Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 496: Rut Fresh Radio 12/22/2021 - The Final Episode of 2021

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Ep. 496: Rut Fresh Radio 12/22/2021 - The Final Episode of 2021 · Wired To Hunt Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to Wired to hunts Rut Fresh Radio, bringing you
0:05
Speaker 1: the latest reports from the White Tailed Woods and now
0:08
Speaker 1: your host, Spencer new Hearth. This is Wire to Haunts
0:16
Speaker 1: Rout Fresh Radio, power by First Light. I am your host,
0:19
Speaker 1: Spencer new Art And this is episode four hundred ninety six,
0:23
Speaker 1: which is the final episode of the season. Welcome to
0:38
Speaker 1: Wire to hunts Rout Fresh Radio. I am your host,
0:40
Speaker 1: Spencer nor This is episode four hundred and nine six,
0:44
Speaker 1: And this weekend we are joined by Mark Kenyon, who,
0:47
Speaker 1: for maybe the first time all season, has back to
0:49
Speaker 1: back buck movement reports from his home state of Michigan.
0:53
Speaker 1: So Mark, tell us about what you're seeing in Michigan
0:57
Speaker 1: over the last week. Yeah, well, let's se here. I
1:00
Speaker 1: was out Saturday mentoring a new hunter, and then Sunday
1:05
Speaker 1: night I went out on my own, and then Monday
1:09
Speaker 1: night I was scouted and just glassed and in general
1:13
Speaker 1: pretty darn good movement. Um, we have decently cold temperatures,
1:19
Speaker 1: not super frigid cold, but kind of around average. I
1:23
Speaker 1: guess it's been the thirties and that was last week.
1:26
Speaker 1: This is following last week when we had like fifty
1:28
Speaker 1: degree temperatures. So a few days after the front moved through.
1:32
Speaker 1: Was when I was hunting thirty degree ish temperatures, and
1:36
Speaker 1: the night on the back forty when I was mentoring
1:38
Speaker 1: a new hunter, we had like ten or eleven deer
1:42
Speaker 1: come out and feed out in front of us. Um
1:45
Speaker 1: that last hour daylight, so pretty good daylight, you know,
1:48
Speaker 1: end of the night type movement that you could expect. Um.
1:51
Speaker 1: The next day, I was hunting on my own, going
1:53
Speaker 1: out with a bow on one of my local places,
1:55
Speaker 1: trying to get a crack at my target buck here
1:57
Speaker 1: in the last couple of days, and while I didn't
2:00
Speaker 1: see him, there was a ton of deer moving, I
2:03
Speaker 1: mean lots and lots of doughs came out early. A
2:05
Speaker 1: bunch of young bucks came out, um, and they were moving,
2:10
Speaker 1: you know, a couple hours before dark. They're already on
2:12
Speaker 1: their feet and getting after it out in these cut
2:14
Speaker 1: corn fields. And then last night when I glassed a
2:17
Speaker 1: different area, I was looking at another cut corn field
2:20
Speaker 1: and a little food plot, and again similar tons of deer.
2:24
Speaker 1: I probably saw I don't know, twenty to thirty deer
2:30
Speaker 1: maybe that came out feeding, and that included five six
2:36
Speaker 1: bucks probably, and one of them was a buck that's
2:39
Speaker 1: been on like the maybe list for me. He's I'm
2:41
Speaker 1: pretty sure a three year old, but a really nice
2:43
Speaker 1: looking three year old. And um, I watched him come
2:47
Speaker 1: out feeding that cut corn, kind of move into that
2:50
Speaker 1: food plot and just kind of meander around with a
2:52
Speaker 1: group of four or five other bucks. So the bucks
2:55
Speaker 1: are kind of back in groups. The deer heard it
2:57
Speaker 1: up pretty good. Now. It's it's that very standard late
3:00
Speaker 1: season activity. They're moving on cold evenings, going to the
3:03
Speaker 1: best food and you know, finding places where they feel safe.
3:07
Speaker 1: And I was able to get eyes on a couple
3:08
Speaker 1: of spots like that. Unfortunately didn't see one of my
3:11
Speaker 1: big boys, but good to see dear, good to get activity.
3:14
Speaker 1: I give it like a seven. Maybe on seven, you
3:17
Speaker 1: know about a ten scale, I'd say probably yeah. And
3:19
Speaker 1: that's the best part about late season is seeing numbers
3:23
Speaker 1: of deer and seeing predictable deer movement, which sounds like
3:26
Speaker 1: exactly what you witnessed in Michigan. Now, if this were
3:31
Speaker 1: a rut hunting episode, Mark, I would ask you to
3:33
Speaker 1: talk about sort of the pillars of the rut, and
3:36
Speaker 1: then you would say something about betting and pinch points
3:39
Speaker 1: and finding does and just spending time in the field. Right, Well,
3:42
Speaker 1: this is our last episode of the year, but I
3:44
Speaker 1: think for the most part, things are kind of on
3:46
Speaker 1: change for these next three or four weeks. If you
3:48
Speaker 1: have a season that goes into mid January, So mark,
3:51
Speaker 1: if somebody is going to be out there for this
3:53
Speaker 1: next month and they're going to be trying to kill
3:56
Speaker 1: a buzzer beater buck. What are some of the pillars
4:00
Speaker 1: of late season white tail hunting? All Right? So if
4:04
Speaker 1: I were to simplify late season hunting down to the absolute,
4:08
Speaker 1: very most important pillars of this whole thing, it would
4:12
Speaker 1: be these three things. Number One, find sanctuaries. Find areas
4:18
Speaker 1: where deer have um found a safe spot, basically where
4:23
Speaker 1: deer have gone to to avoid hunting pressure. Because that's
4:25
Speaker 1: the biggest thing at this point of year, is that
4:27
Speaker 1: deer and bucks especially have been hunted for months on end.
4:32
Speaker 1: These deer are kg they're sick of being harassed, they're
4:34
Speaker 1: sick and being hunted, they're sick of being shot at.
4:37
Speaker 1: And right now deer are gonna be in the places
4:40
Speaker 1: where they have been left alone, at least relatively. That's
4:42
Speaker 1: where you're gonna find deer right now. If you can
4:44
Speaker 1: get to a spot where they feel safe, you can
4:47
Speaker 1: have really good hunting even if you don't have the
4:50
Speaker 1: best food in the world. Even you know that, I
4:52
Speaker 1: think I think we always assume food is the very
4:54
Speaker 1: most important thing in the late season, and it's it's
4:56
Speaker 1: gonna be my number two pillars. So I'm gonna mention
4:58
Speaker 1: it's very important if you have amazing food, but you've
5:01
Speaker 1: been pounding the heck out of it every day and
5:03
Speaker 1: those deer do not feel safe there. You're not going
5:06
Speaker 1: to see him during daylight. You're not going to get
5:08
Speaker 1: a shot at a buck. So you need to have
5:10
Speaker 1: that safe space. You've gotta find where these deer feel safe.
5:13
Speaker 1: So you need to either carefully scout to find that spot,
5:17
Speaker 1: or hopefully you know where that kind of spot already
5:19
Speaker 1: is and you can just wait till the right time
5:21
Speaker 1: to hunt it. Or you can go out there place cameras,
5:24
Speaker 1: do some long distance scouting. Whatever it is, rEFInd those deer,
5:28
Speaker 1: relocate the deer, determine where it is they've found a sanctuary.
5:32
Speaker 1: There's number one, number two food. If you can get
5:35
Speaker 1: number one and two lined up a safe space and
5:38
Speaker 1: high quality late season food, you have a dynamite set up.
5:43
Speaker 1: Deer are living and dying by their stomachs right now.
5:46
Speaker 1: They need to refuel after the rut. They need to
5:48
Speaker 1: pack on the calories before winter as we're getting into
5:51
Speaker 1: the heat or the heart of winter. So getting on
5:54
Speaker 1: those best high energy food sources is really going to
5:57
Speaker 1: be key. So deer gonna be flocking to things like
6:00
Speaker 1: like soybeans, uh like certain late season food plots like brassicas.
6:05
Speaker 1: If there's red oaks in your area that are still
6:07
Speaker 1: on the ground, red oak acorns or something that stick
6:09
Speaker 1: around a lot more this time of year, that'll be
6:11
Speaker 1: something dear keying in on. If they don't have something
6:14
Speaker 1: like agricultural fields, find what that hot food sources now
6:18
Speaker 1: and know that that's going to really dictate the movement
6:20
Speaker 1: patterns of deer. Deer aren't gonna be cruising now. They're
6:23
Speaker 1: not gonna be going and checking bedding areas. They're not
6:25
Speaker 1: gonna be running through pinch points. All they're gonna do
6:29
Speaker 1: is navigate from their safe bedding to their safe food
6:32
Speaker 1: and move as little as possible between those two places.
6:34
Speaker 1: Because they're trying to preserve energy. They don't want to
6:37
Speaker 1: use any more energy than necessary. Right now, because stuff
6:39
Speaker 1: is gonna get cold, nasty, and tough to survive in
6:42
Speaker 1: these coming weeks and months. So they're all about efficiency
6:45
Speaker 1: from now through March. Deer all about efficiency. Give me food,
6:50
Speaker 1: give me safety, move as little as possible in between.
6:53
Speaker 1: So find the sanctu where you find the food. And finally,
6:56
Speaker 1: the third pillar is timing your hunt right. And really
7:00
Speaker 1: that's mostly related to weather. You know, if you've got
7:04
Speaker 1: that icy, crazy, cold, frigid temperature kind of day that
7:09
Speaker 1: comes through, I mean talking much colder than average for
7:13
Speaker 1: your area. For me here in Michigan, that's you know,
7:15
Speaker 1: give me single digits or below zero digits, and that's
7:19
Speaker 1: going to get those deer on their feet earlier than usual.
7:22
Speaker 1: Especially that big mature buck that's maybe been nocturnal all
7:26
Speaker 1: the last three or four or five weeks. That will
7:28
Speaker 1: be the thing that will get him on his feet
7:30
Speaker 1: moving in daylight that evening. So if I've got those
7:33
Speaker 1: frigid temperatures, I love that. If I've got the big
7:35
Speaker 1: snow store on the pushes through the wind and the
7:38
Speaker 1: snow blows through a big blizzard. And now that day after,
7:41
Speaker 1: when the weather has cleared, it's cold, there's six inches
7:44
Speaker 1: of new snow on the ground and now it's like
7:46
Speaker 1: a high pressure bluebird day. I love a day like
7:48
Speaker 1: that too. So those are the kinds of days when
7:52
Speaker 1: you'll have that extra special movement in those sanctuary food
7:56
Speaker 1: type areas. So if you're just trying to kill a
7:58
Speaker 1: dough or young buck, you don't need to wait for
8:00
Speaker 1: that weather. You can get out there on most days
8:03
Speaker 1: in a safe, good food source area and bill kill
8:06
Speaker 1: a deer. But if you're trying to kill that one
8:07
Speaker 1: five year old or that whatever it is, those special
8:11
Speaker 1: weather days will usually be the trick to get a
8:14
Speaker 1: move in just a little bit earlier. So those are
8:16
Speaker 1: my three pillars. Give me a sanctuary, give me the
8:17
Speaker 1: best late season high energy food, and give me a
8:20
Speaker 1: really nice cold or fresh snowy day, and I'm gonna
8:23
Speaker 1: be feeling really good about my laces and chances. I
8:26
Speaker 1: like it. Mark. And if you already have your tags filled, um,
8:30
Speaker 1: but you have a season that is open this late
8:33
Speaker 1: or even later, I think there's a lot of value
8:35
Speaker 1: when just scouting this time of year and putting together
8:37
Speaker 1: a plan for next year, um, because maybe you won't
8:40
Speaker 1: have a tag filled come this point next year. And
8:43
Speaker 1: historical patterns can be really predictable. Um in late December
8:47
Speaker 1: and early January. It's almost like the least surprising places
8:53
Speaker 1: you see deer in the late season, and that's gonna
8:55
Speaker 1: happen year after year after year. And so you can
8:58
Speaker 1: learn a lot if you just go out and drive
9:00
Speaker 1: around glassom evenings, if you have a job that has
9:02
Speaker 1: a Christmas break, or your student you have a Christmas break,
9:05
Speaker 1: I think you can learn a lot that would off
9:07
Speaker 1: further you're hunting in years to come. Yeah, I percent
9:11
Speaker 1: agree with that. Who else we're gonna hear from this
9:13
Speaker 1: week is Seth Trokey in Illinois, Jacob Myers in Alabama,
9:17
Speaker 1: Brett Joy in New Hampshire, and then Caleb Combs in
9:20
Speaker 1: Oklahoma and again Mark, this is our final episode of
9:24
Speaker 1: this season of rut Fresh Radio, and I imagine we'll
9:29
Speaker 1: have a recap episode, but either way, we will talk
9:32
Speaker 1: to you again next year. Great work this year, Spencer,
9:35
Speaker 1: It's been fun. I love following along, so best lucked
9:38
Speaker 1: everybody out there. Get it done here in the end
9:40
Speaker 1: of the season, all right, and joining us on the
9:43
Speaker 1: line first is Seth Rokey in Illinois from Bad Country
9:47
Speaker 1: Hunters and anglers now seth in Illinois, what would you
9:49
Speaker 1: say the buck activity has been lately on a scale
9:51
Speaker 1: of one to ten. So lately here in Illinois it's
9:54
Speaker 1: been about it too. I would say everything from the
9:57
Speaker 1: ruts slowed down and we're kin just seeing deer moving
10:01
Speaker 1: right before dark to food sources. Is it historically that
10:05
Speaker 1: slow this time of year in Illinois? Yeah, historically it is.
10:11
Speaker 1: It is like that this time of year here. We
10:13
Speaker 1: had a weird rut, weird weather year with pretty warm
10:16
Speaker 1: temperatures in a kind of strange rut h just short
10:22
Speaker 1: where I was at, and we didn't see too much
10:25
Speaker 1: like heavy chasing stuff like that. Um, But yeah, this
10:29
Speaker 1: time of year, they're going to be hitting the food
10:31
Speaker 1: usually right before dark. And what are those food sources
10:34
Speaker 1: that are relevant for deer hunters in that part of
10:36
Speaker 1: the country. So definitely right now, especially where I'm at Illinois,
10:42
Speaker 1: they're hitting the cut corn fields that haven't been disked
10:44
Speaker 1: over usually right before dark. And then if you have
10:48
Speaker 1: any acorns or anything like that, Um, you might be
10:51
Speaker 1: a fuming cut bean field if there's any any loss,
10:54
Speaker 1: but just agg fields and and normal stuff for this
10:59
Speaker 1: time year around here. Have you been seeing any secondary
11:03
Speaker 1: running activity in Illinois this December. I guess early on
11:08
Speaker 1: December a little bit. Um, the those that weren't bread.
11:12
Speaker 1: We're still getting the book out and about a little bit.
11:16
Speaker 1: But right now it's I think the ruts down for
11:20
Speaker 1: what kind of shift in betting do you notice when
11:22
Speaker 1: we get into late season in the Midwest. So noticing
11:29
Speaker 1: my trail cameras and just observing deer um being out
11:33
Speaker 1: and about, I've noticed that it's totally changed their betting
11:38
Speaker 1: closer to the food where they don't have to move much. Um,
11:42
Speaker 1: it's been really windy to this this season, so they've
11:45
Speaker 1: been bedding betting on like the side of the slopes
11:49
Speaker 1: where the winds not hitting in the south basic slopes mostly.
11:53
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's what they're doing. Now. You mentioned they'd
11:55
Speaker 1: be running some trail cameras. Right now, where do you
11:58
Speaker 1: want those located? As we get in late December, So
12:03
Speaker 1: right now I'm putting my cameras on food and intersecting
12:07
Speaker 1: trails near the food so I can kind of see
12:09
Speaker 1: what made it through gun season and what's still out there. Um,
12:14
Speaker 1: kind of watch them for when they're gonna start dropping
12:16
Speaker 1: antlowers and stuff. So you're out there and take inventorI
12:20
Speaker 1: on shed going forward. Then in this next week or so,
12:23
Speaker 1: what do you think that bucket activity is going to
12:25
Speaker 1: be on a scale of one to ten in Illinois.
12:30
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say it's still gonna be a two, maybe
12:32
Speaker 1: a one, but yeah, the rut activities pretty much. I
12:36
Speaker 1: would say over over Um, you might get lucky and
12:39
Speaker 1: catch them going to food, but that's your best bet. Alright, Seth,
12:43
Speaker 1: good luck with what's up your season. Thanks for joining me,
12:47
Speaker 1: Thank you all right and joining us on the line.
12:50
Speaker 1: Next is Jacob Myers and Alabama from the Southern Outdoorsman.
12:54
Speaker 1: Jacob in Alabama, what would you say the bucket activity
12:57
Speaker 1: has been lately on a scale of one to ten,
13:00
Speaker 1: That's been a strong seven so far in the season,
13:03
Speaker 1: especially where we're at here kind of coming in from
13:06
Speaker 1: central Alabama. Something very specific about Alabama with the restocking
13:10
Speaker 1: that happened back here in the nineteen hundreds. Uh we
13:12
Speaker 1: have uh six different uh pete breeding days throughout the
13:16
Speaker 1: season based on different regions in the state and where
13:19
Speaker 1: we're at right now at pete breeding happened based off
13:22
Speaker 1: the fetal measurements and testing the boutus have done. Between
13:26
Speaker 1: December fourteenth through the seventeenth is pete breeding days. And
13:31
Speaker 1: right now we're starting to get back a little more
13:33
Speaker 1: of a higher kick up with some of these bigger
13:35
Speaker 1: bucks on their feet. It's a really good time the
13:37
Speaker 1: year be killing some good deer. Um. But uh, it's exciting.
13:40
Speaker 1: And killed my buck and I killed a five and
13:41
Speaker 1: a half year old last week last Friday, and uh
13:44
Speaker 1: he was fighting off a couple of bucks while he
13:47
Speaker 1: was on top of the dough. So uh, it's a
13:49
Speaker 1: great time the year. Teen this season or be out
13:51
Speaker 1: in the woods right now in Alabama. So for most
13:53
Speaker 1: of the state, what do you expect to be seeing
13:55
Speaker 1: for signmaking right now? Signmaking is kind of slow down. Um,
14:01
Speaker 1: it will pick up. Scrapes will pick up a little
14:03
Speaker 1: bit more of the next few days. Uh. Currently right now,
14:06
Speaker 1: scrapes are still being somewhat abandoned. Um. Of course rubs too. Um.
14:10
Speaker 1: But it's a great time of the year to be
14:12
Speaker 1: starting tarting back on those scrapes, especially those scrapes right
14:14
Speaker 1: now that we've been finding inside into stick security cover.
14:18
Speaker 1: One thing special about Alabama, we have a very long
14:21
Speaker 1: gun season, which can be um, you know, kind of
14:23
Speaker 1: hard on the deer. So the deer really do dive
14:25
Speaker 1: into these thickets, especially these does, to try to get
14:28
Speaker 1: away from these bucks. So those scrapes inside that thick
14:31
Speaker 1: cover can be excellent right now, especially for running trail cameras,
14:35
Speaker 1: but also something that you'll see popping up a little
14:37
Speaker 1: bit more and hot and heavy of the next few
14:39
Speaker 1: days in December in that part of the country. What
14:42
Speaker 1: food sources are relevant food sources. So if you can
14:46
Speaker 1: find some red oaks cell the grounds still gonna be
14:48
Speaker 1: awesome right now. Uh, it's been pretty hit or miss
14:51
Speaker 1: right now. They cleaned up all the oaks earlier in
14:52
Speaker 1: the season, it seems like from what I was finding,
14:55
Speaker 1: but a lot of brows. You know, we don't have
14:57
Speaker 1: very harsh winters down here, of course being as far south,
15:00
Speaker 1: but again the brows, a lot of green brier and
15:03
Speaker 1: everything else. Uh, is still gonna be very relative always
15:06
Speaker 1: to the end of the season. So any of that
15:07
Speaker 1: really thick security cover or these clear cuts, or he's
15:10
Speaker 1: gonna have that browse that the does are gonna be
15:12
Speaker 1: feeding in, and that's where you're gonna find the bucks.
15:14
Speaker 1: Where do you want to be running your trail cameras
15:16
Speaker 1: in late December in Alabama on a scrape in a thicket.
15:22
Speaker 1: Without a doubt, we're getting some awesome uh footage right
15:24
Speaker 1: now growing some cell cameras uh and some six security
15:27
Speaker 1: betting on some primary scrapes and it's been pretty awesome
15:32
Speaker 1: this first year using CeAl cameras are kind of king
15:34
Speaker 1: in when these deer or especially these bucks really hitting
15:36
Speaker 1: those scrapes, uh and the doe groups coming to that thicket.
15:39
Speaker 1: So definitely, you know, put in cell camera, putting camera
15:42
Speaker 1: inside that thick security cover on the scrape is gonna
15:45
Speaker 1: be very um, you guess important for you. Or if
15:48
Speaker 1: you're hunting some privately and we have a lot of
15:49
Speaker 1: public if you're hunting privately and if you have a
15:51
Speaker 1: really good gustation food source maybe like a really good
15:53
Speaker 1: food pot that just isn't getting hit very hard by
15:56
Speaker 1: hunting pressure, that might be a really good place, especially
15:58
Speaker 1: with a buck trying to check the who's right now
16:00
Speaker 1: at this time of the season, when you have bucks
16:03
Speaker 1: rutting in Alabama and late December, what is the idea
16:06
Speaker 1: of morning set up look like for you? And then
16:08
Speaker 1: what does the ideal evening set up look like? Oh,
16:12
Speaker 1: I like that question. I love mornings. I love mornings
16:15
Speaker 1: uh in and around cutovers, clear cuts, especially if you
16:19
Speaker 1: can get one that's just a few years old. Um,
16:22
Speaker 1: it seems like you can always catch and those in
16:25
Speaker 1: their feeding. Uh. And those bucks absolutely cruising inside that
16:28
Speaker 1: thick covered and you can get elevated and get a
16:30
Speaker 1: good elevation on. You can really see down into that stuff. Uh.
16:33
Speaker 1: So that's a fantastic mornings by and then the afternoons
16:37
Speaker 1: getting still around some of those thickets, whether it's you know,
16:40
Speaker 1: five six year old ponds um that's been replanted or
16:43
Speaker 1: just a really thick cut over again in the evenings
16:46
Speaker 1: and setting up where you're gonna have some bucks cruising
16:49
Speaker 1: those edges um, and also some of those exit trails
16:51
Speaker 1: that those are coming out of that stuff, going down
16:53
Speaker 1: into the boggs and feeding. Are you doing any calling
16:57
Speaker 1: or decoying this time of year? And then it up
17:00
Speaker 1: on the decoin a little bit with the calling again
17:03
Speaker 1: mixed results. You know. I've talked to some individuals, uh,
17:06
Speaker 1: one named Richard Fought have event ton of success using
17:09
Speaker 1: grunts this time of the year. Uh. You're tending grunts really, um,
17:13
Speaker 1: but again very hit or miss based off, you know,
17:16
Speaker 1: kind of where you're at. So something I personally don't
17:18
Speaker 1: use a whole bunch by no guys that do have
17:19
Speaker 1: success this time of year in Alabama calling when you
17:23
Speaker 1: have the Southern Road happening and say you have a
17:25
Speaker 1: really warm stretch of weather roll in. How do you
17:27
Speaker 1: combat that? Is? Are there any specific spots that you
17:30
Speaker 1: want to be hunting if you have some really warm
17:32
Speaker 1: days this time of year. I'll say this, these Southern
17:36
Speaker 1: deer are fairly used to it. Um. You know, it's
17:39
Speaker 1: not gonna come down like you know, focusing on water.
17:41
Speaker 1: We have water everywhere. Every draine is gonna have water,
17:43
Speaker 1: so that's never a factor, um, But really kind of
17:47
Speaker 1: comes more down to uh positioning. You know. Of course
17:50
Speaker 1: those does are gonna still be in that thick cover
17:52
Speaker 1: and really a lot of the stuff that we do,
17:54
Speaker 1: we try to target the thickest cover we can find
17:56
Speaker 1: because right now those don't want to be harassed by
17:58
Speaker 1: the bucks they're in that stuff and get away from
18:01
Speaker 1: and those bucks are always on those edges, popping out
18:03
Speaker 1: that and really trying to cover ground and cut trails.
18:05
Speaker 1: So I'll say this, when I shot my book last Friday, Um,
18:09
Speaker 1: it was sixty five degrees. I was hunting in pretty
18:12
Speaker 1: much just a T shirt. Following day with seventy two
18:15
Speaker 1: degrees and I was hunting in just a T shirt.
18:17
Speaker 1: So you know, it's one of the things you can't
18:19
Speaker 1: really help that down here. But definitely when we have
18:21
Speaker 1: a temperature swing like we had today, especially over this
18:24
Speaker 1: next week, you're gonna see a lot of really good movement,
18:27
Speaker 1: especially later on in the day going forward, then in
18:30
Speaker 1: the next week or so, what do you think the
18:32
Speaker 1: bucket ATVD is going to be on a scale of
18:34
Speaker 1: one to ten in Alabama? In Alabama, I'm gonna say,
18:39
Speaker 1: for unless you're in the very southern part of the state,
18:41
Speaker 1: it's gonna be pretty fantastic. I'd say it probably close
18:44
Speaker 1: to an eight, if not maybe higher. Uh, definitely, you know,
18:47
Speaker 1: if you can get out, if you're in Alabama, you
18:48
Speaker 1: can get out in the hunt this week, you have
18:50
Speaker 1: a very good chance, especially central part of the state,
18:52
Speaker 1: to be able to kill one of your bitterer, bigger
18:54
Speaker 1: and better bucks. Uh. Again, in these bucks are back
18:57
Speaker 1: on their feet looking for you know, whichever dose still
19:00
Speaker 1: about to come to heat before we get that secondary rut,
19:02
Speaker 1: which we do have a very strong secondary rut around
19:05
Speaker 1: here based off the deer population. Uh So again it's
19:08
Speaker 1: just now getting good in alban we get a long
19:10
Speaker 1: season ahead of us. Uh So it's time to finally
19:12
Speaker 1: buckle down and get after them. Our Jacob, congrats on
19:15
Speaker 1: your success so far and good luck with the rest
19:17
Speaker 1: of your season. Thanks for joining me. Thank you, Spencer,
19:21
Speaker 1: alright and joining us on the line. Next is Brett
19:23
Speaker 1: Joy in New Hampshire from the Just Hunt Club. Now,
19:27
Speaker 1: Brett in New Hampshire. What would you say the buck
19:29
Speaker 1: activity is been lately on a scale of one to ten, Hey, Spencer,
19:33
Speaker 1: I'd say it's been U probably a six or seven. Um,
19:37
Speaker 1: it's been I'd say above average, which is good. I
19:39
Speaker 1: think it's probably tapered off a bit from the road obviously,
19:43
Speaker 1: which are nearly a month removed from now. Um. But um,
19:48
Speaker 1: it seems like it's kind of hit or mess. But
19:51
Speaker 1: movement can be really good. Um, if you've found an
19:54
Speaker 1: area that's relatively low pressure. UM, if you have a
19:57
Speaker 1: quality food source, um, if we have, or you have
20:01
Speaker 1: some good weather which you've seen kind of um flashes
20:05
Speaker 1: of the last week or so. Um, or if you
20:08
Speaker 1: get that second red activity, which it seems to be
20:10
Speaker 1: a pretty real thing in the East that I see
20:14
Speaker 1: more and more of. I don't know if I see
20:15
Speaker 1: more and more of it every year, but I become
20:17
Speaker 1: more and more aware of it, if that makes sense.
20:20
Speaker 1: What is a quality food source in one of the
20:23
Speaker 1: New England states this time of year? Man, we're such
20:26
Speaker 1: a diverse area. Obviously the hamps is the state that
20:29
Speaker 1: I focus on. Um, we're unfortunately closed. But you know
20:35
Speaker 1: that could the acorns um at this point in the year.
20:39
Speaker 1: It could be an old apple orchard, or an apple
20:41
Speaker 1: or working apple orchard. UM could be you know, browsing
20:46
Speaker 1: a cut. I actually had a hunt last week, right,
20:50
Speaker 1: I hit a buck high and mature buck um. But
20:54
Speaker 1: that was over a food plot. So if you have
20:56
Speaker 1: the ability to plant that, um, you know, that's that's
20:59
Speaker 1: a new hand. Sure it could be you know, I
21:01
Speaker 1: was in Ohio over the weekends. That could be beans,
21:05
Speaker 1: corn and food plot there. It could be baked, it
21:06
Speaker 1: could be you know, whatever. Whatever. So it really is
21:09
Speaker 1: pretty um diversed in the eastern half of the country.
21:12
Speaker 1: But I think being able to identify that food source
21:15
Speaker 1: and then confirmed the gear using it's gonna be super
21:18
Speaker 1: helpful for you. What kind of areas should hunters in
21:21
Speaker 1: the east who were in the Big Woods focus on
21:24
Speaker 1: if they want to see some of that secondary running
21:27
Speaker 1: activity this time of year. I would focus on, you know,
21:32
Speaker 1: areas with thozen with with food sources. Like we said before,
21:35
Speaker 1: so in the big woods, UM, I would focus if
21:39
Speaker 1: you have mass crop like southern half of probably New
21:42
Speaker 1: England does, or um whatnot, I've focused on acorns. If
21:47
Speaker 1: you're up north, I'd focus on cuts and then areas
21:51
Speaker 1: just haven't been getting a lot of pressure. The other
21:53
Speaker 1: thing that I like the cana on it's, if possible
21:55
Speaker 1: as self station slopes because as it gets cold up
21:58
Speaker 1: here in the snow starts to pilot, the deer really
22:00
Speaker 1: start to move to those self facing slopes and then
22:02
Speaker 1: bottoms if possible. UM. So, well, those deer, a lot
22:06
Speaker 1: of them are going to move out of the high
22:07
Speaker 1: country um or what we call high country out ease.
22:11
Speaker 1: It's not a high completed to the west, but it's
22:13
Speaker 1: you know, the higher elevations for your area. They're gonna
22:15
Speaker 1: move to lower elevations and so sutherly facing slopes and
22:19
Speaker 1: a lot of the times so suddenly facing slopes will
22:21
Speaker 1: be um hard woods and have a fair amount of oak.
22:25
Speaker 1: If you've got a fresh snow when you're doing some
22:27
Speaker 1: in seasoned scouting in the big woods, what are some
22:30
Speaker 1: things that you're looking for. UM. I would say that
22:34
Speaker 1: if your seasons still open and you have that fresh
22:36
Speaker 1: snow in the big woods, you ought to try to
22:37
Speaker 1: be tracking down a buck. But if that's not your thing,
22:39
Speaker 1: or maybe it's R three season, UM, I wouldn't be
22:43
Speaker 1: looking for feeding sign UM in those areas that you
22:47
Speaker 1: know we've identified as food sources. You can hunt right
22:51
Speaker 1: there on those and you may have some good luck,
22:53
Speaker 1: um if the deer have them pressured. If they have,
22:55
Speaker 1: then you may want to try to backtrack UM those
22:59
Speaker 1: deer to a betting area. It's possible from that food source.
23:03
Speaker 1: So I'd probably start with just trying to hunt that
23:06
Speaker 1: food source getting the winter right and start conservatively. But
23:09
Speaker 1: if I'm not seeing any deer activity there during daylight
23:12
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking they're getting there later, I might try
23:14
Speaker 1: to try to backtrap putiously from that food source to
23:17
Speaker 1: a betting area and then hunt kind of that transition
23:19
Speaker 1: or maybe even right on the edge of the betting
23:21
Speaker 1: area to pingpond. What kind of deal that activity you're
23:23
Speaker 1: seeing in the late season in the Northeast. What does
23:27
Speaker 1: the morning set up look like for you? Um? Honestly,
23:33
Speaker 1: unless I'm tracking and probably knocking on a lot of mornings, UM,
23:37
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the right approach. It's just
23:40
Speaker 1: for me. The season has been a long one, um,
23:44
Speaker 1: and you're trying to beat deer back to bed, which
23:47
Speaker 1: can be tough. Um. I'm probably gonna focus on those evenings.
23:50
Speaker 1: But I guess if I had to hunt a morning,
23:52
Speaker 1: I mean, they may look pretty similar to the evening setups.
23:55
Speaker 1: I may hunt a food source. Um, it's not a
23:58
Speaker 1: lot of the food sources aren't super defined. So it's
24:01
Speaker 1: not like you know, they're going to be seeing in
24:02
Speaker 1: a one acre area. They may be feeding in a
24:04
Speaker 1: you know, ten area. So the chances of you going
24:08
Speaker 1: in and the deer being right where your stand is,
24:11
Speaker 1: you know, when you're approaching, aren't super high. Um. So
24:14
Speaker 1: it really depends on your situation. I'd say, but I'd
24:17
Speaker 1: be hunting on a food source or you know, a
24:19
Speaker 1: betting area. Going forward, then the six week or so,
24:22
Speaker 1: where do you think that bucket activity is going to
24:24
Speaker 1: be on a scale of one to ten in New Hampshire.
24:28
Speaker 1: I think it will probably be right around the seven.
24:31
Speaker 1: The temperatures look like they're good. I think the only
24:34
Speaker 1: thing we didn't touch upon is cold fronts of weather
24:36
Speaker 1: that's gonna obviously increase activity significantly. Late season is really
24:40
Speaker 1: driven by snow and cold up here. Once you get
24:43
Speaker 1: the snow in the cold, the more dramatic the activity is,
24:45
Speaker 1: the more concentrated it is, and the better hunting it is.
24:47
Speaker 1: And it looks like we do have some colder weather
24:49
Speaker 1: moving in. Nothing super dramatic, but it looks like we
24:52
Speaker 1: have maybe some snow and some some colder temperatures. So
24:55
Speaker 1: I would say they're going to continue to move. You're
24:57
Speaker 1: gonna continue to see some of that second right activity,
24:59
Speaker 1: as you know, but sure those are cycling into this
25:01
Speaker 1: for the second time and maybe some of those funds
25:03
Speaker 1: are coming in for the first time. So I think
25:05
Speaker 1: it's a pretty good outlook for the next coming week.
25:08
Speaker 1: All right, Brett, congrats on the great season, Thanks for
25:10
Speaker 1: joining me. Thanks man alright and joining us on the line.
25:16
Speaker 1: Next is Caleb Combs in Oklahoma from Stewart Ranch Outfitters.
25:20
Speaker 1: Caleb in Oklahoma, what would you say the buck activity
25:23
Speaker 1: has been lately on a scale of one to ten,
25:27
Speaker 1: I would say it's been about a seventh, but that's
25:30
Speaker 1: only because I'm always optimistic about late season. It's my
25:34
Speaker 1: favorite time of year to hunt. Um, so I still
25:38
Speaker 1: have it high. You can get it done. I've seen
25:40
Speaker 1: a lot of bucks in the recent trips I've taken
25:42
Speaker 1: lately during daylight hours. I don't know on camera they're
25:45
Speaker 1: still moving, but i'd have it higher like usually Lazias.
25:49
Speaker 1: And I haven't like a nye. Just the weather has
25:51
Speaker 1: been terrible, um top and it's dry. We meet some
25:54
Speaker 1: rain in a bad way. So I mean all of
25:56
Speaker 1: our food plots got hammers because we haven't had since
26:00
Speaker 1: October and there's basically nothing left, not a ton of acorns.
26:04
Speaker 1: I mean they're just all real spread out right now.
26:07
Speaker 1: And what is it about late December in Oklahoma that
26:10
Speaker 1: always makes you so optimistic? Uh? I love anything post rut,
26:17
Speaker 1: so I'm not a big rut fan. I like before rut,
26:20
Speaker 1: but especially like after just because I'm a big fan
26:23
Speaker 1: of food um and late season you can find them
26:27
Speaker 1: on the food's horses trying to recover. And I also
26:29
Speaker 1: like all the rifle hunters and all the pressure they
26:32
Speaker 1: put on them because usually it moves everything around. Um. So,
26:38
Speaker 1: I just I like everything about late season. You mentioned
26:41
Speaker 1: that you've been out without rain for a minute. Does
26:43
Speaker 1: that mean you've had a focus on water sources this
26:45
Speaker 1: fall or does it not matter much in that part
26:47
Speaker 1: of the country. I don't ever focus on water. I
26:52
Speaker 1: mean it seems like you should. So. I mean like
26:55
Speaker 1: there are times through my evolution as a hunter where
26:58
Speaker 1: I ran cameras on springs are on the you know,
27:01
Speaker 1: the holes that are always in the creek while the
27:03
Speaker 1: whole creatures dry and ponds. I just haven't had much
27:06
Speaker 1: luck with that. I think we get enough to do enough,
27:09
Speaker 1: you know, frosts and other things. You know, like I've
27:13
Speaker 1: never seen it be a a plausible way to kill deer.
27:18
Speaker 1: Have you seen much of a secondary rout this year
27:20
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma? Uh? Depends where you're at. The place that
27:25
Speaker 1: I hunt most frequently has a very high deer population. UM,
27:30
Speaker 1: and it gets weird down there. I would say it's
27:32
Speaker 1: more I'm sure y'all had the podcast before, like Louisiana style,
27:37
Speaker 1: you know, like where you've had a bunch of year
27:38
Speaker 1: that have come in from different places, and it's a
27:42
Speaker 1: weird topography. So we have a lot of run activity. Um,
27:46
Speaker 1: So that's what I'm used to. I'm used to a
27:48
Speaker 1: really long rut um. But around my home place, it's not.
27:53
Speaker 1: It's not that way just because all those deer are
27:56
Speaker 1: fairly similar and it's all crop land, and that one
27:59
Speaker 1: kind of comes and goes more traditional. So Oklahoma is
28:02
Speaker 1: just very weird. Um. We have a lot of different topography,
28:07
Speaker 1: a lot of different you know, subclimates or whatever. So
28:10
Speaker 1: it really depends on where you're at. You could be
28:12
Speaker 1: in southeastern Oklahoma and you could be in northwestern Oklahoma.
28:15
Speaker 1: It is a nine day difference. Where do you want
28:18
Speaker 1: to be running your trail cameras this time of year?
28:22
Speaker 1: I am always running them this time of year on
28:24
Speaker 1: teaches that lead to food sources, and I've still gone
28:27
Speaker 1: them on scrapes because i mean, like the big family
28:29
Speaker 1: scrapes they're still hitting um and then anything that I've
28:33
Speaker 1: got real you can see all the trails now, I
28:36
Speaker 1: mean this time with all the leaves gone and just
28:40
Speaker 1: they've been wearing them down. I mean you can see
28:41
Speaker 1: everything that they've been running in between all the bedding areas.
28:44
Speaker 1: So if you can get on the edges of those.
28:46
Speaker 1: On food sources, you can pick up a dynamite inventory
28:49
Speaker 1: on who's left for this year and especially who's left
28:52
Speaker 1: for next year. So my favorite times to run cameras
28:54
Speaker 1: to get optimistic about next year and try and find
28:57
Speaker 1: where they're gonna be when they shed, because I love
29:00
Speaker 1: shed helping. It's common this time a year to see
29:03
Speaker 1: a shift in bedding in the Midwest and in the north,
29:06
Speaker 1: in the Northeast. But is that something that you also
29:08
Speaker 1: see in Oklahoma when you have such mild weather. I
29:15
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know if it's the shift embedding
29:17
Speaker 1: I do see. I think maybe it is, But usually
29:22
Speaker 1: I more associated with red activity just because, like I said,
29:26
Speaker 1: the place that I hunt idear population and they're still
29:30
Speaker 1: trying to clean up the last bit of those that
29:32
Speaker 1: are coming in. So I've always associated that first week
29:36
Speaker 1: in December, which is my favorite week to go hunting
29:39
Speaker 1: with like late secondary rut, because a lot of new
29:42
Speaker 1: bucks will come in. But it could possibly be from
29:45
Speaker 1: a shift in bedding as well. Um, I'd have to
29:49
Speaker 1: look into that further. Like as far as local, I
29:52
Speaker 1: definitely see a shift, and I'm always following the shift.
29:54
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's late rudder or bedding closer
29:57
Speaker 1: to food sources via solid you look into going forward.
30:01
Speaker 1: Then in the sext week or so, what do you
30:03
Speaker 1: think that bucket activity is going to be on a
30:05
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten? In Oklahoma, we had a
30:10
Speaker 1: little cold front like the last two days, but it is.
30:13
Speaker 1: It looks like it's leaving again. It's gonna be seventies
30:16
Speaker 1: going into Christmas, so I'll be out trying to shoot those.
30:22
Speaker 1: I mean, that's my main goal. It's a holiday antler
30:24
Speaker 1: last season. Uh So, I think you can get out,
30:29
Speaker 1: put some meat in the freezer, and you can definitely
30:31
Speaker 1: be still successful on bucks. But it is gonna be hot,
30:34
Speaker 1: like all the crops like the alfalfa and stuff that
30:36
Speaker 1: I hunt after the last cut barely end of it's
30:39
Speaker 1: come back, and they haven't planned the winter week a
30:41
Speaker 1: bunch of places. So I mean, it's just it's tough
30:43
Speaker 1: on fruit towards us right now. Alright, Caleb, good luck
30:46
Speaker 1: with what's left of your season. Thanks for joining me. Hey,
30:48
Speaker 1: thank you so much. Good luck to YouTube. And that
30:52
Speaker 1: concludes a rout Fresh Radio for thanks to Seth, Jacob
30:58
Speaker 1: Brett and Caleb for joining me. Thank you guys for
31:00
Speaker 1: listening all fall long. For more white Tail tips and tricks,
31:04
Speaker 1: make sure you go to wired to hunt dot com,
31:07
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31:09
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31:12
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31:16
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31:19
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31:24
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31:26
Speaker 1: you're there, which comes out every single Monday. Uh. And
31:30
Speaker 1: I'm serious, you guys when I say this that these
31:32
Speaker 1: are the best white Tail hunters I know, some of
31:35
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31:38
Speaker 1: to read their content. I think you would enjoy it too.
31:41
Speaker 1: It is an awesome way to get you from January
31:44
Speaker 1: to September again when white Tail season start to open
31:47
Speaker 1: across the country. Also one week in November. Episode six
31:51
Speaker 1: just dropped yesterday on meat Eaters YouTube channel. Episode seven
31:56
Speaker 1: will come out in six days from now. Both of
31:59
Speaker 1: them are action act You're not gonna want to miss
32:01
Speaker 1: what happens in our last two episodes. Of the series,
32:04
Speaker 1: and thank you again for listening to rout Fresh Radio.
32:07
Speaker 1: I really enjoy making these and I wouldn't do it
32:10
Speaker 1: if we didn't have folks listening and giving great feedback.
32:13
Speaker 1: So I really appreciate everyone who tunes into the podcast
32:16
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32:20
Speaker 1: listens to these shows makes it all possible. If you
32:22
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32:24
Speaker 1: Tail season, go follow me on Instagram at Spencer new Heart,
32:28
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32:33
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