Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 385: Rut Fresh Radio 11/4/20

Transcript

Ep. 385: Rut Fresh Radio 11/4/20 · Wired To Hunt Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for
0:06
Speaker 1: deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host,
0:11
Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast. I'm
0:16
Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan, and this is episode number three
0:19
Speaker 1: five and today we're back with another episode of our
0:21
Speaker 1: rut Fresh radio miniseries which we're hearing from deer hunters
0:25
Speaker 1: all across the country on the latest deer activity, current conditions,
0:29
Speaker 1: and the tactics that are gonna help you right now.
0:38
Speaker 1: All right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought
0:42
Speaker 1: to you by Onyx, and welcome to November. It's here.
0:47
Speaker 1: We're here talking our rut Fresh radio episodes in which
0:51
Speaker 1: we're getting intel from all across the country and preparing
0:54
Speaker 1: you for the week ahead. And the week ahead is
0:57
Speaker 1: the first full week in November. Uh hopefully, hopefully good
1:02
Speaker 1: things ahead. Spencer, Um, have you started your rut trip?
1:06
Speaker 1: I think you did right. I did my uh my
1:10
Speaker 1: first hunt on my rut trip was on Halloween and
1:14
Speaker 1: I've been at it every morning and afternoon since. Do
1:18
Speaker 1: you do you want to to Voulte House going so
1:20
Speaker 1: far at all? Or is that for another time? You
1:23
Speaker 1: know what? I'll briefly touch on it, and it's, um,
1:26
Speaker 1: probably the same thing that you're gonna say about your
1:28
Speaker 1: Michigan hunting and a lot of the same stuff that
1:30
Speaker 1: you're gonna hear from our guests this week. Um, but
1:33
Speaker 1: it's been really warm, but it is still the rut.
1:36
Speaker 1: Weather be damned dear, you're gonna move. Moonbe damn dear,
1:40
Speaker 1: You're gonna move. Um, it's still the rut. This is
1:43
Speaker 1: still the best two week period of the year to
1:46
Speaker 1: be hunting. But maybe instead of it being like a
1:50
Speaker 1: smashing eleven out of ten for deep movement, it's right
1:54
Speaker 1: around like an eight or nine because it is so
1:56
Speaker 1: damn hot. And the last time it was this hot
1:59
Speaker 1: in the November. I looked it up, Mark, was last
2:02
Speaker 1: election day in I'm sure we talked about it on
2:06
Speaker 1: that episode as well. Um, But like I said, it's
2:09
Speaker 1: still the r This is still the best time of
2:12
Speaker 1: the year to be a white tail hunter. And the
2:14
Speaker 1: forecast looks promising for this coming weekend. And I think
2:18
Speaker 1: everybody right now in the Midwest in the East is
2:21
Speaker 1: talking about this warm spell that we have. And I
2:25
Speaker 1: know you've talked about this before, Mark, and you recently
2:28
Speaker 1: touched on it on an article on the mediator dot
2:30
Speaker 1: com where you were in Iowa and some warm weather
2:33
Speaker 1: rolled through and you packed up and headed home a
2:38
Speaker 1: little bit early. And that story kind of brings me
2:41
Speaker 1: some comfort for what I'm experiencing right now, and so
2:44
Speaker 1: I'd love for you to share that again, how that
2:46
Speaker 1: went and what happened. Well. Yeah, so this was back
2:49
Speaker 1: in my younger year, Spencer, when I was floating like
2:53
Speaker 1: a milk weed in the breeze and uh letting, letting
2:57
Speaker 1: the whims of the weather or other things get me
3:00
Speaker 1: too worried during the rut. And so I was out
3:03
Speaker 1: on an out of state trip to Iowa, like you mentioned,
3:06
Speaker 1: and had a big warm spell come through, and I
3:10
Speaker 1: was thinking, well, you know, maybe I should take this
3:14
Speaker 1: time and go home and you know, do some honey
3:17
Speaker 1: doo stuff or something. And it was like November. I
3:20
Speaker 1: don't remember the exact dates, but somewhere in November, and
3:24
Speaker 1: foolishly I took a couple of days off because of
3:26
Speaker 1: that warm weather and was gonna come right back two
3:28
Speaker 1: days later. And during those two days I was gone,
3:31
Speaker 1: three of my buddies all filled their tags on like
3:34
Speaker 1: seventy seventy degree days. And that just was the nail
3:40
Speaker 1: on the coffin for me to never let warm weather
3:43
Speaker 1: get me too depressed during the rut, because anything is possible. Sure,
3:46
Speaker 1: the middle of the day might be warm, but there's
3:49
Speaker 1: still gonna be activity, especially early morning and in the evening. Um,
3:53
Speaker 1: it's still gonna be happening. I think the one noticeable difference,
3:56
Speaker 1: at least the most noticeable difference I've seen, is that
3:59
Speaker 1: that midday period is much more suppressed than otherwise. It
4:03
Speaker 1: might be UM, but otherwise it's still going to be
4:06
Speaker 1: the rut. So yeah, I don't like this weather. Our
4:10
Speaker 1: our forecast in Michigan is is not really great until
4:14
Speaker 1: next week. We've got mid upper sixties all the way
4:18
Speaker 1: to seventy um, all the way until November nine, UM,
4:24
Speaker 1: so that takes us all the way to Tuesday. So
4:27
Speaker 1: not a very promising forecast. But I'm still gonna be
4:30
Speaker 1: out there. I would encourage everyone with a similar forecast
4:33
Speaker 1: to still be out there, because you know, it's magical
4:38
Speaker 1: time period. Even if we're not gonna have those crisp,
4:40
Speaker 1: cold mornings like we want. The bucks don't care. They've
4:44
Speaker 1: got one thing on their mind, and it's not the forecast. Honestly, Mark,
4:48
Speaker 1: this is maybe like the least important, the least helpful
4:51
Speaker 1: episode of the year that will have you. You're really
4:53
Speaker 1: good at selling this one. Man. Well, I'm saying off, folks,
4:57
Speaker 1: it's not that you could. You could in the podcast
5:00
Speaker 1: off right now and still into the woods this weekend
5:03
Speaker 1: and be really confident that the deer are going to
5:06
Speaker 1: be moving because it's that time of year. And that's
5:09
Speaker 1: just the point that I want to drive home about
5:11
Speaker 1: this other stuff that weather, moon, um, all that stuff.
5:15
Speaker 1: You can ignore it, look at it, and maybe it'll
5:18
Speaker 1: make you more confident when you hit the woods, but
5:21
Speaker 1: don't let it affect things too much. Now, tell me this, though, Spenser,
5:25
Speaker 1: Am I right that the people that we're gonna talk
5:27
Speaker 1: to here today, regardless of if they're gonna tell us
5:31
Speaker 1: some kind of conditioned thing that's gonna inspire us. More importantly,
5:35
Speaker 1: they're gonna give us some tactics that will help us
5:38
Speaker 1: regardless of warm weather. YadA, YadA, YadA. Right, So there
5:41
Speaker 1: is still a reason to listen. Definitely, the four people
5:44
Speaker 1: that we talked to you this week, uh In Nate
5:47
Speaker 1: Crick from Identical Draw in Kansas, John Teeter in New
5:51
Speaker 1: York from white Tail Landscapes, Josh Smith from Wild Carrot
5:55
Speaker 1: Deer Attracted in Kentucky, and then in South Dakota, Sam
5:58
Speaker 1: Sohold from Public Land. We should probably share our dear
6:01
Speaker 1: activity ratings spencer since we've both been out, why not
6:05
Speaker 1: add to the UH average across all these different states.
6:09
Speaker 1: Do you want to give me on a one to
6:10
Speaker 1: ten scale Spencer, how's the dear activity in South Dakota been?
6:14
Speaker 1: Like you had said before, Mark, I think it is
6:17
Speaker 1: still really strong in the mornings, in the evenings um
6:20
Speaker 1: where I would say it's like an eight or nine
6:22
Speaker 1: out of ten right now. But midday I'm just not
6:25
Speaker 1: seeing a lot of movement in person. I'm not seeing
6:27
Speaker 1: it on my trail cameras. It seems like the bucks
6:30
Speaker 1: for the most part are functioning like their crispuscular um
6:35
Speaker 1: and that it's very similar to what you'd see maybe
6:39
Speaker 1: in like the October range, which is okay. It's it's
6:44
Speaker 1: still great hunting, but because of that warm weather, you're
6:47
Speaker 1: just not getting like the crazy UH scenes that you
6:50
Speaker 1: would expect for the rut. I would give it here
6:53
Speaker 1: in Michigan in that eight eight range eight to nine range,
6:59
Speaker 1: um you know I've been seeing I have seen some
7:03
Speaker 1: midday activity. Um. I did see a mature buck move
7:07
Speaker 1: at eleven o'clock the other day. UM, a lot of chasing.
7:13
Speaker 1: I've seen bucks locked on. Does I saw buck brida dough? Uh?
7:18
Speaker 1: So all that stuff is happening. Um, it's it's just uh,
7:24
Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't give it a full time out
7:26
Speaker 1: of ten yet because I haven't killed one. I guess.
7:29
Speaker 1: And something that I'm gonna ask each one of our
7:31
Speaker 1: guests this week, mark is what is your ideal rutt
7:36
Speaker 1: hunting setup? And and I haven't paid a picture for
7:39
Speaker 1: me as far as like what the terrain is like,
7:42
Speaker 1: why they're there, um, why they think a buck will
7:45
Speaker 1: show up there, all that kind of stuff. So you
7:47
Speaker 1: tell me what is like your ideal November four set
7:52
Speaker 1: up in Michigan. Man, I want the Venn diagram of
7:56
Speaker 1: rutt hunting setups, which would be a doe betting area
8:01
Speaker 1: and a pinch point combined, right, because you think of
8:04
Speaker 1: like those your two main types of rut setups that
8:07
Speaker 1: you would usually point folks towards. So I want the
8:10
Speaker 1: two of those together in the same place. So I
8:12
Speaker 1: want there to be a spot where I could be
8:15
Speaker 1: downwind of dough betting, but also for some reason, this
8:19
Speaker 1: place also pinches down, So there's a reason that dey're
8:22
Speaker 1: going to come through then to come through downwind of
8:24
Speaker 1: that betting area to check for doughs. So that's happening.
8:27
Speaker 1: But then there's gonna be some kind of constriction that
8:30
Speaker 1: forces all those bucks to pass through within range of
8:32
Speaker 1: my stand. So I don't know, Maybe that is uh
8:39
Speaker 1: a section where there's a steep ridge, maybe, and nothing's
8:43
Speaker 1: gonna go off to the one side because it's it's
8:46
Speaker 1: so steep. Everything's gonna come just within forty fifty yards
8:50
Speaker 1: on my up wind side where there's this dough betting area,
8:54
Speaker 1: and to get down wind of it, they have to
8:55
Speaker 1: be in this thirty wide swatch just above that ridge side.
9:01
Speaker 1: Is I don't know a random example I'm thinking of,
9:03
Speaker 1: but but something like that is that deal in my eyes. Um,
9:07
Speaker 1: being down one of a doe betting there is great.
9:09
Speaker 1: Being a pinch point is great. But when you can
9:11
Speaker 1: get it all there together, that's that's a recipe for success.
9:16
Speaker 1: This is like a really simplistic way to think about it,
9:18
Speaker 1: But I want there to be a reason to have
9:20
Speaker 1: like two way traffic for bucks that they could come
9:24
Speaker 1: from either direction down any trail morning or evening or midday.
9:29
Speaker 1: And you know, usually that means that there's, like you said,
9:31
Speaker 1: there's that bend diagram of of everything is there. You
9:34
Speaker 1: want like there to be a pinch point and doe betting,
9:38
Speaker 1: or you want there to be um an area that's
9:41
Speaker 1: lit up with sign and there's buck betting. You want
9:44
Speaker 1: there to be one area where all the deer cross
9:47
Speaker 1: the creek, plus some sort of hot food source or
9:50
Speaker 1: something like that. All that I mean by that is
9:52
Speaker 1: that like you're not hunting a field edge where traffic
9:55
Speaker 1: is gonna come from one direction, or you're not hunting
9:57
Speaker 1: this scrape line um that eats out to a field
10:00
Speaker 1: edge or something like that. So getting an area where
10:03
Speaker 1: sign is congregated, where betting is congregated, those sorts of
10:05
Speaker 1: things and marketing articles in the past, and I know
10:10
Speaker 1: you wrote one last year that was called the Rules
10:11
Speaker 1: of the Rut and basically you said, there's the kiss system.
10:15
Speaker 1: Keep it simple, stupid, uh and and just look for
10:17
Speaker 1: like these couple of things during the rut and you're
10:20
Speaker 1: gonna be totally fine. Um. And if you're still not
10:23
Speaker 1: feeling prepared for the rout if this podcast doesn't do it, uh,
10:26
Speaker 1: and whatever else you've consumed for this coming weekend, there's
10:30
Speaker 1: some other articles that you should go to the media
10:31
Speaker 1: dot com and read. We have three reasons why hunters
10:33
Speaker 1: failed during their route that Tony Peterson wrote, um, And
10:37
Speaker 1: when I was editing that, it felt like I had
10:39
Speaker 1: been seen by Tony for for the things that he
10:41
Speaker 1: talked about. So I think a lot of hunters can
10:43
Speaker 1: benefit from that. Something else that Tony had recently wrote
10:46
Speaker 1: for us was how to in season scout for deer. Uh.
10:49
Speaker 1: If you're not prepared for their rut and you're hitting
10:51
Speaker 1: the woods this weekend you're looking to kill a buck,
10:53
Speaker 1: that article can offer you some great advice. Are there
10:56
Speaker 1: any podcast mark that people should pay attention to for
11:00
Speaker 1: rudd hunting tips from Wired to Hunt? Yeah, we got
11:03
Speaker 1: a lot of them, but I'll tell you that the
11:05
Speaker 1: two that are that had one that just came out
11:07
Speaker 1: with Andrew de Quisto. Definitely listen to that one if
11:10
Speaker 1: you haven't already. And then tomorrow we've got a really
11:13
Speaker 1: good one coming out with Aaron Warburton and Greg Clements
11:16
Speaker 1: from the Hunting Public All about the rut, So be
11:19
Speaker 1: sure to tune in tomorrow for that one. Uh, and
11:21
Speaker 1: then some throwbacks if you go and search for Wired
11:25
Speaker 1: Hunting podcast. We had one with Will Primos. If you're
11:27
Speaker 1: hunt in the South at all, there's some great Southern
11:29
Speaker 1: run hunting tactics in that one. We had a really
11:31
Speaker 1: good one with Don Higgins a number of years ago.
11:35
Speaker 1: Great one with Jared Mills not too long ago. So
11:38
Speaker 1: if you just google Wired to Hunt and RUT podcast,
11:41
Speaker 1: you'll be able to find a whole bunch of episodes
11:44
Speaker 1: like that where we cover these details, lots of great
11:46
Speaker 1: strategies and tactics for you. UM, pump them all up,
11:51
Speaker 1: listen to them when you're driving to deer camp or
11:53
Speaker 1: wherever you're going, and uh, you'll be well armed to
11:56
Speaker 1: fill that tag. All right, Mark, Well, I think that
11:58
Speaker 1: is enough from us. Uh. Happy November, Happy rut sounds good.
12:04
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12:06
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12:09
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12:18
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12:21
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12:23
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12:26
Speaker 1: Check out all of their sites at trophy Ridge dot com. Alright,
12:32
Speaker 1: and joining us on the line first is Nate Crick
12:34
Speaker 1: from Identical draw in Kansas. Now Nate in Kansas. What
12:38
Speaker 1: would you say the buck activity has been lately? On
12:40
Speaker 1: a scale of one to ten, I would say the
12:43
Speaker 1: buctivity has been a seven lately. I mean, you can't
12:46
Speaker 1: beat the first week in November getting into it. Um.
12:48
Speaker 1: But I would say these warm temps, I mean crazy
12:51
Speaker 1: warm temps have definitely demper the movement a little bit.
12:55
Speaker 1: So are you seeing any bucks moving in midday or
12:57
Speaker 1: is everything in the mornings and evenings nocturnal? Right now? Um?
13:02
Speaker 1: Right now? At least the last few days, things have
13:04
Speaker 1: really gone nocturnal. Today on cameras was probably the slowest
13:08
Speaker 1: day as far as daylight movement. We have cellular cameras
13:11
Speaker 1: so we're able to get that quick feed, and today
13:13
Speaker 1: was probably the slowest day we've had on trail camera
13:15
Speaker 1: for daylight movements since the beginning of October. We're just
13:18
Speaker 1: saying something, so yeah, um, we're still seeing buck movement,
13:22
Speaker 1: but a lot of it has turned nocked. Now. I
13:24
Speaker 1: know you have some destination food sources on your acres
13:27
Speaker 1: in Kansas. How did those destination food sources facts you're
13:31
Speaker 1: into your rut setups. We definitely pay attention to the
13:34
Speaker 1: food source right now. I don't think that's the number
13:38
Speaker 1: one thing on these Bucks minds, of course, um. But
13:42
Speaker 1: as far as picking the spot, we definitely, um think
13:45
Speaker 1: about the food sources on our property when picking the spot.
13:47
Speaker 1: If we can figure out, of course, the rut. Right now,
13:49
Speaker 1: we're focused on Buck travel and just figuring out those
13:52
Speaker 1: pinch points. But if we can find one of those
13:54
Speaker 1: places that also is closer to one of these food
13:57
Speaker 1: sources where a lot of doughs could possibly be hanging out,
13:59
Speaker 1: we're going to be hitting up that spot hunt in
14:01
Speaker 1: that area. Nate, tell me what the ideal rut set
14:04
Speaker 1: up looks like for you? Uh, what are you looking
14:08
Speaker 1: for in that area? Why do you think Bucks are
14:09
Speaker 1: going to be there? And if you're in a tree
14:11
Speaker 1: stand on November four, what does it look like? Yeah? So,
14:15
Speaker 1: I me and my brother actually just hung a stands
14:18
Speaker 1: out I think is one of our most ideal sets
14:20
Speaker 1: we've ever hung. And it goes like this, basically run
14:23
Speaker 1: a ridgeline um with oaks. Our stand is actually in
14:28
Speaker 1: an oak and directly bab beneath us to the east.
14:32
Speaker 1: We've got really great betting. Were actually hanging this set.
14:35
Speaker 1: We bumped a really nice buck out of it, just
14:37
Speaker 1: a light bump. Um. We're able to get into the
14:40
Speaker 1: tree without disturbing too much. But we know that area
14:42
Speaker 1: is going to be full of dos and there's also
14:45
Speaker 1: a pocket of buck betting where he's found sheds from
14:48
Speaker 1: previous year's shed hunting it. But the other thing that
14:50
Speaker 1: plays a role kind of like what I was talking
14:52
Speaker 1: about earlier, is one of our foot pots with beans
14:55
Speaker 1: in Braska's is only about seventy six seventy yard arts
15:00
Speaker 1: to the west, so you have food source there with
15:03
Speaker 1: the oak ridge line and also really thick bedding there.
15:06
Speaker 1: So um, it provides really good travel, food sources and
15:10
Speaker 1: bedding basically everything you need in a money red spot.
15:13
Speaker 1: You just mentioned your trail cameras. As we get into
15:16
Speaker 1: peak rot, where are you running most of your cameras? Yeah,
15:20
Speaker 1: right now, it's all about to travel, So I'm putting
15:22
Speaker 1: those places in just places that the funneled deer um ridgelines,
15:28
Speaker 1: but also pinch points on um on field edges, things
15:34
Speaker 1: like that, really good timber draws we have next to
15:37
Speaker 1: creek that runs next for a property that will keep
15:39
Speaker 1: dear from accessing that other side. Things like that on
15:43
Speaker 1: the edge of really thick bedding. Our best cameras right
15:46
Speaker 1: now are not on food sources, but they're on scrapes
15:51
Speaker 1: in timber and on those pinch points you just mentioned signmaking.
15:55
Speaker 1: How much longer is that going to be relevant for
15:57
Speaker 1: your setups in Kansas? Yeah, Like when I mentioned that
16:01
Speaker 1: most ideal rot set up, there aren't a ton There
16:03
Speaker 1: isn't a ton of sign in that area. There's a
16:05
Speaker 1: few um scrapes and a handful of routes that you
16:08
Speaker 1: could possibly see from the tree stand. But really, UM,
16:13
Speaker 1: that always plays a good role during this time of
16:15
Speaker 1: the year. But I'm I'm really trying to get away
16:18
Speaker 1: from that this time of the year. Not necessarily way,
16:20
Speaker 1: but I'm not focusing on as much. I'm really just
16:22
Speaker 1: focusing on those travel routes. You could throw a scrape
16:24
Speaker 1: or a rub in that area. That's great. UM. As
16:27
Speaker 1: far as crake camps go, we've seen scrape action continue
16:30
Speaker 1: really good it's un nocturnal with these warm temperatures. But
16:33
Speaker 1: I also walking the property in the last few days,
16:36
Speaker 1: I saw those first really big routs pop up. Um,
16:39
Speaker 1: which is a good sign. Bucks around move and making signs.
16:43
Speaker 1: In big egg country, the harvest status can positively or
16:47
Speaker 1: negatively affect the rought. What is that harvest status right
16:50
Speaker 1: now in Kansas for you? Um, basically all the beans
16:54
Speaker 1: around us seem to be picked. Um, there's still some
16:57
Speaker 1: corn standing that's actually up a little later than usual,
17:00
Speaker 1: it seems. But um, I think it's going to be
17:03
Speaker 1: just another normal year with the with the crops. Um.
17:07
Speaker 1: The biggest thing that we've seen it just these warm temps.
17:09
Speaker 1: I don't know. Um, the crops seem to be the
17:15
Speaker 1: just like normal. I mean when they're in, when the
17:17
Speaker 1: standing corners in, it's definitely attracting gear towards those areas.
17:21
Speaker 1: But um, it hasn't been anything more unusual than any
17:24
Speaker 1: other years. I say, the biggest thing is just these temps.
17:26
Speaker 1: I mean the first week in November today hit eighty degrees.
17:29
Speaker 1: So I think that's the biggest thing playing a role
17:32
Speaker 1: right now. Do you do any decoying during the rut? Uh? No,
17:36
Speaker 1: we haven't. Uh, it's interesting, but our part of our
17:38
Speaker 1: part of Kansas, we've we have never rattled in the
17:41
Speaker 1: mature bucks. So the decoy we've always we've never never
17:45
Speaker 1: had any success with it and never really used it
17:47
Speaker 1: a whole lot, just because, Um, we just haven't had
17:50
Speaker 1: success with the call and we have grunted bucks in
17:52
Speaker 1: but no, I haven't gotten into the decoy thing. Going forward. Then,
17:56
Speaker 1: in a sex week or so, what do you think
17:57
Speaker 1: that bucket activt is going to be on a scale
17:59
Speaker 1: of to ten in Kansas? The next week? The next
18:02
Speaker 1: four or five days look to be warm, which is
18:06
Speaker 1: not ideal. Um, you can't beat the first week in November.
18:09
Speaker 1: I mean that is usually prime time across the Midwest,
18:12
Speaker 1: especially Kansas. But I would say it's probably gonna be
18:15
Speaker 1: staying that seven seven out of ten. Um, right, I'd
18:19
Speaker 1: love to give it higher with it being the first
18:21
Speaker 1: week in November, but I mean, these warm TIMPs being
18:23
Speaker 1: in the seventy eight degrees, it's shut down trail camp
18:26
Speaker 1: activity and activity that we've seen out hunting. So next
18:29
Speaker 1: week temperatures are dropping. I expect you to be much
18:32
Speaker 1: better that time. All right, Nate, Well, good luck to
18:34
Speaker 1: you and your brother. I'll be following along at identical draw.
18:37
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me alright and joining us on the line.
18:41
Speaker 1: Next is John Teeter from White Tail Landscapes in New York. Now,
18:45
Speaker 1: John in New York, what would you say the buck
18:47
Speaker 1: activities been lately on a scale of one to ten? Yeah,
18:51
Speaker 1: I'd say the past week there was definitely an intense change,
18:54
Speaker 1: and I'd say probably rolls up to maybe a seven
18:57
Speaker 1: or eight probably in the Scott d more appropriate based
19:02
Speaker 1: upon the volume movement, a lot of midday movement, transition stuff,
19:06
Speaker 1: see the changes where you know you're starting to do
19:09
Speaker 1: a lot of seeking and kind of working to their
19:11
Speaker 1: advantage at this point finding. Uh, you know where the
19:14
Speaker 1: dolls like to be. They're starting to seek things out,
19:16
Speaker 1: and you know the breedings be gone at this point. So, John,
19:21
Speaker 1: how can somebody identify a doll betting area if they're
19:25
Speaker 1: sort of new to a property and they're hitting it
19:27
Speaker 1: for the first time and doing some in season scouting
19:29
Speaker 1: during the rut. Yeah, in season scouting is is uh,
19:33
Speaker 1: definitely gives you the advantage to knowing what's going on.
19:36
Speaker 1: A lot of times you'll kick out dose in those
19:38
Speaker 1: specific areas. That's a that's a clear indication usually adjacent
19:43
Speaker 1: to food and and food tends to be less of
19:46
Speaker 1: a focus area. At this point, the does become a
19:50
Speaker 1: bit more scattered. Uh. You know, they're they're starting to
19:53
Speaker 1: get chased. The hunting pressure is a factor and some
19:55
Speaker 1: of that, but you're starting to see a decline in
19:58
Speaker 1: interest in food, and cover starts to become ing uh.
20:02
Speaker 1: And and you know, larger areas of cover that are
20:06
Speaker 1: a bit isolated, You'll start to see those frequent those
20:10
Speaker 1: areas a little bit more often than they normally do,
20:13
Speaker 1: just to kind of escape the pressure of the bucks
20:15
Speaker 1: that are after them. So that's probably the first step
20:18
Speaker 1: I would give. Now, do the same thing for buck betting.
20:20
Speaker 1: If somebody is just hitting the woods in a new
20:23
Speaker 1: area for the first time, how can they identify a
20:26
Speaker 1: buck's bed? You know, the buck betting intends to be
20:29
Speaker 1: isolated a lot of times. You know, with the leaf
20:32
Speaker 1: drop as of recent if you get a lot of
20:35
Speaker 1: change in thermals and the wind shifts in those areas,
20:38
Speaker 1: that penetrates a little bit deeper. So wind based betting
20:41
Speaker 1: and thermal betting is a huge component of kind of
20:44
Speaker 1: where the bucks are going to lay up posibly on
20:46
Speaker 1: hillsides and open terrain. They also want visual acuity, so
20:49
Speaker 1: they want to be able to see some distances away. Um,
20:52
Speaker 1: those things start to go away as the rut was
20:54
Speaker 1: fairing to creep into the ruts, so you know they're
20:56
Speaker 1: moving more frequently. You're almost on their feet, you know,
20:59
Speaker 1: twenty four hours a day to some degree depending on
21:01
Speaker 1: the intensity, and you know the available those that that
21:04
Speaker 1: they're seeking. So that's you'll start to see a change
21:07
Speaker 1: and shift to that. How deep into the rut is
21:10
Speaker 1: signmaking relevant for you in New York? You know, I
21:14
Speaker 1: try to be a little bit more predictive, so I'm
21:16
Speaker 1: not relying on that type of data. But if you're
21:18
Speaker 1: going in and you're you're hunting an area you know
21:20
Speaker 1: for the first time, you know, it's kind of good
21:22
Speaker 1: to start off looking even at the scrape to see
21:25
Speaker 1: what the available tracks and sizes of tracts. That's that's
21:28
Speaker 1: the first indicator, you know, the sign. Last week, you know,
21:31
Speaker 1: the scrape activity was kind of at an all time
21:33
Speaker 1: hi high and it's just going to start to decline.
21:37
Speaker 1: It'll have them flow. But the rub activities increased this week.
21:40
Speaker 1: I've seen many more rubs in the woods while I'm
21:43
Speaker 1: coming and going and and so that that's an indicator
21:45
Speaker 1: to me that they're they're they're kind of on the
21:47
Speaker 1: tails of transitioning in one area to the next and
21:49
Speaker 1: focusing on, you know, seeing what those are in instress
21:53
Speaker 1: and in stress ready ready to be read. So that's
21:55
Speaker 1: that's kind of the next phase of things. John. If
21:58
Speaker 1: somebody is looking to manipulate their property to have it
22:02
Speaker 1: be set up really really well for peak rot, what
22:05
Speaker 1: would that look like. What are some things that a
22:07
Speaker 1: landowner can do to get their property ready for November? Yeah,
22:12
Speaker 1: I think I think the big thing is, like I
22:14
Speaker 1: said earlier, when when you're starting to transition, you know,
22:16
Speaker 1: the cover type and habitat types are are critical. Having
22:20
Speaker 1: a lot of availability of food, uh and and food
22:24
Speaker 1: in an example, blackberries, um, you know, the BlackBerry leaves, um,
22:29
Speaker 1: those are those are good example, while plumb those type
22:32
Speaker 1: of sources of food within the betting areas are are
22:35
Speaker 1: really critical. So introduct introducing a component of food within
22:39
Speaker 1: these betting areas and betting areas, you know, and using
22:43
Speaker 1: the design process or anywhere between you know, one to
22:46
Speaker 1: three acres in size. Sometimes they're larger depending on their location,
22:50
Speaker 1: but having a larger pocket of cover uh. And and
22:54
Speaker 1: that it's beneficial because as the bucks go in, they
22:56
Speaker 1: don't they don't necessarily able to win check an entire area,
22:59
Speaker 1: so as they cruise, not necessarily having to use wind
23:02
Speaker 1: fully to assess what's going on in those areas, will
23:04
Speaker 1: actually actually have to work those areas and seek them out.
23:07
Speaker 1: And from a hunting perspective, you can take complete advantage
23:10
Speaker 1: of that. Defining their entry and exits in those areas
23:13
Speaker 1: are critical because at that point you'll be able to
23:15
Speaker 1: kind of pinpoint how they leave and enter a location.
23:18
Speaker 1: And and then that really makes the hunting that much easier.
23:20
Speaker 1: So that that's a that's a big component of it. John,
23:23
Speaker 1: What is your ideal RUT set up look like for
23:26
Speaker 1: the second weekend in November in New York. That's a
23:30
Speaker 1: good question. Um. An ideal set up for me would be,
23:35
Speaker 1: m I'm a fringe person. I'm always hunting in a bringe.
23:37
Speaker 1: So what that generally means to me is usually connection
23:41
Speaker 1: point between two betting areas. Usually as a key key
23:45
Speaker 1: focus point. UM. I like to be uh, you know,
23:48
Speaker 1: not within the betting uh, just on the edge. Of
23:51
Speaker 1: the betting. Uh and in a position where you know,
23:55
Speaker 1: I could potentially be you know that wind of deer
23:59
Speaker 1: and so as they're up when you know they're kind
24:01
Speaker 1: of penetrating these airs and and uh, you know, you
24:04
Speaker 1: know it's I'm able to to uh you know, either
24:07
Speaker 1: attract them from an identification standpoint, or call them or
24:12
Speaker 1: or relay you know, some type of calling to them.
24:15
Speaker 1: So sequencely they're able to come into the property and
24:18
Speaker 1: I'm able to get a shot at them. So that's
24:20
Speaker 1: that's kind of my ideal location. So just staying on
24:22
Speaker 1: the fringes and attacking the meter fringes, not necessarily penetrating
24:25
Speaker 1: the betting areas. So that's that's my ideal set up
24:28
Speaker 1: going forward. Then in the sex week or so, what
24:30
Speaker 1: do you think that bucket TV is going to be
24:32
Speaker 1: on the scale of one to ten in New York?
24:34
Speaker 1: I think, uh, it's start. It's gonna warm up, so
24:37
Speaker 1: you're gonna see a little less activity in the afternoons,
24:41
Speaker 1: a lot of intense activity in the morning. Um, you know,
24:43
Speaker 1: towards the later half of this week into the sixth, seventh,
24:46
Speaker 1: and eighth, I mean that's just peak time. Um, you know,
24:49
Speaker 1: deer coming off their usually they're there their second extra Still, uh,
24:54
Speaker 1: the intensity increases, the competition depending on her dynamics could
24:58
Speaker 1: go you know, through the roof. But they're going to
25:00
Speaker 1: get a lot of movement this weekend. So this weekend
25:03
Speaker 1: is gonna be gonna be primetime. All right, John, that's
25:06
Speaker 1: great info. Thanks to your time and good luck this year.
25:09
Speaker 1: Thanks man, you too, alright, and joining us on the
25:12
Speaker 1: line next is Josh Smith from Wildcare Deer Attractive in Kentucky. Now,
25:17
Speaker 1: Josh in Kentucky, what would you say the bucket activity
25:20
Speaker 1: is ben lately on a scale of one to ten,
25:23
Speaker 1: well as recently as this past weekend when I was hunting,
25:27
Speaker 1: I would I would say it was a six daytime activity.
25:31
Speaker 1: Wasn't super hot, it was we had high winds, it
25:36
Speaker 1: was a little warm until Monday morning we had frost
25:40
Speaker 1: and things cooled off, and uh, you know, you can
25:43
Speaker 1: kind of see the uptick and movement during the day.
25:46
Speaker 1: But also, um, this past weekend and the moonlight is
25:49
Speaker 1: shining bright all night, so I always, you know, tend
25:53
Speaker 1: to think that that has a little bit of an
25:54
Speaker 1: effect on daytime activity. And when it sat bright at
25:57
Speaker 1: night and I feel like they're a little more knock eternal,
26:00
Speaker 1: and uh, our cams would kind of suggest that we've
26:03
Speaker 1: been having obviously a lot more nighttime activity on them
26:07
Speaker 1: than daytime. But uh, you know, it's the ruts here,
26:12
Speaker 1: It's it's kicking off and and you never know what
26:14
Speaker 1: could happen. So anytime getting the trees a good time
26:18
Speaker 1: in Kentucky, when do you historically start seeing some midday
26:22
Speaker 1: movement from mature bucks? Oh, it could be anywhere from
26:26
Speaker 1: you know, I try to think of Halloween as kind
26:29
Speaker 1: of the jumping off point for where we're at at uh,
26:33
Speaker 1: and and that's kind of when you want to start
26:36
Speaker 1: spending as much time a tree as possible, because you know,
26:39
Speaker 1: you might be starting Halloween and the few days after
26:42
Speaker 1: that you might not see much daytime activity, or you
26:45
Speaker 1: might you just don't really know, And obviously kind of
26:48
Speaker 1: keep weather and and uh, moon phases in mind when
26:52
Speaker 1: you're making your decisions, but you know, Halloween through the
26:56
Speaker 1: middle of November, you just kind of not how in
27:00
Speaker 1: yourself if you're not in a tree. Now. As the
27:02
Speaker 1: owner of a scent company, I know you're a huge
27:05
Speaker 1: advocate for using sense during the rut, So tell me
27:08
Speaker 1: about what your strategy is with different urine during peak rut. Well,
27:13
Speaker 1: for in the peak of the run, I'd like to
27:15
Speaker 1: use I'll take one of our dough and estrus and
27:18
Speaker 1: one of our rutting buck, which is a dominant buck scent,
27:20
Speaker 1: and I'll clip both of them onto my drag and
27:23
Speaker 1: drag them in together to kind of simulate the chase.
27:25
Speaker 1: Is one of my favorite things to do. It's been
27:29
Speaker 1: proven to be effective. I shot a nice buck in
27:32
Speaker 1: Kentucky figures back doing that. UM came in nose down
27:36
Speaker 1: on my cent trail, and I've just always had good success,
27:41
Speaker 1: good luck with that, so it's kind of my go to. UM.
27:44
Speaker 1: You know, you're trying to shine away from cover sense
27:47
Speaker 1: this time of year. You want to be UH taking
27:52
Speaker 1: as much control as you can, kind of taken advantage
27:54
Speaker 1: of the situation where UH bucks are a little more
27:57
Speaker 1: aggressive and kind of use that to your advantage. You
28:00
Speaker 1: mentioned your trail cameras earlier. Where do you have a
28:02
Speaker 1: lot of your trail cameras as we get into early
28:05
Speaker 1: in mid November, primarily travel routes. UM, We're trying to
28:09
Speaker 1: locate any any corridors between betting h in any isolated
28:14
Speaker 1: food sources, which we still have standing beams and standing
28:18
Speaker 1: corn both on the Kentucky properties, So you're it makes
28:23
Speaker 1: it a little easier and a little tougher at the
28:26
Speaker 1: same time to kind of isolate those corridors because they've
28:29
Speaker 1: got a vast variety of food still. Um, they are
28:32
Speaker 1: also hitting acorns, which we have as well. So the
28:36
Speaker 1: key is just kind of figuring out what those travel
28:38
Speaker 1: corridors are, and we try to set up cams on
28:42
Speaker 1: sites that are producing, you know, just kind of using
28:46
Speaker 1: common sense and and locating as best we can the
28:50
Speaker 1: highest traveler UH the highest usage on travel routes to
28:55
Speaker 1: capitalize with our trail camera setups. Josh telling you about
28:59
Speaker 1: what your ideal RUTS set up is for the second
29:02
Speaker 1: weekend in November in Kentucky, Well, ideally I'd be doing
29:07
Speaker 1: a gripping grand right now, but since that's not on
29:11
Speaker 1: the table. Um. No, Just like I mentioned, you know,
29:14
Speaker 1: you want to work those travel corridors as much as possible.
29:17
Speaker 1: You want to stick tight to UH dough betting as
29:21
Speaker 1: much as you can. You know, you want to know
29:23
Speaker 1: where your doughs are and you'll know where your bucks
29:25
Speaker 1: are this time of year. So that's kind of what
29:27
Speaker 1: we do as a rule of thumb, you know, so
29:30
Speaker 1: just keeping in mind doe betting, where they're betting at,
29:33
Speaker 1: and also food sources and travel corridors and kind of
29:37
Speaker 1: uh putting all that together and make a plan going forward.
29:41
Speaker 1: Then in the sex week or so, what do you
29:42
Speaker 1: think that bucket activity is going to be on a
29:44
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten in Kentucky. Well, I'd say
29:48
Speaker 1: I think the breath's gonna be a little more progressed,
29:50
Speaker 1: so I feel like it'll be a little higher. We
29:53
Speaker 1: also are getting a kind of a warm front moving through.
29:56
Speaker 1: We had lows in the lower thirties this past weekend
30:01
Speaker 1: and this coming weekend the loads are going to be
30:04
Speaker 1: in the mid fifties. So it's a pretty significant jump
30:07
Speaker 1: in temperature. Um, so I feel like it will bump up.
30:11
Speaker 1: But I don't feel like it's going to bump up
30:12
Speaker 1: like crazy, you know. I normally I think if it
30:16
Speaker 1: weren't for the warm up, I would I would be
30:18
Speaker 1: more optimistic and say like a eight, but maybe seven,
30:23
Speaker 1: you know, so we'll see. I'm I'm still optimistic, and
30:26
Speaker 1: I think that activity is going to be up, So
30:29
Speaker 1: I just I'm just not sugure how much, but I
30:31
Speaker 1: would if I had to bet, I'd say not a ton.
30:33
Speaker 1: All right, Josh, Well, good luck and thanks for joining me. Yeah, man,
30:37
Speaker 1: thanks for having me Spencer alright and joining us on
30:40
Speaker 1: the line. Next is Sam sold in South Dakota from
30:43
Speaker 1: public Land Tease. Now, Sam in South Dakota, what would
30:46
Speaker 1: you say the bucket activity has been lately on a
30:48
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten, you know, I'd say right now,
30:52
Speaker 1: it's probably somewhere between a four and five. And it's
30:56
Speaker 1: typical in this state that I've seen if this is
30:59
Speaker 1: kind of really when it starts to kick off. So
31:01
Speaker 1: I have seen some younger bucks chasing pretty hard and
31:04
Speaker 1: saw one mature buck kind of follow a dough out
31:07
Speaker 1: into a field the other night. Um, but it's not
31:10
Speaker 1: all out. So there's there's definitely bucks moving, um that
31:14
Speaker 1: showed today, but it's not it's not all out yet. Now.
31:19
Speaker 1: Things changed fast during the rut and this morning, Sam,
31:22
Speaker 1: we were texting each other and at seven forty seven
31:26
Speaker 1: you said things were slow and you were going to
31:28
Speaker 1: be moving spots for the afternoon, And then at seven
31:32
Speaker 1: fifty three you texted me that you just killed one.
31:34
Speaker 1: So tell us about that set up and how that
31:36
Speaker 1: haunt went down. Yeah, So you and I are texted
31:39
Speaker 1: back and forth, and I had basically written off where
31:42
Speaker 1: I was sitting that morning, like everything about this everything
31:45
Speaker 1: about this morning was like it took me forever find
31:48
Speaker 1: the tree to hang in, just there wasn't a straight
31:50
Speaker 1: tree on the ridge. The wind was different than what
31:54
Speaker 1: was forecast, and so I was moving around and was
31:56
Speaker 1: just like to the point where I was like, oh,
31:57
Speaker 1: nothing's gonna roll into the spot. Well, I finally was
32:01
Speaker 1: finally got up in the tree after first light, and
32:04
Speaker 1: you and I were texting, and um, I sent that
32:08
Speaker 1: last message to ask if you were out hunting, and
32:11
Speaker 1: then I was like, God, it's kind of cool this morning.
32:14
Speaker 1: And I actually reached back and grabbed my bibs to
32:16
Speaker 1: put on, and I pulled him around and I was
32:19
Speaker 1: sitting down. I pulled him around in front of me,
32:20
Speaker 1: and I looked up and I saw him walking down
32:22
Speaker 1: the ridge, and so I just put the bibbs down
32:24
Speaker 1: between my feet on the tree stand and grabbed my bow,
32:28
Speaker 1: and uh, he ended up walking right down the ridge
32:31
Speaker 1: and a little bit I know, but I was there
32:33
Speaker 1: was a little bit of cover out on the end
32:34
Speaker 1: of this ridge, and he was just it must have
32:38
Speaker 1: been done, searching for chance, sent checking for dose or
32:40
Speaker 1: whatever for the night. And I was just coming back
32:42
Speaker 1: to bed and he walked into twenty two yards and
32:44
Speaker 1: I shot him. Um. So like better to be lucky
32:48
Speaker 1: than good sometimes I like it. Now, Sam, tell me
32:51
Speaker 1: about what your ideal RUTS setup is in South Dakota
32:54
Speaker 1: as we get into the second weekend of November. Yeah,
32:58
Speaker 1: so I'm really looking for stuff where I know that
33:02
Speaker 1: there are gonna be dose congregating. So looking for like
33:04
Speaker 1: thick betting cover, real nasty thickets, um, and transition lines
33:09
Speaker 1: between like bigger deciduous trees and say, you know, some
33:14
Speaker 1: sort of real thick cover, whether it be Russian olive, um,
33:19
Speaker 1: some more groundcover where I know there's probably gonna be
33:21
Speaker 1: does betting and bucks coming by to scent check is
33:25
Speaker 1: what I'm really looking for. Um. So it can be
33:28
Speaker 1: really small patches of that, but a lot of times
33:31
Speaker 1: I find bucks are you know, covering like big distances
33:36
Speaker 1: to go check these small pockets of cover, knowing that
33:38
Speaker 1: there's probably a dough or two in there. I know
33:41
Speaker 1: you have success using some really aggressive tactics this year
33:45
Speaker 1: you almost rattled in a buck recently. Um, a few
33:48
Speaker 1: years ago you decoyed one. And tell me about using
33:51
Speaker 1: decoys and calls during the rout. Yep, I love using both, um,
33:57
Speaker 1: and that you know, I figured I only have so
34:00
Speaker 1: many days to hunt each November, and if I'm if
34:03
Speaker 1: I'm going to get it done, sometimes you have to
34:05
Speaker 1: be You can't just always stand on the sideline looking in. Um.
34:08
Speaker 1: You gotta get really tight into stuff where you know
34:11
Speaker 1: there's gonna be bucks, and then you're using stuff like decoys.
34:14
Speaker 1: Has worked extremely well for me. I shot several deer
34:17
Speaker 1: over decoys and uh. Um, I think they can be
34:20
Speaker 1: in the right situations, can be in a very valuable tool.
34:24
Speaker 1: And I'm definitely not afraid to call rattling grunting. Um.
34:28
Speaker 1: You know, when the rut is really on, if you
34:29
Speaker 1: really get yourself into a situation where you're seeing a
34:32
Speaker 1: lot of running deer, it you know it can just
34:35
Speaker 1: be absolute madness where they're running around, grunting almost every breath,
34:39
Speaker 1: um and posturing to other deer and stuff. So I
34:42
Speaker 1: I find that you know it might see aggressive, but
34:45
Speaker 1: I'm basically mimic king like a deer being in like
34:49
Speaker 1: on fire rut activity. You're from North Dakota, you're hunting
34:53
Speaker 1: sal Dacota. You're headed to Kansas soon. What sort of
34:56
Speaker 1: food sources are you looking for in the Great Plane
35:00
Speaker 1: during November or is that not something that you focus
35:02
Speaker 1: on at all? Well, you know, I don't focus on
35:05
Speaker 1: food a ton other than finding food sources that are closed,
35:09
Speaker 1: like somewhat close to a bedding area where I know
35:11
Speaker 1: I'm going to be catching them coming back to bed.
35:13
Speaker 1: But because I hunt so much public ground, there's not
35:16
Speaker 1: typically a lot of food to focus on. And but
35:20
Speaker 1: if I am focusing on food, I'm typically looking for
35:22
Speaker 1: cornfield this time of year because it's a lot of
35:24
Speaker 1: them typically are getting harvested right now. Um, and so
35:28
Speaker 1: you know deer either we're living in them or are
35:31
Speaker 1: coming to them as they're cut fresh and eating stuff
35:33
Speaker 1: off the ground. Um. But yeah, definitely looking for cornfields
35:37
Speaker 1: when you do get to Kansas, it's gonna be mid
35:39
Speaker 1: November that time a year. What sort of stuff are
35:43
Speaker 1: you looking for when you're doing in season scouting? Yeah,
35:46
Speaker 1: so just looking for the freshest sign possible. Uh, going
35:50
Speaker 1: to be looking for you know, fresh rubs, fresh scrapes
35:55
Speaker 1: and you know, big big buck tracks, and yeah, I
35:59
Speaker 1: mean it's pretty much it like if I can find
36:02
Speaker 1: stuff that looks like you know, um, it seems like
36:05
Speaker 1: bucks down there typically like to rub bigger trees than
36:09
Speaker 1: I find up in up in the Midwest and are
36:12
Speaker 1: in the Great Plains, and so I'm looking for stuff
36:15
Speaker 1: that looks like it was just like really recently shredded
36:18
Speaker 1: up um in in thickets and stuff. Is kind of
36:20
Speaker 1: what I'm what I'm going off of, And obviously looking
36:22
Speaker 1: at pinch points and travel corridors where I know there's
36:25
Speaker 1: probably gonna be deer traveling through looking for does and
36:29
Speaker 1: estris and trying to find hot sign within those kind
36:33
Speaker 1: of small gaps to shoot through. Going forward. Then in
36:36
Speaker 1: the six week or so, what do you think that
36:38
Speaker 1: bucket ATV is going to be on a scale of
36:40
Speaker 1: one to ten in South Dakota. You know, I would
36:42
Speaker 1: say we are warmer than average weather right now, so uh,
36:47
Speaker 1: you know, typically it really kicks off here in the
36:50
Speaker 1: next few days, but with that cold front coming in
36:52
Speaker 1: kind of at the end of the weekend, I would
36:54
Speaker 1: say it's going to be you know, all the way
36:56
Speaker 1: maxed out by Monday or Tuesday next week, so probably
37:00
Speaker 1: like incrementally increasing over the next three to five days.
37:04
Speaker 1: All right, Sam, one jealous of your success, but congrats
37:07
Speaker 1: on the deer and good luck with the rest of
37:09
Speaker 1: your season. Thanks for joining me. Thanks man, And that
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Speaker 1: concludes this week's episode of rut Fresh Radio. Thanks to Nate, John, Josh,
37:17
Speaker 1: and Sam for joining me, and thank you guys for listening.
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Speaker 1: I'm stoked that the rut is here. Happy November to
37:23
Speaker 1: everyone listening. This only comes once a year, so I
37:27
Speaker 1: hope you hunt like it until next week, Stay wired
37:30
Speaker 1: to Hunt.