Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 373: Rut Fresh Radio 9/23/20

Transcript

Ep. 373: Rut Fresh Radio 9/23/20 · 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 episode number three and
0:20
Speaker 1: today we're back for another episode of our mini series
0:23
Speaker 1: Right Fresh Radio, which we're getting up to date reports
0:26
Speaker 1: from all across the country on the latest deer activity,
0:30
Speaker 1: current conditions, and the tactics that are working right now.
0:38
Speaker 1: All right, welcome to the Wired Hunt podcast, brought to
0:42
Speaker 1: you by on X, and today we are back for
0:46
Speaker 1: our ret Fresh Radio miniseries. You know what this is
0:49
Speaker 1: all about. We're gonna be chatting with a handful of
0:51
Speaker 1: deer hunters from all across the country and they're gonna
0:54
Speaker 1: tell us about what kind of activity they've been seeing,
0:57
Speaker 1: what activity they're predicting coming in the future, and how
1:00
Speaker 1: different conditions and factors and sightings are are influencing what
1:04
Speaker 1: they're doing as hunters. So that's the game plan. Spencer
1:07
Speaker 1: new Heart leads the charge on all of those interviews
1:11
Speaker 1: and it is a very exciting time for me personally selfishly,
1:15
Speaker 1: because we are right on the precipice of the Michigan
1:20
Speaker 1: Bow hunting season, Spencer, and I'm very excited. I've got
1:25
Speaker 1: like the full blown I can't sleep at night. I'm
1:28
Speaker 1: looking at pictures, I'm looking at maps, I'm looking at
1:31
Speaker 1: my weather forecast over and over. That whole thing has
1:35
Speaker 1: one developed me right now. Man. So I'm glad we
1:39
Speaker 1: can do this chat because I'm chomping at the bit.
1:41
Speaker 1: I like it. I saw on social media you just
1:45
Speaker 1: had like a trail camera update. Can you tell us
1:48
Speaker 1: more about that, and like, where are your trail cameras
1:50
Speaker 1: gonna be now as we get into opener? Yeah, so
1:54
Speaker 1: I posted a bunch of pictures from the back forty
1:58
Speaker 1: and exciting news over there. We have a big turnaround
2:03
Speaker 1: from where we were last year. This time last year,
2:05
Speaker 1: if if you remember, Spencer or anybody listening, we had
2:08
Speaker 1: gone and checked trail cameras in mid September last year
2:12
Speaker 1: when Steve and Yanni came out for their squirrel hunt,
2:14
Speaker 1: and we hadn't had like a single decent buck on
2:17
Speaker 1: trail camera all summer in early fall. It was really disappointing,
2:22
Speaker 1: uh frustrating, and as you know, a lot of the
2:25
Speaker 1: season was that way too. I had that one great
2:28
Speaker 1: encounter and killed the white Ape, but a lot of
2:29
Speaker 1: the rest of the year was kind of frustrating. Well,
2:32
Speaker 1: we made a lot of changes last year in the spring,
2:34
Speaker 1: and I don't want to pat myself on the back
2:36
Speaker 1: too much, but something's going right because we're getting a
2:40
Speaker 1: lot more activity on cameras. We're seeing a lot of bucks. Um,
2:43
Speaker 1: there's probably I don't know three four five bucks that
2:50
Speaker 1: you know, I think would be considered shooters by myself
2:53
Speaker 1: and or our guests. Um, a couple of definite four
2:57
Speaker 1: year older older bucks, a couple three year olds, bunch
3:00
Speaker 1: of a two year old kind of you know, nice
3:02
Speaker 1: little ten pointers, the lay pointers. So yeah, the cameras are,
3:06
Speaker 1: they're lighting up right now. And most of those that
3:10
Speaker 1: I have placed all all I was checking and posting
3:13
Speaker 1: the other day where cell camera updates and those have
3:16
Speaker 1: been placed just in transition zones between food sources and betting.
3:22
Speaker 1: And so there's one cell camera that is in the
3:26
Speaker 1: edge of a bean field, on the edge of the
3:28
Speaker 1: bean field, but in between a neighboring bean field and
3:30
Speaker 1: the cover on our side. So we're catching these deer
3:33
Speaker 1: that were feeding in those beans in the summer, heading
3:36
Speaker 1: back to feed or sorry, heading back to bed on
3:39
Speaker 1: Ours and then there's another camera that's set back in
3:42
Speaker 1: the honey hole actually, which is this really cool area
3:44
Speaker 1: of cover on the farm, and there's big white oak
3:46
Speaker 1: tree in there that's just raining acorns. So what we're
3:50
Speaker 1: seeing is that there's still some deer coming off of
3:52
Speaker 1: those beans, and I'm sure there's some oaks scattered on
3:55
Speaker 1: the edges of these fields that they're feeding on two
3:57
Speaker 1: but they're they're heading back into bed on Ours and
4:00
Speaker 1: then they're going into that betting air and honey hole
4:02
Speaker 1: and they're feeding on those acorns heavily during daylight. Still. Um,
4:07
Speaker 1: So that whole acorn thing I think is going to
4:09
Speaker 1: be something I'm guessing you've heard from our guests or
4:12
Speaker 1: will be soon because I think they're dropping in a
4:15
Speaker 1: lot of parts of the country and they're definitely keying
4:17
Speaker 1: in on those here. So yeah, that's what's happening in
4:20
Speaker 1: the back Ford. It at least it's um it's that
4:23
Speaker 1: time of year now. I think a lot of hunters
4:25
Speaker 1: kind of operate on this system where when you have
4:29
Speaker 1: the beginning of October coming, or when you have a
4:32
Speaker 1: season opener coming, they sort of check them like one
4:35
Speaker 1: last time or set them in a different place one
4:38
Speaker 1: last time, and then leave them until we get closer
4:41
Speaker 1: to the rut. So my question for you, Mark is
4:44
Speaker 1: if you had to leave your cam siak for like
4:46
Speaker 1: the next month, where would you have it at. So
4:50
Speaker 1: I try to shift most of my cameras two my
4:55
Speaker 1: fall locations at the very end of summer, so the
4:59
Speaker 1: very end of August or early September, I basically shift
5:02
Speaker 1: everything to the spots I want them for October and November,
5:05
Speaker 1: which in most cases will be UM. They can be
5:10
Speaker 1: in different spots like these transition areas I mentioned are
5:12
Speaker 1: the edge of food sources. But the most important things
5:15
Speaker 1: I want them on scrapes, So that can either be
5:18
Speaker 1: a natural scrape, like a spot that every year that
5:20
Speaker 1: becomes a scrape gets hit by multiple deer year after
5:24
Speaker 1: year after year, that kind of community hub. I like
5:27
Speaker 1: having cameras on those um, but I'll also create scrapes
5:31
Speaker 1: in places that I want them and those as. As
5:34
Speaker 1: we talked about a lot in the past, these these
5:36
Speaker 1: scrapes just act as this kind of local water cooler,
5:40
Speaker 1: and all the bucks like to check in, see who's
5:43
Speaker 1: been here, what's going on, and and kind of leave
5:45
Speaker 1: their calling card to. So they're a really good place
5:48
Speaker 1: to get an inventory of what's there, who's in the
5:50
Speaker 1: area right now, how early in the day or late
5:53
Speaker 1: in the day, or these deer starting to move. It
5:55
Speaker 1: gives you that I don't know, it's like a thermometer
5:59
Speaker 1: on activity. So I may not be hunting in these places,
6:02
Speaker 1: but it's gonna give me a good check in on
6:04
Speaker 1: on what's happening in the area and who's here. So
6:07
Speaker 1: most of my stuff is set on those locations already. Now,
6:10
Speaker 1: these two cell cameras I mentioned are in a little
6:13
Speaker 1: bit unique spots. They aren't on scrapes. Well, let me
6:16
Speaker 1: take you back. I did create a mock scrape in
6:19
Speaker 1: front of both of these cameras. They're setting these transition
6:22
Speaker 1: spots that are hard to get to. But I also
6:24
Speaker 1: still create a mock scrape in front of both. Um.
6:28
Speaker 1: So that's all to say. If I was moving something
6:30
Speaker 1: right now, which i'd I'd rather not, I'd rather not
6:33
Speaker 1: go on at all right now, um and just wait
6:36
Speaker 1: until you're hunting. But if I had to move things around,
6:38
Speaker 1: I'd be doing exactly what I described. I'd be putting
6:41
Speaker 1: these on scrapes or mock scrapes. I would not be
6:43
Speaker 1: going back into the cover crashing around. Um. I would
6:47
Speaker 1: only be putting these in easy to access places where
6:50
Speaker 1: I'm not going to spook stuff because again, I don't
6:52
Speaker 1: want to apply a lot of pressure until I'm actually hunting.
6:55
Speaker 1: So for me in Michigan opening days October one, that's
6:58
Speaker 1: next week. UM, I'm not pushing into anything right now.
7:02
Speaker 1: I'm only checking cramp cameras that are cell cameras. I'm
7:05
Speaker 1: not gonna walk all over the place and check these things,
7:08
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna observe from a distance as much
7:11
Speaker 1: as I can. So on my back forty place, we're
7:14
Speaker 1: observing via trail cam cell cam. On another one of
7:17
Speaker 1: my local Michigan properties, I've got this really cool hill
7:21
Speaker 1: area where i can observe a lot of the farm.
7:23
Speaker 1: So I'm doing some evening scouting up there and just
7:26
Speaker 1: watching from a distance. Um, but I don't want to.
7:30
Speaker 1: You don't want to go on their setting stands and
7:32
Speaker 1: messing around with cameras five days, six days before the
7:35
Speaker 1: hunting season. You know, you're the deer can't tell the
7:38
Speaker 1: difference between you hunting and you doing that work. It's
7:40
Speaker 1: all the same to them. And it's all going to
7:42
Speaker 1: result in these deer not wanting to move in daylight
7:45
Speaker 1: as much because of it. Yeah, I would echo everything
7:48
Speaker 1: that you just said their mark for the next three
7:50
Speaker 1: to four weeks. If I had have one place to
7:52
Speaker 1: have my trail cameras, I want them all on scrapes.
7:55
Speaker 1: They are great for getting inventory, They're great for patterning
7:59
Speaker 1: to you, They're great for seeing when they start to
8:02
Speaker 1: move a little bit sooner in the evenings, are a
8:05
Speaker 1: little bit later into the mornings. I just really want
8:07
Speaker 1: my cameras on scrapes for basically the whole month of October. Now,
8:11
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about that same thing with all four
8:14
Speaker 1: of our guests this week, which include Dean Siemens from Delaware,
8:17
Speaker 1: Josh Gente from North Carolina, Travis Thiel in South Dakota,
8:22
Speaker 1: and then Michael hans Sucker in Missouri. And something that
8:26
Speaker 1: you'll hear from all of our guests is that there's
8:29
Speaker 1: this approaching cold front like early to mid next week
8:33
Speaker 1: across most of the country. Um. Now, this is like
8:37
Speaker 1: almost the unofficial sign of fall. Right yesterday was the
8:41
Speaker 1: first official day fall. But when we start talking about
8:43
Speaker 1: the first cold front, that's like the most exciting time
8:46
Speaker 1: I think in every year mark when we do red
8:48
Speaker 1: Fresh radio um in like early to mid October, when
8:51
Speaker 1: we get a good cold front that's very timely. It
8:54
Speaker 1: seems like all sorts of deer get killed. Now, the
8:57
Speaker 1: time of this cold front isn't great because it's like
9:01
Speaker 1: sort of between you know, uh, this coming weekend and
9:04
Speaker 1: the weekend after that of that Tuesday Wednesday. But say
9:07
Speaker 1: that cold front did land on like a Saturday and
9:09
Speaker 1: Sunday and everybody can be in the wards. What would
9:12
Speaker 1: you want to be doing for like a late September
9:15
Speaker 1: set up or an early October set up when we
9:18
Speaker 1: have a great cold front like this one coming where
9:20
Speaker 1: in some parts of the country from like Friday's high
9:24
Speaker 1: to Tuesday's low, we're looking at like a fifty degree difference.
9:28
Speaker 1: What what would be your strategy then? Yeah, like you said,
9:32
Speaker 1: there's nothing that's gonna get me more excited this time
9:34
Speaker 1: of yre and for me late September early October, it's
9:38
Speaker 1: still a food game. I'm I want to know what
9:42
Speaker 1: is the number one food source right now? And and
9:46
Speaker 1: or I want to know where is my buck like
9:49
Speaker 1: if I'm if I'm just after deer then I want
9:51
Speaker 1: to know what's the most the single, most attractive food
9:53
Speaker 1: source right now. And then if I'm after a specific deer,
9:56
Speaker 1: I want to know as best as I can possibly
9:59
Speaker 1: figure out what he's doing, you know, right now, or
10:02
Speaker 1: what's the most recent piece of until I can tell
10:04
Speaker 1: about him, Because when this cold front hits, it's going
10:07
Speaker 1: to get these deer on their feet, and this is
10:09
Speaker 1: going to be one of those couple opportunities you're gonna
10:11
Speaker 1: have throughout the year where that big old buck might
10:14
Speaker 1: move a little bit earlier in the evening. So I
10:18
Speaker 1: would try to make an aggressive hunt into that best spot.
10:22
Speaker 1: I would go try to get into my number one
10:27
Speaker 1: location for a food source type hunt. So that's something
10:30
Speaker 1: where I'm tight into the edge of that bedding and
10:33
Speaker 1: food transition spot where I think, Okay, if I have
10:37
Speaker 1: some kind of history or some kind of scouting that
10:40
Speaker 1: tells me that this is that best food source and
10:41
Speaker 1: this is probably the most likely place these bucks are
10:44
Speaker 1: coming from, I'm going to go in there and and
10:47
Speaker 1: get right on it. Um. Maybe if it was a warm,
10:51
Speaker 1: hot day in October, I wouldn't push right in there.
10:54
Speaker 1: I'd hunt more observations. I'd hunt farther on the edge.
10:57
Speaker 1: But with that cold weather, I want to be in
10:58
Speaker 1: my killing set. So you know, that might be a
11:01
Speaker 1: green food plot, that might be uh an acorn flat,
11:06
Speaker 1: that might be a little patch of clover, or maybe
11:09
Speaker 1: it's a standing corn field. It's just it's really starting
11:13
Speaker 1: to dry down now and all of a sudden the
11:14
Speaker 1: deer hitting it. It really comes down to knowing your
11:17
Speaker 1: area and your deer. So looking at those cameras, hopefully
11:20
Speaker 1: you can either check them in a really careful way,
11:24
Speaker 1: or have cell cameras that can give you this intel
11:25
Speaker 1: without you need to going in there, or do what
11:27
Speaker 1: I've been doing, which is observing from a distance. I
11:30
Speaker 1: want to know as best as possible what that right
11:33
Speaker 1: places to be is, because you only get a few
11:35
Speaker 1: chances when you get these big cold frinds, and you
11:36
Speaker 1: need to be in the right place to take advantage
11:39
Speaker 1: of that right time. So for me, October one is
11:43
Speaker 1: opening day. That's gonna be a couple of days after
11:45
Speaker 1: the front hits, but it's still gonna be pretty good.
11:47
Speaker 1: We're gonna be in like load of mid fifties, which
11:49
Speaker 1: is gonna be great for this time of year. So
11:52
Speaker 1: I've been watching one of my local farms from a distance,
11:55
Speaker 1: and I've seen my number one buck tran and I've
11:58
Speaker 1: seen my number two bucks, which I've decided to call
12:02
Speaker 1: number two. Um. I've seen both of them move out
12:06
Speaker 1: in this area along the edge of where standing cornfield
12:09
Speaker 1: and a bean field come together, and then I've got
12:12
Speaker 1: a food plot system that's about a hundred yards away
12:14
Speaker 1: from it. And every time I've seen them come out
12:17
Speaker 1: over this month of September, and I think i've had
12:21
Speaker 1: um since what in the last ten days or so,
12:25
Speaker 1: i've seen one of them. I've had less ten days.
12:28
Speaker 1: I've seen them four times, and they're always coming from
12:33
Speaker 1: that standing corn or that edge that corner with the
12:36
Speaker 1: bean field and cornfield come out. They're exiting out of
12:38
Speaker 1: the bedding right where that corner is. And some nights
12:40
Speaker 1: they move north into the standing corn some nights they
12:43
Speaker 1: move south towards the food plot. But that's the entrance
12:46
Speaker 1: to this area. I can see so right there. Because
12:49
Speaker 1: of that scouting, I know the area I want to
12:52
Speaker 1: focus on off the winds right when I get this
12:54
Speaker 1: front coming through, I want to be right around that,
12:56
Speaker 1: and I would I would tell anyone listening try to
12:58
Speaker 1: achieve something sim or to that figure out where this
13:02
Speaker 1: this point of knowledge is through observation or trail camera
13:06
Speaker 1: something and keian on that close to food. That's it's generic,
13:10
Speaker 1: but that's kind of the recipe for most early season success. Um.
13:15
Speaker 1: Swing for the fences right now and we have this front,
13:18
Speaker 1: but you need to have an educated swing, don't swing blindly. Sure,
13:22
Speaker 1: generic mark, but I think that's all great advice, um,
13:25
Speaker 1: and that can be like what helps somebody kill a
13:28
Speaker 1: deer for this first cold front of fall. I think
13:31
Speaker 1: that's enough from us though for this week. Let's get
13:34
Speaker 1: under our interviews. Sounds good, all right, and joining us
13:38
Speaker 1: on the line next is Dean Siemens from Delaware. Now,
13:41
Speaker 1: Dean in Delaware, what would you say the buck activity
13:44
Speaker 1: has been lately on a scale of one to ten? Um, Well,
13:47
Speaker 1: I might have a little bit of a bias point here,
13:51
Speaker 1: but I have to say we're kind of right in
13:52
Speaker 1: the middle, just for the fact that, uh, book activity
13:56
Speaker 1: has been really really was really good for us a
13:59
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago. Um, a few things went down
14:02
Speaker 1: and then uh now it's been a little a little scattered,
14:05
Speaker 1: so uh yeah, I have to have to stay with
14:07
Speaker 1: that at five marks. I know you had some crazy
14:11
Speaker 1: weather there before the opener. Can you tell us about
14:14
Speaker 1: that and how that affected things for hunters? Yeah, yeah,
14:17
Speaker 1: that was That was by far the craziest thing I've
14:20
Speaker 1: had preseason. UM. So I don't know if you guys
14:24
Speaker 1: knew about you know, I'm sure you know about the
14:26
Speaker 1: hurricane that came through, um, but here in Delaware it
14:29
Speaker 1: brought I believe it was about seven and somewhere at
14:32
Speaker 1: five to eight touchdowns of tornadoes. Um. And with that,
14:37
Speaker 1: you know, brought brought all kinds of trees down, uh,
14:41
Speaker 1: tour fields up. I mean it it threw us for
14:44
Speaker 1: a spin. Um. So it uh kind of it took
14:48
Speaker 1: all the bucks that we had on camera on one
14:50
Speaker 1: of our our private spots and uh pushed them all
14:53
Speaker 1: to somewhere. Um. Hopefully they're still out there, but uh yeah,
14:57
Speaker 1: we're we're hoping to see him back. What food sources
15:02
Speaker 1: should hunters be focused on in that part of the
15:05
Speaker 1: country right now? I know we've been having really good
15:08
Speaker 1: luck with the normal corn Um. You know, we're we're
15:11
Speaker 1: you know, Delaware having a lot of corn fields and
15:13
Speaker 1: stuff around. UM, it's a it's a primary source for
15:16
Speaker 1: the deer. They're they're used to it. Um. But I
15:19
Speaker 1: know early season acorns start dropping and uh in the
15:24
Speaker 1: in the deep woods, that's kind of one of our
15:26
Speaker 1: go to spots. If you can find some some acorns,
15:29
Speaker 1: especially on public land where you're not allowed to do
15:32
Speaker 1: any baiting. Um, that's that's definitely a key spot. So
15:36
Speaker 1: I keep that on the radar. When you're going into
15:39
Speaker 1: a new piece of public land in mid to late September,
15:42
Speaker 1: what are you looking for on those properties? I know,
15:46
Speaker 1: I know early season right now, since we're we're throwing
15:49
Speaker 1: for a little bit of a loopward, we're bouncing around
15:51
Speaker 1: to a couple of public spots that you know we've
15:53
Speaker 1: hunted in the past, um, but we're we kind of
15:57
Speaker 1: backed away from because we thought we were pretty set
15:59
Speaker 1: on our private land. UM, so we're being careful. Uh.
16:02
Speaker 1: We're trying to get in and out during some rain.
16:05
Speaker 1: Keep our are sent you know down. Uh if you
16:08
Speaker 1: can't get in there like that, you know obviously suiting up,
16:10
Speaker 1: spraying down and uh. We're kind of working in on
16:14
Speaker 1: some of the trails, trying to get back into some
16:17
Speaker 1: of the deeper terrain find uh where some some nice
16:22
Speaker 1: are uh if we look if it looks like we're
16:25
Speaker 1: getting near some bedding areas trying back out UM, and
16:28
Speaker 1: we start kind of doing circles around that, finding whether
16:32
Speaker 1: there's a one in UM, whether there's an area, whether
16:35
Speaker 1: they're going to water UM. Basically all that little pre
16:40
Speaker 1: rut scouting and uh, you know a lot of times
16:44
Speaker 1: on those thick runs we get the rubs and scrapes,
16:46
Speaker 1: so we're we're hounding in on them, marking them on
16:50
Speaker 1: the maps, and uh, we're hoping it off pans out
16:53
Speaker 1: this year. Is water a focus for you this time
16:56
Speaker 1: of year? Uh? You say, Walter is a focus this
16:59
Speaker 1: time of year? Um, I would say that come the ruts, UM,
17:03
Speaker 1: I'd like to be definitely in an area that you know,
17:07
Speaker 1: if if there isn't much water, I want to make
17:09
Speaker 1: sure I find somewhere that is because those bucks are
17:12
Speaker 1: gonna need it. They get to chase and they get
17:14
Speaker 1: a little winded, they're gonna go for the hydration. So
17:18
Speaker 1: it's definitely a and that I want to keep on
17:20
Speaker 1: my radar. You said that you're looking for sign when
17:24
Speaker 1: you go on these new pieces of public land. Are
17:26
Speaker 1: you seeing any fresh sign that's from this year already? Yeah, Yeah, normally,
17:31
Speaker 1: I feel like I don't see too much of it
17:33
Speaker 1: this time of year. Um. I don't know if it's
17:36
Speaker 1: because we had some some cool weather roll through that
17:39
Speaker 1: that brought you know, nice forty degrees, you know, fifty
17:42
Speaker 1: degree weather at night. Um, that they've actually started, you know,
17:46
Speaker 1: doing some scrapes um and actually some some good rubs
17:50
Speaker 1: where you know, normally it's you know, if you do
17:52
Speaker 1: see a rub, it's like Alora is trying to clean
17:55
Speaker 1: off the velvet. Um. So it's you know, I'm pretty
17:59
Speaker 1: confident with we're seeing some of that stuff now. So that's, uh,
18:02
Speaker 1: that's gonna be something I'm I'm looking more towards. Uh.
18:06
Speaker 1: And then obviously getting into the next couple of weeks,
18:09
Speaker 1: they're really gonna start tearing it up going forward. Then
18:12
Speaker 1: in the sext week or so, what do you think
18:14
Speaker 1: that buck activity is going to be on a scale
18:16
Speaker 1: of one to ten in Delaware? I think it's really
18:18
Speaker 1: gonna have to do with the weather. I know we're
18:20
Speaker 1: gonna get into some a little bit warmer temps coming
18:23
Speaker 1: up here in the next week or so, so it
18:25
Speaker 1: might not you know, fire as soon as it it
18:28
Speaker 1: was appearing, it would but I don't know, man, it's
18:32
Speaker 1: still I'm gonna have to say probably seven because I've
18:34
Speaker 1: already been seen some good fine and stuff early. Alright, Dean,
18:38
Speaker 1: I hope you luck changes in Delaware. Good luck and
18:40
Speaker 1: thanks for joining me. Thanks going all right and joining
18:45
Speaker 1: us on the line. Next is Travis Steele from buck
18:48
Speaker 1: Storm in South Dakota. Now, Travis in South Dakota, what
18:51
Speaker 1: would you say the buck activity has been lately? On
18:53
Speaker 1: a scale of one to ten, I would say it's
18:56
Speaker 1: probably been about a four late right now. It's been
18:58
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks been a warm Um, most
19:01
Speaker 1: of the state has been dry. Also, it seems like
19:04
Speaker 1: there's been more evening activity than morning activity, which is
19:08
Speaker 1: pretty typical this time of year out here. Um, but
19:12
Speaker 1: I would I would think that it should be picking
19:15
Speaker 1: up here soon for sure. I've definitely seen more deer
19:18
Speaker 1: on their feet in the evenings though than the morning.
19:20
Speaker 1: Seems like they're bedding up pretty early right now. So
19:23
Speaker 1: hunting white tails in the Black Hills, you don't really
19:26
Speaker 1: have those traditional food sources. So what are the food
19:29
Speaker 1: sources that you're looking for this time of year and
19:32
Speaker 1: how does that change later in fall? As you get
19:34
Speaker 1: into October and November. Yeah, this time of year seems
19:38
Speaker 1: like the majority of the deer and kind of all
19:41
Speaker 1: year in the hills. There's a lot of forage right
19:44
Speaker 1: now just because um, they're they're kind of mainly on
19:48
Speaker 1: like a grass diet. They're not there's not really corn,
19:51
Speaker 1: there's not anything like that, you know, but they are
19:54
Speaker 1: hitting like some of the like private land, hay bottoms,
19:57
Speaker 1: a lot of that. Even as the summer transitions further
20:01
Speaker 1: into fall. I've noticed, like some of these cattle pastures,
20:05
Speaker 1: the regrowth that will come up because there's crazing permits
20:08
Speaker 1: throughout the Black Hills, those deer will actually focus on
20:11
Speaker 1: the regrowth in those um sometimes even heavily more heavily
20:16
Speaker 1: graze pastures, they'll even feed in. But for the most part,
20:18
Speaker 1: I've noticed you'll kind of see them favoring meadows that
20:21
Speaker 1: have been hayed, um, kind of catching them to and
20:24
Speaker 1: from those meadows in between their betting area, kind of
20:28
Speaker 1: in that transitional zone where are you running your trail
20:31
Speaker 1: cameras at this time of year, this time of year,
20:35
Speaker 1: most of them are kind of in that transition zone,
20:38
Speaker 1: so in between where we think they're betting and where
20:42
Speaker 1: they're feeding. Um, also in just areas that have like
20:46
Speaker 1: traditionally been good for dear movement pinch points, uh, where
20:50
Speaker 1: like four draws come together that kind of lead down
20:53
Speaker 1: towards a food source. But you'll see a lot of
20:56
Speaker 1: those deer kind of feeding just on natural grasses too,
21:00
Speaker 1: So it's a little bit tougher to target a food
21:02
Speaker 1: source unless you're hunting like an area in the hills
21:05
Speaker 1: that borders that like a private meadow that has been haid.
21:10
Speaker 1: But I'd say for the most part, all of our
21:12
Speaker 1: cameras are kind of in a transitional zone, not in
21:15
Speaker 1: their bedroom. We don't hunt a lot of mornings this
21:17
Speaker 1: time of year, mostly evenings, just try to kind of
21:21
Speaker 1: leave them alone and let them do their thing. With
21:23
Speaker 1: the elk crowd happening right now and elk seasons happening
21:26
Speaker 1: right now in the Black Hills, does that change anything
21:29
Speaker 1: for a white tail hunter? Does it push those deer
21:31
Speaker 1: out of certain areas or move them off of certain
21:34
Speaker 1: food sources? Yes, Um, it's really hard to predict, but
21:39
Speaker 1: it definitely has an impact on them. You'll notice as
21:42
Speaker 1: like you start getting some elk hunters walking through, like
21:45
Speaker 1: you might even get tro camp pictures of them, some
21:48
Speaker 1: of the deer that were regular previously kind of danish um.
21:51
Speaker 1: I don't think it's completely takes them, sends them out
21:54
Speaker 1: of the area or anything, because they seem to show
21:57
Speaker 1: back up. It definitely has an impact. And then as
21:59
Speaker 1: soon as ascon than a rifle elk starts and that
22:02
Speaker 1: may even have more of an impact throughout October, just
22:05
Speaker 1: because there's even more hunters out there. But it really
22:08
Speaker 1: depends because there's some areas there just really is an
22:10
Speaker 1: elk in the Black Hills, so the elk cutters don't
22:12
Speaker 1: have an impact on those areas. Do you focus on
22:15
Speaker 1: water at all this time of year? Yeah, this year,
22:19
Speaker 1: especially because it's been a really dry there's really dry summer,
22:22
Speaker 1: has been a really dry fall so far. Early fall
22:25
Speaker 1: water has been key this year. I do have quite
22:28
Speaker 1: a few cameras that are kind of on like a
22:30
Speaker 1: food source that has water near it, like a meadow
22:33
Speaker 1: with water hole for example, or spring bottom in one
22:37
Speaker 1: of those transitional zones. But I think water is probably
22:41
Speaker 1: more important this year than some years because some years
22:44
Speaker 1: there's water everywhere, so it's really hard to pinpoint them
22:46
Speaker 1: and pick a water spot when they could drink anywhere.
22:49
Speaker 1: You know, there might be fifteen water sources in one
22:52
Speaker 1: one square mile, so I'd say this year, especially targeting
22:56
Speaker 1: water would be huge. Even sitting on water when possible
23:00
Speaker 1: is a really good option. Are you seeing any signmaking yet? Yeah,
23:04
Speaker 1: I've actually come across a few scrapes. Um. I actually
23:07
Speaker 1: have a camera on a scrape that I need to
23:09
Speaker 1: get out and check here this week, but normally the
23:13
Speaker 1: second half of September. Already I have bucks starting to
23:16
Speaker 1: kind of play around and hit that scrape rubs naturally
23:19
Speaker 1: obviously no sign of the rut yet or anything like that,
23:22
Speaker 1: but they're definitely starting to cruise. I think, uh underlooked
23:27
Speaker 1: way to hunt them is kind of find some fresh rubs,
23:30
Speaker 1: maybe even make a couple of early rubs her scrapes
23:33
Speaker 1: excuse me, in the this time of year, and a
23:36
Speaker 1: lot of those like timber bucks will hit those scrapes
23:40
Speaker 1: to and from food sources. It's just kind of a
23:42
Speaker 1: way to redirect them in front of your tree stand
23:44
Speaker 1: or however you maybe hunting going forward then in the
23:47
Speaker 1: six week or so, what do you think that bucket
23:49
Speaker 1: activity is going to be On a scale of one
23:51
Speaker 1: to ten in South Dakota. I think it's probably gonna
23:54
Speaker 1: be a five or six. We got a cold front
23:57
Speaker 1: coming in, I believe this this weekend. In the next week,
24:01
Speaker 1: it's supposed to drop. It's almost ninety today and it's
24:05
Speaker 1: supposed to be I think in the sixties early next week.
24:08
Speaker 1: In the hills, that means thirties. So I really expected
24:12
Speaker 1: to pick up. Maybe even that morning movement will get
24:16
Speaker 1: a little better, but I'd say, yeah, five or six,
24:19
Speaker 1: it should should be pretty decent for this time of year.
24:22
Speaker 1: All right, Travis, good luck to you and the gas
24:23
Speaker 1: from Buckstorm. Thanks for joining me. Hey, thanks Spencer, alright
24:28
Speaker 1: and joining us on the line. Next is Josh Genty
24:31
Speaker 1: from Cut four Outdoors in North Carolina. Now, Josh in
24:34
Speaker 1: North Carolina, what would you say the buck activity has
24:37
Speaker 1: been lately on a scale of one to ten. Well,
24:40
Speaker 1: if you would have asked me about five days ago,
24:42
Speaker 1: I told you about a eight. But right now it's
24:44
Speaker 1: probably down to about a six, maybe a five, five
24:47
Speaker 1: and a half, simply because that cold front came in
24:50
Speaker 1: for us this past week, so the bucks were really
24:53
Speaker 1: on their feet, it seems like. And then now that
24:55
Speaker 1: that co front starting to move out, it kind of
24:57
Speaker 1: seems like, you know, they're kind of taking their time,
25:01
Speaker 1: and basically daylight movement has been out a minimum. Right now,
25:05
Speaker 1: do your strategies change it all as far as how
25:07
Speaker 1: aggressive you are when you get a cold front in
25:09
Speaker 1: late September, Um, I try not to be too aggressive
25:13
Speaker 1: just because there is a lot of season left. Um,
25:16
Speaker 1: there is one there's been one book that I have
25:18
Speaker 1: been hunting like. He's been my number one hitless book
25:21
Speaker 1: I've been going after, and the wind just haven't been
25:24
Speaker 1: right for me that whole cold front. So I just
25:26
Speaker 1: I didn't even bother to even try to go too
25:28
Speaker 1: aggressive on them, um, because I still keep the wind
25:31
Speaker 1: as my number one thing to consider any time I
25:34
Speaker 1: go anywhere, even with a cold front, it don't matter.
25:36
Speaker 1: We both know that. So I've just been kind of,
25:39
Speaker 1: you know, trying to go where the wind works from me,
25:41
Speaker 1: and I've been seen a lot of deer activity, just
25:43
Speaker 1: haven't been where I think I can kill the big
25:45
Speaker 1: one yet. So that's just been my biggest deal. What
25:50
Speaker 1: food sources in North Carolina should hunters be focused on
25:53
Speaker 1: right now? Right now? I would probably go back. I
25:56
Speaker 1: would probably go back and kind of like your normal
25:59
Speaker 1: summer pattern activities. I'll probably go back to the beans now.
26:02
Speaker 1: About a couple of weeks ago, they were really hitting
26:05
Speaker 1: like grapes and for Simmons, apples, that kind of thing.
26:08
Speaker 1: But I think after that cold front that kind of
26:10
Speaker 1: started to steer clear of it and they kind of
26:11
Speaker 1: hit it back towards the beam, almost like that Paul
26:14
Speaker 1: pattern for him is starting to kick in a little early.
26:17
Speaker 1: But you know, only time can tell really, so right now,
26:20
Speaker 1: I would probably focus more on the beans and looks.
26:23
Speaker 1: Are you seeing any bachelor groups that are still together
26:25
Speaker 1: or have they all broken up? I wouldn't call it
26:27
Speaker 1: a huge bachelor group. I mean we see it every
26:30
Speaker 1: year where there's always that one big buck that seems
26:32
Speaker 1: to have that one little bug that tags along with it. Say,
26:34
Speaker 1: you know, every time you see you, that big one's
26:36
Speaker 1: gotta be around somewhere. So I wouldn't necessarily call it
26:39
Speaker 1: a bachelor group. But there is still a few groups
26:41
Speaker 1: here and there, about two or three bucks total, but
26:45
Speaker 1: I would definitely say that they're done with their bachelor groups.
26:47
Speaker 1: As the deers start to focus more on acorns, do
26:50
Speaker 1: you expect to see a shift in betting as well?
26:53
Speaker 1: I would say yes, because I still think, especially in
26:56
Speaker 1: North Carolina, we're supposed to getting this big warm front
26:59
Speaker 1: going in, and so as it gets warmer, they do
27:01
Speaker 1: tend to be a big closer to foods horses like
27:03
Speaker 1: they do in the summertime. So I would definitely look
27:06
Speaker 1: for those those acorns that are dropping that are closer
27:09
Speaker 1: to bedding or somewhere where you think deer might be
27:12
Speaker 1: bettered open just because where they're not gonna want to
27:15
Speaker 1: move as much whenever it gets warm this up for
27:17
Speaker 1: a week, So I would definitely hugging tight somewhere in
27:20
Speaker 1: between the acorns and wherever there's bedding close by. Are
27:24
Speaker 1: you seeing any signmaking yet? I haven't seen anything serious,
27:28
Speaker 1: you know, you see. I see a couple of random
27:30
Speaker 1: rugs on trees just because from where they shed their velvet,
27:33
Speaker 1: But I haven't seen anything too consistent yet. I have
27:36
Speaker 1: heard some people tell me more on the towards the
27:38
Speaker 1: coast in North Carolina, they're seeing a lot more signmaking,
27:41
Speaker 1: I guess because they're starts a little bit earlier than
27:44
Speaker 1: or do ours does. So I've heard some scrapes on
27:46
Speaker 1: that side, but I would imagine it's gonna be the
27:49
Speaker 1: complete opposite on the western side of the state, where
27:51
Speaker 1: in the mountains and the colder temperatures, there's probably I
27:54
Speaker 1: wouldn't say there's gonna be a whole lot of sign
27:56
Speaker 1: making in the west, but right here we're kind of
27:57
Speaker 1: the middle, so I'll just say we just got a
27:59
Speaker 1: few rugs here and there, but nothing too serious to
28:01
Speaker 1: focus a whole lot on. Where do you like to
28:03
Speaker 1: have your trail cameras focused in late September and late September?
28:07
Speaker 1: I would what I normally do is most people put
28:10
Speaker 1: their trail cameras and they set up whether it's over
28:12
Speaker 1: a corn pile where they usually see dear come out.
28:15
Speaker 1: I want to get my trail cameras up as how
28:16
Speaker 1: as I can, so kind of like if you have
28:18
Speaker 1: a timeline feature, I really utilize those. That way. I
28:22
Speaker 1: can kind of figure out what part of the field
28:24
Speaker 1: or what area they are mainly coming from, and then
28:27
Speaker 1: I kind of start to focus in on Matt and
28:30
Speaker 1: so work my way back until where I think they're
28:32
Speaker 1: better at that, and I try to get somewhere in
28:34
Speaker 1: between can use my trail cameras as everything going forward.
28:38
Speaker 1: Then in the next week or so, what do you
28:39
Speaker 1: think that bucke activt is going to be on a
28:41
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten in North Carolina. I'm gonna
28:45
Speaker 1: have to give it a solid four simply because we're
28:47
Speaker 1: supposed to get warmer tempertures asleep, We're supposed to get
28:50
Speaker 1: back up into the eighties. So that being said, I
28:52
Speaker 1: really think they're gonna be. They're not gonna move until
28:54
Speaker 1: late at night just because of the cooler temperatures at night.
28:57
Speaker 1: All right, Josh, that's great, intel, Good luck with your's
29:00
Speaker 1: and thanks for joining me. Appreciate it. Thank you all
29:04
Speaker 1: right in joining us on the line. Next is Michael
29:06
Speaker 1: hans Sucker from Heartland bow Hunter in Missouri. Now, Mike
29:09
Speaker 1: in Missouri, what would you say the buck activity has
29:11
Speaker 1: been lately on a scale of one to ten, I
29:14
Speaker 1: would say in eight. Um, it's not a nine. I
29:17
Speaker 1: mean it's been really really good so far. Um. You know,
29:20
Speaker 1: usually early season we're we're dealing with, you know, warmer
29:23
Speaker 1: temperatures and we're looking for those cold fronts to hit.
29:26
Speaker 1: But it has been pretty pretty cool overall. And we've
29:29
Speaker 1: had cool evenings too, which helps with with everything. So
29:32
Speaker 1: we've been doing really good buck activity. What food sources
29:35
Speaker 1: have you been focused on lately in Missouri. This is
29:39
Speaker 1: kind of interesting. Um for us, we've been focused on
29:43
Speaker 1: Braska plots and turn up turn up in Radish plots.
29:47
Speaker 1: Basically the deer on this particular front that I've been hunting, Um,
29:53
Speaker 1: you know, I've just wiped out the beans and the
29:54
Speaker 1: beans got in a little bit late, uh and didn't
29:57
Speaker 1: get rained there for a while. We just had they
29:59
Speaker 1: got in late and had a out. So the beans
30:00
Speaker 1: are just completely wiped out. So, um, Braska's is typically
30:04
Speaker 1: you know, something that they don't usually eat until you know,
30:07
Speaker 1: after that first hard frost when they start really keening on,
30:10
Speaker 1: especially on the bulbs. But um, they're eating the tops
30:12
Speaker 1: like crazy, and they're not spending a ton of time
30:15
Speaker 1: in these plots. But they're coming early, they're moving early.
30:18
Speaker 1: They're hitting them first before they head out to the
30:20
Speaker 1: destination bean fields. I noticed that a lot of your
30:23
Speaker 1: haunts lately you've been hunting from ground blinds. Is there
30:26
Speaker 1: some high level thinking behind that or is it what's
30:28
Speaker 1: just been most convenient for those locations. Man, I'm hunting
30:33
Speaker 1: with my wife and uh sometimes with my kids, and
30:36
Speaker 1: so the ground line is a is a great open
30:38
Speaker 1: to that. Beyond that, though, just the the scent containment um,
30:44
Speaker 1: the movement you know, concealability, and in the noise concealability.
30:49
Speaker 1: I mean, just those factors make hunting out of the the
30:52
Speaker 1: ground line super super beneficial. Um. Another thing too that
30:56
Speaker 1: we do a lot of times hunting with honey over
30:59
Speaker 1: food plot are hunting with moat corn in certain areas.
31:02
Speaker 1: You know, we can move those blinds easily to hunt
31:04
Speaker 1: different areas of different of the food plot um, so
31:07
Speaker 1: we can have this beer you know, most likely to
31:09
Speaker 1: be in bow range on recent haunts, have you seen
31:12
Speaker 1: bucks that are still traveling together or is that pretty
31:14
Speaker 1: much over with? Yeah? No, they're still still pretty bachelored up.
31:18
Speaker 1: The mature bucks seem to be kind of branched off,
31:21
Speaker 1: you know, kind of on their own. But the twos
31:23
Speaker 1: and ones and twos and even some of the three
31:26
Speaker 1: year olds are still kind of hanging hanging together sparr
31:29
Speaker 1: and messing around, playing and playing in the food plots stuff.
31:32
Speaker 1: But yeah, the maturity that we have seen have been
31:35
Speaker 1: kind of on their own. Where are you running trail
31:38
Speaker 1: cameras at this time of year? Oh man? Mainly you
31:41
Speaker 1: know food plot edges um catching them coming you know
31:44
Speaker 1: to them from the food plots, got them on time
31:46
Speaker 1: laps mode covering covering the food plots. Um. You know,
31:50
Speaker 1: I've really loved running truck carals on natural corridors like
31:53
Speaker 1: like fence gaps, fence crossings, major trails, that type of stuff,
31:57
Speaker 1: like leading towards food plots in between you know, food
32:00
Speaker 1: and bad areas and um, you know, especially in Missouri,
32:04
Speaker 1: the when our our main farms in c w D County,
32:06
Speaker 1: so we can't put out any sort of attract and
32:08
Speaker 1: even in the summertime, so getting pictures can be can
32:11
Speaker 1: be difficult. But um, we're making mainly focusing close to
32:14
Speaker 1: the food sources and and you know approaching trails at
32:18
Speaker 1: this moment um won't be long before we switch over
32:20
Speaker 1: to two you know, scrape trees and we already are
32:24
Speaker 1: c and dear you know rub you know they're rubbed
32:27
Speaker 1: their their glands on trees and not necessarily you know,
32:30
Speaker 1: falling at the ground town, but they're definitely starting to
32:32
Speaker 1: hit some of those looking branches and those types of things.
32:35
Speaker 1: So that's an exciting time a year coming up for
32:37
Speaker 1: most of the country. There's going to be a cold
32:39
Speaker 1: front moving through early to mid next week is there
32:42
Speaker 1: anything with your haunting strategy that changes in late September
32:46
Speaker 1: when that happens, or are you still pretty conservative at
32:48
Speaker 1: this point. Yeah, I mean we're still pretty conservative, but
32:51
Speaker 1: I mean those colds, those first cold fronts have been
32:55
Speaker 1: magical for us. I mean, um, as far as getting
32:58
Speaker 1: the big mature deer on their feet early moving um
33:01
Speaker 1: in daylight hours. I mean, those first cold fronts of
33:03
Speaker 1: the season have been awesome. So we will definitely be
33:06
Speaker 1: out there and we're waiting, and most likely, I guess
33:10
Speaker 1: we'll be hunting over clover um that seems to be
33:13
Speaker 1: the um you know, or or you know, any sort
33:17
Speaker 1: of green plot the clover or if they're like I said,
33:19
Speaker 1: if they're keying on these these radishes and turn ups
33:21
Speaker 1: plots that we get going like, we'll be on green
33:23
Speaker 1: plots for sure. Are you seeing any signmaking yet in Missouri? Um? Yeah,
33:28
Speaker 1: I mean there's definitely obviously rubs from when they're stripping
33:30
Speaker 1: velvet and stuff, but they are starting to scrape a
33:32
Speaker 1: little bit. Like I said, it hit the hit the
33:34
Speaker 1: scrape branches, the scrape trees. We put out some scrape
33:36
Speaker 1: trees and food plots and um, you know, on on
33:39
Speaker 1: field edges and stuff, and they're definitely uh, definitely seen
33:42
Speaker 1: a little bit of a little bit of activity. So um,
33:45
Speaker 1: as soon as they strip that velvet, they start kind
33:47
Speaker 1: of rubbing those glands all over the trees. And it's
33:49
Speaker 1: kind of a social thing, so it won't be long
33:51
Speaker 1: before they start ripping up the ground going forward. Then
33:55
Speaker 1: in the six week or so, what do you think
33:57
Speaker 1: that bucketvity is going to be on a scale of
33:59
Speaker 1: one to ten in Missouri? I think it's gonna get
34:02
Speaker 1: even better. Um in next week with that cold friend,
34:05
Speaker 1: it's going to be nine. I mean, it's gonna be
34:06
Speaker 1: gonna it gets for for a few days there. Um,
34:10
Speaker 1: we're gonna have a little bit of a law here.
34:11
Speaker 1: Looks like Friday, Saturday this weekend. It's gonna eat back
34:14
Speaker 1: up a little bit. Um, So I'll slow hanging down
34:17
Speaker 1: so that big swing when it warms back up and
34:20
Speaker 1: then boom kemp drops, Um, it's gonna trigger the deer
34:22
Speaker 1: to be be moving on their feet. Alright, Mike, I
34:25
Speaker 1: like your optimism. Good luck with your haunts, and thanks
34:27
Speaker 1: for joining me. All right, thanks hopefully have some results
34:30
Speaker 1: to speak for. And that concludes this week's episode of
34:33
Speaker 1: rout Fresh Radio. Thanks to Dean, Josh Travis, and Mike
34:38
Speaker 1: for joining me, and thank you guys for listening. As always,
34:41
Speaker 1: make sure you head over the mediata dot com and
34:44
Speaker 1: check out the recent white tail content from folks like me,
34:47
Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon, Tony Peterson, Pat Dirkin and more. Also, if
34:52
Speaker 1: you head over the meat eator dot com backslash giveaway,
34:55
Speaker 1: you can enter for a chance to win our biggest
34:57
Speaker 1: prize package. Ever, you only have a cup more days,
35:00
Speaker 1: so head over to the media dot com back slash
35:03
Speaker 1: giveaway and enter for a chance to win four thousand
35:06
Speaker 1: dollars in prizes. In that prize package, we have a
35:09
Speaker 1: full kit from first Light, a meat Eater, weather be rifle,
35:13
Speaker 1: lacrosse boots, on X gift card Stone Glacier backpack, and more.
35:17
Speaker 1: Good luck with the giveaway, good luck with your haunts,
35:20
Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you guys next week. Until then,
35:23
Speaker 1: stay wired to hunt.