Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 302: Rut Fresh Radio 9/25/19

Transcript

Ep. 302: Rut Fresh Radio 9/25/19 · 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 three d
0:20
Speaker 1: and two, and today we're here for another installment of
0:24
Speaker 1: our rut Fresh radio miniseries in which we're checking in
0:27
Speaker 1: with hunters from all across the country to get the
0:30
Speaker 1: latest and greatest intel on deer activity, current conditions, and
0:34
Speaker 1: the tactics that are working right now. All rights Welcome
0:46
Speaker 1: to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by
0:50
Speaker 1: on X, and today we are back with our every
0:54
Speaker 1: Wednesday episode that probably you're used to by now, in
0:57
Speaker 1: which we're doing our rut Fresh radio mini series. This
1:00
Speaker 1: is what we do during the hunting season. Every week.
1:03
Speaker 1: It's an episode where we chat with hunters from across
1:05
Speaker 1: the country, usually four or five every week, talking about
1:09
Speaker 1: what is happening right now in the white tail. You
1:12
Speaker 1: know what, Spencer, you gotta excuse me for having a
1:15
Speaker 1: sore throat right now, Guys and anyone listening, you can't
1:18
Speaker 1: get mad at me for coughing. You can't get frustrated
1:21
Speaker 1: with the fact that I can't get through our introduction
1:24
Speaker 1: because I have a very good excuse. But but let
1:26
Speaker 1: me finish what I was saying. This is where we
1:30
Speaker 1: get intel on what's happening in the white Tail woods.
1:32
Speaker 1: So right now, that might be how weather conditions are
1:36
Speaker 1: impacting deer, or maybe how changing food sources are impacting
1:39
Speaker 1: deer and the different types of tactics that might work.
1:43
Speaker 1: And then as we get into late October or November,
1:46
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about the rut. And when we
1:48
Speaker 1: get into December, maybe we'll be talking about snowstorms. Whatever
1:52
Speaker 1: it is it's going on right now, that's what we're
1:54
Speaker 1: talking about. So Spencer, that's what we usually talk about. Uh.
2:01
Speaker 1: Do you want to hear my excuse for why I
2:02
Speaker 1: can't talk today? Yeah, and it better be a good
2:04
Speaker 1: one because that was not pretty. No, No, that wasn't
2:09
Speaker 1: my best work. I am sitting in a hotel room
2:13
Speaker 1: right now because I am recording the audiobook for my
2:17
Speaker 1: book That Wild Country. UM. So for the last two days,
2:21
Speaker 1: I've been reading my book out loud, NonStop, UM for
2:25
Speaker 1: I don't know how many hours, but the voices is
2:28
Speaker 1: hurting a little bit. I'm actually working on something else.
2:32
Speaker 1: The rest of tonight, which I do want to talk about, Spencer,
2:34
Speaker 1: unless unless you've got something really pressing that you need
2:37
Speaker 1: to start us out with. I want to kind of
2:41
Speaker 1: take a little bit monopolize a little bit of our
2:43
Speaker 1: time here on the front to give everyone an update
2:45
Speaker 1: on something kind of cool. Am I? Am I allowed
2:47
Speaker 1: to do that on this Refresh radio episode? Please do
2:50
Speaker 1: because this is quite the announcement. So not only am
2:55
Speaker 1: my recording an audiobook, which is great and dandy, but
2:57
Speaker 1: actually what's most interesting going on right now and what
3:00
Speaker 1: I'm actually working on the rest of the night tonight
3:02
Speaker 1: is our back forty video series. We talked about this
3:06
Speaker 1: a little bit last week, right we have bought a farm.
3:08
Speaker 1: The media the team has bought a farm, and we
3:11
Speaker 1: are taking this project on to try to use this
3:14
Speaker 1: place as a It's kind of a canvas to tell
3:17
Speaker 1: the story of small properties and private land conservation and
3:22
Speaker 1: what you can do when you're trying to manage a
3:24
Speaker 1: property not just for a bunch of big deer, but
3:27
Speaker 1: but everything in between, bees and birds and bucks and
3:30
Speaker 1: trying to find great hunting too. So that's what this
3:33
Speaker 1: whole project is about. Uh. We launched our first episode
3:36
Speaker 1: of that series on Monday of this week, So the
3:39
Speaker 1: first one is out there. You can watch it on
3:40
Speaker 1: the meat Eater YouTube channel. And I'm probably biased because
3:45
Speaker 1: I'm working on it, but I think it turned up
3:46
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Do you like it? I really liked it,
3:49
Speaker 1: and I liked that it wasn't so white tail heavy,
3:52
Speaker 1: like we're all obsessed to white we're all obsessed about
3:56
Speaker 1: white tails, um, but this took a deeper dive into
3:59
Speaker 1: like private at land conservation in what one person can
4:03
Speaker 1: do with sixty acres. Yeah. Yeah, And and you know,
4:07
Speaker 1: of course we're gonna we're gonna do some serious white
4:09
Speaker 1: tail stuff, no doubt about them. We're gonna be hunting
4:11
Speaker 1: them hard. We're gonna be trying to find ways to
4:14
Speaker 1: to tweak and manipulate and adjust and influence this property
4:17
Speaker 1: to have the best deer hunting possible. No, no, no doubt,
4:20
Speaker 1: We're gonna be digging into that. But yeah, to your point, either,
4:23
Speaker 1: there are other things too, And oftentimes what I'm finding
4:27
Speaker 1: as I'm diving into this whole project and trying to
4:29
Speaker 1: wrap my head around it and learn new things, is
4:31
Speaker 1: that when you start looking at these other species and
4:34
Speaker 1: plant life and all the wildlife out there. You're working
4:38
Speaker 1: on this foundation that still does support those deer hunting goals.
4:42
Speaker 1: So what we do for birds and bees is gonna
4:44
Speaker 1: help dear too, and vice versa. So it's been a
4:48
Speaker 1: great learning experience. I think if you guys check out
4:50
Speaker 1: that first episode, you'll you'll get a better idea of
4:53
Speaker 1: what we're trying to do. And now we just have
4:55
Speaker 1: to try to do the work and make it all reality.
4:58
Speaker 1: So that's my date for the day. Um, have you
5:02
Speaker 1: done anything white tail yet? Are you still chasing milk? Nothing?
5:05
Speaker 1: White tail yet? My first white tail hunt is still
5:08
Speaker 1: actually probably like three weeks away. So for now I'm
5:12
Speaker 1: just relying on our rut Fresh radio guests and you
5:17
Speaker 1: Mark to fill me in on white tails and and
5:20
Speaker 1: keep me going until I get on that first hunt. Um,
5:24
Speaker 1: are you gonna be hunting the back forty like next weekend? Is?
5:27
Speaker 1: Isn't that Michigan's opener? Uh, it's not next weekend, It's
5:32
Speaker 1: it's like the Tuesday after that. I think it's October one,
5:36
Speaker 1: if I've got my calendar right in my head. But yeah,
5:38
Speaker 1: October one, I will be hunting the back forty, so
5:42
Speaker 1: that that will be my first Michigan update from the field.
5:45
Speaker 1: But I actually have a a a Michigan scouting update,
5:48
Speaker 1: if you'll take it well. I got a hot report,
5:51
Speaker 1: hot tip from someone I know very well who said
5:54
Speaker 1: that the rut is on in full force in Michigan
5:57
Speaker 1: right now. I'm telling you, man, the rut is upen.
6:00
Speaker 1: And the person who told me this is my wife
6:03
Speaker 1: a kid, You not my wife, and she actually does
6:06
Speaker 1: know all about dear. She told me that she was
6:11
Speaker 1: watching behind our house where we had a field, and
6:13
Speaker 1: there's like some deer stuff going on behind the house,
6:16
Speaker 1: and she said she saw multiple bucks chasing a dough
6:21
Speaker 1: and fighting. Like I'm not I kept telling like, you're
6:24
Speaker 1: kidding me, Like there's no way that's happening. What are
6:26
Speaker 1: you talking about? And she she kept saying, no, I'm
6:29
Speaker 1: not joking. This is happening right now, I'm watching it.
6:31
Speaker 1: I talked to her on the phone while she was watching.
6:34
Speaker 1: Not just like two bucks, like tickling the times, different bucks,
6:39
Speaker 1: three or four different bucks, going back and forth, going
6:42
Speaker 1: out and getting after it. I don't I have no
6:44
Speaker 1: idea what that's about. It's obviously not the run, I
6:47
Speaker 1: know that, but there was some funky behavior going on
6:50
Speaker 1: the other night running around. She said, six or seven
6:53
Speaker 1: different bucks running all over the place, including like two
6:56
Speaker 1: nice looking deer. Um, so bizarre. I have no explanation
7:01
Speaker 1: for it, but a very interesting observation from one of
7:05
Speaker 1: my top scouting expert experts out there. So how to
7:10
Speaker 1: pass that along. We hear it all the time when
7:13
Speaker 1: it gets to October or even December during the secondary route,
7:17
Speaker 1: that all it takes is one hot dough and uh,
7:21
Speaker 1: a lot of our listeners an hour probably familiar with
7:23
Speaker 1: like the fheedious studies that have been done that kind
7:26
Speaker 1: of show that the rut for the most part, as
7:29
Speaker 1: far as breeding goes, takes place in like the same
7:31
Speaker 1: five day window. Um. Quite often that's that's the case.
7:36
Speaker 1: But there are dolls that get read, like I think,
7:39
Speaker 1: all the way as early as August and as late
7:42
Speaker 1: as like February and March. So if there was some
7:46
Speaker 1: random dough out there that came into estus, then who knows,
7:51
Speaker 1: there's there's no rules at that point, uh late September.
7:54
Speaker 1: If that's the case. Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm I'm
7:57
Speaker 1: gonna guess that it's something, you know, something else, just
8:00
Speaker 1: some crazy behavior. But you never know, like you said, Um,
8:03
Speaker 1: if it was a month later, then I'd be like, Okay, yeah,
8:06
Speaker 1: it's one of these super early doughs. This is just
8:09
Speaker 1: like so outside of the realm of the usual. But
8:11
Speaker 1: I know I trust her that she at least saw
8:14
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff going on. I know that she
8:16
Speaker 1: knows how to identify that kind of thing. So I
8:20
Speaker 1: I am intrigued and I wish I was there to
8:22
Speaker 1: see it myself. Yeah. Well, besides that report, we have
8:27
Speaker 1: a report from Cody Butler from Kansas from Dream Chaser's Hunt,
8:31
Speaker 1: and then in New Hampshire we talked to Brett Joy
8:33
Speaker 1: from Real Tree Sea Bucks, and then Greg Mead from
8:37
Speaker 1: White Tail Properties in Kentucky, and then we go to
8:39
Speaker 1: Minnesota and talk to Matt Coleman from Captured Creative. Nice.
8:43
Speaker 1: That's a good slate. Is there any kind of unifying
8:46
Speaker 1: truth that you've gotten from these folks yet? Is there
8:48
Speaker 1: any theme of this week's episode? Uh? Not really. People
8:52
Speaker 1: are talking about the unseasonably warm temperatures, and then they're
8:57
Speaker 1: also starting to know some sign activity taking play and
9:01
Speaker 1: also kind of the food source shift that acorns are
9:04
Speaker 1: starting to hit the ground, beans are starting to yellow. Um,
9:07
Speaker 1: so there's kind of that light bulb moment that we've
9:10
Speaker 1: talked about before that you sort of see sometime between
9:14
Speaker 1: like mid September and early October where the deer that
9:18
Speaker 1: you've been seeing all year kind of disappear. Yeah, all right, well,
9:23
Speaker 1: I'm interested to hear what's going on. I will stop
9:25
Speaker 1: my random rambling um and just get let's just get
9:29
Speaker 1: after it, all right, We'll talk to you next week.
9:31
Speaker 1: Thanks man. All right. In joining us on the line
9:33
Speaker 1: now is Cody Butler in Kansas from Dream Chasers Hunt. Now,
9:37
Speaker 1: Cody in Kansas, what would you say the buck activity
9:40
Speaker 1: is ben lately? On a scale of one to ten,
9:43
Speaker 1: I would probably say about a five right now. And
9:46
Speaker 1: the reason why I say that is we do have
9:48
Speaker 1: some trail cara pictures and stuff like that of bucks
9:51
Speaker 1: moving around in daylight, even mature deer. We are seeing, um,
9:55
Speaker 1: some younger deer on their feet, um, but for the
9:58
Speaker 1: most part, you're four US year old mature bucks. We're
10:02
Speaker 1: kind of hitting that coming out of your fields and
10:04
Speaker 1: stuff like that, you know, right after dark, uh and
10:07
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So I'd say about a five right now.
10:10
Speaker 1: Are you starting to see the soybeans turned to yellow?
10:13
Speaker 1: In Kansas. Yes, definitely. Um, soybeans are definitely changing. Um.
10:17
Speaker 1: I'm in northern Kansas, so I can't really say, you know,
10:20
Speaker 1: for central and southern by as soon since they're further south,
10:23
Speaker 1: little warmer. Um, they are probably as well changing. Um.
10:27
Speaker 1: There's actually some guys around here. I live around the
10:29
Speaker 1: Nebraska line, just across the border here in Nebraska. There's
10:33
Speaker 1: actually some guys starting to um harvest their beans and stuff.
10:36
Speaker 1: So we're things are definitely full swing for change right now,
10:39
Speaker 1: that's for sure. Are you losing deer on those yellow
10:42
Speaker 1: soybeans then this time of year, yeah, definitely. Um, that's
10:46
Speaker 1: a huge factor. Just kind of depends on the year. Um.
10:50
Speaker 1: We do have some actually that are pretty green. Um.
10:53
Speaker 1: I mean I kind of talked before. We had a
10:56
Speaker 1: lot of rain this way this year, more than I've
10:58
Speaker 1: seen in my lifetime. House actually fits close to the
11:02
Speaker 1: Republican River here, and we almost had floodwaters from the
11:05
Speaker 1: river in our house. Um. So some guys you had
11:08
Speaker 1: to plant their soybeans late. Um. So you know, look,
11:12
Speaker 1: I don't have any of those unfortunately, but there is
11:15
Speaker 1: some guys that are hunting you know, good green soybeans
11:17
Speaker 1: still because farmers had to plant late do the flooding
11:21
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, especially up here close to the river. Unfortunately,
11:24
Speaker 1: most of my Kansas ground is is deeper into Kansas,
11:27
Speaker 1: not right up here on the river. UM, So I
11:30
Speaker 1: don't have a whole lot of green beans, and that's
11:32
Speaker 1: really transitioned um to the corn, which is not the
11:36
Speaker 1: greatest thing in the world because when they go into corn,
11:38
Speaker 1: we can't really go after them to do good this
11:41
Speaker 1: time of year. But corn harvest is kind of started
11:44
Speaker 1: a little bit here and there on some dry land props,
11:47
Speaker 1: so hopefully for long with corn will start coming out
11:50
Speaker 1: and they don't have as many places to hide besides
11:53
Speaker 1: with the crops. Are you feeling the effects of this
11:56
Speaker 1: summer's floods in other ways? For example, did you lose
11:59
Speaker 1: any betting from the rising water? Um? I, you know,
12:04
Speaker 1: I think so, honestly, Um, we did. I do have
12:07
Speaker 1: one place that's close to our home farm in Nebraska
12:10
Speaker 1: that I lease. It's in Kansas. UM. The two farms
12:13
Speaker 1: kind of butt together right on the state lines. Pretty
12:15
Speaker 1: unique situation. And my cousin was actually here hunting with
12:18
Speaker 1: me this year. Um. This week he drew a muslimer
12:22
Speaker 1: tag which is what Kansas is. The season is right
12:24
Speaker 1: now you can bow hunt and musli hunt, and he
12:27
Speaker 1: drew a Mussler tag and we actually went and hunted
12:29
Speaker 1: that lease on the river um. And they actually did
12:32
Speaker 1: get to corn out here like four or five days ago. Um.
12:36
Speaker 1: And it's directly on the river, and it's more of
12:38
Speaker 1: my best places if you've followed any of our stuff. UM,
12:43
Speaker 1: you know, I killed a deer we called longhorn um
12:46
Speaker 1: on that lease actually, and a couple other really good
12:48
Speaker 1: deer there over the years. It's kind of one of
12:51
Speaker 1: my go to spots. And I've got a really good
12:54
Speaker 1: we'll probably mid sixties tin pointer and uh and a
12:58
Speaker 1: big big eight poorn it's probably in the mid fifties
13:00
Speaker 1: there that we really thought we would see after the
13:04
Speaker 1: corn was out, And so we went there last night
13:06
Speaker 1: and we saw four dose in total. Um. You know,
13:09
Speaker 1: for quite some time they had to leave and find
13:11
Speaker 1: a different place to go. And I think it's definitely
13:14
Speaker 1: kind of changed the way they've acted around the river here.
13:18
Speaker 1: For sure. This time of year when you have a
13:20
Speaker 1: lot of deer bedding in the corn, do you have
13:23
Speaker 1: a strategy for getting an arrow in those year or
13:25
Speaker 1: they just unhuntable at this point. Um. It just kind
13:29
Speaker 1: of depends on the situation. UM. A lot of times
13:31
Speaker 1: all set my trail cameras up this time of year
13:34
Speaker 1: kind of to and from like watering most of my
13:38
Speaker 1: farms in Kansas. My grandfather who has now passed away
13:41
Speaker 1: but owned all these properties, he actually put water holes
13:45
Speaker 1: or ponds on almost every single one of the farms
13:48
Speaker 1: for wildlife. And which is good because in our area,
13:50
Speaker 1: other than our lake here, we don't we have a
13:53
Speaker 1: lot of dry creeks, and I mean there's pasture ponds
13:56
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, but there's not a ton of
13:58
Speaker 1: water around. So I really try to set up a
14:01
Speaker 1: lot of my stuff this time of year when it's hot,
14:04
Speaker 1: um trails going to and from corn, um to water
14:07
Speaker 1: things like that, and um, you know they it definitely
14:13
Speaker 1: changes all I guess I'm trying to stay is you
14:17
Speaker 1: definitely noticed that you can't hunt those deer sometimes if
14:21
Speaker 1: you don't have water. If you do have water this
14:23
Speaker 1: time here because it is so hot, I will a
14:25
Speaker 1: lot of times get those deer in daylight coming out
14:28
Speaker 1: of corn to drink. UM. So if we have corn
14:31
Speaker 1: close to water, UM, so that's a really big thing.
14:34
Speaker 1: But there is places as well, um that I just
14:37
Speaker 1: simply can't get in the place we hunted tonight actually
14:41
Speaker 1: is a hundred sixty acre field and then of corn basically,
14:45
Speaker 1: and the very back corner there's about a five acre
14:49
Speaker 1: patch of timber with a pond there, and we hunted
14:53
Speaker 1: there this evening, um, just knowing that water was close.
14:56
Speaker 1: I actually have a food plot down in there as well,
14:59
Speaker 1: and we set up basically transition of deer coming out
15:01
Speaker 1: of timber and corn, and we saw like thirteen different deer.
15:05
Speaker 1: I think I didn't see the buck we're after, but
15:08
Speaker 1: we did see a few other smaller bucks. And about
15:10
Speaker 1: fifty percent of the deer came out of the corn
15:13
Speaker 1: and went down and got a drink and milled around
15:15
Speaker 1: the food potting and then went back to the corn.
15:17
Speaker 1: And the other fifty percent of them came out of
15:19
Speaker 1: the timber and then headed to the corn. So it definitely, um,
15:23
Speaker 1: it definitely hurts us this time, especially when the beans
15:26
Speaker 1: are starting to change. They really transition to that corn,
15:29
Speaker 1: and once they're in there, it's definitely hard to get
15:32
Speaker 1: a pattern on them and get them figured out because
15:33
Speaker 1: they really don't have to leave too much. Have you
15:36
Speaker 1: noticed any signmakings start to show up in Kansas? Um, definitely, Uh,
15:40
Speaker 1: there's actually a lot of scrapes and rubs. We noticed
15:43
Speaker 1: the place that we went tonight. We're after a big
15:45
Speaker 1: six pointer UM. He had been coming out of corn
15:48
Speaker 1: going down to a food plot and we'll have a
15:50
Speaker 1: pam there. And we actually noticed night when we walked
15:53
Speaker 1: in just three days ago, I actually checked the trail
15:55
Speaker 1: camera and there wasn't any scrapes or rubs. And when
15:58
Speaker 1: we went in tonight there was actually a brand new
16:00
Speaker 1: big scrape I'm on the edge of the food plot,
16:02
Speaker 1: and a pretty good rub on a cedar tree. And
16:04
Speaker 1: just in the last three days. So I really think
16:07
Speaker 1: as some of these cooler tempts come in. I think
16:09
Speaker 1: we had a hive eighty today. By the end of
16:12
Speaker 1: the week, we've got some lows in the fifties. So
16:14
Speaker 1: I think it's these temps start to drop. You know,
16:16
Speaker 1: these they are really gonna start making, you know, laying
16:19
Speaker 1: down scrapes and starting to figure out their territories and
16:22
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So it's definitely definitely they're starting to
16:25
Speaker 1: get with it for sure going forward. Then this next
16:28
Speaker 1: week or so, what do you think that bucket activity
16:30
Speaker 1: is going to be on a scale of one to
16:31
Speaker 1: tending Kansas. I honestly think it's gonna jump quite a bit.
16:36
Speaker 1: I really think we might be up towards an eight. Honestly.
16:39
Speaker 1: We've got some fool weather coming in and we've got
16:41
Speaker 1: some highs in the upper sixties in most seventies, like
16:44
Speaker 1: I said, lows in the fifties. I think that's gonna
16:47
Speaker 1: be a huge change compared to what we had. Um,
16:49
Speaker 1: we've been having some mid nineties and and things like that.
16:53
Speaker 1: So I definitely think buck activity is gonna go up
16:56
Speaker 1: when those temperatures dropping, Like I said, harvest is starting.
16:59
Speaker 1: We've got some I was getting their dry ankle warm
17:01
Speaker 1: out and stuff like that. The more and more corn
17:03
Speaker 1: get out gets out in the country here, um, you know,
17:06
Speaker 1: we're gonna have more gear moving into those places, the
17:09
Speaker 1: smaller wood lots and things like that that we hunt
17:11
Speaker 1: here in Kansas, where they're easier to get at and
17:14
Speaker 1: we can pattern them a little bit easier. All right, Cody,
17:16
Speaker 1: great intel, thanks for joining me in good luck this season.
17:19
Speaker 1: Thanks man, you too, Take care alright. And joining us
17:24
Speaker 1: on the line next is Brett joy In New Hampshire
17:26
Speaker 1: from Real Tree Sea Bucks now Brett in New Hampshire.
17:29
Speaker 1: What would you say the bucket activity is been lateley
17:32
Speaker 1: on a scale of one to ten, well need to
17:35
Speaker 1: be negative, um, but I really feel it's about the
17:39
Speaker 1: ones I've never seen it. It's bad. Um. We have
17:43
Speaker 1: a couple of differents contributed that. The first of which
17:46
Speaker 1: and the probably the most significant, is the a corn crop.
17:49
Speaker 1: We've got have a incredible red oak crop in my area,
17:52
Speaker 1: I think in a lot of New Hampshire. So the
17:55
Speaker 1: bucks really don't have to move very far at all. Um, well,
17:58
Speaker 1: they don't have to move where they could probably just it.
18:00
Speaker 1: They're cloric in take sitting on the belly all day.
18:03
Speaker 1: They didn't have to get up. Um. That also the
18:07
Speaker 1: fact that it's been above average temperatures um for the
18:11
Speaker 1: most parties in a couple of days and about average.
18:13
Speaker 1: But I think there's been like oh I think seven
18:17
Speaker 1: to time in the last yeah, seven to ten days
18:20
Speaker 1: out the last like thirteen. I think the season is
18:22
Speaker 1: an open. Four have been above average. And the last
18:25
Speaker 1: is the fact that I just think there's probably a
18:27
Speaker 1: few less bucks in the wood that were last year
18:30
Speaker 1: because we had an incredible deer harvest, which is a
18:32
Speaker 1: good thing for hunters, but we also had no mass
18:36
Speaker 1: crop and an early heavy snowfall and cold temperatures doing
18:40
Speaker 1: a run, So I don't think that a lot of
18:41
Speaker 1: the bucks went into the winter, probably in a little
18:45
Speaker 1: bit rougher shape than they typically do, and I suspect
18:48
Speaker 1: there is a bit more of a winter kill, so
18:50
Speaker 1: just less opportunity for for bucks in general. The Wizard year.
18:54
Speaker 1: Can you recall a season in recent years for the
18:57
Speaker 1: acorn crop? Was this big? This early? Yeah? We we
19:01
Speaker 1: This actually is is more typical than you think we
19:05
Speaker 1: do have. There's probably every maybe three years, um. I
19:09
Speaker 1: think two years ago and two thousand and seventeen it
19:12
Speaker 1: was like that. Thinking back, I know that it's had
19:14
Speaker 1: a few back and within the past you know, five
19:17
Speaker 1: or ten years, and I like that. So it's it's
19:19
Speaker 1: typical and there's something that we deal with every few years,
19:22
Speaker 1: and you kind of have to expect that it's going
19:24
Speaker 1: to happen. I knew what was going to just scout
19:26
Speaker 1: and look for mass producing trees and they're loaded up,
19:29
Speaker 1: so you know it's coming, but it's still difficulty. You
19:32
Speaker 1: know it's coming, how long do the deer key in
19:36
Speaker 1: on those acorns. Is that something that you're concerned with
19:39
Speaker 1: all fall or does that just go through October? Yeah, No,
19:42
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty much all fall for us. Um, we
19:45
Speaker 1: have such a volume of of mass crop here this
19:50
Speaker 1: year that they will be key to those acorns, probably
19:54
Speaker 1: three November in December, and even some years we have
19:58
Speaker 1: eight points less in the spring that this starting, you mean,
20:00
Speaker 1: So that's that will be the theme of the entire fall.
20:02
Speaker 1: Obviously has since change with the run battle that will
20:05
Speaker 1: change your game a little bit. But right now it's
20:07
Speaker 1: all about acorns and warm weather. Those are the two
20:10
Speaker 1: biggest things that would deal with. So what do your
20:13
Speaker 1: setups look like this season versus last? With those acorn
20:16
Speaker 1: crops being so different. So I think that the the
20:21
Speaker 1: way to combattis is to look at kind of backwards. Now,
20:25
Speaker 1: there's food everywhere for the most part, so I try
20:28
Speaker 1: to focus on betting food. Um, that's kind of the
20:31
Speaker 1: thing that's at I guess the pretty although it really
20:34
Speaker 1: isn't because there's just food everywhere. But if you had
20:36
Speaker 1: to find a limiting factor, would probably be betting. But
20:39
Speaker 1: even that's extremely difficult as it is. But it's less
20:42
Speaker 1: difficult than trying to determine which, you know, food, sourcery,
20:45
Speaker 1: you thin, because we lose food every which way you turn. Um.
20:48
Speaker 1: So really I'm focusing on betting and trying to run
20:51
Speaker 1: cameras about betting areas and figure out where the deer
20:54
Speaker 1: of betting um. And then I think once you determine that,
20:58
Speaker 1: you have a chance of getting on it, so you
20:59
Speaker 1: can just figure route, you know what, what stand of
21:03
Speaker 1: oaks that they're keing in on at that time. But
21:05
Speaker 1: the problem is is that that's always changing this time
21:07
Speaker 1: of the the year because the bounce from stand at oak
21:10
Speaker 1: to stand at oakau is you know, some oaks have
21:12
Speaker 1: preferred over other acorns or a particular tree taste better.
21:15
Speaker 1: Do you notice any big changes in signmaking in years
21:18
Speaker 1: where there's such a big acorn crop in those bucks
21:20
Speaker 1: maybe don't have to travel as far as they normally do.
21:23
Speaker 1: So I don't think I've seen, uh, I see much
21:26
Speaker 1: of a difference in the volume of sign making. What
21:29
Speaker 1: you do see is it's more in concentrated areas, so
21:33
Speaker 1: they'll find a bunch of regence scripts around pockets of
21:35
Speaker 1: folks that they're preferring at that time. If you find
21:38
Speaker 1: those resinence grapes, they could be onto the next you
21:40
Speaker 1: know oak preferred oak of the week and all that
21:43
Speaker 1: sign is irrelevant. So you really have to find the
21:46
Speaker 1: sign right when they're making it, when they're there, uh,
21:49
Speaker 1: and capitalize and it's not it's just it's just you're
21:52
Speaker 1: trying to have it right and it's really difficult to
21:54
Speaker 1: do going forward. Then this next week or so, what
21:57
Speaker 1: do you think that bucket activity is going to be
21:58
Speaker 1: on a scale of one to two in New Hampshire.
22:01
Speaker 1: I think it's probably gonna maintain it a solid one.
22:05
Speaker 1: I don't see you getting in a very extended forecast.
22:07
Speaker 1: Is still above average temperature. Um. If anything, there's gonna
22:10
Speaker 1: be more acorns on the ground next week, and um,
22:13
Speaker 1: you know it's we're getting a period of time where
22:15
Speaker 1: bucks have been telling reclusive and loners, so that becoming
22:19
Speaker 1: even more difficult to find. At least the last first
22:21
Speaker 1: week of the season had a little bit of summer
22:23
Speaker 1: activity and where these bucks were a little bit more social.
22:26
Speaker 1: But we're not gonna have that anymore, so it may
22:29
Speaker 1: even get worse. Unfortunately, hate to be negative, but that's
22:32
Speaker 1: just kind of my my estimation over the next week.
22:35
Speaker 1: I'm sure your forecast is close, but I hope you're wrong.
22:38
Speaker 1: Breat but good luck for the rest of the season too.
22:42
Speaker 1: Thanks Spencer, alright and joining us on the line next
22:46
Speaker 1: is Greg Mead in Kentucky from White Tail Properties. Now,
22:49
Speaker 1: Greg in Kentucky, what would you say the buck activity
22:51
Speaker 1: has been lately on a skilled one to ten, Probably
22:54
Speaker 1: been about a six as of late as far as
22:58
Speaker 1: daylot movement, um that the temperatures here have been maybe
23:02
Speaker 1: a little bit unseasonably warm in the upper eighties maybe nineties,
23:05
Speaker 1: and the days and just didn't cooling off that much
23:07
Speaker 1: at night right now, So that's that's really restricting the
23:10
Speaker 1: movement too, probably the last thirty minutes or so of
23:15
Speaker 1: daylight in the evening and maybe the same in the mornings.
23:18
Speaker 1: What kind of food sources should hunters in Kentucky be
23:21
Speaker 1: focusing in on right now? Um, where they're where they
23:25
Speaker 1: have them available? Uh, the oaks and the acorns are
23:28
Speaker 1: really starting to to bear right now and drop, and
23:32
Speaker 1: particularly the white oaks if you've got them, if you've
23:34
Speaker 1: got crop fields nearby, uh soybeans or whatnot, and they're
23:38
Speaker 1: really starting to move towards the acorns, which is pretty
23:41
Speaker 1: normal this time of year with it being unseasonably warm.
23:44
Speaker 1: Do you then focus on water on Kentucky? Yes, Uh,
23:48
Speaker 1: that that does help, especially if the area you're hunting
23:51
Speaker 1: has a limited source of water being you know, ponds
23:55
Speaker 1: or small small water in holes. Uh. If you've got
23:58
Speaker 1: long streams that are still a roll in the year
24:01
Speaker 1: round streams, then you know that that can be a
24:04
Speaker 1: little bit difficult to key in on. Have you noticed
24:06
Speaker 1: any signmaking that started yet a little bit a little bit, um.
24:10
Speaker 1: I think mostly what we're seeing though, um is is
24:15
Speaker 1: the velvet shedding, you know, where they're starting to rub.
24:17
Speaker 1: But they were mostly that. Uh. There was a little
24:20
Speaker 1: bit of a peak there of that right around the
24:23
Speaker 1: end of August, in the first week of September when
24:26
Speaker 1: they were coming out of velvet. I haven't really noticed
24:29
Speaker 1: uh any at normally high amount though since then. I
24:33
Speaker 1: believe the cooler temperatures they'll really kick those animals in
24:36
Speaker 1: gear uh and they'll start to start to show a
24:39
Speaker 1: little more sign Where are you running your trail cameras
24:43
Speaker 1: right now? And how is that going to change as
24:44
Speaker 1: we get into October? Um? Right now, still trying to
24:48
Speaker 1: run them off of food sources, maybe on trails leading
24:51
Speaker 1: to those food sources, or even possibly in the staging
24:54
Speaker 1: areas right before they hit those food sources. UM. As
24:58
Speaker 1: we as we keep moving on through into the month
25:02
Speaker 1: of October, I think you might be able to get
25:05
Speaker 1: them on some early uh scrapes um not necessarily breeding scrapes,
25:10
Speaker 1: but the year round scrapes that they make, or licking
25:13
Speaker 1: licking branches that they visit, and you can start to
25:16
Speaker 1: catch animals there or even in funnels and places where
25:19
Speaker 1: you that the movement is restricted. Do you pay any
25:22
Speaker 1: attention to the moon phases this time of year, you know,
25:26
Speaker 1: this time of year, it seems like to me it's
25:29
Speaker 1: not not really the temperature seems to be the major
25:34
Speaker 1: dictating factor on on when these animals move. Right now,
25:37
Speaker 1: get closer into the rud it seems like, yes, the
25:39
Speaker 1: moon phases, will you know, start to determine a little
25:43
Speaker 1: bit of that movement. You get more midday movement, But
25:45
Speaker 1: right now, it's just the temperatures just starting to put
25:47
Speaker 1: on their summer their winter coach rather, and it'd be
25:50
Speaker 1: like you or I wearing a winter coach trying to
25:52
Speaker 1: run around and nine agree weather there they're they're not
25:54
Speaker 1: real active right now more than they have to be
25:58
Speaker 1: going forward. Then in the sext week or so, what
26:00
Speaker 1: do you think that bucket activity is going to be
26:02
Speaker 1: on a scale of one to ten in Kentucky. Um,
26:05
Speaker 1: As I looked at the forecast, it looks like we're
26:07
Speaker 1: we're heating back up next week as well. We've got
26:09
Speaker 1: a day or two right now that's dropped down in
26:12
Speaker 1: the in the eighties. But as we move forward into
26:15
Speaker 1: next week, the forecast is we're gonna be back into
26:17
Speaker 1: the nineties. So I really don't expect it to change
26:20
Speaker 1: very much, uh through next week just yet. But the
26:24
Speaker 1: first really good cold snap we get or cool front
26:28
Speaker 1: we get that moves in, I could definitely expect to
26:31
Speaker 1: see them on their feet, maybe another thirty minutes or
26:33
Speaker 1: so before daylight, maybe an hour total or something. So
26:37
Speaker 1: I think animals could could certainly be you know, exploited
26:40
Speaker 1: to to reach in there and get some kills. Maybe. Well,
26:43
Speaker 1: good luck this season, and thanks for joining me, all right,
26:46
Speaker 1: thank you very much, all right, and joining us on
26:48
Speaker 1: the line. Next is Matt Coleman in Minnesota from Captured Creative. Now,
26:52
Speaker 1: Matt in Minnesota, what would you say the bucket activity
26:55
Speaker 1: has been lately on a scale of one to ten UM,
26:58
Speaker 1: I would say it's about a evan um. Not much
27:02
Speaker 1: for mature bucks, doesn't seem like in our area, but
27:05
Speaker 1: lots of younger bucks moving um seeing almost all the
27:08
Speaker 1: younger bucks on the camera every time we go hunt.
27:11
Speaker 1: What do you think is the food source to key
27:13
Speaker 1: in on this time of year for us? Right now?
27:16
Speaker 1: And they kind of seem to be going off the
27:17
Speaker 1: beans because they're starting to turn yellow and mature a
27:20
Speaker 1: little bit. So we really try and key in on
27:23
Speaker 1: like the brass because um oates if we have any
27:27
Speaker 1: of those planted things like that, some of the greens.
27:29
Speaker 1: Have you noticed any signmaking starting to show up in Minnesota?
27:33
Speaker 1: The last time we hunted, actually we saw almost every
27:35
Speaker 1: book we saw was either working a scrape or making
27:38
Speaker 1: a rub, and they're all kind of starting to spar
27:41
Speaker 1: with each other a little bit and starting to show
27:43
Speaker 1: a little bit more aggression towards each other. So what
27:47
Speaker 1: do your guys is opening day setups look like it now?
27:50
Speaker 1: Minnesota just had their opening here about a week ago
27:52
Speaker 1: or so. For us, we don't have very many huntable
27:55
Speaker 1: trees on our land, so we sit in a lot
27:58
Speaker 1: of like box blinds that we built ourselves, UM building
28:01
Speaker 1: big enough to shoot the ball out of them and
28:03
Speaker 1: comfortable for a gun to UM. Normally, we try and
28:07
Speaker 1: play the wind as much as we cannot really mess
28:10
Speaker 1: anything up, or just kind of observed the first few
28:12
Speaker 1: days at least and see what the movement is like
28:15
Speaker 1: on cameras. How does your trail camp strategy change as
28:18
Speaker 1: we get into October? Oh, we kind of start to
28:21
Speaker 1: move our cameras onto scrapes, looking branches, things like that,
28:25
Speaker 1: and uh, just kind of more travel corridors. If new
28:29
Speaker 1: bucks show up in the area, then we try and
28:32
Speaker 1: catch them, maybe start to pattern what they what they
28:35
Speaker 1: do on a weekly basis. Matt for Opener, were you
28:38
Speaker 1: still seeing some bachelor groups together. Yeah, we saw a
28:41
Speaker 1: lot of the smaller bucks, maybe something like the two
28:44
Speaker 1: and a half or three and a half year old,
28:46
Speaker 1: in groups of about three or four. Still, the bigger
28:49
Speaker 1: bucks kind of seemed to be peeling off away each
28:52
Speaker 1: other though. Going forward, then, in this next week or so,
28:55
Speaker 1: what do you think that buck activity is going to
28:57
Speaker 1: be on a scale of one to ten in Minnesota? UM,
29:00
Speaker 1: I would say the activity would probably be about a
29:01
Speaker 1: seven or eight kind of depending on what the weather
29:03
Speaker 1: is like. UM, I'd expect a lot of the younger
29:05
Speaker 1: bucks to still be moving. UM, some of the older ones,
29:09
Speaker 1: It's hard to say. I guess it's kind of hit
29:11
Speaker 1: and miss in our area. I don't know. We're kind
29:14
Speaker 1: of in an open area. Some some of the timbered
29:16
Speaker 1: areas maybe were there hang out a little more during
29:19
Speaker 1: the day and mill around could be a little bit better.
29:22
Speaker 1: All right, man, Well, good luck to you and the
29:23
Speaker 1: guys from Captured. Thanks for joining me. Yep, no problem,
29:27
Speaker 1: and that concludes this week's episode of rut Fresh Radio.
29:31
Speaker 1: Thanks to Cody, Brett, Greg and Matt for joining me,
29:34
Speaker 1: and thank you guys for listening. As always, make sure
29:37
Speaker 1: you're following me, Mark and meat Eater on social media,
29:40
Speaker 1: and don't forget to check out episode one of the
29:43
Speaker 1: Back forty, available now on Meat Eaters YouTube channel. Later
29:46
Speaker 1: this week, you're also going to be seeing episode three
29:49
Speaker 1: of How to Kill a Buck on YouTube, where me,
29:51
Speaker 1: Mark and Tony Peterson discussed early October strategies and break
29:55
Speaker 1: down how we'd haunt a certain property. I'll talk to
29:58
Speaker 1: you guys next week, but in hill then stay wired
30:01
Speaker 1: to hoot,