Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Wired To Hunt Podcast #234: Rut Radio 9/19/18

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Wired To Hunt Podcast #234: Rut Radio 9/19/18 · Wired To Hunt Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for
0:06
Speaker 1: deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host,
0:11
Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm
0:16
Speaker 1: your host, Mark kenyans this episode number two hundred and
0:18
Speaker 1: thirty four, and today in the show, we're back again
0:21
Speaker 1: with our radio mini series in which we are getting
0:24
Speaker 1: our weekly from the field reports on the latest in
0:27
Speaker 1: dear activity, behavior, current conditions, and the tactics that are
0:31
Speaker 1: working right now. All right, welcome to the Wired Hunt Podcast,
0:51
Speaker 1: brought to you by Onyx, and we're back again for
0:54
Speaker 1: another week of our radio mini series. With me to
0:59
Speaker 1: help do that is Spencer New Hearth. Spencer, have you
1:03
Speaker 1: killed Lieutenant Danielte? I have not, but that would be
1:07
Speaker 1: from a lack of effort. I what are you doing
1:10
Speaker 1: with your time? I am saving up my time until November, basically,
1:16
Speaker 1: like you have vacation days at work, and like you
1:18
Speaker 1: have vacation days with your wife kind of, I'm not
1:21
Speaker 1: going to burn all of those wife vacation days in
1:25
Speaker 1: mid September when it's ninety four degrees, so fair enough.
1:29
Speaker 1: I am, yeah, stockpiling them until we hit November. Well,
1:35
Speaker 1: like I see your logic, So I'm gonna give you
1:37
Speaker 1: a fair path. I'm gonna give you a free pass
1:39
Speaker 1: on that. But yeah, I'm a little jealous that you
1:43
Speaker 1: can be white tail hunting though, because I'm home in
1:45
Speaker 1: Michigan and our white tail season is is like two
1:48
Speaker 1: weeks out still, so I kind of went from being
1:50
Speaker 1: able to hunt. Now I'm back in this like purgatory
1:53
Speaker 1: where I'm stuck waiting, but I've already kind of got started,
1:57
Speaker 1: so I've got like the fever, you know. Now I'm struggling.
2:01
Speaker 1: So I'm ready to get going again. And there's a
2:05
Speaker 1: lot of folks that have been hunting. Huh. The season's
2:08
Speaker 1: opening in where Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, all over the place, right, Yeah,
2:13
Speaker 1: and then some localized openings in some southern states as well,
2:17
Speaker 1: So it's giving that point within these next few weeks
2:20
Speaker 1: we should see like all the white tail states open up. Yeah. Yeah.
2:25
Speaker 1: So who then do you have on the show? First? Today?
2:28
Speaker 1: Talking we start off with Tony Peterson from bow Hunter
2:31
Speaker 1: Magazine in Minnesota. Then we talked to t J Unger
2:34
Speaker 1: in Montana from the Virtue TV. Then we go to
2:37
Speaker 1: New Jersey and we have Patrick Cutter from Red Hand Outdoors,
2:40
Speaker 1: and then we talked to Michael hans Sucker and Missouri
2:43
Speaker 1: from Heartland bow Hunter Excellent. Do we have any kind
2:46
Speaker 1: of consensus or it seems like from what I've been hearing,
2:50
Speaker 1: it's been kind of hot and slow, at least around
2:53
Speaker 1: the places I've been talking to. Is that what we're
2:55
Speaker 1: hearing across the board? Yeah? That would that hits snail
2:58
Speaker 1: on the head when you say warm weather and lack
3:01
Speaker 1: of movement. We're also getting a lot of acorns dropping
3:05
Speaker 1: around the country. That's kind of started recently, and you know,
3:09
Speaker 1: people talk about them literally raining down from gusts of wind.
3:14
Speaker 1: So I think that's gonna be another big theme in
3:17
Speaker 1: last year. In the episode in January where we kind
3:19
Speaker 1: of wrapped up the season, we hit on some of
3:21
Speaker 1: the um you know, talking points of RUT Radio. That
3:25
Speaker 1: was one of them on almost every episode, and it
3:27
Speaker 1: sounds like a lot of states are dealing with big
3:31
Speaker 1: acorn crops again. So I have feeling that's something we're
3:33
Speaker 1: gonna hear about a lot over this next month. And
3:36
Speaker 1: I think this next month is also kind of the
3:39
Speaker 1: most exciting time of RUT Radio. It's sort of the
3:42
Speaker 1: most nuanced hunting for white tail archery guys. Um, it's
3:48
Speaker 1: not like it was, you know, for the last two
3:50
Speaker 1: weeks where you're catching deer on summer patterns and and
3:53
Speaker 1: finding bachelor groups and stuff like that. And it's not
3:56
Speaker 1: like what it will be in November either, when the
3:59
Speaker 1: rut kind of trumps all. This next month or so
4:02
Speaker 1: is when you really have to work for those years.
4:05
Speaker 1: So I think these are gonna be some of our
4:07
Speaker 1: best episodes of radio. And like last season, when we
4:11
Speaker 1: would hit October, you talk to some people um in
4:14
Speaker 1: in the same very same episode, you'd hear movement that
4:18
Speaker 1: was a two out of ten for them, uh, And
4:20
Speaker 1: then someone else just a couple of states away, felt
4:23
Speaker 1: like they were experiencing something like a nine out of ten.
4:25
Speaker 1: So it'll be some unique hunts and unique reports going
4:30
Speaker 1: all the way through the end of October. Yeah, it's
4:33
Speaker 1: interesting you brought up last year's episodes and those interviews
4:36
Speaker 1: throughout the year, and I was just thinking the other night,
4:38
Speaker 1: I was actually laying in bed, you know, thinking about
4:40
Speaker 1: all sorts of stuff, and I thought to myself that
4:43
Speaker 1: it would be a good idea to go back and
4:45
Speaker 1: listen to all of last year's or maybe even the
4:47
Speaker 1: year before all of those radio episodes, because I think
4:51
Speaker 1: you can start to notice trends or different correlations and
4:56
Speaker 1: then look for those things in the future and apply
4:58
Speaker 1: what we learned from those guys. So, for example, if
5:02
Speaker 1: you've got a hunt the beginning of October, go back
5:05
Speaker 1: and listen to those episodes around that time frame last
5:08
Speaker 1: year and around that time frame the year before, and
5:10
Speaker 1: you're gonna hear from Joe Blow and Missouri and you're
5:12
Speaker 1: here from Ben in Michigan. You're gonna hear from Steve
5:15
Speaker 1: and Georgia, and they're gonna talk about what we had
5:18
Speaker 1: this condition coming in, we had this front coming in,
5:20
Speaker 1: we had this thing happening, and this is what we
5:23
Speaker 1: saw or this is how I worked on it, or
5:24
Speaker 1: this is what I tried to do because of that,
5:27
Speaker 1: And I'm betting that there will be things you hear
5:29
Speaker 1: about from those past years that would be applicable to
5:32
Speaker 1: what you have coming up. Um. So I think even
5:35
Speaker 1: though it's you know, speaking to specific things happening in
5:38
Speaker 1: the year two sixteen and the year two thousand and seventeen, right,
5:41
Speaker 1: there's these patterns that repeat every year where this front
5:44
Speaker 1: moved in on October one and this is what happened,
5:46
Speaker 1: and four guys saw similar things. So this year, if
5:49
Speaker 1: a similar front rules in at the same kind of
5:51
Speaker 1: time frame, or if the similar situation with the hard
5:55
Speaker 1: mass crop or something, you can apply that to what's
5:57
Speaker 1: coming up. Um, At least in my head, I was
6:01
Speaker 1: thinking that might be helpful even for me, UM, since
6:04
Speaker 1: I haven't heard those in so long. I'm thinking that
6:06
Speaker 1: I might do that on my upcoming drive home from Montana,
6:10
Speaker 1: I might go binge listen radio episodes and see if
6:12
Speaker 1: I can't pick something new out of that. Yeah, And
6:15
Speaker 1: a good example of that is this week we're talking
6:18
Speaker 1: to Mike con Sucker Missouri. Well, last year in Missouri,
6:21
Speaker 1: he tagged a really big buck at the end of September,
6:24
Speaker 1: and I asked him in our interview, is said, is
6:26
Speaker 1: there anything that you can take away from last year's
6:28
Speaker 1: hunt and apply to And he said, yeah, there's there's
6:32
Speaker 1: a cold front that is timed very similar from this
6:36
Speaker 1: year to last year, and that's when it's going to
6:39
Speaker 1: be his first hunt of the year coming up here
6:41
Speaker 1: at the end of the week. So, just like you said,
6:44
Speaker 1: you know, there are things from years past you can
6:47
Speaker 1: apply to this year. And uh going back and touching
6:50
Speaker 1: on like that acorn crop thing. Tony had told me
6:53
Speaker 1: off air that a good indicator in Minnesota for them
6:57
Speaker 1: regarding like the mass crap available is the number of deers.
7:03
Speaker 1: Excuse me, the number of bear harvested in this season.
7:07
Speaker 1: They're down thirty percent right now, and that would be
7:09
Speaker 1: due to many of the deer. Excuse me, many of
7:13
Speaker 1: the bear killed in Minnesota are killed on bait piles.
7:16
Speaker 1: But if there are a bunch of acorns and other
7:19
Speaker 1: natural food sources available, those hunters can't find those bear
7:23
Speaker 1: on the bait piles because they have no reason to
7:26
Speaker 1: come into them. And bear and deer largely eat the
7:29
Speaker 1: same things. And so with that harvest being way down
7:33
Speaker 1: this year, you know, that's a good indicator that these
7:36
Speaker 1: deer have a lot of food sources available as well.
7:38
Speaker 1: So those northern states, uh, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, it's something
7:43
Speaker 1: you're probably gonna be battling, uh, you know all season
7:46
Speaker 1: this year when I had when I was out in
7:48
Speaker 1: late August doing some work, just loaded the oaks are
7:52
Speaker 1: just loaded with acorns and dropping them. And I can
7:55
Speaker 1: see where on my some of my trail cameras that
7:57
Speaker 1: I've got. I've got some cameras pointing out into a
7:59
Speaker 1: food plot, but then there's also oaks on the back
8:02
Speaker 1: side of the food plot. And in one of these
8:04
Speaker 1: cameras specifically that checked a couple of weeks ago, I
8:06
Speaker 1: had it pointed at the plot. These deer were coming through.
8:09
Speaker 1: It didn't even seem like they were stopping in the
8:10
Speaker 1: food plot. All they were heading right to that oak tree.
8:13
Speaker 1: And then there will be five six deer all right
8:15
Speaker 1: underneath that oak, eating the acorns, not touching the plots.
8:18
Speaker 1: So I think that if you're trying to focus on
8:21
Speaker 1: a green food source or some little food plot or
8:23
Speaker 1: something here in the next few weeks or early October,
8:26
Speaker 1: to your point spencer, you might not see the number
8:28
Speaker 1: of deer you would hope because they're gonna be back
8:31
Speaker 1: in that timber. So I'll be interested to hear what
8:33
Speaker 1: everybody has to say, and especially in the coming weeks.
8:35
Speaker 1: Once I start hunting in October, I know it's going
8:38
Speaker 1: to impact me because I have some spots set up
8:40
Speaker 1: for the early season trying to get them on these
8:42
Speaker 1: little food sources. But it's probably not gonna work out.
8:46
Speaker 1: I think it's either you're you're gonna have to wait,
8:48
Speaker 1: or you're gonna have to dive in there. If you've
8:50
Speaker 1: got a safe way to hunt into that timber when
8:52
Speaker 1: they're on those oaks, UM, that's gonna change things up
8:55
Speaker 1: for people. One final thing regarding food sources that I
8:58
Speaker 1: want to touch on and lug a little bit is
9:01
Speaker 1: on my blog rout fresh, I just wrote about, um,
9:04
Speaker 1: whether or not it's true that deer won't eat yellow soybeans.
9:07
Speaker 1: I think that's something we've heard a ton of people say.
9:10
Speaker 1: And you talk to hunters and they say, oh, you know,
9:13
Speaker 1: not seeing much right now the beans are turning. But
9:15
Speaker 1: I think that there's a lot of misconceptions around um,
9:19
Speaker 1: that statement that deer won't eat yellow soybeans. So so
9:22
Speaker 1: go check out rut fresh. You'll find that as the
9:25
Speaker 1: latest blog where I kind of talk about, UM, what
9:27
Speaker 1: I think is actually going on there with the phenomenon
9:31
Speaker 1: that people think that dear will hammer soybeans when they're
9:34
Speaker 1: green or brown but not yellow. And with that, I
9:37
Speaker 1: think we go into the episode and get to our
9:39
Speaker 1: first caller, tell me sounds good. Before we get to
9:42
Speaker 1: our first update, let's pause for a word from our
9:44
Speaker 1: sponsors at White Tail Properties. This week with white Tail Properties,
9:49
Speaker 1: we are drawned by Tony Hansen, a land specialists out
9:52
Speaker 1: of Michigan, and Tony is gonna be telling us about
9:55
Speaker 1: what factors matter most on a property in high pressure
9:59
Speaker 1: areas well. To me, it's it's a variety. So even
10:03
Speaker 1: though I mean I own and kind of hunt a
10:06
Speaker 1: lot of small properties, you got to look forward a
10:10
Speaker 1: mix of things you need. You need food for sure,
10:13
Speaker 1: but you need cover probably even more. So, you know,
10:17
Speaker 1: I need to have all of the pieces that the
10:20
Speaker 1: deer needs because I don't want them traveling very far,
10:22
Speaker 1: and I don't want them to feel like they have
10:24
Speaker 1: to travel very far because you know, especially during our
10:28
Speaker 1: gun season when there's you know, nearly a million guys
10:31
Speaker 1: out there, if a deer moves, it's it's got a
10:35
Speaker 1: real good jance of getting shot. So I try to
10:37
Speaker 1: find properties that have everything you need right there. And yes,
10:41
Speaker 1: neighborhood matters, but it doesn't matter quite as much as
10:45
Speaker 1: what you can, you know, do right there on your
10:46
Speaker 1: own property. So you want to make sure that you
10:48
Speaker 1: have food and cover and um, you know, betting areas,
10:52
Speaker 1: security places and actuaries are a big thing with me too.
10:56
Speaker 1: So I look for a lot of variety and that's
10:58
Speaker 1: in the properties. If you'd like to learn more and
11:02
Speaker 1: to see the properties that Tony currently has listed for sale,
11:06
Speaker 1: visit white Tail properties dot com. Backslash Hansen that's h
11:12
Speaker 1: A N S E n Are And joining us on
11:16
Speaker 1: the line first is Tony Peterson from bow Hunter Magazine
11:19
Speaker 1: in Minnesota. Tony in Minnesota, what would you say the
11:22
Speaker 1: buck activity has been lately on a scale of one
11:25
Speaker 1: to ten, um, I would say, you know, we're probably
11:29
Speaker 1: sitting at about five. Say we're right in the middle
11:33
Speaker 1: right now, you know, I mean it's it's been real hot.
11:36
Speaker 1: We gotta we got a cold front coming in that
11:37
Speaker 1: will help. But you know, right around the opener, there's
11:40
Speaker 1: always some movement you've ben find, if you know, if
11:42
Speaker 1: you know where to sit, and even if it's hot
11:44
Speaker 1: like it's been, you can find something a real green
11:48
Speaker 1: field or or a little water source to sit over
11:50
Speaker 1: where you'll see some box if you're doing it right well.
11:53
Speaker 1: In Tony Peterson fashion, you filled your tag in Minnesota
11:57
Speaker 1: very quickly. Tell us a little bit about that haunted,
11:59
Speaker 1: a little bit about that setup. Um, yeah, you know
12:02
Speaker 1: opening night it was it was eight eight degrees when
12:04
Speaker 1: I got out of the truck, and I intended to
12:06
Speaker 1: go sit a a little staging area and playoffs some acorns.
12:10
Speaker 1: Is deer moved down to the fields. But on the
12:13
Speaker 1: way in I had had a different stand I had
12:17
Speaker 1: to walk past, and it was on this on the
12:19
Speaker 1: south southa field, you know that I put up for
12:21
Speaker 1: a gimme hoping I can kill one early season and
12:25
Speaker 1: there's so much deer sign getting in there that I
12:28
Speaker 1: was like, I don't I don't really think I should
12:29
Speaker 1: be walking past this stand. And it was hot. I
12:33
Speaker 1: knew the wind was right, and I knew there would
12:35
Speaker 1: be some deer coming into that green field at out
12:37
Speaker 1: Southall Field, and so I sat up there and had
12:40
Speaker 1: a couple of bucks, and some does come out, and
12:43
Speaker 1: the biggest buck in the group offered me a shot
12:45
Speaker 1: and I was out, you know, at seven o'clock at
12:48
Speaker 1: night on opening night. So that's how that shook out.
12:52
Speaker 1: That was a well executed han Tony. I assumed you
12:56
Speaker 1: would get it done opening weekend and you did. So
12:58
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit more about the food so
13:00
Speaker 1: versus in Minnesota right now. What are those white tail
13:02
Speaker 1: focusing on here in mid September. Um. You know, in Minnesota,
13:06
Speaker 1: it's like a lot of places, a lot of states
13:08
Speaker 1: around here right now, there's an abundance of food, and
13:11
Speaker 1: you know, if you could get on the right apple
13:12
Speaker 1: tree or the you know, the right white oak, you'd
13:14
Speaker 1: be you'd probably be on fire. But generally when it's
13:19
Speaker 1: this hot, I just I like something green. If if
13:22
Speaker 1: I'm not hunting water, I like the off or something nice.
13:24
Speaker 1: If you could get like maybe a late planted soybean
13:27
Speaker 1: field where they're still eating some of the leaves, that
13:30
Speaker 1: that can be a good thing. But just something nice
13:32
Speaker 1: and green that isn't dried out because they're looking for
13:34
Speaker 1: some moisture. I mean that that's my fish in anyway,
13:38
Speaker 1: it seemed like most of the country had a large
13:40
Speaker 1: mass crop last year. Did Minnesota have that as well?
13:43
Speaker 1: With plenty of acorns on the sure they did. You know,
13:47
Speaker 1: it changes every year, it feels like, but last year
13:50
Speaker 1: felt like we had a lot of acorns. In this year,
13:52
Speaker 1: we definitely have a ton of acorns. So how do
13:55
Speaker 1: you think that will affect things going into the end
13:57
Speaker 1: of September in the beginning of October for deer of
14:00
Speaker 1: me um. I think you'll be dealing with some some
14:03
Speaker 1: staging area stuff. You know. That's the way that the
14:05
Speaker 1: acorns set up in a lot of places, or the
14:07
Speaker 1: oak trees I should say is you know if if
14:11
Speaker 1: as as there's fewer courses out there, they become even
14:15
Speaker 1: more important and they can they can get a lot
14:18
Speaker 1: of good nutrition feed under one tree. And so it's
14:22
Speaker 1: kind of a kind of a deal where you might
14:25
Speaker 1: not kill that field edge buck in a couple of
14:26
Speaker 1: weeks because it's you know, there's been a lot of
14:28
Speaker 1: pressure already or whatever your your specific situation is. But
14:32
Speaker 1: if you can find those acorns where they're where they're
14:35
Speaker 1: hitting them right now, you know, if you can get
14:37
Speaker 1: in and scout right now and hanging a hunt or
14:40
Speaker 1: for the next two weeks or so, that's that's going
14:43
Speaker 1: to be important. Um. Those those acorns definitely will play
14:45
Speaker 1: into the play into most strategies, I would think. And
14:49
Speaker 1: do you think that abundance of acorns would make it
14:51
Speaker 1: easier or harder to kill an early season buck in
14:55
Speaker 1: the morning. Uh, I don't know if it makes it
14:59
Speaker 1: any easier, right. I don't like when they have lots
15:01
Speaker 1: and lots of options. I would rather have them only
15:04
Speaker 1: have a couple of trees that they could go hit.
15:06
Speaker 1: But it's you know, it's just all about your specific situation.
15:10
Speaker 1: If you can get in and find the one that
15:11
Speaker 1: they're hitting, and it's not gonna be you know, run
15:14
Speaker 1: a trail camera because by the time you're running a
15:16
Speaker 1: camera and checking the pictures and seeing what's going on,
15:18
Speaker 1: that might be old. It's gonna be you know, hike
15:21
Speaker 1: in with a stand on your back, or going into
15:23
Speaker 1: a nice little rain shower and take a look around
15:25
Speaker 1: and where they're feeding, because it's it's pretty obvious when
15:28
Speaker 1: you find a tree that they're pounding or or a
15:30
Speaker 1: set of trees that they're founding. And so it's going
15:32
Speaker 1: to be kind of a you know, in the moment
15:35
Speaker 1: type of hunt. You were headed to Wisconsin here at
15:38
Speaker 1: the end of the week, what are you going to
15:39
Speaker 1: be focusing on then? Um, I'm gonna be I'm gonna
15:42
Speaker 1: be hunting some public land that's got it's bigwood stuff. Um.
15:47
Speaker 1: But the place I'm most curious about hunting has a
15:51
Speaker 1: soybean field kind of to it. That's private field. But
15:54
Speaker 1: I think I can catch them coming and going. And
15:56
Speaker 1: I do have one ridge scouted out that's got some
16:00
Speaker 1: milk trees on it in a specific spots. So I'm
16:02
Speaker 1: gonna when I get over there, I'm gonna go take
16:04
Speaker 1: a look at the sign and just kind of make
16:05
Speaker 1: my decision then see what's see where I think I
16:08
Speaker 1: should be going forward. Then this next week or so,
16:11
Speaker 1: what do you think that bucket activity is going to
16:13
Speaker 1: be on a scale of one to ten in Minnesota?
16:16
Speaker 1: I would say we could get to about a seven.
16:18
Speaker 1: That cold front coming in should should crank things up
16:21
Speaker 1: a little bit and get some earlier movement in the evenings,
16:23
Speaker 1: and I think I think it's going to get better.
16:25
Speaker 1: All right, Tony, Well, good luck on the rest of
16:26
Speaker 1: your public land adventures, and thanks for joining me. Awesome,
16:30
Speaker 1: thank you alright and joining us on the line. Next
16:34
Speaker 1: is t j Unger from the Virtue TV in Montana. Now,
16:37
Speaker 1: t J in Montana, what would you say the bucket
16:39
Speaker 1: activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten? Spencer,
16:43
Speaker 1: So this is day three for us out here at
16:45
Speaker 1: Powder River Outfitters in Montana. UM, so we've had a
16:49
Speaker 1: few good fits um concentration so far as deer numbers
16:53
Speaker 1: are very very high, but so far as buck activity,
16:56
Speaker 1: I would give it a five out of ten right now.
16:58
Speaker 1: We can talk about the variable to you know why
17:01
Speaker 1: we think that is. But um, current situation that we've
17:03
Speaker 1: seen over the last couple of days probably a five
17:05
Speaker 1: out of two. And and so what are some of
17:07
Speaker 1: those variables? Is that the weather, some of the food sources.
17:10
Speaker 1: What do you think is providing that mediocre deer movement
17:13
Speaker 1: right now? Yeah? So, um, you know, there's plenty of
17:18
Speaker 1: food out here. There's there's alfalfa all over the stretch
17:22
Speaker 1: of of you know, the majority of the land that
17:24
Speaker 1: we're hunting, but um, we're hitting some pretty dry times.
17:28
Speaker 1: And with those dry times, uh, it's it's pretty unseasonably warm. Um.
17:33
Speaker 1: So just like anywhere else in the country, I personally
17:37
Speaker 1: think that the number one variable to stop you know,
17:40
Speaker 1: mature deer movement is heat. So when it's hot hot,
17:43
Speaker 1: they're just bedding down. Um. You know. At the same time,
17:47
Speaker 1: we've had a couple of encounters. Um, each one of
17:49
Speaker 1: the groups out here is at least you know, seeing
17:51
Speaker 1: a good shooter um on each sit But just numbers,
17:54
Speaker 1: you know, we're not seeing the numbers that we typically
17:56
Speaker 1: would um at a place like Powder River. But um,
18:00
Speaker 1: those hot TIMPs um should come to a pretty pretty
18:03
Speaker 1: solid stand still. Um. And like I said, we're seeing
18:06
Speaker 1: a lot of deer activity. I think on our first
18:08
Speaker 1: scent sit, Brady and I saw I don't roughly seventy deer,
18:12
Speaker 1: but they're all, you know, pretty immature. We're talking to
18:15
Speaker 1: those and fawns, uh yearling bucks and maybe some two
18:18
Speaker 1: year old bucks. Um. So so activity overall is really
18:22
Speaker 1: really high. But we're in a very game rich environment. Um.
18:26
Speaker 1: You know, I I don't think that there's been a
18:28
Speaker 1: day that's gone by where somebody didn't see you know, deer.
18:32
Speaker 1: So Um, each of our sits, we're seeing you know,
18:35
Speaker 1: high numbers, but just not yielding those mature animals like
18:38
Speaker 1: it normally would. So we do have uh some weather
18:41
Speaker 1: changes coming in. Actually tonight we're supposed to get a
18:44
Speaker 1: front um moving in and change things up. They haven't
18:46
Speaker 1: seen rain out here and brought us Montana and over
18:49
Speaker 1: three weeks. So, like I said, very dry conditions. Um,
18:52
Speaker 1: deer sitting tight at least the mature uh, mature animals.
18:56
Speaker 1: They're heading to to water and into those food sources
18:59
Speaker 1: after dark. Um, it makes sense the same thing that
19:01
Speaker 1: any of us would do. When it's super hot, we're
19:03
Speaker 1: staying in the air conditioning and moving out to that
19:06
Speaker 1: water hole, you know, after after the sunset. Now, as
19:09
Speaker 1: you would on say one of your Midwest properties, you're
19:12
Speaker 1: kind of hunting from bed to food. But how is
19:15
Speaker 1: it different in eastern Montana than say it would be
19:17
Speaker 1: in Indiana. Yeah, so it's it's different very significantly out here. So, uh,
19:25
Speaker 1: we primarily are hunting the Midwest. This is the first
19:27
Speaker 1: opportunity I've I've had to come out here to Powder River.
19:30
Speaker 1: Our group has sounded out here for several years. But
19:33
Speaker 1: you know, right off the bat, Uh, it's a clear difference.
19:36
Speaker 1: You know, we're hunting farms are ranches that are made
19:40
Speaker 1: up of you know, ten sections plus, so a minimum
19:43
Speaker 1: of like six thousand acres on each of these ranches
19:47
Speaker 1: that that were set and stands on. So and of those,
19:50
Speaker 1: we're talking hundreds and hundreds of thousands of acres of
19:52
Speaker 1: alf alpha um, whereas in you know, the Midwest and
19:56
Speaker 1: in Indiana where we're at, we're hunting you know, maybe
19:58
Speaker 1: a couple hundred piece, like couple hundred acre piece um
20:02
Speaker 1: made up of corn and beans. So you know, at home,
20:05
Speaker 1: we're focusing on travel corridors and travel routes this time
20:08
Speaker 1: of year. Um, they're stripped in velvet at home pretty
20:11
Speaker 1: pretty steadily. So um, we're still looking at those you know,
20:14
Speaker 1: those long stretches where they're coming out of the heavy timber,
20:17
Speaker 1: going through staging areas and then into the agg fields.
20:20
Speaker 1: Whereas here it's it's pretty tight you know, from river
20:24
Speaker 1: uh into that that thick, thick batting and then we're
20:27
Speaker 1: right on the edge of those alf alpha fields. So
20:30
Speaker 1: we're we are hunting that that edge habitat that you know,
20:33
Speaker 1: the dear love. But um, it's a much tighter spance
20:36
Speaker 1: between betting to their food source. Um. So because that,
20:41
Speaker 1: you know, coupled with the conditions that we that we
20:43
Speaker 1: have right now, Uh, Brady and I are are hunting
20:46
Speaker 1: afternoons only. Um, you know, the morning morning sits. Uh
20:51
Speaker 1: it's it's a little too risky. Um. If we were
20:54
Speaker 1: trying to slip in there, they'd still be on that
20:55
Speaker 1: alfalfa and you know, we would risk blowing all those
20:58
Speaker 1: deer out out of the countries. So um, afternoon sits
21:02
Speaker 1: for us. Um. But like I said, that that weather
21:05
Speaker 1: pattern should change pretty significantly over the next couple of days,
21:07
Speaker 1: we're seeing some colder attempts UM, I think low in
21:10
Speaker 1: the forties. We've got a about a one eighty change
21:13
Speaker 1: in in wind directions. So um. You know, over the
21:17
Speaker 1: last couple of days, Brady and I both we've we've
21:20
Speaker 1: been climbing innity stands and hunting as marginal as a
21:23
Speaker 1: marginal wind can be. UM. Our first set, we had
21:26
Speaker 1: a really good buck come out about maybe twenty minutes
21:30
Speaker 1: before before last light or before legal light was over.
21:34
Speaker 1: But um just caught just caught enough of our wind
21:37
Speaker 1: to to turn around and head back to betting until
21:39
Speaker 1: it was safe to come back out. So UM, we'll see,
21:42
Speaker 1: you know. I I expect things to continue to improve. UM.
21:46
Speaker 1: Like I said, everyone in camp has had some some
21:48
Speaker 1: good encounters UM, and numbers are still very very high
21:52
Speaker 1: on on immatures. So I'm hoping that this change should,
21:56
Speaker 1: uh should bring those those mature, more more mature animals
21:59
Speaker 1: out a little better. Leier. Are you finding a lot
22:01
Speaker 1: of bucks are traveling on their own at this point?
22:03
Speaker 1: Are they still hung up in those bachelor groups? Yeah,
22:07
Speaker 1: funny thing, you know. So all the animals that we're
22:09
Speaker 1: seeing right now, UM are hard horns there you know,
22:12
Speaker 1: they've already stripped velvet. UM. Montana legalized trail cameras for
22:16
Speaker 1: for this year, so Powder River has been running some
22:19
Speaker 1: trail cameras as well. UM. And everything that we're seeing
22:22
Speaker 1: is is hard horned. UM. Some very young, very very immature,
22:26
Speaker 1: you know, like spikes are holding velvet. But that's to
22:28
Speaker 1: be expected. UM. With that, though, we are still seeing
22:32
Speaker 1: bachelor groups. UM. All of the bucks that Brady and
22:35
Speaker 1: I have seen, they've all been with other bucks. UM.
22:38
Speaker 1: Last evening, UH, one of our guys, Clint Schwak, who
22:41
Speaker 1: I'm sure you guys are familiar with. UM. Clint had
22:44
Speaker 1: a great set on the river. So UM again with
22:47
Speaker 1: these dry hot conditions, they're using these water sources and UM,
22:51
Speaker 1: just like anywhere else, you know, I think that they
22:54
Speaker 1: tend to to take ownership of you know, whether it's
22:57
Speaker 1: a bait site or agriculture site in Midwest, whatever it is,
23:01
Speaker 1: they tend to take, you know, take ownership of those spots.
23:04
Speaker 1: And last night clin hunting over right on the Powder River.
23:07
Speaker 1: And I think, um, you know, a good buck showed
23:10
Speaker 1: his dominance and in taking the ownership of that whole
23:13
Speaker 1: of that water hole on the river. UM, and and
23:16
Speaker 1: Clint had a good eight point step out and just
23:19
Speaker 1: act a little intimidated about something. Um and maybe thirty
23:22
Speaker 1: seconds later then the mature buck popped out, all bristled left,
23:25
Speaker 1: just like you know, he's ready to go, like we
23:27
Speaker 1: would expect to see. Um. But funny enough, they're still
23:31
Speaker 1: they're still group they're still grouped up out here in
23:33
Speaker 1: those bachelors bachelor pets. So we sound optimistic. What do
23:38
Speaker 1: you think that buck movement's gonna look like in the
23:39
Speaker 1: skill of one to ten in this next week or
23:41
Speaker 1: still from Montana? Well, we've we've been optimistic the whole time,
23:45
Speaker 1: just because we're in Powder River. You know, this is
23:48
Speaker 1: a world renowned place for any white tael hunter or
23:51
Speaker 1: any any hunter for that matter. Um, it's it's sportsman
23:54
Speaker 1: paradise out here. Um. You know, Brady and I are
23:57
Speaker 1: absolutely having to blast every sit. I think combined over
24:01
Speaker 1: the last three sits we've seen more out here and
24:03
Speaker 1: brought us Montana Powder River than we did combined all
24:07
Speaker 1: you know last season. So there's just high numbers which
24:11
Speaker 1: keeps us happy and and optimistic about what might pop
24:14
Speaker 1: out at any minute. But with these weather changes, you know,
24:17
Speaker 1: I think we go from probably a five over the
24:19
Speaker 1: last few days too, I would expect things to bump
24:22
Speaker 1: up around seven to eight even um if if the
24:25
Speaker 1: weather holds, if the forecast holds to what it is, UM,
24:29
Speaker 1: you know, we may get a little bit of moisture UM,
24:32
Speaker 1: but definitely a change in them in the wind and
24:35
Speaker 1: and TIMPs. So it might be that bump that that
24:38
Speaker 1: we all like to see this time of year. UM.
24:40
Speaker 1: So I say over the next few days, probably all
24:44
Speaker 1: let's give it a strong seven and a half. What
24:45
Speaker 1: do you think about that? That sounds good? All right?
24:47
Speaker 1: T J, Well, good luck to you and the rest
24:49
Speaker 1: of the Virtue TV crew. Thanks for joining me. Absolutely.
24:51
Speaker 1: I appreciate the opportunity. You guys have a great week
24:53
Speaker 1: and uh, and stay safe out there alright and joining
24:57
Speaker 1: us online. Next is Pat Cutter from Red Hand Outdoor
25:00
Speaker 1: Company in New Jersey. Pat in New Jersey, what would
25:04
Speaker 1: you say the bucket activities ben lately? On a scale
25:06
Speaker 1: of one to ten UM, I would say, Uh, if
25:10
Speaker 1: you're talking about the past couple of days, I would
25:13
Speaker 1: say it's more like a four or five out of
25:16
Speaker 1: out of ten. I would say last week, um, opening
25:20
Speaker 1: weekend was very good. Um, probably like an eight out
25:23
Speaker 1: of ten. But the past couple of days it's it's
25:25
Speaker 1: slowed down a bit pretty much due to the white
25:28
Speaker 1: oaks dropping. So now you guys have had some recent
25:31
Speaker 1: success at Red Hand Outdoor Company hunting in New Jersey.
25:35
Speaker 1: On that opener, tell us a little bit about those
25:36
Speaker 1: setups that you had. Yeah, um, my, my buddy Brian,
25:41
Speaker 1: he killed um a four and a half year old UM.
25:44
Speaker 1: I think was September tenth, I believe, and uh he's
25:48
Speaker 1: he was hunting um a suburban area and uh it's
25:52
Speaker 1: legal to bait here, so he was. He was running
25:54
Speaker 1: a bait on about six six acre piece um all
25:58
Speaker 1: all summer long. He had two shooters on there, and
26:01
Speaker 1: one of them being this uh a split rowl eight pointer.
26:05
Speaker 1: So um he made a perfect shot on that deer.
26:07
Speaker 1: And and then the next night, UM, I was actually
26:11
Speaker 1: hunting about an hour away. I lease about a three
26:14
Speaker 1: acre agg farm. It's alfalfa and corn pretty much. And uh,
26:20
Speaker 1: I've I have a number of shooters on that farm
26:23
Speaker 1: this year. And the one the one field I witnessed
26:27
Speaker 1: on Sunday night. Uh, we're your four shooters come out
26:31
Speaker 1: on the north end of the field, and um, we
26:34
Speaker 1: got a south wind on Tuesday, so I was able
26:36
Speaker 1: to slip in there on that north end, get a
26:40
Speaker 1: stand in one of the cedar trees and uh, let's
26:42
Speaker 1: able to capitalize on a forty five yard shot on
26:45
Speaker 1: a five year old that we know is lump face.
26:48
Speaker 1: If you were still hunting right now, do you think
26:50
Speaker 1: the field edge would still be relevant for you on
26:52
Speaker 1: that farm? No, I don't. Um My, my brother is
26:56
Speaker 1: actually on the lease as well. At the Agg fields
26:58
Speaker 1: have pretty much dried up and that's due to the
27:01
Speaker 1: white oaks are really heavily dropping right now. And you
27:05
Speaker 1: know he's hunted a couple of times and the deer
27:07
Speaker 1: activity has just you know, John straight downhill. Um, he
27:14
Speaker 1: did hunt and oak there. There's a cattle pasture leading
27:18
Speaker 1: into one of these south Alpha fields and there's several
27:22
Speaker 1: big white oaks in there. And he did hunt out
27:24
Speaker 1: of one of those white oaks last night and he
27:26
Speaker 1: saw I think eight or ten deer. No no shooters,
27:30
Speaker 1: but they were they were feeding on the oaks heavy.
27:32
Speaker 1: And when do you think that alf Alpha field is
27:35
Speaker 1: going to be useful to hunt again? Do you think
27:37
Speaker 1: within a week or so? Or might it be October
27:40
Speaker 1: before you're doing some setups there. I would say from
27:43
Speaker 1: past experience, early October they'll start to get pretty good again. Um,
27:48
Speaker 1: you can still catch deer here here and there on them,
27:51
Speaker 1: but um, you know Oaks is where it's at right now.
27:55
Speaker 1: And are you guys catching any weather from Florence? Uh,
27:58
Speaker 1: now that it's made landfall or not? Yes, we are.
28:02
Speaker 1: Actually I'm sitting in the truck getting poured on right now. Um.
28:06
Speaker 1: The storm actually looped up and now we're catching the
28:09
Speaker 1: rain from it right now. It rains pretty heavy yesterday
28:12
Speaker 1: afternoon and it should be lightening up this afternoon. Um,
28:16
Speaker 1: so me and my brother actually going out this afternoon.
28:18
Speaker 1: We got pictures on a cell cam last night of
28:22
Speaker 1: two shooters and another part of the farm and like
28:25
Speaker 1: kind of like an oak bottom. So we're gonna try
28:27
Speaker 1: to capitalize on that tonight. Do you put any stuck
28:30
Speaker 1: into what the moon might be doing? I know later
28:32
Speaker 1: this week, Um, we have a fees a phase that
28:35
Speaker 1: some hunters are excited about. But how about you guys
28:38
Speaker 1: in New Jersey? I do I do believe in it. Um.
28:41
Speaker 1: This week we are approaching that full moon and you know,
28:44
Speaker 1: as you've heard, probably marjury say a hundred times that
28:47
Speaker 1: leading up to that full moon um and and enhances
28:50
Speaker 1: that feeding pattern. And uh, I do agree with that.
28:53
Speaker 1: So if you're out there and you and you're on
28:56
Speaker 1: some some hot white oaks, I think you know, this
28:58
Speaker 1: week's a good time to get out there going forward,
29:01
Speaker 1: then it's next week or so. What do you think
29:03
Speaker 1: that bucket activity will be on a scale of one
29:05
Speaker 1: to ten in New Jersey? If you're on some good,
29:09
Speaker 1: good white oaks, I think that the hunting could be
29:12
Speaker 1: probably a six or seven out of ten. But if not,
29:15
Speaker 1: I think you're looking at more of a four out
29:18
Speaker 1: of ten. So it all it all depends if you're
29:20
Speaker 1: in the right spot pretty much. All right, Pat, Well,
29:23
Speaker 1: good luck to rest this season, and congrats on that
29:25
Speaker 1: great buck that you and your buddy got. Thanks for
29:27
Speaker 1: joining me. Thanks bets to appreciate it alright and joining
29:31
Speaker 1: us on the line. Last is Mike hahn Sucker from
29:33
Speaker 1: heart Lambo Hunter in Missouri. Now, Mike in Missouri, what
29:37
Speaker 1: would you say the bucket activity has been lately on
29:39
Speaker 1: a scale of one to ten? Oh? I probably say,
29:43
Speaker 1: you know, uh, probably six or seven. Haven't been that
29:47
Speaker 1: been that great? Uh? The deer some moving that is
29:51
Speaker 1: moving very last wide of things because it's just been
29:53
Speaker 1: super super hot. What is your strategy then, Um, mid
29:58
Speaker 1: September like this when it's super we're hot. If you
30:00
Speaker 1: were trying to get a mature about on the drought,
30:04
Speaker 1: I mean, we're we This is actually one of my
30:05
Speaker 1: favorite times of you to hunt. And um, it doesn't
30:08
Speaker 1: have to be you know, perfect weather to deer. You know,
30:11
Speaker 1: been doing the same thing all summer long. They've been there.
30:14
Speaker 1: You know, they're used to the heat too. So UM,
30:16
Speaker 1: they're still moving, they're just not moving as early and
30:19
Speaker 1: as good as they would uh with a little front
30:22
Speaker 1: coming through. But we actually haven't been hunting yet here
30:25
Speaker 1: in Missouri. I've only been gauting in the past couple
30:27
Speaker 1: of nights, trying to make up for being being gone
30:30
Speaker 1: and being in Montana for the first two week of September.
30:32
Speaker 1: So trying to put the legwork in now. But some
30:37
Speaker 1: of our guys that have been out hunting are seeing
30:40
Speaker 1: you know, decent activity. Um. I set the biggest factor
30:43
Speaker 1: right now for for us as the acorns are starting
30:46
Speaker 1: to drop here in Missouri and you know what typically
30:50
Speaker 1: would be being filled with thirties or forty deer and
30:53
Speaker 1: it every night is you know, we're seeing keep to
30:56
Speaker 1: ten you know, fewer deer and um, they're just not
31:00
Speaker 1: keen on the beans as much. They're starting to turn
31:01
Speaker 1: as well, depending on when they got planted. Um, the
31:04
Speaker 1: one who got planted earlier in the year started starting
31:07
Speaker 1: to turn a little bit, and so that that has
31:08
Speaker 1: effected just as well. So now I know you mentioned
31:11
Speaker 1: you've been scouting these last couple of evenings, but do
31:14
Speaker 1: you also have some value in trail cameras this time
31:16
Speaker 1: of year as well? Or if you're going to kill
31:18
Speaker 1: a buck, is it because you've laid your own eyes
31:20
Speaker 1: on him. Yeah, I mean trail cameras obviously are extremely important. Um,
31:26
Speaker 1: but you know it's just time of year you're really
31:29
Speaker 1: tough to get them on camera. I mean there's just
31:30
Speaker 1: a lot of food and a lot of places and
31:32
Speaker 1: so um, you know there's typical you know, we have
31:35
Speaker 1: these typical spots of um, you know, crossings and areas
31:41
Speaker 1: where we get pretty solid trail campictures year round. But um,
31:45
Speaker 1: when it comes to like the soybeans, like you know,
31:46
Speaker 1: the buck can come out of the field and so
31:48
Speaker 1: many different places and just feed down the middle of
31:50
Speaker 1: the field, but really can be a difficult time of
31:52
Speaker 1: year to get pictures of them. So I love being
31:55
Speaker 1: able to glass and being able to see the whole
31:57
Speaker 1: field and and and kind of sit back on the
32:00
Speaker 1: are and uh then scat it out. And a lot
32:02
Speaker 1: of times, you know, right now I'm doing that from
32:04
Speaker 1: the truck or from on foot. You know, I can
32:07
Speaker 1: like get up to advantage point to where I can
32:08
Speaker 1: see that, but um, a lot of times I'll do
32:10
Speaker 1: it from a from a stand that may be a standard.
32:13
Speaker 1: You know, you're probably not going to kill anything out
32:15
Speaker 1: of it, but you know, you get in there, set
32:16
Speaker 1: up at your bow, and and you never know, but
32:18
Speaker 1: it's looks nice as you know, you would be far
32:21
Speaker 1: enough away to where you can kind of last everything.
32:23
Speaker 1: And if you know you don't see anything close, you
32:25
Speaker 1: can slip out early, you know, undetected. So now, last season,
32:29
Speaker 1: you killed a big buck at the end of September.
32:32
Speaker 1: Is there anything from that hunt or or in seventeen
32:35
Speaker 1: that you think you could apply to late September this year? Yeah,
32:40
Speaker 1: I mean, I think, um, over the past ten years
32:45
Speaker 1: or so, I mean, I've had a ton of success
32:48
Speaker 1: the first week or two of Missouri season. UM, and
32:52
Speaker 1: it's one of my favorite time of the year to
32:53
Speaker 1: to hunt because you're you know, if you're turning specific bucks,
32:57
Speaker 1: they don't get any more patterable. Um, you're out there
33:00
Speaker 1: killing you know, any mature buck might be better during
33:02
Speaker 1: the rup, but if you're tarting one civic bucks, there's
33:04
Speaker 1: no better time than this time of year. Or so.
33:06
Speaker 1: Last year we just had really consistent weather the first
33:10
Speaker 1: two weeks of season. Just it wasn't this hot and
33:13
Speaker 1: that it is this year. But it was just solid
33:15
Speaker 1: like mid eighties or eighties, I believe all, you know,
33:18
Speaker 1: all the first two weeks, and we finally got a
33:21
Speaker 1: cold front. Um that that pushed through. There was a
33:24
Speaker 1: big enough you know system to make a difference than
33:26
Speaker 1: that with the that I killed that bucks. That was
33:27
Speaker 1: the first real real cold from the year. This year,
33:30
Speaker 1: it looks like that's gonna be coming for USA Missouri.
33:33
Speaker 1: UM Friday, So it's gonna be coming in Thursday, Thursday
33:36
Speaker 1: evening and thinking on Friday. So the highest goal from
33:39
Speaker 1: the nineties to the seventies, UM, so twenty degree swinging
33:43
Speaker 1: temperature is a huge, huge difference, And imagine a lot
33:47
Speaker 1: of deer go down this weekend. I know you guys
33:49
Speaker 1: do a great job of keeping tabs on all your
33:51
Speaker 1: deer with their bettinghere they're feeding stuff like that. Do
33:54
Speaker 1: you notice any betting changes from mid September here, maybe
33:58
Speaker 1: till mid October? Something metal make you guys change your
34:01
Speaker 1: strategy once the calendar turns. Yeah, I think it kind
34:05
Speaker 1: of just depends on a deer um. Actually, with a
34:08
Speaker 1: particular deer that I'm trying the key on right now.
34:11
Speaker 1: It's a deer that he summers on on our property
34:16
Speaker 1: every year, and then he many leaves and so he's
34:20
Speaker 1: I got pictured of them on September twelve, but I
34:22
Speaker 1: haven't seen him and got fictured of them since, and
34:23
Speaker 1: so I'm a little bit I'm a little bit worried.
34:26
Speaker 1: I'm assuming he's gone, which is fine, but he's the
34:29
Speaker 1: bucket I'm gonna focused on now. But I do have
34:31
Speaker 1: another deer um that I'm really anxious to see if
34:35
Speaker 1: he shows up, because he summers somewhere else and then
34:38
Speaker 1: shows up late September um on our property. So the
34:41
Speaker 1: deer definitely shift, you know, once they start shedding a velvet,
34:44
Speaker 1: they definitely move, and and they get a little more
34:46
Speaker 1: territorial and they change some of their habits and interesting
34:48
Speaker 1: to see, you know, monitoring trail cameras over the years,
34:52
Speaker 1: how consistent they are. I mean, I can tell you
34:54
Speaker 1: this buck is seven year old buck. I believe, um
34:58
Speaker 1: maybe six six or seven, but um he uh every
35:03
Speaker 1: single year, you know, within a few days is when
35:06
Speaker 1: he when when when he leaves the property, and then um,
35:09
Speaker 1: you know when he shows back up. It's always within
35:11
Speaker 1: a few days. So it's amazing how how they get
35:14
Speaker 1: in their habits and how they're patterns changed just like
35:17
Speaker 1: that every single year that wants exactly the same going forward.
35:20
Speaker 1: Then this next week or so, what do you think
35:22
Speaker 1: that Bucket TV will be on a scale of one
35:24
Speaker 1: to tending Missouri. Man, it's gonna be about as good
35:28
Speaker 1: as it gets in my opinion. I think this this weekend, Um,
35:31
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna see it up probably round of nine.
35:34
Speaker 1: How I guess, Um, you know Friday through Um, really
35:39
Speaker 1: you know there's a there's it warms back up a
35:41
Speaker 1: little bit um early next week and then another front
35:44
Speaker 1: comes is supposed to be coming through, so it go
35:46
Speaker 1: will be some variable variable weather which is good for
35:50
Speaker 1: the activity. So I'm look before we just spend some
35:53
Speaker 1: time in the field this next week. Alright, Mike, I
35:56
Speaker 1: like your confidence. Thanks for joining me, Thanks for having
35:59
Speaker 1: me a ship. And that concludes this week's episode of
36:04
Speaker 1: Wired to Haunt's Wrote Radio. A special thanks to Tony
36:07
Speaker 1: and t J. Patrick and Mike for joining me, and
36:10
Speaker 1: thank you guys for listening. As always, make sure you
36:12
Speaker 1: follow Wired Haunt on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and follow
36:16
Speaker 1: rout Fresh on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well. Good
36:19
Speaker 1: luck to everyone out there, and stay wired to Haunt.