Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 478: Rut Fresh Radio 11/10/2021 - Spencer Kills Two Bucks
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Welcome to Wired to Hunts rut Fresh Radio, bringing you
- 0:05Speaker 1: the latest reports from the White Tailed Woods and now
- 0:08Speaker 1: your host, Spencer new Hearth. This is Wired to Hunt's
- 0:14Speaker 1: rout Fresh Radio powered by First Light. I am your host,
- 0:17Speaker 1: Spencer new Hearth, and then this week we're talking about
- 0:19Speaker 1: rut hunting success stories. Welcome to Wired to Hunt's rout
- 0:40Speaker 1: Fresh Radio. This is episode four. I am Spencer new
- 0:45Speaker 1: Hearth and I am not joined by Mark Kenyon's week
- 0:47Speaker 1: because he is out on assignment filming something where he
- 0:49Speaker 1: doesn't have great service. But instead I'm joined by fellow
- 0:53Speaker 1: Wired Hunt contributor and Foundations host Tony Peterson. Now, an
- 0:58Speaker 1: update from last episode is when Mark and I had talked,
- 1:01Speaker 1: we had talked about the one week in November project
- 1:04Speaker 1: a little bit, and I had promised Mark that I
- 1:06Speaker 1: was gonna come home um and and record our next
- 1:09Speaker 1: episode of rout Fresh with two less buck tags in
- 1:12Speaker 1: my pocket. And that is what happened. I killed a
- 1:15Speaker 1: buck in Montana and in Wyoming UM and joining me
- 1:20Speaker 1: on that hunting and with the our crew of four
- 1:23Speaker 1: was Tony Peterson along with Mark and Clay Nucom and
- 1:26Speaker 1: Tony did something similar. He filled two buck tags in
- 1:30Speaker 1: Wisconsin and Minnesota. Now we're gonna be kind of light
- 1:33Speaker 1: and vague on the details, because um, it's gonna be
- 1:37Speaker 1: real damn exciting when these shows come out on YouTube
- 1:40Speaker 1: and when a different Wired Hunt episode comes out where
- 1:43Speaker 1: we talk about this project. But for now, Tony, I
- 1:46Speaker 1: want to hear just about the rutting activity that you
- 1:48Speaker 1: saw in Wisconsin and Minnesota over the last week. What
- 1:51Speaker 1: were seeing for daytime movement, for mature buck movement, for
- 1:55Speaker 1: signmaking filming out, and what was happening in that Great
- 1:58Speaker 1: Lakes region man for the for the buck movement, it
- 2:02Speaker 1: was excellent, seeing lots of cruisers, lots of chasing. Uh,
- 2:09Speaker 1: you know, I didn't see too many bucks laying down signed,
- 2:11Speaker 1: but I did see a few deer work scrapes and
- 2:14Speaker 1: and kind of hit him up when they were cruising through.
- 2:16Speaker 1: But just just for deer of all calibers covering ground,
- 2:20Speaker 1: it was real good. And when you killed that giant
- 2:23Speaker 1: buck on day one of our haunt, tell us about
- 2:26Speaker 1: that setup, why you were in that spot, and why
- 2:28Speaker 1: that buck was in that spot. I was in that
- 2:31Speaker 1: spot because it was sort of a centrally located hub
- 2:36Speaker 1: of three three kind of like wooded waterways to connect
- 2:40Speaker 1: huge blocks of timber, and so it was just, you know,
- 2:43Speaker 1: you look at it on aerial photography, you're like, man,
- 2:46Speaker 1: that's that's a place where deer should cruise. And we
- 2:50Speaker 1: just happened to have a really good wind for that
- 2:52Speaker 1: stand that a buddy and I hung the summer, and
- 2:55Speaker 1: that deer was I think actually think he had lost
- 2:58Speaker 1: the dope, but he was cruising the downwind side out
- 3:00Speaker 1: of a kind of a betting area and he was
- 3:02Speaker 1: just along the edge of a cornfield in the woods
- 3:05Speaker 1: in a way on one of those little travel routes
- 3:08Speaker 1: where they just you know they're going to go from
- 3:11Speaker 1: point A to B and they're gonna use cover, and
- 3:13Speaker 1: those those little wooded waterways they were the ticket. And
- 3:15Speaker 1: he was he came in hot and that's what he
- 3:18Speaker 1: was doing. He was just following that woodline. And I
- 3:21Speaker 1: think you said he was in July that you identified
- 3:23Speaker 1: the spot and you hung that tree stand. What was
- 3:27Speaker 1: about it in July that you saw that made you
- 3:29Speaker 1: think like, oh, this is gonna be the perfect spot
- 3:31Speaker 1: to be on November one. It actually started last year.
- 3:36Speaker 1: My buddy had some observations there and then I saw
- 3:40Speaker 1: really big dear kind of kind of corral a dough
- 3:43Speaker 1: in there, probably on like November five or six, and
- 3:47Speaker 1: so we've we spent some time talking about it in
- 3:49Speaker 1: spring and looking at it, and then went in this
- 3:52Speaker 1: summer because it was like, that's that's kind of a spot.
- 3:56Speaker 1: That's just a hub where bucks could come in from
- 3:58Speaker 1: a bunch of different directions, but if they if they
- 4:01Speaker 1: used those waterways, they're gonna end up there. And so
- 4:03Speaker 1: it was, you know, it was it was partially EA
- 4:06Speaker 1: scouting and it was partially in season observation that that
- 4:10Speaker 1: put that spot together for us. All right, So that
- 4:13Speaker 1: giant eight pointer you killed was November one in Minnesota.
- 4:17Speaker 1: Now let's talk about your hunting Wisconsin. I think it
- 4:19Speaker 1: was November five. You tagged another buck there. Tell us
- 4:22Speaker 1: about that set up and why you were there and
- 4:24Speaker 1: why that buck was there. That was a different setup.
- 4:27Speaker 1: That was a would it would it draw? Pretty big valley?
- 4:31Speaker 1: Actually that has a pond in the bottom, and I
- 4:34Speaker 1: knew there'd be some cruising in there, but I thought,
- 4:37Speaker 1: you know, we we had that that blip a warm
- 4:39Speaker 1: weather where it was getting into the sixties that in
- 4:41Speaker 1: the afternoon, and so I was like, I know the
- 4:45Speaker 1: cruise here, there's a couple of pinch points around this pond,
- 4:47Speaker 1: but it's also one of the few water sources in
- 4:50Speaker 1: that area that I was in, And so I had
- 4:53Speaker 1: I had a bunch of stuff going for me, and
- 4:55Speaker 1: you know, good cover as well, because you know, this
- 4:57Speaker 1: time of year, there's a lot of people out, a
- 4:59Speaker 1: lot of rusher you know, everybody wants to get their rut,
- 5:02Speaker 1: their rut hunt going, And so I was like, this
- 5:04Speaker 1: thing has a bunch of different stuff going for it.
- 5:06Speaker 1: You know, the same kind of deal went down and
- 5:09Speaker 1: hung that this summer in anticipation of this week, and
- 5:13Speaker 1: it just worked out really well. Yeah, And speaking of
- 5:16Speaker 1: hunting pressure, like, how do things differ for you, Tony
- 5:19Speaker 1: when you're hunting the rut on a piece of public
- 5:22Speaker 1: ground or a piece of private ground that has a
- 5:25Speaker 1: lot of shared permission versus sort of like a manicured
- 5:29Speaker 1: property that you tend to have all by yourself. How
- 5:31Speaker 1: how are your strategies different when you're hunting public land
- 5:33Speaker 1: this time of year. Um, you know, in my world,
- 5:38Speaker 1: whether I'm on private or public, you know, I'm never
- 5:41Speaker 1: the only one, and so you're you're always factoring that end,
- 5:45Speaker 1: but I kind of just go to, like, what do
- 5:47Speaker 1: I have real confidence in the deer doing? Like what
- 5:51Speaker 1: spots do I just believe in? And those are the
- 5:54Speaker 1: those are the places I might as long as the
- 5:56Speaker 1: conditions work for me, I might volume on them for
- 5:58Speaker 1: a couple of days. And you know, if you're on
- 6:00Speaker 1: public land, you've got a way bigger chance with somebody
- 6:04Speaker 1: coming in and you know, maybe messing up a party
- 6:06Speaker 1: your hunt. But you kind of learned like that's part
- 6:09Speaker 1: of the process. I mean, it happens on private land too,
- 6:11Speaker 1: So it's like scout for those spots where you're just like,
- 6:15Speaker 1: I believe in this spot and then let the deer
- 6:18Speaker 1: tell you whether you're making the right decision or not.
- 6:20Speaker 1: And I think the hard part, and I think we
- 6:22Speaker 1: saw this with our shoot, was that self doubt creeps
- 6:25Speaker 1: in if it doesn't work out. You know, if you
- 6:28Speaker 1: spend a whole day during the rut and it really
- 6:30Speaker 1: doesn't happen, it's super hard to stick with that. But
- 6:33Speaker 1: if you've done your homework and you and you've got
- 6:35Speaker 1: a lot of confidence in it, it's it just might
- 6:37Speaker 1: have been an off day, and you've got to give
- 6:39Speaker 1: us some real time, and I really don't think that
- 6:42Speaker 1: varies much between public and private, to be honest with you. Yeah,
- 6:46Speaker 1: and other perspectives you're gonna hear this week from about
- 6:48Speaker 1: the white Tail rout is from Dan Johnson from Sportsman's
- 6:51Speaker 1: Nation in Iowa, and then Mark hasm from Southeast white
- 6:54Speaker 1: Tail dot Com in South Carolina, and then Byron Horton
- 6:57Speaker 1: from The white Tail Experience in Ohio. And we end
- 6:59Speaker 1: with Sam Soul from Public Land Teas in North Dakota
- 7:02Speaker 1: and are reading materials for this week which you can
- 7:05Speaker 1: find in the description in the episode. Uh these articles
- 7:08Speaker 1: we have or why transitions are the perfect rot setups
- 7:11Speaker 1: by Alex Gilstrom. Alex goes over why hard transitions and
- 7:14Speaker 1: soft transitions are where you should focus your attention during
- 7:17Speaker 1: the rout and how to find these areas. And then
- 7:19Speaker 1: we have can You burn out a rut Stand? By
- 7:22Speaker 1: Dylan Tramp. Dylan covers the nuances of two types of
- 7:25Speaker 1: rout stands and locations you can burn out the locations
- 7:27Speaker 1: you can't burn out? And then we have how to
- 7:29Speaker 1: kill a pressured buck during the rut by you Tony Peterson.
- 7:32Speaker 1: Tony discusses how hunting pressured deer during the rout. It's
- 7:35Speaker 1: more about out thinking other hunters than is out thinking
- 7:38Speaker 1: the deer. And then finally we have what is the
- 7:40Speaker 1: White Tail Lockdown by Mark Kenyon. Mark looks at what
- 7:43Speaker 1: big buck killers and science say about the white Tail
- 7:46Speaker 1: lockdown and how those viewpoints differ. Now to see Tony's
- 7:50Speaker 1: episode where he kills that giant Minnesota eight pointer that
- 7:54Speaker 1: is going to be out in November sixteen, and we
- 7:57Speaker 1: are going to be dropping an episode a week for
- 8:00Speaker 1: every week after that, basically all the way through the
- 8:03Speaker 1: end of one. Uh, Tony, how how excited are you
- 8:07Speaker 1: to see that episode one? I can't wait, buddy, I
- 8:10Speaker 1: can't wait to see all of them. Yeah, yeah, I'm
- 8:12Speaker 1: I'm stoked for episode one. And then you had some
- 8:14Speaker 1: other crazy encounters in those first four days. Um, and
- 8:17Speaker 1: then we end on a real high note. But more
- 8:20Speaker 1: on that later when we record a longer Wired Hunt episode.
- 8:24Speaker 1: But for now, let's get to the reports. Thank you, Tony,
- 8:26Speaker 1: Thanks buddy, all right, and joining us on the line
- 8:31Speaker 1: first is Dan Johnson from Sportsman's Nation in Iowa. Now,
- 8:35Speaker 1: Dan in Iowa, what would you say the buck activity
- 8:37Speaker 1: has been lately on a scale of one to ten. Yeah, Spencer,
- 8:42Speaker 1: that's a that's a tough question to answer. I would
- 8:45Speaker 1: say on the area of the farm and the doge
- 8:48Speaker 1: group that I was hunting around, it was more for
- 8:53Speaker 1: this this week. It's been more in earlier, earlier, this
- 8:57Speaker 1: this last week, it would be more of a a
- 9:00Speaker 1: seven right as far as buck activity, but based off
- 9:04Speaker 1: trail cameras and sidings, even just a thousand yards to
- 9:08Speaker 1: the east on that property hunt, you know, hunting in
- 9:11Speaker 1: an area with a different doe group, I would say
- 9:13Speaker 1: more of a three or four. So if I was
- 9:16Speaker 1: a hunter, I wouldn't get too crazy worked up about
- 9:20Speaker 1: what's going on right now. You have to be in
- 9:22Speaker 1: the woods right now in order to figure that out
- 9:26Speaker 1: for yourself. Now, you just killed a slammer buck recently
- 9:29Speaker 1: that I think you said had almost a twenty four
- 9:31Speaker 1: inch spread. Tell us about that hunt. Tell us why
- 9:34Speaker 1: you were in that specific spot and why that buck
- 9:36Speaker 1: wanted to be there. Yeah. So, you know, a lot
- 9:41Speaker 1: of it had to do with historical information and how
- 9:44Speaker 1: the deer worked the terrain through you know, through through
- 9:48Speaker 1: that area, throughout the thirteen years that I've been hunting
- 9:51Speaker 1: that farm. Uh So, the first hunt was a was
- 9:56Speaker 1: an afternoon hunt, and on my way into that that hunt,
- 10:01Speaker 1: I are not that particular hunt. So that my success
- 10:04Speaker 1: this year was based off three different hunts, an afternoon,
- 10:08Speaker 1: a morning, and then an afternoon and um so I
- 10:13Speaker 1: checked trail cameras. On the way in, I got some
- 10:15Speaker 1: intel of where I you know, where this buck had
- 10:18Speaker 1: been in the previous week. And on my way out
- 10:22Speaker 1: the next morning, I checked two more trail cameras. I
- 10:24Speaker 1: got one more piece of intel for him. And what
- 10:27Speaker 1: I did was I kind of triangulated his position based
- 10:32Speaker 1: off the trail camera information and based off of the
- 10:36Speaker 1: the terrain features and and how these deer used these
- 10:39Speaker 1: terrain features. And then I had to use what was
- 10:43Speaker 1: given to me, you know, the wind direction, and I
- 10:45Speaker 1: just put myself in the best possible position, um in
- 10:49Speaker 1: a draw that kind of at the very bottom of
- 10:51Speaker 1: a draw that led up into a standing cornfield, and uh,
- 10:55Speaker 1: that's where that's where he showed up. How much stock
- 10:59Speaker 1: are you putting in trail cameras in the first two
- 11:01Speaker 1: weeks of November. I mean, if it is all this,
- 11:07Speaker 1: all the trail camera does is tell you that a
- 11:09Speaker 1: deer has been there, doesn't mean that they're there right now.
- 11:12Speaker 1: And as we all know, the rut is a time
- 11:15Speaker 1: of year where chaos, it's chaos in the woods and
- 11:18Speaker 1: anything can happen. But I feel that if the dog group,
- 11:23Speaker 1: the active dog group in the area stays on a routine,
- 11:27Speaker 1: these bucks will stay on some kind of routine as well,
- 11:31Speaker 1: until these dog groups start going into into heat. And
- 11:35Speaker 1: so I would say that trail camera intel helped me
- 11:38Speaker 1: out a lot because I was able to put a
- 11:41Speaker 1: point on a map where this buck had been in
- 11:44Speaker 1: the past five days, and then another point on a
- 11:47Speaker 1: map where he had been in the past five days,
- 11:50Speaker 1: and then I add that It's almost like an equation,
- 11:52Speaker 1: and I added all up together based off of um
- 11:56Speaker 1: past you know, history with dear, how dear move through
- 12:00Speaker 1: the terrain, and then I just I put together. I
- 12:03Speaker 1: just throw information into that equation and outspits the best
- 12:08Speaker 1: possible tree stand location for me. You mentioned that you
- 12:11Speaker 1: killed this buck hunting a draw that led up to
- 12:13Speaker 1: a cornfield. What is the crop harvest status for most
- 12:16Speaker 1: of Iowa right now? Well, it just depends on what
- 12:20Speaker 1: part of the state you live in. Man the area
- 12:22Speaker 1: that I hunt uh in the area that I live in.
- 12:27Speaker 1: There's still a lot of standing crops, especially on one
- 12:30Speaker 1: of my main farms that's closer to my home, there's still,
- 12:35Speaker 1: you know, I would say over acres of standing corn
- 12:38Speaker 1: in the area, and it does make things really difficult
- 12:42Speaker 1: to try to to try to locate a deer, especially
- 12:45Speaker 1: when they're they're spending a lot of time in that corn.
- 12:48Speaker 1: Let's pretend that you're not tagged out, Dan, and you're
- 12:50Speaker 1: gonna be in a tree on November ten. What does
- 12:53Speaker 1: your ideal set up look like. My ideal set up,
- 12:57Speaker 1: it looks like wherever the deer at um. I wish
- 12:59Speaker 1: I could sit here and tell you that, hey, you
- 13:01Speaker 1: should be in a drainage or a pinch point, or
- 13:05Speaker 1: downwind of a betting area, or over a popular scrape,
- 13:09Speaker 1: or you know. You hear people talk about all the
- 13:12Speaker 1: great places that they need to be a good travel corridor.
- 13:16Speaker 1: But I think what a lot of people miss out
- 13:18Speaker 1: on is, yes, these places are great, but there's still
- 13:22Speaker 1: times where deer do not go there. They're not active
- 13:25Speaker 1: in these areas. So what I would do is I
- 13:28Speaker 1: would maybe put some boots on the ground, look for
- 13:31Speaker 1: some active sign um, look try to find where the
- 13:34Speaker 1: deer are at Maybe an observation sit is in your future,
- 13:38Speaker 1: maybe not, But get into the woods and just observe
- 13:41Speaker 1: and if deer aren't there, then you move to the
- 13:44Speaker 1: next terrain feature or betting area or UH or travel
- 13:48Speaker 1: corridor or whatever, and you just you you just keep
- 13:51Speaker 1: going through the cycle until you locate them. And then
- 13:53Speaker 1: once you locate them, then you can refine those those stands,
- 13:57Speaker 1: that placements and set ups um until you get close
- 14:00Speaker 1: enough for a shot hopefully going forward. Then this next
- 14:03Speaker 1: week or so, what do you think that buck activity
- 14:05Speaker 1: is going to be on a scale of one to
- 14:06Speaker 1: ten in Iowa? Yeah, man, we're we're coming up on
- 14:10Speaker 1: what some say is peak breeding, which is of November. Again,
- 14:17Speaker 1: it just depends on what the dough groups are like
- 14:19Speaker 1: in your area. Like I said, I got a I
- 14:22Speaker 1: got a dough group on this one farm that I hunt.
- 14:24Speaker 1: It is a it's a late October early November dough group.
- 14:29Speaker 1: And then the other dog group further to the east
- 14:33Speaker 1: is a is a mid October when they come into
- 14:37Speaker 1: or mid November when they come into heat. So I'm
- 14:40Speaker 1: just gonna go try to locate the dough groups and
- 14:43Speaker 1: typically at that point the dough groups are going to
- 14:47Speaker 1: indicate whether or not there's deer in the area. I'm
- 14:49Speaker 1: gonna check my trail cameras. I'm gonna cycle through tree
- 14:53Speaker 1: some of my favorite tree stam locations and hopefully run
- 14:57Speaker 1: into something. Dan, congrats again on that Amber buck. Thanks
- 15:00Speaker 1: for joining me. Thanks Spencer all right and joining us online.
- 15:04Speaker 1: Next is Mark Haslam from Southeast whitetail dot com in
- 15:08Speaker 1: South Carolina. Now Mark in South Carolina. What would you
- 15:11Speaker 1: say the buck activity has been lately on a scale
- 15:13Speaker 1: of one to ten, Spencer, I would say the buck
- 15:16Speaker 1: activity has probably been um, right about a nine. We
- 15:20Speaker 1: had a nice coal front that came through last last week.
- 15:24Speaker 1: We're wrapping up, wrapping up right now, starting to warm
- 15:26Speaker 1: up a little bit um and right now bucks have
- 15:32Speaker 1: been chasing does. We're seeing bucks ten tender does and
- 15:36Speaker 1: you know, lockdown with them in some thick in areas
- 15:40Speaker 1: and uh not wanting to really bump off of them.
- 15:43Speaker 1: So we're seeing some good, um, mature bucks palin doos
- 15:48Speaker 1: and uh, we're right, I think partly towards the end
- 15:51Speaker 1: of our peak, uh first round of breathing. So what
- 15:54Speaker 1: would you identify this phases the road as in South
- 15:57Speaker 1: Carolina going in I guess go on the second week
- 16:00Speaker 1: of November, this is we're wrapping up our our peak breeding. UM,
- 16:05Speaker 1: it should be. It should be closing out pretty soon.
- 16:08Speaker 1: And then towards the end of November going into December,
- 16:12Speaker 1: we should hit that second run with those where those
- 16:14Speaker 1: does that weren't bred the first time, she should go
- 16:18Speaker 1: back and into a second heat cycle. UM. A lot
- 16:22Speaker 1: of Georgia, South Carolina southeast has high deer densities and
- 16:26Speaker 1: in button those ratios that are a little out of wax.
- 16:29Speaker 1: So in some parts. UM, in a lot of South Carolina,
- 16:33Speaker 1: we've got more does than the box. So there's they
- 16:36Speaker 1: do not get bread during that first cycle. I know
- 16:41Speaker 1: this morning you rattled in a buck. Tell us about
- 16:43Speaker 1: that encounter and what you're calling strategies are in early
- 16:46Speaker 1: to mid November. I I'll do some grunt sequences, but
- 16:52Speaker 1: not really a whole lot of blind grunt calling. UM.
- 16:55Speaker 1: I started off this morning right daybreak and did did
- 16:57Speaker 1: a couple of sequences very very verish for very light
- 17:01Speaker 1: um uh, just rattling. I did hear two probably young
- 17:06Speaker 1: bucks spar sparring this morning and had a four point
- 17:08Speaker 1: came up to him. UM, and then about down thirty UM,
- 17:15Speaker 1: I went a little harder, UM, a little sequence maybe
- 17:18Speaker 1: fifteen twenty seconds with some antlers. UM, a little hard,
- 17:24Speaker 1: a little bit louder, more of like grinding and you know,
- 17:27Speaker 1: not not so much smashing, but just kind of more
- 17:30Speaker 1: some pushing with antlers and grinding. And uh, within probably
- 17:35Speaker 1: fifteen seconds, I had some movement down. I was up
- 17:38Speaker 1: on the up on a ridge right the side um
- 17:41Speaker 1: a creek bottom, and it had some movie coming out
- 17:44Speaker 1: of that creek bottom thicket and had a nice, just
- 17:46Speaker 1: beautiful eight point came out, UM about five yards or so,
- 17:51Speaker 1: and I was coming out, take a look at the
- 17:54Speaker 1: take a look at the action. So that's UM. Typically
- 17:56Speaker 1: if I'm going to rattle, it's gonna early in the mornings,
- 17:59Speaker 1: and I'll be outside right on top of some thick betting.
- 18:03Speaker 1: What are you seeing for signmaking right now? Um, there's
- 18:07Speaker 1: some new scrapes there. They're being hit. UM, lots of
- 18:11Speaker 1: scrapes just being hit constantly fresh um. Not so much
- 18:16Speaker 1: new rubs, UM, but I would say there are certain scrapes,
- 18:21Speaker 1: the key scrapes are being visited quite often and at night.
- 18:26Speaker 1: What food sources are relevant? Right now for white tail
- 18:29Speaker 1: hunters in that part of the country right now, Spencer,
- 18:32Speaker 1: I would say, um, unless you've got some egg or
- 18:37Speaker 1: some food plants that have not been touched to have
- 18:41Speaker 1: that that have very little pressure so far, I would
- 18:43Speaker 1: stay off those. Do you're still coming into him, but
- 18:47Speaker 1: you know we are. It's just knee deep um in
- 18:51Speaker 1: the season. South Carolina opening up and most of the
- 18:54Speaker 1: state in August and Russia State in September. So there's
- 18:56Speaker 1: not a lot of hunting pressure. Do you having highly
- 18:59Speaker 1: educated this points so I would stay away from from
- 19:03Speaker 1: from highly prushed areas and I would get off in
- 19:05Speaker 1: the woods. The rut. The buck action we've seen the
- 19:09Speaker 1: past week has all been in Deeptember, all been in
- 19:12Speaker 1: thick areas, thick cover and in some mature pine blocks
- 19:18Speaker 1: that are between food plus between stands. We're seeing a
- 19:22Speaker 1: lot of deer, a lot of bucks moving. Um. I
- 19:25Speaker 1: mean it might be two hundred yards from a food plot.
- 19:28Speaker 1: They're not going into it, they're just skirted by it. Uh.
- 19:31Speaker 1: Deer hitting acorns and they're hitting some of that uh
- 19:34Speaker 1: natural vegetation in the pine forest. Um so um. They're
- 19:39Speaker 1: still hitting food plants and what's left in the act fields.
- 19:42Speaker 1: But I bet, but I just feel like it's it's
- 19:44Speaker 1: it's it's not important because they're probably hitting at night UM,
- 19:49Speaker 1: and I would just focus right now in the woods
- 19:52Speaker 1: getting their deep hitting mobile climb UM and figure out
- 19:56Speaker 1: where hunters haven't been yet. And that's probably before you're
- 19:59Speaker 1: gonna find the box because right now there's there's does
- 20:01Speaker 1: being breath, there's there's bucks tending does, and they're moving
- 20:05Speaker 1: a lot during the day, but they're just moving moving
- 20:08Speaker 1: in some thick areas. Let's see, you're in a tree
- 20:11Speaker 1: stand on November tenth in a state like South Carolina,
- 20:14Speaker 1: what does your ideal set up look like right now?
- 20:18Speaker 1: I would probably be either I would be outside of
- 20:23Speaker 1: a thick area there's some betting um or ideally maybe
- 20:29Speaker 1: between two maybe between two UM two betting sizes, and
- 20:34Speaker 1: it might need too. It might be outself a clear
- 20:36Speaker 1: cut that's been replanted and it's got a pipe to it.
- 20:39Speaker 1: But I would be in or around some batting and
- 20:43Speaker 1: being close and tight. So right now you've got bucks
- 20:45Speaker 1: that are cruising around UM check in dough betting UM
- 20:51Speaker 1: checking see you know, checking those dough groups, seat who's
- 20:53Speaker 1: in heat and you've got bucks, like like my encounter
- 20:57Speaker 1: this morning, that you're gonna hit them just that right
- 20:59Speaker 1: time where they're jacked up and they're gonna come and
- 21:02Speaker 1: looking looking for a fight. I've had most of my
- 21:04Speaker 1: success rattling this first second week in November. UM for
- 21:10Speaker 1: mature box usually the box I rattle end in October.
- 21:14Speaker 1: The late October is gonna be you know, immature yearlings
- 21:17Speaker 1: or one year olds to your two year olds. But
- 21:20Speaker 1: I would be in some dents cover and it might
- 21:24Speaker 1: be a pine block where it's been spend a couple
- 21:27Speaker 1: of times, you've been burned. But it's got some it's
- 21:29Speaker 1: got some you know, UM, got some high vegetation where
- 21:32Speaker 1: you can climb and see some distance and it's it's
- 21:35Speaker 1: catch those deer moving with the keys. You've got to
- 21:38Speaker 1: be around or or close to some thick, thick areas
- 21:41Speaker 1: and it could just be a little pockets here and there. Um,
- 21:44Speaker 1: But if you can find where the does are, if
- 21:46Speaker 1: you if you go where they're betting, hunt around those
- 21:50Speaker 1: because you're gonna you're gonna find the box um right
- 21:53Speaker 1: on top level. Going forward. Then in this next week
- 21:56Speaker 1: or so, what do you think that bucket TV is
- 21:58Speaker 1: going to be on a scale of one to ten
- 22:00Speaker 1: in South Carolina. Um, we're gonna start to level off
- 22:03Speaker 1: a little bit. Um, I think you know, we're gonna
- 22:06Speaker 1: start to see if you know, if if if hunters
- 22:10Speaker 1: are staying the woods, we're probably gonna see some more
- 22:12Speaker 1: chure bucks, some order ones. There was some five and
- 22:14Speaker 1: six year six year olds starting to show themselves a
- 22:17Speaker 1: little bit more. If think young bucks are out. Um
- 22:20Speaker 1: out was first first round breeding. But this will start
- 22:23Speaker 1: to level off because most of these does a lot
- 22:26Speaker 1: of them have already been bred. Um, but it's gonna
- 22:29Speaker 1: pick back up a little bit. We easily get a
- 22:31Speaker 1: little stars around Thanksgiving going into December of that second
- 22:35Speaker 1: second bright cycle. So I think it's still gonna be great.
- 22:39Speaker 1: Uh for the next week. Um, we got some a
- 22:42Speaker 1: little bit warmer temperatures got coming in the high seventies
- 22:45Speaker 1: and probably something like the low fifties, so it's not
- 22:49Speaker 1: gonna be getting cold, but they're still out. Um, you
- 22:52Speaker 1: just gotta get the stick areas all right, Mark, congrats
- 22:56Speaker 1: on your success earlier this season. Good luck with the
- 22:58Speaker 1: rest of your fall, and thank for joining me. Thanks Spencer,
- 23:01Speaker 1: thanks for having me all right and joining us Online.
- 23:04Speaker 1: Next is Byron Horton from the white Tail Experience in Ohio. Now,
- 23:08Speaker 1: Byron in Ohio, what would you say the buck activity
- 23:10Speaker 1: has been lately on a scale of one to ten.
- 23:13Speaker 1: I gotta go with a solid tent on this one.
- 23:16Speaker 1: Um from my hunt the other day to having a
- 23:20Speaker 1: few few bucks come in and oh, make scrapes kind
- 23:24Speaker 1: of be poking around some doughs. In the last few days,
- 23:27Speaker 1: we've seen chase thing um bucks responding to calls the
- 23:30Speaker 1: woods have been on fire. Now, you just killed a
- 23:34Speaker 1: giant buck over the weekend. Tell us about that hunt,
- 23:36Speaker 1: why you were in that area, and why that buck
- 23:38Speaker 1: wanted to be in that spot. Yeah, So I think
- 23:42Speaker 1: what made that spot super hot is, uh, there was
- 23:45Speaker 1: a couple of scrapes all in a collective area and
- 23:48Speaker 1: that particular piece you can go good ways without finding
- 23:51Speaker 1: good bucks sign but it's kind of was an old
- 23:55Speaker 1: logging road set up. But there's also like what we
- 23:57Speaker 1: call a hogback kind of funneling some movement down on
- 24:00Speaker 1: and uh. I noted that there were those that tended
- 24:03Speaker 1: to feed in the evening or I'm sorry, in the mornings,
- 24:06Speaker 1: kind of coming back probably to where they vetted, but
- 24:09Speaker 1: they tended to cross this oak flat into this general area.
- 24:13Speaker 1: And uh, I had actually hunted this stand location as
- 24:16Speaker 1: several times, and I thought it was just a matter
- 24:18Speaker 1: of oh being there the day they daylighted, if you will,
- 24:21Speaker 1: or or or the day it got hot. And sure
- 24:23Speaker 1: enough I was able to time that up and saw
- 24:26Speaker 1: three three bucks all within bow range and and just
- 24:28Speaker 1: have an awesome morning. In September, you mentioned that there
- 24:31Speaker 1: was a cluster of scrapes nearby. What have you seen
- 24:34Speaker 1: for signmaking over the last week. Yeah, I uh, I
- 24:39Speaker 1: did witness the first book come in and hit the scrape,
- 24:42Speaker 1: but the the other two seemed to pass on by
- 24:45Speaker 1: or kind of just be more in the cruising style mode.
- 24:48Speaker 1: Um I do. I am still finding somewhat fresher rubs
- 24:52Speaker 1: where there are still shavings, but it's definitely not not
- 24:55Speaker 1: as how to say that late October time period, um so,
- 24:58Speaker 1: so I'm not is super worried about that. I am
- 25:01Speaker 1: still paying attention to tracks. In fact, that particular shelf
- 25:04Speaker 1: had a good amount of tracks on it in some
- 25:08Speaker 1: good size one so so that kind of led me
- 25:10Speaker 1: to believe it's worth another hunt if you're doing some
- 25:13Speaker 1: inseason scouting. You mentioned that you might be looking for
- 25:16Speaker 1: scrapes and tracks. What are some other things you're trying
- 25:19Speaker 1: to identify in the middle of the rout if you're
- 25:21Speaker 1: on a new piece of ground. Yeah, and and right
- 25:25Speaker 1: there when you said new piece of ground, I think
- 25:27Speaker 1: not being afraid to to go for a walk about
- 25:29Speaker 1: his key. Can you gotta figure out where you want
- 25:32Speaker 1: to be? But uh, I you know, if I was
- 25:34Speaker 1: new to a piece, I would also maybe look at
- 25:36Speaker 1: some some creaker or ditch crossings where they too, you know,
- 25:39Speaker 1: it's a little easier for them to lay down a
- 25:42Speaker 1: solid track. Um. And honestly to bumping some does. Um.
- 25:46Speaker 1: You know that this time of year could be key.
- 25:49Speaker 1: I've never pulled off to Jared Scheffler whitetail adrenaline, bump
- 25:52Speaker 1: a pair and then go in and shoot them. But
- 25:54Speaker 1: I have bump does and that has led me to then,
- 25:57Speaker 1: you know, twenty minutes later, an hour later, having bucks
- 26:00Speaker 1: come by, so so so being you know, getting in
- 26:03Speaker 1: visuals is always a good thing. I know you have
- 26:06Speaker 1: to do a lot of aerial scouting to make haunts
- 26:08Speaker 1: like this happen. So if you're doing some aerial scouting,
- 26:11Speaker 1: what are you looking for to try to find dough
- 26:14Speaker 1: or buck betting on a piece of ground in the
- 26:16Speaker 1: Midwest and stay like Ohio. Yeah, I full disclosure, I'm
- 26:23Speaker 1: not the best eat scouter, um, but I I do
- 26:26Speaker 1: look for for maybe subtle um vegetation or habitat style changes.
- 26:32Speaker 1: Um Me personally, I think in my playbook, I gotta
- 26:35Speaker 1: walk that stuff and see it in field versus um
- 26:38Speaker 1: finding on the map. And that's just requires some bootleather. Honestly,
- 26:42Speaker 1: if you're running trail cameras in the middle of the ruts,
- 26:45Speaker 1: how much stock do you put into the information you're
- 26:47Speaker 1: getting from those? Yeah, I'm not opposed to to getting
- 26:52Speaker 1: a trail camp picture and acting on Um. I know
- 26:55Speaker 1: those bucks are moving, but I have seen bucks so
- 26:58Speaker 1: kind of repeat their cruising loop. Um So, so I
- 27:00Speaker 1: do put a little bit of stock in that, maybe
- 27:03Speaker 1: more on like a three or four out of ten
- 27:04Speaker 1: compared to stay late October, it's like a seven to
- 27:07Speaker 1: nine out of ten for me. Let's say you're not
- 27:09Speaker 1: tagged out in Ohio and it's November ten and you're
- 27:12Speaker 1: gonna be in a tree stand. Tell us what your
- 27:14Speaker 1: ideal set up looks like. Yeah, this is my go
- 27:18Speaker 1: to combination of features. Um, I like to be on
- 27:22Speaker 1: the down wind side of does, but I need a
- 27:25Speaker 1: secondary or third feature in there to kind of draw
- 27:27Speaker 1: the bucks. And I like I like the hogbacks. I
- 27:29Speaker 1: really like some sort of a terrain cut or erosing
- 27:32Speaker 1: cut to to funnel those deer down. And then, um,
- 27:35Speaker 1: I like habitat that that maybe gets a touch thicker.
- 27:38Speaker 1: So those bucks have to visually see some sometimes and
- 27:41Speaker 1: find those does. Um that is kind of my go to.
- 27:45Speaker 1: And if the slope tends to catch morning sun, those
- 27:48Speaker 1: thermals tend to rise a little bit, and I think
- 27:50Speaker 1: those bucks like them a touch more than then maybe
- 27:53Speaker 1: a shaded hillside going forward. Then, in this next week
- 27:56Speaker 1: or so, what do you think that bucket activity is
- 27:58Speaker 1: going to be on a scale of to ten in Ohio?
- 28:02Speaker 1: Oh I think in the next couple of days we
- 28:04Speaker 1: do have some warm attempts. But Dave has been seeing
- 28:06Speaker 1: a good amount of a buck activity. I'm gonna still
- 28:08Speaker 1: go a ten. I think this is the time of
- 28:10Speaker 1: year it is that you can go ahead and give
- 28:12Speaker 1: it that high number. So alright, buying, congrats again on
- 28:16Speaker 1: the awesome buck good luck the rest of your fallen.
- 28:18Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me, appreciate it alright and joining us
- 28:23Speaker 1: on the line. Last is Sam Sohold from Public Land
- 28:26Speaker 1: Teas in North Dakota. Now Sam in North Dakota. What
- 28:29Speaker 1: would you say the buck activity has been lately on
- 28:31Speaker 1: a scale of one to ten, I would say probably
- 28:35Speaker 1: a five or six. You know, I've seen some small
- 28:38Speaker 1: bucks cruise and kind of some of those. Yeah, younger
- 28:41Speaker 1: bucks cruising for sure. I have, you know, on trail
- 28:44Speaker 1: cameras that I run. I've had some more mature bucks daylighting.
- 28:48Speaker 1: But it doesn't feel like the rut is in full
- 28:50Speaker 1: swing yet. What have you been seeing for signmaking over
- 28:54Speaker 1: the last week? Signmaking has been really good. Lots of
- 28:59Speaker 1: lots of bucks hit scrapes, lots a lot more rubs
- 29:01Speaker 1: and stuff like all the small scrub brush getting shredded.
- 29:05Speaker 1: But yeah, lots of scrapes everywhere the last couple of years,
- 29:09Speaker 1: this time of year, you've killed a buck using a
- 29:12Speaker 1: decoy and tell us about your decoying strategy in early
- 29:15Speaker 1: to mid November. Yeah, there's uh, there's hard. There's very
- 29:20Speaker 1: few things I love more than decoying deer. Um. My
- 29:22Speaker 1: strategy is typically too one of two things, either I'm
- 29:25Speaker 1: gonna get I'm gonna hunt somewhere where there's really good visibility,
- 29:29Speaker 1: and I'm gonna put out a full size decoy um
- 29:32Speaker 1: and so you know deer. So if I could see
- 29:34Speaker 1: a deer crossing, I can call to it, rattle at it,
- 29:36Speaker 1: and it gives it something to focus on when it's
- 29:38Speaker 1: coming in. Um. So that's one scenario that I've had
- 29:41Speaker 1: work really well. And then the other scenario is using
- 29:44Speaker 1: heads up decoy one that attaches to my bow and
- 29:47Speaker 1: try to get into a spot where I think there's
- 29:49Speaker 1: gonna be bucks cruising with dose um Or if I
- 29:52Speaker 1: can find a dough that has a buck Honor, that's
- 29:54Speaker 1: a really good scenario to go decoy and sneak in
- 29:58Speaker 1: and then pop up that decoy kind of get in
- 30:00Speaker 1: their bubble and make a mad and make am make
- 30:02Speaker 1: a move Toria towards you and slip up where you
- 30:04Speaker 1: can get an air whint them. And is there a
- 30:06Speaker 1: phase of the rout that you like decoying especially? Yeah,
- 30:10Speaker 1: I mean I think like right when kind of right
- 30:13Speaker 1: before it all goes nuts, when those bigger books are
- 30:17Speaker 1: looking for Dose that are coming into estrus and they're
- 30:20Speaker 1: they're just trying to fight off anything that might be,
- 30:23Speaker 1: you know, like in their territory. If you're going into
- 30:27Speaker 1: a piece of public for the first time in a
- 30:29Speaker 1: state like North Dakota, what are you looking for when
- 30:32Speaker 1: you're doing some in season scouting? So I'm looking for
- 30:37Speaker 1: fresh sign, whether that be scrapes or rubs, um, and
- 30:40Speaker 1: then just looking for stuff like a lot of the
- 30:42Speaker 1: public isn't gonna hold crops or egg you know. Um,
- 30:46Speaker 1: so a lot of times I'm just looking for stuff
- 30:47Speaker 1: that has transitions between bedding and food. Uh, you know, funnels,
- 30:53Speaker 1: pinch points, stuff like that. What is the crop harvest
- 30:56Speaker 1: status right now in North Dakota? You mentioned that not
- 30:59Speaker 1: a lot of the public as egg, but for the
- 31:01Speaker 1: private that does, what does that look like? Um? The
- 31:05Speaker 1: majority of the crops have come off with it being
- 31:08Speaker 1: such a dry summer. Everything started coming off early and
- 31:11Speaker 1: over the last couple of weeks. Like most of the
- 31:13Speaker 1: beans have been off for a while, but most of
- 31:15Speaker 1: the corner has not come off. Does water ever factor
- 31:18Speaker 1: into your setups in a state like North Dakota this
- 31:20Speaker 1: time of year? I don't. I typically don't focus on
- 31:24Speaker 1: water much this time of year, But it's also a
- 31:26Speaker 1: very different year this year with how dry it is. Um.
- 31:29Speaker 1: You know, typically the deer aren't struggling to find water
- 31:32Speaker 1: because every ditch and whatever has water somewhere. So um
- 31:35Speaker 1: it will probably play a little bit more of a
- 31:37Speaker 1: factor this year in focusing on it, um you know,
- 31:39Speaker 1: and maybe finding some small you know, slews in back
- 31:43Speaker 1: you know, hideaway spots that might bring in a few
- 31:46Speaker 1: more deer, but um, not typically historically in the Great Plains.
- 31:50Speaker 1: When do you expect to start seeing some midday movement
- 31:52Speaker 1: and are you seeing that yet? In so right now
- 31:57Speaker 1: should be seeing good midday movement. Um, have been seeing
- 32:00Speaker 1: a whole lot of it yet. But there's a huge
- 32:02Speaker 1: cold front coming kind of across the entire country later
- 32:06Speaker 1: this week, and I think that will help a lot. Um.
- 32:09Speaker 1: I know, some areas are supposed to get snow. Uh,
- 32:11Speaker 1: definitely a lot of areas and going to get rain.
- 32:14Speaker 1: And the high tempts are looking in the low thirties,
- 32:16Speaker 1: So there should be a lot of good midday movement, uh,
- 32:18Speaker 1: you know for the next seven to ten days. I
- 32:20Speaker 1: would guess it's November ten and you're going to be
- 32:23Speaker 1: in a tree stand. What is your ideal set up? Look?
- 32:26Speaker 1: Like on that date. For me, I want to be
- 32:31Speaker 1: somewhere on the down wind side of a real thick
- 32:34Speaker 1: betting area. You know, if I can, if I can
- 32:36Speaker 1: add to that, you know, some sort of a pinch
- 32:39Speaker 1: or a funnel that kind of leads to that type
- 32:41Speaker 1: of area. UM is even better. But a lot of
- 32:43Speaker 1: times this time of year, when all those doughs are
- 32:45Speaker 1: starting to come into estus, you'll have bucks that are
- 32:47Speaker 1: walking on the down wind sides of betting areas, just
- 32:49Speaker 1: sent checking and looking for those that have come in
- 32:52Speaker 1: UM and you know, go going after him. So I
- 32:55Speaker 1: want to be on the down wind side of something
- 32:56Speaker 1: really thick going forward. Then is next week or so
- 33:00Speaker 1: you think that buck activity is going to be on
- 33:01Speaker 1: a scale of one to ten in North Dakota, I
- 33:05Speaker 1: think it'll ramp up to about an eight. I just
- 33:08Speaker 1: think with the cooler weather coming in. UM, we've had
- 33:11Speaker 1: a real dry, warm kind of lead up to the rut,
- 33:14Speaker 1: and I think with with that chain shifting weather padam pattern,
- 33:17Speaker 1: especially after that front blows through, it really should have
- 33:20Speaker 1: everything moving. I mean, they're still deer, they're still running, UM,
- 33:23Speaker 1: but it just doesn't feel like I haven't had that.
- 33:26Speaker 1: You know, massive chasing activity. I haven't seen you know,
- 33:29Speaker 1: bucks really acting stupid um like they tend to this
- 33:33Speaker 1: time of year. All right, Sam, good luck with the
- 33:35Speaker 1: rest of your falling Thanks for joining me. Yeah, thanks
- 33:37Speaker 1: you too, And that concludes this week's episode of Wired
- 33:43Speaker 1: to Haunts Rut Fresh Radio. Thanks to Dan Mark, Byron,
- 33:46Speaker 1: Sam and Tony for joining me, and thank you guys
- 33:49Speaker 1: for listening. As a reminder, the reading materials for this
- 33:52Speaker 1: week's episode can be found in our description of the episode.
- 33:56Speaker 1: You're gonna see articles like why transitions are the perfect
- 33:59Speaker 1: rut setups? Can you burn out a rut? Stand? How
- 34:02Speaker 1: to kill a pressured buck during the rut? And what
- 34:05Speaker 1: is the white tail lockdown? If you want to see
- 34:07Speaker 1: the two bucks that I just killed in Montana and Wyoming,
- 34:09Speaker 1: make sure you're following me on Instagram at Spencer new Hearth,
- 34:13Speaker 1: and to see Tony's kills, follow at Tony J. Peterson
- 34:17Speaker 1: on Instagram. Both of those hunts are going to be
- 34:20Speaker 1: featured on Wired to Haunt in Meat Eaters new series
- 34:22Speaker 1: called One Week in November, which starts November six and
- 34:27Speaker 1: runs through the end of the year. If you want
- 34:28Speaker 1: to stay up to date on that new show. Go
- 34:30Speaker 1: over to our YouTube channel, meat Eater and subscribe. I
- 34:33Speaker 1: will talk to you next week, but until then, stay
- 34:36Speaker 1: wired to hunt.