46:14
Speaker 1: have a lot of agriculture, so we have to kind
46:18
Speaker 1: of depend on learning how to hunt these mass crops.
46:21
Speaker 1: So as it safe to say then that a lot
46:22
Speaker 1: of your trail cameras right now are in a little
46:24
Speaker 1: bit thicker stuff maybe close to where do these bucks
46:27
Speaker 1: are betting around scrapes and those acorns. Yes, absolutely, I've
46:32
Speaker 1: been running the covert trail cameras all summer and going
46:35
Speaker 1: into it, and just this last week I really had
46:40
Speaker 1: bucks to start showing up that I haven't seen, uh
46:44
Speaker 1: since back early summer. They sometimes they will disappear, they
46:47
Speaker 1: go to the they go to the heavy mass crops,
46:50
Speaker 1: and then then they'll kind of work back in the
46:52
Speaker 1: some of the areas where I picked them up in
46:54
Speaker 1: the summer. And that's what I'm basically doing. They're really
46:58
Speaker 1: and it's legal. Just so you know, it's legal to feed.
47:01
Speaker 1: And I've been using a lot of big time feed
47:03
Speaker 1: and then also uh a little little bit of buck
47:07
Speaker 1: brunch making those little hunt plots quarteractor plots there. And
47:11
Speaker 1: these bucks are starting to come back to the green
47:13
Speaker 1: a little bit now. They because they've had mass crops
47:16
Speaker 1: now for over a month. So it's the news kind
47:19
Speaker 1: of war off if you will. What going forward? Then
47:22
Speaker 1: in this next week or so, Philip, what do you
47:24
Speaker 1: think that buck activty is going to be in Arkansas?
47:26
Speaker 1: On a scale of one to ten, I really believe
47:30
Speaker 1: this next week it's gonna be about an eight or
47:32
Speaker 1: a nine. I think you're gonna see a lot of
47:35
Speaker 1: heavy rut activity because of the cooler weather. They're healthy
47:38
Speaker 1: going into it. They got the mass crops now and
47:42
Speaker 1: you're gonna see a lot of activity. Look for rubs
47:44
Speaker 1: and scrapes. They're gonna be on that pattern. If you've
47:47
Speaker 1: got a particular buck that you have been getting on
47:51
Speaker 1: trail camera and getting nighttime photos, start paying attention before
47:55
Speaker 1: he gets into that full blown rut, because now is
47:58
Speaker 1: the time to shoot that old sad daddy. I mean,
48:01
Speaker 1: it's it's really this next week is going to be unbelievable.
48:04
Speaker 1: I don't really care where you're at because we've got
48:07
Speaker 1: the weather conditions coming and that's a that's a huge
48:10
Speaker 1: factor at that trumps over anything. All right, Philip, Well
48:13
Speaker 1: that's some great intel, and good luck to you and
48:15
Speaker 1: the rest of the Virtue TV team going forward. Thanks
48:19
Speaker 1: for joining me, all right, Thank you appreciate it. You
48:21
Speaker 1: need anything else, holler anytime, okay, buddy, take care alright,
48:26
Speaker 1: and joining us on the line. Next is Denny Quaife,
48:29
Speaker 1: the executive director for the Virginia Deer Hunters Association. Denny
48:34
Speaker 1: in Virginia, what would you say the buck activity has
48:36
Speaker 1: been lately on a scale of one to ten, I'd
48:39
Speaker 1: say right now we are early pre rut, and I
48:41
Speaker 1: would say three or four when I'm it's you know,
48:44
Speaker 1: these bucks are still on the food source right now.
48:46
Speaker 1: We've got a real wide, red, heavy acorn crop, and
48:50
Speaker 1: I'm just starting to see some scrapes that are showing up.
48:54
Speaker 1: And most of the trail camera activity I have on
48:56
Speaker 1: bucks is at night. Very few I'm seeing on trail
49:00
Speaker 1: carols in the daylight. So I think it's still you know,
49:03
Speaker 1: it's still early, pretty much normal for this part of
49:06
Speaker 1: the world. Well, you talked about that they're focusing on
49:09
Speaker 1: food right now, and what kind of food sources are
49:11
Speaker 1: we talking? Like I said, we've got a wide, widespread
49:15
Speaker 1: acorn crop, is a very heavy mass crop. And uh,
49:19
Speaker 1: you know, when you have a heavy mass crop, I
49:20
Speaker 1: don't have to tell you. You You know, they don't have
49:23
Speaker 1: to move much to feeds, so you know, we don't
49:25
Speaker 1: have as much movement as a result of the food souls. Well,
49:29
Speaker 1: then you guys have a gun season coming up here
49:31
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the month. How does that change
49:34
Speaker 1: things for you in Virginia as far as the buck activity.
49:37
Speaker 1: Does that suppress things or do you think that gets
49:39
Speaker 1: the deer moving a little more to play that muzzle
49:42
Speaker 1: of the season, which will come in the first sturdy
49:43
Speaker 1: in November, Things start to pick up. Historically, you know,
49:49
Speaker 1: all the bucks that I've shot during the Muslims season,
49:51
Speaker 1: where you know, sometimes starting around the eighth of November
49:55
Speaker 1: and and then it really starts getting really hot activity
49:59
Speaker 1: moving forward, it up into the gun season, which comes
50:02
Speaker 1: in the second Saturday, how to actually come in the
50:05
Speaker 1: third Saturday of November, and that period of time, and
50:09
Speaker 1: that's about as much activity as you're gonna see anytime
50:12
Speaker 1: as far as the bucks being moving and and and
50:14
Speaker 1: chasing and so forth, we're right around that time. In
50:17
Speaker 1: these next couple of weeks, are you finding more success
50:20
Speaker 1: in the morning for hunts are in the evenings? Well,
50:24
Speaker 1: historically most of the buck seemed to move better in
50:28
Speaker 1: the evenings. From my perfect experience, I'm shot in both
50:31
Speaker 1: date light at first light and last light. So you know,
50:34
Speaker 1: it's no really no line of reason as far as
50:37
Speaker 1: that's concerned. So the more time you spend the woods
50:40
Speaker 1: a buddy of chances off. Now, how do you think
50:43
Speaker 1: the weather patterns pay a factor in these next couple
50:46
Speaker 1: of weeks as far as if we get a cold
50:47
Speaker 1: front or a warm front or a bunch of precipitation
50:50
Speaker 1: there in Virginia. But obviously, you know the weather does
50:54
Speaker 1: play a role in it. I mean, you know, if
50:56
Speaker 1: it's extremely hot, you're not gonna have as much daytime activity.
50:59
Speaker 1: How I think it has any effect on the rut.
51:02
Speaker 1: H We have a really serious management program that we
51:06
Speaker 1: have and we says at the end of the season,
51:10
Speaker 1: and the rut activity is always hot around the tenth
51:12
Speaker 1: of November, so you know, regardless of the weather, that's
51:17
Speaker 1: when the ruts going on. But the cooler weather, of
51:20
Speaker 1: course makes hunting that much better. And it seems like
51:23
Speaker 1: we're in a pattern now, a better cool of days,
51:26
Speaker 1: so hopefully that's gonna be good. Well, it sounds like
51:30
Speaker 1: you're confident then going forward, But what do you think
51:33
Speaker 1: that will translate to on a scale of one to
51:34
Speaker 1: ten in the sex week or so as far as
51:36
Speaker 1: buck activity goes, I think I'll start making a move
51:40
Speaker 1: in the right direction. I mean, you may get it.
51:42
Speaker 1: I said three to four, maybe five or six as
51:45
Speaker 1: it starts moving forward. Around Halloween is always a time
51:48
Speaker 1: that I thought it seems more daytime activity, so I
51:51
Speaker 1: think he'll start picking up. All right. Danniel, thanks for
51:54
Speaker 1: your time and good luck this year. Thank you very much,
51:58
Speaker 1: and that concludes this week's episode of Wired Haunts brought Radio.
52:02
Speaker 1: We'd like to think our sponsors at Sitka Whitetail Properties,
52:05
Speaker 1: White Tailed Institute, on Tara Matthews, Maven Yeddie and Trophy Ridge.
52:11
Speaker 1: And the next time I talked to you guys, it
52:12
Speaker 1: is going to be November. So happy rot. Thank you
52:16
Speaker 1: for listening and as always, stay wired to Hunt.