Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 310: Rut Fresh Radio 10/23/19

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Ep. 310: Rut Fresh Radio 10/23/19 · 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, and this is episode number three
0:20
Speaker 1: and ten and today the show. We're back for another
0:22
Speaker 1: episode of our rut Fresh radio mini series in which
0:25
Speaker 1: we're getting the very latest and greatest intel on what
0:28
Speaker 1: deer doing right now and how you can hunt them.
0:43
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you
0:47
Speaker 1: by on X. It is me and Spencer here again
0:50
Speaker 1: for our weekly rut Fresh radio episode in which we
0:54
Speaker 1: are hearing from hunters all across the country on the
0:57
Speaker 1: latest deer activity, what dear doing right now, how current
1:01
Speaker 1: conditions are impacting deer, and what different people across the
1:05
Speaker 1: country are doing to get some deer killed. Ah, that's
1:08
Speaker 1: the game plan at least, Spencer, you've chatted with some folks.
1:13
Speaker 1: Do we uh? Do we have some interesting stories? Do
1:15
Speaker 1: we have some good intel for folks to work with
1:17
Speaker 1: this week? Yeah? Um, everybody is optimistic as they typically
1:22
Speaker 1: are this time of year, because we are like one
1:25
Speaker 1: week away here from things kind of really cutting loose.
1:29
Speaker 1: And for those guys who kind of have a target
1:32
Speaker 1: bucking mind or have a few deer in their area
1:36
Speaker 1: that they're interested in. They're about to become day walkers
1:39
Speaker 1: in like seven days from now, and so when that happens,
1:43
Speaker 1: it's a great time to kill a target deer before
1:46
Speaker 1: they just get off. Chasing does in early November, so
1:50
Speaker 1: most hunters are excited. Yes, I'm right there with them.
1:54
Speaker 1: I'm I've always looked at that last week of October
1:57
Speaker 1: being like you just said, an especially good ants to
2:00
Speaker 1: get that homebody buck. If you've got a buck that's
2:02
Speaker 1: been hanging out but maybe just not quite in daylight,
2:05
Speaker 1: this might be the time you can capitalize on him,
2:08
Speaker 1: still sticking to a little bit of a pattern, but
2:11
Speaker 1: moving a little bit sooner. So yeah, I'm hoping to
2:13
Speaker 1: do that exact thing tran Uh has not been daylight
2:18
Speaker 1: for me yet, but hoping he will be here soon.
2:21
Speaker 1: And this is the time of year where those cold
2:24
Speaker 1: fronts can really kind of kick off some of that
2:26
Speaker 1: stuff early. And so like this coming weekend, parts of
2:29
Speaker 1: the country have cold fronts rolling in UH, and that
2:32
Speaker 1: gets guys really excited. When you would normally like think
2:36
Speaker 1: around that Halloween time is UH, when it's going to
2:40
Speaker 1: happen regardless, but if you get a cold front like
2:43
Speaker 1: between now and then, that typically gets guys a lot
2:47
Speaker 1: more excited to find some of these bucks up moving
2:49
Speaker 1: a little bit earlier than they were, you know, as
2:52
Speaker 1: we're recording this on the twenty two. Yeah, that takes
2:55
Speaker 1: it to the next level for sure. I uh, it
2:59
Speaker 1: looks like at as of right now in Michigan, the
3:01
Speaker 1: weather is looking pretty darn good, like good cold weather.
3:05
Speaker 1: I even saw some snow in the forecast right around Halloween. UM,
3:09
Speaker 1: so I'm itching. I am curious though, folks know I'm
3:15
Speaker 1: out there chasing white tails. I just got back from
3:16
Speaker 1: my Boundary Waters hunt. By the way, I'm alive. I
3:19
Speaker 1: survived that. Um. I'll save the juicy details for next week.
3:24
Speaker 1: But you also have a white tail update finally, do
3:28
Speaker 1: you do you want to share? Do you have any
3:29
Speaker 1: any reports to share from that? Yes, I was just
3:32
Speaker 1: in South Dakota hunting for about six days and I
3:36
Speaker 1: was hunting an area that is massive. It's a massive
3:42
Speaker 1: refuge that has a lot of CRP. It's mostly managed
3:45
Speaker 1: for ducks, um swans, geese, other migratory birds, and at
3:52
Speaker 1: that refuge there's like ten thousand huntable acres, but there's
3:55
Speaker 1: probably less than twenty trees on the whole thing that
3:58
Speaker 1: you would like actually through a tree stand up in
4:01
Speaker 1: So if you find a little bit rise, some kind
4:04
Speaker 1: of small rise in the topography, you can glass for
4:06
Speaker 1: like literal miles of CRP And so, unlike you struggling
4:11
Speaker 1: to seeing deer, I was seeing all sorts of deer
4:13
Speaker 1: and it was super I opening when you're seeing uh,
4:18
Speaker 1: like big numbers of deer. I think the one night
4:21
Speaker 1: I counted like sixty deer that I saw, and on
4:25
Speaker 1: a hunt like that, when you see volume of deer
4:28
Speaker 1: that high, it's really opening. Kind of what we talked
4:32
Speaker 1: about that time of year, this time of year that
4:35
Speaker 1: you can get really aggressive and get close to their beds,
4:38
Speaker 1: or you can kind of play it safe and wait
4:41
Speaker 1: till like the very end of October. Because on some
4:44
Speaker 1: of those evenings when I would see like sixty deer um,
4:47
Speaker 1: I would wager to say that like the first forty
4:49
Speaker 1: five or fifty would be does And it wasn't until
4:52
Speaker 1: the sun went down or that last bit of daylight
4:55
Speaker 1: that those bucks would get up out of their beds
4:57
Speaker 1: and they didn't move too far from there. So we
5:00
Speaker 1: kind of talked about that, and you see it every
5:02
Speaker 1: year and it's something that experienced hunters are aware of.
5:05
Speaker 1: But when you see that many deer and the numbers
5:09
Speaker 1: tilt that far, the one way that the doors are
5:12
Speaker 1: up and moving, um, but the bucks are just tight
5:15
Speaker 1: to their beds until that sunset time. Uh. It's really
5:20
Speaker 1: eye opening about what strategies worked right now and what don't.
5:24
Speaker 1: So you saw a lot of deer, the bucks were
5:26
Speaker 1: on their feet late. Did you see any mature bucks?
5:29
Speaker 1: Did you get a shot? Do you do? You? Do?
5:31
Speaker 1: You get a buck story? I don't have a buck story.
5:34
Speaker 1: I didn't see much for mature deer um, and I
5:37
Speaker 1: didn't kill one. So I just came home with sightings
5:40
Speaker 1: and that's it. We still fun, absolutely yeah, And it
5:46
Speaker 1: was like a good way to kick things off because
5:48
Speaker 1: now I kind of hit a bit of marathon of
5:51
Speaker 1: hunting here. So that was a fun way to start
5:54
Speaker 1: the season. Sweet. So what else do we have from
5:57
Speaker 1: the folks? Any other consistent trends other than anticipation and
6:01
Speaker 1: excitement for cool weather? Uh? Any big high level keep
6:06
Speaker 1: this in mind over your next couple of hunts. That's
6:08
Speaker 1: worth touching on the the high level thing that I
6:11
Speaker 1: think to consider is that normally this time of year
6:15
Speaker 1: we're talking about crop harvest. Um beans are certainly out
6:19
Speaker 1: at this point, corn is is getting ready to come out.
6:22
Speaker 1: But for most of the hunters that we talked to
6:24
Speaker 1: this week and in weeks prior, they've all kind of
6:26
Speaker 1: stressed that it's going to be a late harvest because
6:29
Speaker 1: of how wet things have been this year. So what
6:32
Speaker 1: that might mean for you if you're somebody who hunts
6:34
Speaker 1: around Big Egg is that um bucks have a few
6:37
Speaker 1: more hiding places in corn fields. Um Or if you're
6:42
Speaker 1: in a place like Michigan, I know you're always excited
6:44
Speaker 1: for kind of a late harvest mark because it saves
6:47
Speaker 1: it saves some of those deer that might otherwise be
6:50
Speaker 1: an easy target for somebody. So just when you're planning
6:53
Speaker 1: your hunts, uh, you know in late October early November,
6:56
Speaker 1: know that the crops are still probably gonna be standing.
6:59
Speaker 1: Whatever that might mean for you, m But for who
7:02
Speaker 1: else we talked to this year, excuse me talk to
7:04
Speaker 1: This week, we go to Illinois and talk to justin's
7:07
Speaker 1: r from bow Hunter Die, and then Trey Kerns in
7:10
Speaker 1: West Virginia from three or four Outdoors, and then Joe
7:12
Speaker 1: Call from Minnesota rack Stars in Minnesota, and then we
7:15
Speaker 1: talked to Kyler Moppert in Louisiana from Louisiana bow Hunter.
7:19
Speaker 1: Anyone killing um No, yes, yes, I take that back.
7:23
Speaker 1: Joe Call just killed one a few days ago hunting
7:26
Speaker 1: in South Dakota. Now he's back in Minnesota, so he's
7:28
Speaker 1: kind of giving and Upper Great Plains Upper Great Lakes
7:32
Speaker 1: area report for US nice. Well, I'm scaded to hear
7:36
Speaker 1: this one. I as I a looted earlier. I'm particularly
7:39
Speaker 1: excited about the next seven days and I want to
7:42
Speaker 1: kind of I think this is a baby ruth thing
7:44
Speaker 1: on wanna baby ruth it. I'm gonna say the next
7:47
Speaker 1: seven days will possibly be my best chance at killing
7:52
Speaker 1: Tran based off of historical data, based off of weather,
7:57
Speaker 1: based off some time I've got um, I think I've
8:01
Speaker 1: got a chance, So I'm going in. It's a little
8:03
Speaker 1: earlier than I then you might think it's not November yet,
8:06
Speaker 1: but I think right on Halloween it can happen. So
8:10
Speaker 1: next week I'm Cali. I'm gonna try to have a
8:12
Speaker 1: good story for Spencer. I hope you do, and kind
8:15
Speaker 1: of explain that a little bit further. Mark, if somebody
8:17
Speaker 1: is um sort of new to deer hunting, it's almost
8:21
Speaker 1: weird to hear you say that the best chance is
8:23
Speaker 1: in these next seven days because deer movement actually probably
8:26
Speaker 1: won't peak for another two weeks or so. Yeah. Yeah,
8:30
Speaker 1: and I kind of I kind of very bruefully mentioned
8:33
Speaker 1: as at the top, but I'll elaborate basically as you
8:37
Speaker 1: mentioned it. You're seeing dear stead deer movement steadily increased
8:40
Speaker 1: in the month of October and then into November. But
8:42
Speaker 1: what we've got going on over the next seven days
8:44
Speaker 1: or so is there are a lot of bucks that
8:48
Speaker 1: are getting very high levels that's tossed from These bucks
8:51
Speaker 1: are ready to rock and roll. They want to breed,
8:54
Speaker 1: but not many doughs have come into Estra's yet, maybe
8:56
Speaker 1: none of the doughs yet, or if maybe just one
8:58
Speaker 1: um or a few, you know, every day we're going
9:00
Speaker 1: to have a better chance of more and more does
9:02
Speaker 1: coming into Estra's. But basically, what that means that you're
9:04
Speaker 1: gonna get bucks that are starting to move a little
9:06
Speaker 1: bit more, a little bit earlier. If there's that mature
9:09
Speaker 1: buck that you know is hanging out locally on your property.
9:12
Speaker 1: I really like if there's a buck that's kind of
9:14
Speaker 1: come a homebody, like a deer, that it's core home
9:18
Speaker 1: area is there on your farm. He's betting there either
9:21
Speaker 1: you've seen him frequently, You've got pictures of him frequently.
9:24
Speaker 1: But if you kind of know his his main pattern,
9:27
Speaker 1: his main behaviors, I think he's betting here here, I
9:30
Speaker 1: think he's feeding here or here. If you know that
9:32
Speaker 1: kind of information, over the next seven days or so,
9:35
Speaker 1: he's probably gonna stick to that same basic trend. He's
9:38
Speaker 1: not getting full rout mode where he's chasing does all
9:41
Speaker 1: over the place and going on excursions all over the
9:43
Speaker 1: place like he might do in November. So in November
9:46
Speaker 1: that buck becomes much less predictable. Yes, I'll be moving
9:49
Speaker 1: a lot, but you don't know what the heck he's
9:51
Speaker 1: gonna do. Now you're going to get this, you know,
9:54
Speaker 1: last week of October. You're gonna get the benefits of
9:56
Speaker 1: increased movement, but also the same benefits of a predictable
10:00
Speaker 1: movement is that he's sticking to a similar trend, a
10:04
Speaker 1: similar pattern. So when those two things line up, you've
10:07
Speaker 1: got a disproportionately high chance of getting a shot. Not always,
10:11
Speaker 1: but if things lined up, if conditions lined up, and
10:14
Speaker 1: you know, if you have that intel, it could be
10:16
Speaker 1: a great time to do it before he starts getting crazy.
10:19
Speaker 1: So I think I have that with trand Um. I'm
10:22
Speaker 1: looking at a trail camera picture of him two days
10:25
Speaker 1: ago and he looks really good. So he's around, he's moving.
10:31
Speaker 1: This picture was just a tiny bit before daylight in
10:34
Speaker 1: the morning. He's coming back to bed. It looks like
10:36
Speaker 1: just before daylight. So you know, over the next seven
10:38
Speaker 1: to ten days, hopefully that trend shifts just a little
10:41
Speaker 1: bit and he stays up and moving an hour later
10:43
Speaker 1: in the morning, or gets up and going an hour
10:46
Speaker 1: earlier in the evening. And that's what I gonn try
10:47
Speaker 1: to key in on. Yeah, we did a great job
10:49
Speaker 1: explaining that. And for more info like that, Uh, you should,
10:52
Speaker 1: guys should check out the meat Eator dot com. Mark
10:55
Speaker 1: has been covering some really good subjects that people are
10:58
Speaker 1: often wondering about this time. You're like deer hunting in
11:01
Speaker 1: the rain, how to rattle in a buck, how to
11:03
Speaker 1: kill a nocturnal buck, stuff like that, So head over
11:06
Speaker 1: the media dot com for Morgrad info like that, and Mark,
11:09
Speaker 1: I hope you have that tran report for us next week.
11:13
Speaker 1: Fingers crossed, my friend fingers crossed, all right, and joining
11:16
Speaker 1: us on the line first is Justin's are from Bow
11:18
Speaker 1: Hunter Die in Illinois. Now, Justin in Illinois, what would
11:22
Speaker 1: you say the buck activity is ben lately? On a
11:24
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten, I am going to give
11:27
Speaker 1: it a six. I feel like the bucks are definitely
11:30
Speaker 1: on their feet during daylight. I don't think they're ranging
11:33
Speaker 1: super far yet, uh during daylight, but nighttime activity is
11:36
Speaker 1: really really starting to pick up. Do you do much
11:39
Speaker 1: decoying on your properties in Illinois? Man, I tell you what,
11:42
Speaker 1: I don't. I've been thinking about it, but you know,
11:45
Speaker 1: with us, we mostly sell film our hunts, and I'm
11:47
Speaker 1: dragging a lot of gear into the woods already. A
11:49
Speaker 1: decoy is just kind of one extra thing that I
11:51
Speaker 1: got to bring out there. So I've done in the past, Uh,
11:54
Speaker 1: not a lot, but I certainly wouldn't hesitate to do it,
11:58
Speaker 1: And if I was going to do it now, it
12:00
Speaker 1: seems like a pretty good time. When I think of
12:02
Speaker 1: the Bow Hunter Die crew, I often associate them with
12:05
Speaker 1: killing big bucks at the end of October. What is
12:08
Speaker 1: it about your group that makes you guys so good
12:11
Speaker 1: at killing those target bucks this time of year? Um,
12:15
Speaker 1: I think it's just you know, being in the woods
12:17
Speaker 1: and having a pretty good beat on where these bucks
12:19
Speaker 1: are at. You know, like I was saying, this time
12:21
Speaker 1: of year, I don't feel like the bucks are covering
12:24
Speaker 1: large a bounds of territory or ground during during daylight,
12:28
Speaker 1: but they're definitely up and on their feet and moving around.
12:31
Speaker 1: So if you have a general idea of where a
12:33
Speaker 1: buck is at, uh and you know where the does
12:35
Speaker 1: are at in that general vicinity, you've got a pretty
12:38
Speaker 1: good opportunity. You know. This last let's say ten days
12:41
Speaker 1: of October has always been one of my favorite times
12:44
Speaker 1: of the year time hunt these bucks for a little
12:46
Speaker 1: bit more predictive going to become November. Uh So, I
12:49
Speaker 1: just feel like if you have an idea where they're at,
12:52
Speaker 1: and you get the right weather, you could definitely get
12:54
Speaker 1: on top of one. And if you've kind of alluded
12:56
Speaker 1: to you know, they're fairly susceptible to calling this time
12:59
Speaker 1: of year. Most of the those aren't an estress yet,
13:01
Speaker 1: uh so they're they're looking for a fight. Besides acorns,
13:05
Speaker 1: what are their food sources? Should hunters in Illinois be
13:08
Speaker 1: keyed in on right now? Oh man, I'm seeing I'm
13:11
Speaker 1: seeing good activity around either corns or beans. To be
13:14
Speaker 1: honest with you, UM, I wouldn't say either one over
13:18
Speaker 1: the other. It seems like a lot of the a
13:20
Speaker 1: lot of the harvest is gonna be late this year,
13:21
Speaker 1: at least up in northern Illinois where we're at. Most
13:23
Speaker 1: of the fields are are still standing, but the ones
13:26
Speaker 1: that have been cut have been pretty hot. You know,
13:28
Speaker 1: those fresh cut corn or fresh cut beings either one.
13:31
Speaker 1: If you've got one of those, those seemed to be
13:32
Speaker 1: really hot right now. Other than that, if you've got
13:35
Speaker 1: you know, foot plots on the ground. A lot of
13:37
Speaker 1: my basket plots, oats, rye, stuff like that are really
13:40
Speaker 1: getting hammered right now as well. Um. And of course acorns,
13:43
Speaker 1: acorns are are still gonna gone. As someone who's selectively
13:47
Speaker 1: pressures their property. When do you usually start mornings and
13:50
Speaker 1: when are you gonna start hunting mornings this season? I'm
13:54
Speaker 1: hunting mornings now. I mean we've had the good weather conditions,
13:57
Speaker 1: bucks have been on their feet, so I've already started
14:00
Speaker 1: hunting mornings very sparingly. But from here moving forward, it's
14:04
Speaker 1: a full speed ahead man. Morning's afternoons. Any opportunity, i've
14:07
Speaker 1: got to be in a tree, I'm gonna be out there.
14:10
Speaker 1: You talked about calling before. Are you doing a lot
14:12
Speaker 1: of blind calling this time of year? And do you
14:14
Speaker 1: have uh an ideal set up, like a certain stand
14:17
Speaker 1: location that you'd rather call from than others or morning
14:20
Speaker 1: versus evening. You know, I'm not a huge blind calling fan.
14:24
Speaker 1: I'll call to a dear if I don't think he's
14:26
Speaker 1: direction and I can see him. But I'm not a
14:29
Speaker 1: guy that's just going to sit in rattle and grunt
14:31
Speaker 1: a lot. I will do it sparingly. I mean, if
14:33
Speaker 1: we get a good hard cold snap, uh, you know,
14:35
Speaker 1: in a clear morning without a lot of land where
14:38
Speaker 1: I know it can be heard for a long ways
14:39
Speaker 1: and I want to cover some distance, I'll hit the
14:41
Speaker 1: antlers together. But I do it sparingly. Most of my
14:44
Speaker 1: calling is too animals that I can actually have two
14:47
Speaker 1: eyes on and and be able to, Like I said, Taylor,
14:50
Speaker 1: my calling to what their their body language is telling me.
14:53
Speaker 1: You're headed to Iowa this weekend on a public land
14:56
Speaker 1: white tail haunt. What is going to be your strategy
14:58
Speaker 1: for that haunt. Uh to find some doughs and thick
15:01
Speaker 1: bedding cover. Um, that's gonna be my main strategy. Um.
15:06
Speaker 1: Food you know, on a lot of these public spots
15:08
Speaker 1: is difficult to find because a lot of the aggas
15:11
Speaker 1: on the neighboring private So I'm going to focus primarily
15:15
Speaker 1: on on betting areas. If i can get close to food, great, Uh.
15:18
Speaker 1: If not, I'm really looking for doebetting is when I'm
15:20
Speaker 1: looking at right now going forward then the six week
15:23
Speaker 1: or so, what do you think that bucket activity is
15:25
Speaker 1: going to be on a scale of one to ten
15:27
Speaker 1: in Illinois. I think we're gonna start ramping up to
15:30
Speaker 1: a seven or eight. Um, I'm already seeing pretty heavy
15:33
Speaker 1: chasing on my trail camera minutes of daylight. It seems
15:36
Speaker 1: like some of the younger really pushing these those around
15:39
Speaker 1: pretty hard right now. I would imagine we start seeing
15:42
Speaker 1: some of the older ones doing the same thing over
15:44
Speaker 1: the next week, so seven, maybe an eight. We've got
15:47
Speaker 1: some cold weather coming in, possibly some snow flurries and frost.
15:49
Speaker 1: So everything is shaping up to be a really really
15:53
Speaker 1: good end two October here. I look forward to following
15:56
Speaker 1: you guys adventures on bow Hunter Die. Thanks for joining
15:59
Speaker 1: me justin no problem. Thanks to mener Alight and joining
16:02
Speaker 1: us on the line. Next is Trey Kerns in West
16:05
Speaker 1: Virginia from three or four Outdoors Trey in West Virginia.
16:08
Speaker 1: What would you say the bucket activity is been leateley
16:10
Speaker 1: on a scale of one to ten. I actualy, it's
16:14
Speaker 1: been a four lately. You know, I feel like it's
16:16
Speaker 1: it's still been really warm. Um. You know, it's been
16:19
Speaker 1: early October the last couple of weeks, and you know,
16:22
Speaker 1: you're really getting on some dry spells. Haven't had a
16:25
Speaker 1: whole lot of rain here in the eastern side of
16:26
Speaker 1: the United States, and um, the deer activity has been
16:29
Speaker 1: minimal throughout daylight hours. And then you know, if you
16:33
Speaker 1: do catch some of the throw cameras that we've been,
16:36
Speaker 1: you know, just seeing them relatively nights you've had. Honestly,
16:40
Speaker 1: what food sources are you focused on right now? In
16:43
Speaker 1: West Virginia? Focusing on you know, whatever acorns have fallen,
16:48
Speaker 1: and then you know the greens mainly right now we're
16:50
Speaker 1: not literally focused on grain. Um, it'stuff some standing corn,
16:53
Speaker 1: but um acorns that have fallen um and then also
16:57
Speaker 1: some greens that we've been kind of focusing on as well.
17:00
Speaker 1: And um, if you know, if we're you know, sitting
17:02
Speaker 1: on these hot evening days, we're usually focusing on water
17:05
Speaker 1: sources as well. Are you seeing a lot of signmaking yet?
17:09
Speaker 1: And what do you do with that information when you
17:11
Speaker 1: do find some fresh rubs or scrapes this time of year? Yeah,
17:14
Speaker 1: I think we're you know, we're getting into the later
17:17
Speaker 1: half October now, and with that, um, you know, we're
17:21
Speaker 1: just trying to focus on, you know, finding out where
17:24
Speaker 1: these bucks are and then also using previous you know,
17:26
Speaker 1: information that we've used the last couple of years and
17:28
Speaker 1: kind of just know that when it gets around this
17:30
Speaker 1: time of year, it's going to get good at aging
17:32
Speaker 1: and the weather starts getting better. Uh, we'll probably see
17:36
Speaker 1: that tendency where those deer starts popping up in places
17:38
Speaker 1: where we usually see them this time of year. Do
17:41
Speaker 1: you use any calling tactics in West Virginia? We we
17:45
Speaker 1: do a little bit towards um, you know, closer to run,
17:49
Speaker 1: not a whole lot right now. With firearms season being
17:51
Speaker 1: about a month away, how do your strategies change when
17:54
Speaker 1: you get to that time of year where firearms hunters
17:56
Speaker 1: are about to hit the woods. Yeah, I think we
17:59
Speaker 1: try to use too. I think we try to use
18:01
Speaker 1: that to our own abilities, just because we do have
18:04
Speaker 1: a large quantity under woods UM for firearms season. I
18:09
Speaker 1: think we try to um locate ourselves where we use
18:13
Speaker 1: that our to our advantage and have those hunters pushed
18:16
Speaker 1: dear to us. UM. I don't think it's a negative
18:19
Speaker 1: by any means. I think it's uh, you know, if
18:21
Speaker 1: you play it right and hunt with you know, get
18:24
Speaker 1: enough strategy, I think it's going to help you in
18:26
Speaker 1: the end. Are you haunting mornings yet? Yeah, we founded
18:29
Speaker 1: a couple of mornings, and it honestly just depends on
18:32
Speaker 1: what kind of sign we're getting on the trail cameras. Um.
18:35
Speaker 1: You know, we're you know, it's all. It's all dictated
18:37
Speaker 1: on what the deer movement is in that area and
18:40
Speaker 1: what dear it is. So I mean that the deer
18:42
Speaker 1: is you know, shown itself in in daylight hours in
18:45
Speaker 1: the morning and we can avoid its betting area. We
18:48
Speaker 1: can slip in there and then we'll hunt mornings. But
18:51
Speaker 1: up until about last week, we were all evenings. But
18:53
Speaker 1: we're starting to see some more movement this morning. So
18:56
Speaker 1: we're just gonna try to slide in there probably this
18:58
Speaker 1: weekend and get some more morning sept Maybe do a
19:00
Speaker 1: couple all day sets going forward. Then in this next
19:03
Speaker 1: week or so, what do you think that bucket activity
19:05
Speaker 1: is going to be on the scale of one to
19:07
Speaker 1: ten in West Virginia. I think that buck to activity
19:10
Speaker 1: is definitely gonna be probably around a seven. Um, I
19:14
Speaker 1: don't think it's quite there, but I do think that
19:17
Speaker 1: this week, with the change in pattern and everything with
19:19
Speaker 1: the weather, I think it's really gonna start clicking things
19:21
Speaker 1: and get you over that hump you know, we've kind
19:24
Speaker 1: of been waiting on. Actually good luck this season. And
19:26
Speaker 1: thanks for joining me, all right, thank you alright and
19:30
Speaker 1: joining us on the line. Next is Joe call from
19:32
Speaker 1: Minnesota from Minnesota, Rex Stars Now Joe in Minnesota, what
19:36
Speaker 1: would you say the buck activity is ben lately on
19:38
Speaker 1: a scale of one to ten. You know, if you
19:41
Speaker 1: would have asked me last week, I would have said
19:43
Speaker 1: about a one to two. Everything we've seen on our
19:48
Speaker 1: trail cameras has been a lot of nocturnal movement. But
19:52
Speaker 1: in the last couple of days here we're starting to
19:54
Speaker 1: pick up some bucks that are showing up just that
19:57
Speaker 1: last light. So, um, I would Bumford five for sure.
20:01
Speaker 1: And uh yeah, I think that they're they're starting to
20:03
Speaker 1: be a little more territorial, starting to spa around a
20:06
Speaker 1: little bit more, and then also checking their scrapes. You
20:09
Speaker 1: just mentioned scrapes. There. Are you seeing a lot of
20:11
Speaker 1: signmaking then right now? Yeah, you know, I think the
20:15
Speaker 1: little guys are getting a little antsy. Uh, the younger bucks,
20:19
Speaker 1: you know, they're kind of running around with some doughs
20:21
Speaker 1: right now. But the older guys, you know, there mature deer.
20:25
Speaker 1: They know what's up, and they know it's gonna be
20:27
Speaker 1: a little bit yet before things really get rock and
20:30
Speaker 1: so that they're more focused on territory, and uh, you know,
20:33
Speaker 1: they're they're starting to hit those scrapes and making sure
20:36
Speaker 1: that everybody knows that they're in the area and this
20:38
Speaker 1: is their territory. I know two years ago and obtention
20:42
Speaker 1: of buck. Uh you know, just that last night I
20:44
Speaker 1: watched them go to bed, and I waited there all
20:46
Speaker 1: day for him, and he got up just at last
20:49
Speaker 1: light and he comed and he made a couple of
20:51
Speaker 1: scrapes and ended up taking them. But kind of seeing
20:53
Speaker 1: the same thing. Just you gotta be patient. You know,
20:56
Speaker 1: the younger ones are gonna be moving a little earlier. Um.
20:59
Speaker 1: But if you can get near a buck betting area
21:03
Speaker 1: where you can find some good signs, some good scrapes
21:05
Speaker 1: and good RUPs, I think you're gonna have a good
21:08
Speaker 1: chance of putting something decent on the ground. Are you
21:11
Speaker 1: using any really aggressive tactics this time of year, like
21:14
Speaker 1: calling or decoying there in Minnesota? You know, I was
21:17
Speaker 1: actually just talking to my cousin about that the other day.
21:19
Speaker 1: He went and picked up a decoy. And I have
21:21
Speaker 1: the perfect spot for a decoy. Um. It's it's in
21:24
Speaker 1: a section. I just purchased forty three acres this past summer. Uh,
21:29
Speaker 1: And it's a it's in a section. It's a three
21:31
Speaker 1: by one by all section, and I have a nice
21:34
Speaker 1: five acre field kind of right in the middle of it.
21:36
Speaker 1: And it's just a perfect spot for decoy. And that's
21:39
Speaker 1: something I'm gonna try this year. Um. You know, it's
21:42
Speaker 1: just a matter of being at the right spot at
21:44
Speaker 1: the right time, I guess. But the biggest thing that
21:46
Speaker 1: we're being aggressive with is we're getting really close to
21:49
Speaker 1: those buck betting areas, but we're waiting for the right wind,
21:52
Speaker 1: right temperatures to sneak in those spots. And uh, you know,
21:56
Speaker 1: this past year we've actually been pretty successful seeing some
21:58
Speaker 1: good deer. But now is the time to really get
22:01
Speaker 1: after it. I know the deer are a little more
22:04
Speaker 1: educated after this last weekend here in Minnesota. They had
22:07
Speaker 1: a used firearms season, so that beer a little more educator.
22:10
Speaker 1: Right now, it's gonna be a little more difficult. Most
22:12
Speaker 1: of the Midwest is looking at a late harvest this year.
22:15
Speaker 1: Is that the case in Minnesota? And how does that
22:17
Speaker 1: change things for you? Yeah? Right now, usually are way
22:21
Speaker 1: behind harvest. Last week here towards the tail end, some
22:24
Speaker 1: farmers were starting to get in the field. But between
22:27
Speaker 1: last night today we picked up about two to three
22:29
Speaker 1: inches and that's really gonna set things back. Um. You know,
22:33
Speaker 1: so those deer have a lot more cover. You're gonna
22:35
Speaker 1: have to try to, you know, figure out those those
22:37
Speaker 1: crop lines and true lines where kind of maybe catch
22:40
Speaker 1: them skirting around the edge. But you know, it provides
22:43
Speaker 1: a lot more cover for these deer. There's a lot
22:44
Speaker 1: more cover out there for him. I guess the way
22:47
Speaker 1: I look at it is, you know, if the crops
22:49
Speaker 1: aren't gonna be out anytime soon. I think it's multiple
22:52
Speaker 1: times in order for these crops to come out around here. Um,
22:55
Speaker 1: you know, but the only positive I see out of
22:58
Speaker 1: it is, uh, you know, more deer are probably gonna
23:00
Speaker 1: make it through this season and in return, we're gonna
23:02
Speaker 1: have some some bigger bucks next year. So it's kind
23:05
Speaker 1: of a you know, a give and take. I guess
23:07
Speaker 1: when firearms seasons start to open in mid November for Minnesota,
23:11
Speaker 1: how do you guys plan for that and how do
23:13
Speaker 1: you adjust your hunts for that? You know, we really
23:15
Speaker 1: hit it home with archery just before firearms season. Uh.
23:20
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's it's tough sitting there and you know,
23:23
Speaker 1: you just gotta go to your hot spots even if
23:25
Speaker 1: the conditions aren't right, you can try to got to
23:27
Speaker 1: get in there and be aggressive, you know around here. Uh.
23:32
Speaker 1: I hunt in South Dakota this past week. And the
23:34
Speaker 1: biggest different sites see between you know a lot of
23:36
Speaker 1: other states and Minnesota is that, you know, just the
23:39
Speaker 1: size of the sections. You know, around here, a lot
23:42
Speaker 1: of people have forties, you know, forty acres and on
23:45
Speaker 1: that forty acres there's you know, multiple people hunting where
23:48
Speaker 1: it's just to some of these other states, you know,
23:50
Speaker 1: people own sections and you only you know, in some
23:53
Speaker 1: spots you only have five people hunt sections, which you know,
23:57
Speaker 1: more deer able to get by it. But around here,
23:59
Speaker 1: you know as usually pretty good deer harvest. So we
24:01
Speaker 1: really trying to kick things down a little bit just
24:03
Speaker 1: before rifle season starts. But you know, it's it's always
24:08
Speaker 1: a good time rifle. It's a great tradition here in Minnesota.
24:11
Speaker 1: Able looking together with your family and friends going forward.
24:14
Speaker 1: Then in the next week or so, what do you
24:15
Speaker 1: think that buck activity is going to be on a
24:17
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten in Minnesota? Yeah, I think
24:20
Speaker 1: you know, I'm looking at the radar right now, and
24:23
Speaker 1: this weekend it's supposed to warm up quite a bit.
24:25
Speaker 1: And when I say a warm up quite a bit,
24:28
Speaker 1: it's gonna it's gonna be, you know, around forty, and
24:30
Speaker 1: it's gonna bump up to upper fifties, and then kind
24:33
Speaker 1: of the start of the next week it's gonna drop
24:35
Speaker 1: back down in the thirds and twenties for low So
24:38
Speaker 1: hopefully some of the big guys we have on camera
24:40
Speaker 1: make their way out are Joe good Luck to you
24:42
Speaker 1: and everyone else from Minnesota rack Stars. Thanks for joining me.
24:46
Speaker 1: Thanks all right and joining us on the line. Next
24:48
Speaker 1: is Kyler Moppert from Louisiana. Bow hunter in Louisiana. Now,
24:53
Speaker 1: Kyler in Louisiana, what would you say the buck activity
24:55
Speaker 1: has been lately on a scale of one to ten.
24:59
Speaker 1: On a scale of one of tim I would put
25:01
Speaker 1: it at a seven right now for early season. Um,
25:04
Speaker 1: it's been, Uh, it's been abnormally high buck activity for
25:09
Speaker 1: this early in the year for our state. Now, Louisiana
25:13
Speaker 1: kind of has three different phases of the rut going
25:16
Speaker 1: on at all times. You've kind of got the Florida deer,
25:19
Speaker 1: the Midwestern deer dear similar to Alabama. Can you explain
25:22
Speaker 1: to me those three different populations and what phase of
25:26
Speaker 1: the route they'd be in right now? Sure, so we've
25:29
Speaker 1: got three distinct ruth phases, just as you said, um,
25:33
Speaker 1: for different areas of the states. For coastal deer marsh
25:38
Speaker 1: deer is what we would call them. They're a little
25:41
Speaker 1: smaller in size, smaller body size, and um, they don't
25:44
Speaker 1: get to be as large racked either. Those are gonna
25:48
Speaker 1: rut early like southwest Louisiana might even be a week
25:52
Speaker 1: or two pass. It's main rut right now. They start
25:54
Speaker 1: their in September season starts up to over fifteenth in
25:57
Speaker 1: those areas. UM. And then we've got um you could say,
26:01
Speaker 1: more native deer in Louisiana that we're closer to the
26:05
Speaker 1: river parishes UM parish being a county. Everywhere else in
26:10
Speaker 1: the U. S UM, those deer have been UM you
26:15
Speaker 1: can say, adaptive to the flooding cycles for generations and
26:18
Speaker 1: they always run a little later. Those would have a
26:22
Speaker 1: lot more in common with like a South Alabama rut
26:25
Speaker 1: where it can kick off anywhere between um middle of
26:28
Speaker 1: January and roll on into the middle of March on
26:32
Speaker 1: game camera. And then um, then we have back in
26:35
Speaker 1: nineteen in the mid nineteen sixties, we had a large
26:38
Speaker 1: population of Midwestern deer came out of Minnesota, Wisconsin areas
26:42
Speaker 1: that were released in the Louisiana that they are very
26:45
Speaker 1: much time with the Midwestern run. They're they're going to
26:48
Speaker 1: go into rut kind of uh the beginning to the
26:50
Speaker 1: middle of November and maybe fizzle out the very beginning
26:53
Speaker 1: of December. So three distinct areas. Of course, when you
26:56
Speaker 1: get into maybe the overlapping line of of um one
27:01
Speaker 1: group into another regionally that it can it can blur
27:05
Speaker 1: a little bit. UM, but we've got that would be
27:08
Speaker 1: the main three that we've got in the state. Yeah,
27:11
Speaker 1: the rest of the country is really focused on probably
27:13
Speaker 1: acorns right now and signmaking. What are you seeing in
27:16
Speaker 1: Louisiana at this moment for signmaking and acorns? Um? So
27:20
Speaker 1: for signmaking, seeing a lot of really early rubs. UM.
27:24
Speaker 1: I saw my first scrape over the weekend hunting public land. UM.
27:27
Speaker 1: But but honestly, where I was hunting the area it
27:31
Speaker 1: doesn't go into rut until Christmas or after, so um
27:35
Speaker 1: it might have just been more territorial more than any
27:37
Speaker 1: sign of the rut. But that was in northeast Louisiana. UM.
27:40
Speaker 1: But I um the signmaking, and I guess the way
27:47
Speaker 1: I've been seeing the dear behaves, it's been We've been
27:50
Speaker 1: in a big drought for the past within a half
27:53
Speaker 1: or so. So it's one of the few times that
27:56
Speaker 1: I've ever actually focused on hunting a water source. Because
27:59
Speaker 1: one thing about louisianas we we only have two water levels.
28:02
Speaker 1: We have just enough water, are way too much water.
28:05
Speaker 1: We very rarely have a drought and so when it
28:09
Speaker 1: was dry for almost nearly a month and a half. Um,
28:12
Speaker 1: creek crossings were a big, a big focus for me
28:17
Speaker 1: and a lot of public land and private land hunters.
28:19
Speaker 1: If you're trying to find reder, you go find water.
28:21
Speaker 1: Acorns are starting to drop now, Um, I think are
28:25
Speaker 1: are hard messed trees are scheduled a little later than
28:30
Speaker 1: y'alls up north. We are just now starting to see um,
28:34
Speaker 1: really consistent white oak, cow oak and over cut acorns falling,
28:38
Speaker 1: which is that's always my target for October. And then um,
28:44
Speaker 1: you know, we'll get the red oaks and the pin
28:45
Speaker 1: oaks dropping here heavily as well, but they'll they'll always
28:48
Speaker 1: favor the white oaks before before the red oaks and
28:51
Speaker 1: pinnocks where we hunt, So a lot of that. So
28:54
Speaker 1: besides acorns, what other food sources should bill horners in
28:57
Speaker 1: Louisiana be focused on this time of year? And how
29:00
Speaker 1: of that change as we get into November. Uh, you know,
29:04
Speaker 1: with with how much flooding the state has had in
29:08
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen, there's a lot of areas that have
29:11
Speaker 1: been underwater from legitimately from the middle of November all
29:16
Speaker 1: the way until about a month and a half ago. UM,
29:21
Speaker 1: A lot of those are gonna be river parishes or
29:23
Speaker 1: areas fed by the Mississippi River. Because you gotta remember,
29:25
Speaker 1: we're we're at the very bottom. Y'all are at the
29:27
Speaker 1: very top. So anything that y'all get rained on with
29:30
Speaker 1: comes down to us about six about three or four
29:32
Speaker 1: weeks later. And so when that happens across the country,
29:35
Speaker 1: our waters rise. I know people that we weren't able
29:39
Speaker 1: to hunt their dear lease at all, um, and it
29:41
Speaker 1: just it just re emerged, if you will, out from
29:45
Speaker 1: under the back waters, UM a few weeks ago. So
29:48
Speaker 1: a lot of that is going to have fresh brows,
29:50
Speaker 1: fresh growth, real green saplings, and those deer are going
29:54
Speaker 1: to move back into those flooded areas just as quickly
29:57
Speaker 1: as the water receives. They'll be right there, step for
29:59
Speaker 1: step without water, headed back out, going back to their um.
30:02
Speaker 1: You can say, their homelands. So brows is something that
30:05
Speaker 1: we shouldn't be overlooking. UM. I've been hunting a lot
30:09
Speaker 1: of betting areas and thickets. UM. You know, I jokingly
30:12
Speaker 1: say all of Louisiana is a betting area. We don't
30:15
Speaker 1: have the luxury of saying this is where the deer sleep.
30:19
Speaker 1: This is where the deer eat, you know. UM, it's
30:22
Speaker 1: not like that down here. Everywhere is where the sleep.
30:25
Speaker 1: Everywhere is where they eat. UM. But I have been
30:28
Speaker 1: UM noticing a lot of um friars and um uh
30:35
Speaker 1: smile ax and and UM thorn bushes and things like
30:37
Speaker 1: that being hit very hard. We'll see nothing but stems
30:40
Speaker 1: coming out of the ground. And a few days before
30:43
Speaker 1: it was a big pushy briar patch. So brows is
30:46
Speaker 1: attractive as well if you don't have a corn dropping
30:48
Speaker 1: right now in your area. UM. And then you know,
30:51
Speaker 1: we also are a state that allows feeding UM, supplemental
30:55
Speaker 1: feeding UM and uh. I know a lot of people
30:58
Speaker 1: that are getting good results from that as all going forward. Then,
31:01
Speaker 1: in the six week or so, what do you think
31:03
Speaker 1: that bucket activity is going to be on a scale
31:05
Speaker 1: of one to ten in Louisiana. So I think it's
31:08
Speaker 1: going to increase. I'll increase in a point. I'll put
31:10
Speaker 1: it out in eight. UM, that's a little high for
31:13
Speaker 1: this time of year. UM buck activity and the number
31:18
Speaker 1: and size combined the number and size of deer that
31:22
Speaker 1: have fallen, the quality deer that have fallen in the
31:24
Speaker 1: first month of both season in Louisiana is probably the
31:29
Speaker 1: greatest that I've witnessed personally in the last four or
31:32
Speaker 1: five years. Um. Maybe it maybe it is the fact
31:35
Speaker 1: that it's been so dry that do you have to
31:37
Speaker 1: get up until find water they don't have something within
31:39
Speaker 1: the twenty thirty yards of where they're land down. Um.
31:42
Speaker 1: But for how hot it's been, you know, we've been
31:45
Speaker 1: in the nineties all October opening day with ninety eight
31:48
Speaker 1: degrees and there are some absolute giants that were killed
31:54
Speaker 1: the first week of both season in whether that you
31:57
Speaker 1: would not climb up in a deer stand in and
31:59
Speaker 1: so oh um, maybe it's uh, just un characteristically hot
32:03
Speaker 1: weather has them up on our feet. Hot weather has
32:05
Speaker 1: them up on their feet. I mean, and um, I
32:08
Speaker 1: think this week coming up with this cold front coming down,
32:10
Speaker 1: I think it's only gonna get better. All right, Kyler, Well,
32:13
Speaker 1: I'm at the headwaters in Missouri River here in Montana.
32:15
Speaker 1: I'll try to stop sending water your way. Good luck
32:18
Speaker 1: this season, and thanks for joining me. It would be great.
32:20
Speaker 1: Thank you. So You'll have a good day. And that
32:23
Speaker 1: concludes this week's episode of rud Fresh Radio. Thanks to Justin, Trey,
32:28
Speaker 1: Joe and Kyler for joining me and thank you guys
32:30
Speaker 1: for listening. If you want more great white tail content
32:33
Speaker 1: like this, make sure you're subscribed to the white Tail
32:36
Speaker 1: weekly newsletter that Mark and I put together for meat Eater,
32:40
Speaker 1: and make sure you're regularly checking out the meat eater
32:42
Speaker 1: dot com for more of what we're writing. Good luck
32:45
Speaker 1: to everybody this week who's out there, like Mark, trying
32:48
Speaker 1: to kill that target buck as they get more restless
32:51
Speaker 1: here at the end of the month and until next week,
32:54
Speaker 1: stay wired to hunt.