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BONUS: Wired To Hunt’s Rut Radio 11/23/16 · Wired To Hunt Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Hey, guys and girls, this is Mark Kenyon of the
0:04
Speaker 1: Wired Hunt podcast and we're here with another episode of
0:08
Speaker 1: Wired to Hunt's Rut Radio and with me is our
0:12
Speaker 1: producer Spencer new Hearth High doon Man. Good, there's snow
0:17
Speaker 1: on the ground, there's a chill in the ear, and
0:19
Speaker 1: it's almost Thanksgiving, so I'm really happy. Yeah, this is
0:24
Speaker 1: This is the weather and like the feeling of hunting
0:26
Speaker 1: that I think a lot of us have been waiting
0:28
Speaker 1: for because it's been a pretty warm November a lot
0:30
Speaker 1: of places, don't you think. Yeah, it's the cold front
0:33
Speaker 1: that's like two weeks late and that we were looking
0:36
Speaker 1: for at the beginning of November. I'm interested to hear
0:39
Speaker 1: what are our correspondence across the country have seen. But you,
0:43
Speaker 1: my friend, you were able to get it done again,
0:45
Speaker 1: weren't you. Yeah. I was fortunate enough to harvest the
0:50
Speaker 1: coolest year that I have ever seen on hoof. On
0:54
Speaker 1: one side he had a normal five point side, nice
0:57
Speaker 1: long brow ties and stuff, and you know, matching the
1:00
Speaker 1: other side he had probably been a hundred classed year.
1:06
Speaker 1: But then on his other side he had like two
1:08
Speaker 1: mutant antlers, one smaller antler that came up that was
1:11
Speaker 1: like your typical four point side, but then below that,
1:15
Speaker 1: growing out of the same base, he had this weird
1:18
Speaker 1: stag horn that came out like two inches and then
1:21
Speaker 1: shot straight up in the air and did a ninety
1:23
Speaker 1: degree angle that was eleven inches long. And so when
1:27
Speaker 1: I saw him, I knew I had to get this
1:29
Speaker 1: year on the ground. I was really excited when it
1:31
Speaker 1: worked out. Wow, that's crazy. So so how did that happen? Well,
1:36
Speaker 1: we just got pounded um with a big snowstorm on
1:40
Speaker 1: like Thursday and Friday. It dropped like four or five
1:42
Speaker 1: inches snow on the ground and it also brought some
1:45
Speaker 1: pretty heavy winds with that. And so going into this hunt,
1:48
Speaker 1: I was thinking less about rud activity and more about
1:51
Speaker 1: you know, hunting a food source. So I hunted a
1:55
Speaker 1: cut bean field with hopes that I would see you know,
1:58
Speaker 1: a high number of deer. And was just what happened
2:01
Speaker 1: for that hunt. I saw like twenty four dough and
2:04
Speaker 1: three bucks, you know, including this one. When I initially
2:08
Speaker 1: saw him was about ten minutes to daylight left or
2:10
Speaker 1: so um, and I could just see his good side
2:13
Speaker 1: and at that point I was kind of on the
2:15
Speaker 1: fence about shooting him. You know, I knew he was
2:16
Speaker 1: a good looking deer, um, but I just wasn't sure
2:19
Speaker 1: that this was the one I wanted. And then when
2:22
Speaker 1: he gave me a better view, I could only pick
2:24
Speaker 1: up half of what was going on on the other side,
2:26
Speaker 1: and I thought, you don't know, I'm not going to
2:27
Speaker 1: shoot this year. But then he eventually moved a little
2:29
Speaker 1: bit closer and I could get the full picture. Uh,
2:31
Speaker 1: and see, you know all the junkie had going on.
2:33
Speaker 1: I thought, Okay, you know, this is the buck for me.
2:36
Speaker 1: And I was really excited then when it worked out,
2:39
Speaker 1: because initially I had him in like two yards and
2:42
Speaker 1: that was when I decided I was not going to shoot.
2:44
Speaker 1: But he worked his way all the way into forty
2:46
Speaker 1: five yards. Um. That was kind of when I got
2:49
Speaker 1: the idea of what this deal really was. And forty
2:52
Speaker 1: five yards with a sculped rifle that's a chip show,
2:55
Speaker 1: you know, It's like five yards with your bow. Uh.
2:58
Speaker 1: So it just it couldn't have worked any better. That's awesome.
3:01
Speaker 1: And so those bucks where they just felt there feeding,
3:03
Speaker 1: they weren't paying attention to the dose at all. Yeah,
3:05
Speaker 1: there wasn't too much rudd activity there. Um. I did
3:08
Speaker 1: see one of the younger bucks leave his group of
3:11
Speaker 1: dose to go bother a different group of dose, but
3:14
Speaker 1: they shut him down pretty quickly, so then he moved
3:17
Speaker 1: back to the group that he had came out of
3:19
Speaker 1: this draw with. But it really seemed like mostly the
3:22
Speaker 1: deer were focused on food. Okay, interesting, Yeah, I haven't
3:28
Speaker 1: seen anything too too ruddy here in Michigan a little bit.
3:32
Speaker 1: I was able to be hunting up in northern Michigan
3:35
Speaker 1: this weekend and uh saw some doze and a couple
3:39
Speaker 1: of bucks, but nothing really going on between them. The
3:42
Speaker 1: buck had been spooked um, and the doz was kind
3:45
Speaker 1: of doing a thing um. And then a lower Michigan
3:48
Speaker 1: last night, I did see a bunch of deer um,
3:51
Speaker 1: but it was all dose except for one buck, which
3:53
Speaker 1: was the one buck I've been after holy Field. Unfortunately
3:57
Speaker 1: I was not able to hunt. I was watching from
4:01
Speaker 1: from the distance. Um. I just was able to sneak
4:04
Speaker 1: over there just in time to catch last light. But he, interestingly,
4:06
Speaker 1: when was not with a dough, wasn't chasing any doughs
4:09
Speaker 1: or anything. He was kind of cruised out by himself
4:11
Speaker 1: out to this edge of a field, looked around and
4:14
Speaker 1: then walked down the edge of the field, looped into
4:16
Speaker 1: some tall grass, and then back in towards the food plot. Um. So,
4:21
Speaker 1: you know, I think we're kind of reaching that point
4:23
Speaker 1: where most of the doughs have probably been bred and
4:26
Speaker 1: now you just have these occasional few stragglers that are
4:29
Speaker 1: probably coming into estrus and uh and when those do happen,
4:32
Speaker 1: I think the activity will pick up, But I don't
4:34
Speaker 1: know if it's going to be anything like it was,
4:37
Speaker 1: you know, two weeks ago when it comes to chasing
4:39
Speaker 1: and seeking. But I don't know. I guess I'm not
4:42
Speaker 1: the one to ask about that. You are because you've
4:43
Speaker 1: been talking to everyone, right. Yeah, Well, this episode again
4:47
Speaker 1: felt like one from mid October where we were talking
4:49
Speaker 1: about how weather driven the deer activity was then, you know,
4:53
Speaker 1: thanks to the warm weather. But this time it's a
4:56
Speaker 1: lot different. We started off talking to Justin Zar in
5:00
Speaker 1: Illinois with bow hunting dot Com, and he had talked
5:02
Speaker 1: about how he thinks this a little bit of cold
5:04
Speaker 1: is going to get the deer moving good again. And
5:07
Speaker 1: then we went to Jason Reid in New York and
5:10
Speaker 1: he was dealing with some t shirt weather like a
5:12
Speaker 1: week ago, and then all of a sudden that turned
5:15
Speaker 1: into a blizzard and that really shut down the deer
5:18
Speaker 1: activity for him. Then we went to Georgia and talked
5:20
Speaker 1: to Lindsay Thomas Jr. And he was on the complete
5:23
Speaker 1: other end of the spectrum. He was talking about how
5:24
Speaker 1: warm and dry it is down there, and if you
5:27
Speaker 1: have a good food source right now, like a food
5:29
Speaker 1: pot that actually survived, or some good water for the deer,
5:32
Speaker 1: that would be key. And then we went to Mark
5:35
Speaker 1: Kaiser in Nebraska from Deer and Deer Hunting TV and
5:38
Speaker 1: his report was similar to Jason Reid. He had talked
5:41
Speaker 1: about how he was hunting in like sixty or seventy
5:43
Speaker 1: degree weather that then turned into this nasty cold and
5:47
Speaker 1: wind um. So we're definitely at a point where the
5:51
Speaker 1: weather is very important that the rut no longer trumps all. Interesting. Well,
5:58
Speaker 1: I'm interested to hear uh here what they have to
6:01
Speaker 1: say about that. And I think this relatively cooler weather
6:04
Speaker 1: is probably here to stay. Right. I think at least
6:06
Speaker 1: long term, we're not gonna have any T shirt weather again,
6:09
Speaker 1: at least in this part of the country right right.
6:12
Speaker 1: But if you are somewhere in the Midwest that just
6:14
Speaker 1: got hit with snow, it looks like it won't be
6:15
Speaker 1: here too much longer. I see in South Dakota, for example,
6:18
Speaker 1: there's some fifty degree days coming up next week and
6:21
Speaker 1: then even a little bit of rain today. That blanket
6:24
Speaker 1: of snow is gonna be gone pretty quickly. Yeah, very true. Well,
6:28
Speaker 1: I think there's there is running actions still to be had.
6:32
Speaker 1: So if you're if you're still out there hunting with
6:34
Speaker 1: a tag yet to be filled, stay out there, keep
6:37
Speaker 1: at it because good things gonna happen. And uh, I
6:40
Speaker 1: guess with that Spencer, should we get to these interviews
6:42
Speaker 1: because I know I am, and I'm sure listeners are
6:44
Speaker 1: curious to hear what the reports have been across country. Yeah, definitely.
6:48
Speaker 1: And two weeks ago before we did an episode, I
6:50
Speaker 1: take down in western South Dakota, and then last week
6:53
Speaker 1: before episode you take down in Ohio. And then this
6:56
Speaker 1: week before the episode, I take down eastern South Dakota.
6:59
Speaker 1: So we better do more episode next week just so
7:01
Speaker 1: one of us can punch one more tag. What do
7:03
Speaker 1: you think that's true? While I'm actually just about to
7:06
Speaker 1: head out to hunt tonight for holy Field, So if
7:10
Speaker 1: we keep this streak alive, that would be pretty incredible. Well, then,
7:13
Speaker 1: I don't even need to wish you luck, so I
7:15
Speaker 1: think we know what's going to happen there. All my
7:17
Speaker 1: fingers and toes are crossed. But seriously, good luck, Mark,
7:21
Speaker 1: and quickly before we get to our first update. As
7:24
Speaker 1: all weird Hunt podcasts are, this episode is brought to
7:27
Speaker 1: you by sit Ga Gear. If you'd like to learn
7:29
Speaker 1: more about Sitka Gears technical hunting apparel, you can visit
7:32
Speaker 1: Sitka gear dot com. And now onto the show. Alright,
7:37
Speaker 1: and joining me on the line first is Justin Csar,
7:40
Speaker 1: the general manager of bow Hunting dot Com. Now, Justin
7:44
Speaker 1: in Illinois, what would you say the buck activity has
7:47
Speaker 1: been there on a scale of one to ten, I'd
7:51
Speaker 1: give it a seven or eight here over the last
7:53
Speaker 1: few days, you know, we had a cold front moved
7:55
Speaker 1: through that finally brought some real cold temperatures. Uh, you know,
7:59
Speaker 1: the last few days and my trail cameras have been
8:02
Speaker 1: absolutely blowing up with with some really good uh daylife
8:06
Speaker 1: buck activity. And what phase of the route would you
8:09
Speaker 1: say we're in then right now? Yeah, I really think
8:12
Speaker 1: we're kind of tapering off on the back side, you
8:15
Speaker 1: know of just the rut as a whole um. You know,
8:18
Speaker 1: my personal opinion has always been this, you know, fifteen
8:21
Speaker 1: through the twenty of the month. Um, I've always felt
8:24
Speaker 1: like it's been a really good time to to shoot. Dear.
8:27
Speaker 1: You know, I've shot a lot of good bucks during
8:29
Speaker 1: that time, and I always feel like, you know, the
8:32
Speaker 1: bigger deer in my experience, tend to stick more to
8:36
Speaker 1: their core areas, you know, that early part of the
8:38
Speaker 1: rut where they're you know, breeding those doughs that are
8:41
Speaker 1: that are local to them that they don't have to
8:43
Speaker 1: travel for. And you know, once they've you know bred
8:45
Speaker 1: those doughs, and now we start, like I said, getting
8:48
Speaker 1: to the tail end of the ruts. This is the
8:50
Speaker 1: time in my experience where I started getting deer showing
8:53
Speaker 1: up on my trail cameras that I've never seen before.
8:55
Speaker 1: Or maybe I lose some of my bigger bucks for
8:57
Speaker 1: a couple of days where I feel like they're in
9:00
Speaker 1: a rome. They're starting to expand there looking for those
9:02
Speaker 1: last few doughs that are out there. You know, they're
9:05
Speaker 1: hot commodity right now, these hot doughs, and you know
9:07
Speaker 1: the bucks are really looking for him. So you know,
9:10
Speaker 1: we're definitely tapering off but I think we've got another
9:12
Speaker 1: few days of you know, pretty good book daylight activity.
9:16
Speaker 1: I mean I had one of the deer on one
9:18
Speaker 1: of the farms that I have. It's pushing almost six
9:20
Speaker 1: hundred acres and I had that deer on four different
9:24
Speaker 1: trail cameras during daylight. You know, in some cases almost
9:28
Speaker 1: a mile away within an hour. I mean he was
9:30
Speaker 1: covering some serious ground over the weekend, you know, looking
9:33
Speaker 1: for the last few dos. And like, if you're looking
9:36
Speaker 1: to fill a tag right now, like you said to,
9:39
Speaker 1: you think is a great time. What are you looking for?
9:42
Speaker 1: You trying to find does? Are you looking for buck betting?
9:44
Speaker 1: Is it food source time? Yet? Well? I think the
9:47
Speaker 1: you know, the does and the food sources they're starting
9:50
Speaker 1: to go kind of hand in hand. I mean they're
9:52
Speaker 1: always pretty much hand in hand, but you know, we're
9:54
Speaker 1: starting to, at least here in northern Illinois, transition into
9:57
Speaker 1: some of these later season food sources. A lot of
10:00
Speaker 1: our crop fields are picked, um, so you know, the
10:02
Speaker 1: deer are starting to hit, you know, some of the
10:04
Speaker 1: pick fields that they're not killed. They're starting to get
10:06
Speaker 1: to some of the food plots I'm seeing, you know,
10:09
Speaker 1: does are starting to group back up. Um. You know,
10:12
Speaker 1: a friend of mine that I hunt was saw a
10:13
Speaker 1: group of six or area doughs together on on Sunday morning,
10:16
Speaker 1: which we haven't seen for you know, a couple of
10:19
Speaker 1: weeks now while they kind of were dispersed during the rut.
10:21
Speaker 1: So because these dose group back up as they start,
10:24
Speaker 1: you know, going to those food sources, I think that's
10:26
Speaker 1: where you're gonna find these bucks, especially in the evenings,
10:29
Speaker 1: mornings and midday. I think you know, you still can't
10:31
Speaker 1: go wrong with with dow betting areas. These bucks are
10:34
Speaker 1: just cruison around getting on the down wind side of
10:36
Speaker 1: those betting areas. I've been looking for any hot dose
10:38
Speaker 1: that are left, So you know that's what I'm gonna
10:40
Speaker 1: be doing the next couple of days is trying to
10:42
Speaker 1: key in on, you know, where these doughs are are
10:44
Speaker 1: living now, where they're feeding and trying to get in there.
10:47
Speaker 1: How about in this coming week or so, justin what
10:50
Speaker 1: do you think the buck activity is going to be then?
10:52
Speaker 1: On the scale of one to ten, sure, I think
10:55
Speaker 1: we're gonna still see a six or seven. I know
10:57
Speaker 1: they've been moving real good. In the last couple of days.
10:59
Speaker 1: We got cold temperatures. Um, we got another little front
11:03
Speaker 1: moving through Buddy Mine. Just saw a big buck chase
11:06
Speaker 1: and does ran out right in front of him on
11:08
Speaker 1: the road this morning. So I think we've got another
11:09
Speaker 1: good week of a deer action here in Illinois. Well,
11:13
Speaker 1: we got to talk about the book that you just
11:15
Speaker 1: passed on this last week. We have to. We have to.
11:20
Speaker 1: And if you haven't seen it yet, go to bow
11:22
Speaker 1: hunting dot COM's Facebook page and you'll see the video there.
11:25
Speaker 1: You had a ridiculously close encounter there. Why don't you
11:29
Speaker 1: tell us about that deer in that hunt? Sure, Well,
11:32
Speaker 1: you know the farm that I'm hunting on, that's the
11:34
Speaker 1: six acres that I'm talking about. It's in a bow
11:37
Speaker 1: only area. You know, we're pretty close to the city
11:39
Speaker 1: of Chicago, so some of the collar counties around the
11:42
Speaker 1: city are archery only. There's no gun season, and that
11:45
Speaker 1: that particular farms in in one of those areas. And
11:48
Speaker 1: in this deer I have two years of history with
11:50
Speaker 1: I know for a fact that he's a three year
11:51
Speaker 1: old um And like a lot of people out there,
11:55
Speaker 1: I mean, eventually, at some point in my life I'd
11:57
Speaker 1: like to kill a big, big deer at lea have
12:00
Speaker 1: an opportunity to chase one. You know, it seems like
12:02
Speaker 1: you bounced from farm to farm in place to place
12:05
Speaker 1: every year. There's always one or two respectable deer around.
12:07
Speaker 1: But trying to find those those big, you know, world
12:10
Speaker 1: class type dear, it's a hard thing to do. So
12:13
Speaker 1: you know, my my hunting partner Mike and I identified
12:15
Speaker 1: this book has you know, awesome potential. He's probably mid
12:18
Speaker 1: one fifties, is a three year old, great mass, awesome
12:21
Speaker 1: broad times. He's just got everything you want, you know,
12:25
Speaker 1: in potential for an animal. And even though he would
12:27
Speaker 1: have been my second or maybe the first biggest deer
12:31
Speaker 1: that I've ever shot with the bow, you know, we
12:32
Speaker 1: made the decision during the summer, when we had velvet
12:35
Speaker 1: pictures of him, that we were gonna try to let
12:36
Speaker 1: him go another year. You know, you're risk the neighbor
12:39
Speaker 1: shooting him, your risk get hit by a car, e
12:42
Speaker 1: h d, killed by coyotes. I mean, anyone of a
12:44
Speaker 1: number of things can can happen to him. But if
12:47
Speaker 1: you don't pass an animal like that, you know you're
12:49
Speaker 1: never gonna have an opportunity to chase him. When he's
12:52
Speaker 1: won seventy one and nineties, so this year has got
12:54
Speaker 1: the potential to get there. So, man, I tell you,
12:58
Speaker 1: he walked by me at ten yards on Sunday morning,
13:02
Speaker 1: and I grabbed my bow only for the purpose of
13:04
Speaker 1: turning in my tack to Caama to someone with the
13:06
Speaker 1: back to Cama. I never even gave it a second
13:08
Speaker 1: thought of of trying to draw back. And you know,
13:11
Speaker 1: having trail camera pictures of this deer, a multitude of
13:14
Speaker 1: them for several years, and knowing that I was going
13:16
Speaker 1: to pass him if I saw him and certainly made
13:18
Speaker 1: that decision a lot easier. Um. I got some other
13:21
Speaker 1: farms with some younger and uh smaller deer that I
13:25
Speaker 1: probably would shoot. You know, it seems kind of counterintuitive
13:28
Speaker 1: of the pass at one and go shoot to one thirty.
13:30
Speaker 1: But that farm, that deer he uh gotta pass. Yeah. Well,
13:34
Speaker 1: I hope I'm talking to you a year from now
13:37
Speaker 1: and and he messes up for you, then I hope
13:40
Speaker 1: so too. Man. I really do think in my interview
13:43
Speaker 1: that was either the smartest decision I've ever made or
13:46
Speaker 1: the dumbest decision I've ever made. But we will find
13:48
Speaker 1: out a year from now. Yeah exactly. Well, good luck
13:51
Speaker 1: with the rest of your hunting. Thanks for your time
13:52
Speaker 1: justin no problem. Thanks Bester, alright and joining me on
13:57
Speaker 1: the line. Next is the marketing communications director from Crossman,
14:01
Speaker 1: Jason Read Now, Jason in New York, What would you
14:05
Speaker 1: say that rought activity has been there on a scale
14:07
Speaker 1: of one to ten, Well, for everyone but me, it
14:10
Speaker 1: seems to be somewhere around seven or eight. I got
14:14
Speaker 1: a lot of friends who have had a great, great
14:16
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, but it's pretty tough for me. But
14:20
Speaker 1: I know that through the first two weeks, the first
14:23
Speaker 1: ten days especially, activity was pretty high. A lot of chasing, uh,
14:29
Speaker 1: classic road activity. But we had a lot of up
14:33
Speaker 1: and down weather which definitely pushed a lot of things
14:36
Speaker 1: into the night, you know, into the uh nocturnal stage,
14:39
Speaker 1: you know, push a lot of bucks nocturnal, a lot
14:42
Speaker 1: of that classic road activity. And especially we just got
14:44
Speaker 1: hit with the giant storm here, so that's locked down
14:47
Speaker 1: a lot of activity. And so in particular in this
14:51
Speaker 1: last week or so, what stage of the rout do
14:53
Speaker 1: you think they're in? Uh? In New York area. Oh,
14:56
Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of interesting because my dad shot
14:59
Speaker 1: a buck on Thursday, UM, because the sevent and that
15:04
Speaker 1: buck was seeking. He was on a trail, so who
15:07
Speaker 1: does have gone through in the dark, and so he
15:09
Speaker 1: was up on his feet, you know, following their trail.
15:12
Speaker 1: I think as the weekend progressed, it seemed and more
15:16
Speaker 1: reminiscent maybe some lockdown activity because during you know, an
15:21
Speaker 1: opening day a rifle. UM, I saw you two bucks
15:25
Speaker 1: that were completely alone. And uh So it's kind of
15:29
Speaker 1: hard to say. It seems like, like I said, especially
15:33
Speaker 1: because they had this giant storm hit have to say
15:36
Speaker 1: exactly where which staged there at um, because I've seen it,
15:41
Speaker 1: seen them buck solo to bucks chasing, uh in the
15:45
Speaker 1: last five days. So talking more about that storm, you
15:48
Speaker 1: know what was the weather like during that and coming
15:51
Speaker 1: out of that storm? Now, what do you think that
15:53
Speaker 1: will do to the deer activity? Yeah, it was interesting
15:56
Speaker 1: because you know, Saturday morning was opening a rifle. Um.
15:59
Speaker 1: Actually me back up a little bit. So Friday, my dad, UM,
16:04
Speaker 1: I was sitting for a dough and had a big
16:06
Speaker 1: you know, hundred thirty eight point UM basically locked down
16:11
Speaker 1: a dough behind the stand, and so he backed out
16:14
Speaker 1: and called me and I took the long way around
16:17
Speaker 1: into the stand, UM and I sat. I had no
16:20
Speaker 1: food I wasn't expecting to fit all day, and so
16:22
Speaker 1: I snuck into the tree stand. The deer were only
16:24
Speaker 1: yards behind me, and I spent you know, close to
16:27
Speaker 1: eight hours in that tree and they do not move. Um.
16:30
Speaker 1: And there was sixty degrees out. So we get into
16:33
Speaker 1: Saturday morning. I walked in my tree stand in my shorts, um.
16:38
Speaker 1: And the first couple of hours were extremely warm, you know,
16:41
Speaker 1: when I got to shot a big nine player. Uh.
16:43
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden the stormhead and we
16:46
Speaker 1: had winds that were probably between thirty and forty miles
16:49
Speaker 1: an hour. It got cold and you know, into the
16:51
Speaker 1: twenties driving uh, snow, and we had trees breaking all out,
16:57
Speaker 1: and I forced the deer and just to bet up.
16:59
Speaker 1: And so the only way we were able to get
17:01
Speaker 1: any action was to push them. Uh. I don't love
17:03
Speaker 1: doing pushes, but they work, you know, from this from
17:06
Speaker 1: a strategic standpoint, and that was really the only way
17:09
Speaker 1: we're able to do is by scooching, you know, still
17:11
Speaker 1: hunting and intoing drives. And we jumped up a couple
17:14
Speaker 1: that will about it up and the you know the
17:16
Speaker 1: big blowdowns. Um, I think what that's gonna do right now?
17:20
Speaker 1: For the next couple of days while this storm's coming through.
17:23
Speaker 1: I think lou deer are gonna be uh. They're really
17:26
Speaker 1: just gonna sit tight and sitting near food and not
17:29
Speaker 1: move much until it breaks towards the end of the week.
17:32
Speaker 1: How about going forward in this next week or still,
17:34
Speaker 1: what do you think the bucket activity will be then? Well,
17:37
Speaker 1: I think, like I said, with the storm breaks, I
17:39
Speaker 1: think you're gonna see a floorty of activity basically from
17:42
Speaker 1: thanks Wednesday through Thanksgiving weekend. I think the activity in
17:47
Speaker 1: general is just gonna spike because they're gonna be uh,
17:51
Speaker 1: you know, they're just basically a lockdowns until the storm passes. Uh.
17:55
Speaker 1: So I think we're gonna see an uptick in all
17:58
Speaker 1: their activity. I think probably I was a wager closer
18:01
Speaker 1: to seven or eight on that scale, probably just because
18:05
Speaker 1: of how bad the storm is right now, I would
18:07
Speaker 1: be focusing I'm going to focus on sources going forward.
18:11
Speaker 1: All right, Jason, Well, I hope your season turns around
18:13
Speaker 1: for you then, and good luck with the rest of
18:15
Speaker 1: the year. Thanks for your time, Thank you, Spencer, alright,
18:20
Speaker 1: and joining me on the line next is Lindsay Thomas,
18:23
Speaker 1: the communications director of q D m A now Lindsay
18:27
Speaker 1: and Northern Georgia. What would you say the buck activity
18:30
Speaker 1: has been there on a scale of one to ten
18:32
Speaker 1: in this last week or so since I will say
18:36
Speaker 1: four and so four that's that's pretty low. It seems
18:40
Speaker 1: like is that normal for this time of year there, No,
18:43
Speaker 1: it is definitely low. I mean in the middle of
18:46
Speaker 1: North Georgia right now, you know, uh, in the around
18:49
Speaker 1: mid November into the twenties of November is normally a
18:54
Speaker 1: great time of year. But we've got a lot of
18:57
Speaker 1: sort of I don't know, unfortunate and conditions right now,
19:01
Speaker 1: between warmer than normal temperatures, a superabundant acorn crop, and
19:08
Speaker 1: a severe drought throughout most of the state, which is
19:11
Speaker 1: true throughout most of the southeast right now. You know,
19:14
Speaker 1: you combine all that, um, food plots are pretty much dead,
19:17
Speaker 1: acorns are abundant wherever deer go, and it's just been
19:21
Speaker 1: warm and it's just created a tough hunting conditions out there.
19:24
Speaker 1: The rut, of course, is still happening. Um, you know,
19:28
Speaker 1: it always does happen in any location the typical time
19:32
Speaker 1: it normally happens, and those are still getting bread. But
19:35
Speaker 1: folks that I'm talking to and myself included, just are
19:37
Speaker 1: not seeing the daytime activity for by any deer. What
19:42
Speaker 1: little is being seen right now is younger bucks that
19:46
Speaker 1: are trailing those or maybe doing a little chasing. But
19:49
Speaker 1: for the most part, um, it is you know, buy
19:52
Speaker 1: and large. Everybody I know and and my hunting experience
19:57
Speaker 1: is it is a slow season right now. Well that's
20:00
Speaker 1: that's tough to hear. But what kind of adjustments do
20:03
Speaker 1: you think that hunters can make knowing that that you know,
20:06
Speaker 1: the food sources are different right now and it's dry
20:08
Speaker 1: and warm. Well, it's just they're just gonna have to
20:12
Speaker 1: make sure they don't fall back on their favorite old
20:15
Speaker 1: stands or patterns that they that worked for them in
20:18
Speaker 1: the past. Particularly, you know a lot of folks who
20:21
Speaker 1: that I know who are used to go in and
20:23
Speaker 1: climbing a stand over their favorite food plot every year.
20:26
Speaker 1: This time of year, just can't do that. The food
20:28
Speaker 1: plots literally are dust. Um, and that's true in Georgia, Alabama. Uh,
20:33
Speaker 1: you know, in the Mississippi up in the Tennessee, just
20:36
Speaker 1: severe drought conditions right now. Now coastal George is a
20:38
Speaker 1: little better off because uh, Florida coast to Georgia, coast
20:42
Speaker 1: of South Carolina. We all got a dose of rain
20:44
Speaker 1: when Hurricane Matthew came through back in October, and that
20:47
Speaker 1: has pretty much saved the food plots in those areas.
20:50
Speaker 1: But for most of the states of Georgia and the
20:52
Speaker 1: rest of the Southeast, food plots are gone. They're non issue,
20:56
Speaker 1: and there's not even enough moisture for anybody to try
20:58
Speaker 1: to replant build and none in the forecast. So um
21:02
Speaker 1: going to a food plot or you know, hunting patterns
21:04
Speaker 1: that were based around food plots this year is just
21:06
Speaker 1: out of you know, don't do it. Um. And then
21:09
Speaker 1: you know, we know that in the year with a
21:11
Speaker 1: bundant acorn crops like we've got this year in in
21:14
Speaker 1: most of Georgia, and I'm hearing that in a lot
21:16
Speaker 1: of country too, but in Georgia, you know, the fact
21:19
Speaker 1: is when you have a high acorn crop, you're gonna
21:21
Speaker 1: have a low deer harvest because dear just apparently don't
21:24
Speaker 1: move as much and they don't have to find the food.
21:26
Speaker 1: So you know, you're you're you can't go to places
21:29
Speaker 1: where you you are used to seeing a lot of
21:32
Speaker 1: deer movement because deer just are not roaming that much.
21:35
Speaker 1: The does are not having to roam that much, and
21:36
Speaker 1: therefore the bucks don't have to roam that much to
21:38
Speaker 1: find them. So I would say, you know, go to
21:40
Speaker 1: areas you don't normally hunt. I would say, stick to
21:43
Speaker 1: thicker cover. Um. Certainly look for areas that are where
21:46
Speaker 1: there are acorns, but that's not going to guarantee uh
21:49
Speaker 1: sightings and dear activity this year. Um. So I would say,
21:53
Speaker 1: you know, go to those sticker areas, go to those
21:55
Speaker 1: areas with less pressure, um, and and try something new,
21:59
Speaker 1: change anything up, don't go all back on old patterns,
22:03
Speaker 1: and particularly not food plots. Say get in the woods.
22:05
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's warm. You know, we are having
22:08
Speaker 1: tough conditions and right now it's warmer than normal. We're
22:10
Speaker 1: finally getting a little cool weather now. But get in
22:13
Speaker 1: the woods because we like we know, um, the rut
22:15
Speaker 1: is still happening, deer are still getting bread, so you
22:18
Speaker 1: can't you know, take advantage of that if you're not
22:20
Speaker 1: out there. Absolutely, And with that said, what phase of
22:23
Speaker 1: the route would you say we're in right now in
22:25
Speaker 1: northern Georgia and coastal Georgia, well, coastal Georgia. We're pretty
22:29
Speaker 1: much post rut now at this point, and that's where
22:31
Speaker 1: I do most my hunting. Our rut peaks in the
22:33
Speaker 1: breeding dates peak and laid out cover into early November.
22:37
Speaker 1: Uh and and it kind of as you move north
22:39
Speaker 1: through Middle Georgia and up into North Georgia, it runs later. Um,
22:43
Speaker 1: generally mid November two. Right now, Thanksgiving week is very
22:46
Speaker 1: good time right now in in middle of North Georgia.
22:49
Speaker 1: So you know, over the next week, if we hold
22:51
Speaker 1: some of these cooler temperatures, maybe gets a little bit colder. Um,
22:55
Speaker 1: I think that Thanksgiving we could be very good. And
22:58
Speaker 1: certainly people are still seeing some bucks. You're still seeing
23:01
Speaker 1: some good bucks killed out there. That's gonna happen, you know,
23:03
Speaker 1: any year. But but most everybody I know is just saying,
23:06
Speaker 1: you know, we're just not seeing the amount of activity
23:08
Speaker 1: were used to. I know a lot of people that
23:10
Speaker 1: have said very tough seasons. So, um, it's still got
23:13
Speaker 1: some good times ahead in in the middle of North
23:15
Speaker 1: Georgia over the next week to two weeks. And then
23:17
Speaker 1: you know, as you get down into Southwest Georgia, uh,
23:20
Speaker 1: it gets later, we get a little bit of that
23:22
Speaker 1: kind of Alabama action where the ruts fills over into
23:25
Speaker 1: December and then even into January. So, um, we're kind
23:30
Speaker 1: of all over the map. But for most Georgia hunters
23:32
Speaker 1: that you know, we've still got a good week two
23:34
Speaker 1: weeks of of what could be a good right activity ahead.
23:37
Speaker 1: And let's put that on a scale of one to ten,
23:39
Speaker 1: what do you think the bucket activity is going to
23:41
Speaker 1: be there and around that Thanksgiving time frame? Um, it'll
23:45
Speaker 1: be a little pessimistic, um Spencer. And I'm gonna say
23:48
Speaker 1: a six, because even though if it gets cooler, we've
23:52
Speaker 1: still got the acorn factor, we've still got the drought factor. Um,
23:56
Speaker 1: We've still got these unfortunate conditions that are really changing
23:59
Speaker 1: up the way uh deer or moving and and and
24:02
Speaker 1: at least in response to patterns we normally expect them
24:05
Speaker 1: to hold too. So I'm not optimistic that it's gonna
24:09
Speaker 1: blush wide open and everybody's gonna be seeing all the
24:12
Speaker 1: rud activity. I mean I'm seeing, you know, we're seeing
24:14
Speaker 1: those and deer in the ditch of highways, which shows
24:17
Speaker 1: me they're moving that just maybe not moving um during
24:20
Speaker 1: daylight hours or in places we normally expect them to move,
24:23
Speaker 1: so the ruts happening. Um, I don't expect it to
24:27
Speaker 1: suddenly become you know, red hot over the next week,
24:31
Speaker 1: but I think, um, you know, getting later in the year,
24:35
Speaker 1: two more uh cooler nights like we haven't been having
24:38
Speaker 1: hopefully on the way. Um we'll say, we'll say it's
24:41
Speaker 1: gonna be up six over the next week, right, lendsy Well,
24:44
Speaker 1: I doubt that you are, but I hope you're wrong. Uh,
24:47
Speaker 1: you know, for the case of those southeastern haunts, I
24:50
Speaker 1: do too. I hope everybody gets a nine or two,
24:52
Speaker 1: and myself included definitely. Thanks for joining me, Lindsay. Okay, Spencer,
24:57
Speaker 1: thanks so much for calling all right and joining us
25:01
Speaker 1: on the line. Last is outdoor writer and co host
25:04
Speaker 1: of Deer and Deer Hunting TV Mark Kaiser. Now Mark
25:08
Speaker 1: in Nebraska, what would you say the bucket activity has
25:10
Speaker 1: been there on a scale of one to ten for
25:12
Speaker 1: this last week or so? Well on the property I
25:16
Speaker 1: was hunting, which is in southwest Nebraska close to the
25:19
Speaker 1: Kansas border, I would say it was probably a six
25:23
Speaker 1: or a seven. It wasn't off the charts, but it
25:27
Speaker 1: definitely was active. And the reason I rated just a
25:31
Speaker 1: little bit lower is what I said. The property. After
25:35
Speaker 1: getting on this particular property, I noticed that the deer
25:39
Speaker 1: we're bunching up on a neighboring property. And it all
25:43
Speaker 1: came down to one big reason, and that was food.
25:48
Speaker 1: That other landowner had dumped a ton of water on
25:51
Speaker 1: his uh winter we eat and I think he had
25:55
Speaker 1: winter weet nol falfa, so he had irrigated it. It's
25:58
Speaker 1: been a warm fall all uh, there's been a lot
26:01
Speaker 1: of growth going on, and the deer were bunching up
26:04
Speaker 1: on that side of the river, on that side of
26:06
Speaker 1: the property, and we were just getting residual traffic because
26:10
Speaker 1: of that on the property we were hunting. And so
26:13
Speaker 1: what phase of the route would you then say we're
26:15
Speaker 1: that we're in, Well, the phase of the rut at
26:18
Speaker 1: this point, and when I was in Nebraska just three
26:21
Speaker 1: days ago is definitely peak breeding. They're breeding a few effects,
26:26
Speaker 1: some of them are wrapped up. Some of these doors
26:28
Speaker 1: are actually going back to their fons regrouping. But the
26:34
Speaker 1: the lockdown period, as many people like to describe it,
26:38
Speaker 1: is probably on the way out right now. Lockdown was
26:41
Speaker 1: just a few days ago. A lot of the dolls
26:44
Speaker 1: are beginning to move back to their family groups. Like
26:47
Speaker 1: I said, pick up their fons again. So you're gonna
26:49
Speaker 1: see some of these older bucks cruise a little bit more,
26:53
Speaker 1: a little bit further. And one of the things over
26:56
Speaker 1: my I don't even want to say how many years
26:58
Speaker 1: I've been hunting so it will age me. But over
27:00
Speaker 1: my many years hunting I see is that Thanksgiving, particularly
27:05
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving Day, because I hunt a lot of Thanksgiving Day,
27:09
Speaker 1: those older bucks will do a little more cruising and
27:13
Speaker 1: leaving their safetons, leaving their sanctuaries. So you may pick
27:18
Speaker 1: up the buck for lifetime that you've never seen before
27:21
Speaker 1: in the next three, four or five six days because
27:24
Speaker 1: he's trying to get that one last dough bread and
27:27
Speaker 1: he'll leave his home territory to do it this time
27:30
Speaker 1: of year. Then would you say that there are any
27:32
Speaker 1: calling techniques that are effective? You know, calls can work
27:36
Speaker 1: any time during the run. But what I find as
27:39
Speaker 1: the as the rutting and the breading lines down, is
27:43
Speaker 1: these bigger bucks, especially become less susceptible to calling over Thanksgiving.
27:49
Speaker 1: I've spent a lot of time in Montana, which seems
27:52
Speaker 1: to be one of the places I end up always
27:54
Speaker 1: at Thanksgiving hunting you know, a couple of days before
27:57
Speaker 1: over Thanksgiving, a couple of days after and what I
28:00
Speaker 1: usually end up rattling in at that time and calling
28:03
Speaker 1: in our three and a half year olds. It just
28:05
Speaker 1: seems like they're you know, they're supercharged there. They're the
28:08
Speaker 1: rock and rollers of the white tailed world. Four and
28:11
Speaker 1: a half year olds to some extent too, But you're
28:13
Speaker 1: just calling in more of those younger deer. It's rare
28:16
Speaker 1: to call in a big mature deer. He's tired. Uh,
28:19
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to fight, he's just looking for a
28:21
Speaker 1: little bit of love, and he's looking for some food.
28:24
Speaker 1: Starting to think about food and the winter ahead. Now
28:28
Speaker 1: that area that you were in, the weather it could
28:30
Speaker 1: be pretty variable there this time. You imagine you could
28:32
Speaker 1: have a seventy degree day or you could have a blizzard.
28:35
Speaker 1: Um at this phase of the road, do you think
28:38
Speaker 1: that factors into buck movement? Oh? Absolutely it does. But
28:43
Speaker 1: at the same time, they're they're wanting to go out
28:45
Speaker 1: and breed. So we had that exact scenario when I
28:48
Speaker 1: was in the breast, but we started out hunting in
28:50
Speaker 1: temperatures that were in the sixties. It maybe got seventy
28:53
Speaker 1: the first day I was there, but the last day
28:56
Speaker 1: I was there, it actually or the second last day,
28:58
Speaker 1: it's snowed and temperatures are down around twenty and then
29:02
Speaker 1: we stayed. The next morning I had to drive to Montana,
29:05
Speaker 1: but we stayed for one morning and it was twelve degrees.
29:09
Speaker 1: And on that twelve degree morning, which would have been
29:12
Speaker 1: the nineteen of November, there was just a lot of
29:15
Speaker 1: movement going on right then. So yes, those those white tailbucks,
29:19
Speaker 1: you just gotta remember and does are wearing their parkas
29:23
Speaker 1: at this time of the year. They cannot predict if
29:26
Speaker 1: we're gonna have an over, uh you know, a warm
29:30
Speaker 1: fall over above average warmth, but they that they always
29:35
Speaker 1: plan for cold, so they grow that park they have
29:38
Speaker 1: to wear it. And if you get sixty degree temperatures especially,
29:42
Speaker 1: it gets uncomfortable for them to move, so they'll lay
29:44
Speaker 1: down a lot more then than they will when it's
29:47
Speaker 1: thirty forty and even into the little fifties. I think
29:49
Speaker 1: I've seen some stuff around fifty five degrees. Once it
29:53
Speaker 1: gets above that is when the deer traffic starts going
29:55
Speaker 1: down because they're just too hot. What about going forward
29:59
Speaker 1: then in that area, what do you think the bucket
30:00
Speaker 1: activity will be there on this next week or so.
30:03
Speaker 1: On the scale of one to ten, you're you're gonna
30:07
Speaker 1: definitely see it going down, And so I would say
30:09
Speaker 1: it's probably I'd say it's rated out of five now.
30:12
Speaker 1: Not only uh is it going to go down because
30:15
Speaker 1: of the uh the rut is winding down, but also
30:19
Speaker 1: because there's been so much hunting pressure. You know, these
30:22
Speaker 1: these deer have been hunted one way, shape or another
30:25
Speaker 1: in many of these areas of the Midwest central part
30:28
Speaker 1: of the United States from September on and the guns
30:31
Speaker 1: season just wrapped up on Sunday in Nebraska, which you've
30:35
Speaker 1: been asking me about, so they got they had a
30:38
Speaker 1: nine day season. Those deer got chased. In Montana, Ara'm
30:41
Speaker 1: at now, these deer have been hunted with bow and
30:44
Speaker 1: arrows since September and guns since the third week of October.
30:48
Speaker 1: So they've had a month of hard rifle hunting on them.
30:52
Speaker 1: That makes a big difference, and I'm seeing it right
30:54
Speaker 1: now here in Montana. These deer do not want to
30:57
Speaker 1: come out on these fields until the last five to
31:00
Speaker 1: ten minutes of light. The big bucks they come out
31:02
Speaker 1: and they'll chase, but they're not They're just not cruising
31:06
Speaker 1: in the open. I'm sure they're doing it in these
31:08
Speaker 1: timbered bottoms. We just I've been a little bit uh
31:11
Speaker 1: leary about going into some of it because I'm just
31:14
Speaker 1: new to this area. It's a new area of hunting,
31:16
Speaker 1: so I haven't really I felt like I had a
31:18
Speaker 1: knowledge to go in and tear it up in the timber.
31:20
Speaker 1: But they're definitely not coming out on the fields until
31:23
Speaker 1: the last few minutes of shooting light. Right. Well, that's
31:26
Speaker 1: some great intel, Mark, and thanks to your time and
31:28
Speaker 1: good look for the rest of the season. All right,
31:31
Speaker 1: thank you and good hunting everyone. And that concludes this
31:35
Speaker 1: week's episode of Wired Hunt's Radio. Make sure you subscribe
31:39
Speaker 1: to the podcast and give us a rating, and follow
31:42
Speaker 1: Wired Hunt on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And you can
31:45
Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Spencer new Heart.
31:49
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and have a happy Thanksgiving.