00:00:01 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, this is Mark Kenyon of Wired to Hunt and you're listening to the third episode of our bonus mini series Rut Radio. And with me today is Wired Hunt contributor Spencer new Heart and Spencer for those who maybe didn't catch the first two episodes, can you give us a cliff notes version of what we're going to be doing here today this podcast? So this time you're just dying to hear reports from other hunters, whether it comes through Facebook posts or text messages or what have you, and this podcast is going to be doing just that. So I will talk to guys from across White Tail Nation to get an idea about the deer activity in their neck of the woods, but more specifically the buck activity. And so I think we as hunters can then use that information to confirm or deny what we're seeing and help us make better decisions, like, you know, if we're gonna be hunting a morning or an evening, what stand we're gonna be in, you know, if we're gonna be calling that hunt. Basically, just how aggressive we should be based on what others are seeing and what they think the rut activity has been lately, and hopefully in each episode with the diverse area and diverse group of hunters that we talked to, will uncover some information that's relevant and useful to you. Perfect, Yes, so, especially this time of year with the rut, you know, especially right now about to really take off. As you know, things change so quickly every day, let alone every week. So so yeah, I think so far we've been getting really good feedback on this, and I'm excited to hear what's on tap for this week's show. But I guess, first, Spencer, how how are things been looking for you? What's your rut reports so far? So what I've been seeing is a lot of one and a half and two and a half year old bucks out you know, chasing those around. But those bigger bucks for me still at least you know, have their wits about them. And we're probably still a week away from you know, all the deer losing their mind and the rut really kicking off. And it kind of agrees with what we heard this week. However, there's still tons of big deer hit in the ground. You can't open up any social media without seeing, you know, somebody holding antler in their hand. And but that's late October for you. If you've got a buck, you know, on a pretty good pattern. This would be an amazing time year to catch him in daylight. If not, if you're waiting for random dear to show up, I think we're still a little bit away from, you know, that bit of the rut. Yeah, as as of right now, we are on the eve of November when we're actually talking, and gosh, that's gonna be. It's gonna be a beautiful day. Sweet November is here. So i gotta say, what I've been seeing isn't two different than what you just mentioned to Um. You know, I have seen my buck that I'm after here in Michigan holy Field two more times kind of cruising, and um, I did see a three and a half reel chasing last night. But otherwise it's kind of slowed down a little bit from what it was last week for whatever reason, Like we talked about, I kind of hit a pocket of great activity, but kind of tapered back down here these last two days. So I'm excited for the coming days. Hopefully well get some coal or weather and that will get him get him moving again. Yeah, you know, everybody said the deer activity is is pretty good right now, but they all agree that it's only going to get better. Um and at this point a cold front would just be gravy. Yeah. Interesting. Well that said, then I guess who who are we talking to and what states are recovering today? Well, we start off in southern Oklahoma with Clay Forest of Stewart Ranch Outfitters, and then we have Tony Peterson who joined us a couple weeks ago from bow Hunter Magazine and he's covering Minnesota and Wisconsin. And then we have Jason Reid of Pushing the Wild Limits in New York. And then we have Clinton Fawcett in Illinois with bow Hunter Die and then we end with another familiar voice of Josh Honeycut of real tree dot Com in Kentucky. Excellent. Well, I'm interested to see what they have to say and is there anything else we need to cover before we just get right into these interviews? Uh No, I'm excited for you guys here this week's report. So I think we higged the first one in Oklahoma. All right, well, let's get to it and until next week, Spencer, good luck hunting you two and happy November. Same to you. What quickly before we get to our first update as all Wired Hunt podcasts are, This episode is brought to you by sit Good Gear. If you'd like to learn more about sit GA Gears technical hunting apparel, you can visit sit ga gear dot com. And now onto the show, alright, and joining us on the line first is Clay Forest of Stewart Ranch Outfitters Stewart Ranches in southern Oklahoma and Clay as a manager there, so he's got tons of insight on what's going on in that area. And Clay, what would you say on a scale of one to ten, the bucket activity has been there lately? Uh? Scale one of ten as far as buck activities, probably from a rut standpoint, is probably like a tour or three at this point of something you're right now and so you're basing that off of sightings or what your clients are telling you or Chel came activity. What do you see in there? Um? That's based off moore of decidings, uh, glassing and that sort of thing getting around as far to be myself and my guys, and then also from clients being in the sand the last two and a half weeks, sure, and what would you say is causing it to be a two or three right now. And would you say that's typical for this time of year to have such a lack of buck activity. Uh, No, sir, definitely not typical at all. Uh, this time year going into the first October, we probably are excusing me first of November, we we should be probably more like a six or seven a lot of pre rut type of actions. We're experiencing some abnormally high temperatures right now in southern Oklahoma. Just for example, today it's supposed to be a high night. Um, and so I really think that's shutting down a lot of what we should be seeing right now as far as a pre rut activity is just I think due to a weather weather situation when it's as hot as it is right now. What is then your strategy for forgetting them at your buck on the ground? Is there a good way to go about doing it? Do you get closer to their beds? Do you focus on water, certain food source? You know? Like, what have you been doing this last week or so? Uh, We've just kind of been concentrating on on food sources. We've really just kind of stuck to what our early season tactics are. We're really just mainly hunting food horses right now, and for us that's that's feeders or we've got to winter wheats in this area. So we're hunting a lot of travel areas going into uh their main foods horse right now, which is is winter wheat. Um. So really just kind of sticking to our early season, early season tactics. We haven't really switched gears to the rut type tactic or anything to that nature. So was that heat wave killed some typical deer sign that you would be seeing right now, maybe some rubs and scrapes. Um, Honestly, I don't think so. I mean, we're we're really starting to see the rub and scrape activity pick up. I just don't And this is just my opinion. There's no scientific anything behind it. It's just I think it's so hot, they're just not really wanting to push yet. Some of the younger deer our nose and does around it feeders. But just last week I watched eight and a half year old dear to look at the dough and put his head right back down at a right back down to what he was eating. So I had no attention to her whatsoever. Um. So I really think it's just the heat. I mean they they act rut or their body I think wants to rut, but they just aren't doing it. I mean the maturityer that we're getting on the ground there. Their tarsos are black and their next sharting to swell, and you know it's just, uh, it's just hot. And I think that's what's causing the black activity from a from a rut standpoint, right. And so then going forward in the next ten days or so, what do you think the buck ACTV is gonna be down there on a scale of one to ten. Uh, I'm gonna say maybe push it till five or a six are extended forecast, there's not a lot of relief. I think by about Wednesday or Thursday, we're supposed to the midst in seventies or so, but still not normal for what uh first of November should be down here. So hopefully kicks up a couple of points, but I still wouldn't put it in the in the high zone. Maybe get it towards the middle five or six range. Sure, well, looking at your Facebook page, I I know you guys will get it done either way down there. If it's uh, if it's a two or three or if it's a five or six. So I'll be following along there. Stewart Ranch Outfitters, thanks for your time, yes, sir, Thank you, Spencer and joining us on the phone. Next is bow Hunter magazine gear editor Tony Peterson, and Tony has been hunting his home state of Minnesota lately, and he also did some hunting in Wisconsin, where he's punched two tags. Tony, on a scale of one to ten, what would you say the buck activity has been lately in that area? Oh, I would say at eight point seven five. Well that is a good number. So tell us what you're basing that off of. Um, just you know, a lot of activity. You know, it's been hot, and uh, it's still been it's still been going really strong. I mean, I don't know if I've ever seen a buck chasing quite as hard as the one I killed in Minnesota on Thursday. So it's it's been going good. And so to to get yourself in position to kill that buck was in the morning, said meeting, said were you close to his bedding? Were you hunting food? What were you doing there? Um? It was a morning, said I was hunting close to where that buck and some other ones lived. But I also knew the reason I sat where I did is because there's just a lot of doughs living in that little valley that I was in, So I knew there was a decent chance of dough would drag a buck through. And that's that's just what happened. And still for other guys hunting kind of in that region, do you think this is about the most aggressive you should be right now or should you still show maybe a little bit of patients with your your best stands? Um? You know it depends here in Minnesota, our our firearms season open Saturday. So I get real aggressive this week because it's our last chance for gun huners. You know, if you're in a state like Iowa or Nebraska somewhere maybe where the gun season opened a little bit later, you could play a little bit safe. But what I'm seeing now, I wouldn't. I'd get after it. And so what about deer sign in the areas that you've been hunting. Have you been seeing a lot of scrapes and rubs and do you think they're still active? Oh? Yeah, you know, the scrape thing will dry up a little bit. But I had a camera over a scrape in Minnesota up until the day I killed that buck, and the deer were visiting that scrape every day bucks and does um and just you know, rubs showed up all over the woods, so it's they're they're laying down sign And so what about food sources this time of year? Do you have some agriculture where harvest has taken place? Are you hunting some pretty dense woods? Um? You know, I killed a buck in Wisconsin and the Big north Woods last week that was just feeding on brows and I ended up calling him in. But the deer that I'm moniting in Minnesota, you know, the acorn crop was was down quite a bit this year, so they're hitting the chopped corn fields pretty hard to pickcorn fields and uh, you know pick bean fields and alfalfa. So that's that's been an egg thing for me. And so you just talked about the calling there, and you know, what kind of techniques are you using this time of year with grunting or rattling? Um I snort weeds that buck in. I don't do a lot of calling um I Generally I kind of like to say let things happen on their own. But that buck I was sitting over a creek, so I couldn't hear him coming, and he was already past me by the time I saw him. And so he grunted at him a few times, and he wouldn't pay any attention to a grunt call. And then when I started snort weeds and he started getting ticked off, and he came in and rubbing his antlers and raking branches, and um, he was fired up. And I think he was a fighter anyway, because he had a messed up I and he had a lot of puss around one of his eyes, so I think he caught a tie in there too. But for me mostly it's yeah, I like a snort weed a lot. And and so with those two haunts where you you punched EAGs, do you think the weather was helping you it all then? Or do you think that still has no in a factor this season. I don't think the weather helped me on either one a whole lot. You know, it's been warm and uh the buck in Minnesota, it was really windy already by the time the sun sun was up. Um, So you know the factors that that a lot of people think you hurt deer movements such as heat and wind. I dealt with both of them and it didn't matter. You know, the rut Trump's everything right now, I think a sure. And so what phases of the route would you say? We're in a pretty rod, are we seeking and chasing? What do you think is going on in your area? We're in the pre roud. You know they're they're seeking and chasing hard um. You know, they're definitely they're definitely outlooking for dose um. And I think, you know, I can't prove this, but there are a lot of big bucks hitting the ground right now. And I think what it might have to do with is that some of those natural foods that were used to having and kind of spreading out the deer, like the acorns, that they're they're not They're not drawing the deer because they're not there. So I think more of the does are concentrated on the on the fields and some of the food sources. And it just seems like the running activity is going really good for this time of year. And so going forward in the next ten days or so, do you think we're going to improve on that eight point seven five that you gave me, or do you think we'll get a lot of nurse. No, I think we'll get better. I mean, it's still I just checked the ten day forecast and it's gonna stay hot. But it doesn't matter once you start getting into the fifth, sixth, seventh of November, it's the same thing every year. It's that's when to me that it just bust wide open. And so I think it's I think it's only going to get better. Right well, being in your neighboring status South Dakota, I'm really excited to hear then. I can't wait to get out this week. So awesome, Well, good luck, all right, Thanks Tony, Yeah, thank you. And joining us on the line now is Jason Read, an outdoor writer of Pushing the Wild Limits. Jason in New York, what would you say the bucket activity has been there on a scale of one to ten? Uh, let's say right now it's totally about a fives between the daylight and nighttime activity. And so I know you haunt a lot of different areas in New York, and would you say that five is pretty consistent for for all the places that you've been so far, just at this time of the month. Uh, And where we are, I think they are starting to pick up more and more. We're getting more, We're finally getting some we're finally getting some daylight photos of our of our target box. And so I know you haunt like three different areas. Would you explain what the differences are there and you know what you see for activity level wise? Yeah, so the person to the spot that I hunt is up near Lake Ontario. That's very reminiscent of you know, the Midwest by agriculture, really great soils, so the genetics and nutrition are all there. Um we're seeing I was seeing last week. I saw dose um really running in circles in the woods with their tails upspread and they're trying to start to spread their scent around. I've been starting to see more um between my between the central part of the state and the Lake Shore. Have been seeing button bucks and yearland does on their own, which is kind of indicative of the mamma does pushing them out, getting ready to do get breads as far as the buck activity goes. Are starting to seeing upstick and HI really seeing the really the peak of scraping at this point in both locations. And so you said the scraping is really picking up right now, would you say a lot of that has been being done at night. Yeah, ninety five percent of the photos that have scraping or at night. Um any any of my buddies have been sending photos, and it's mostly at night at this point, although on the we did have our number one buck Texas there's a really like plus inch wide ten point show up at one o'clock in the afternoon to hit a mock scrape. Like I said, mostly at night, with the exception of of the big guy. Sure stand wise right now, how aggressive are you with with your sits? Are you getting pretty close to betting right now? Or are you focusing on our areas well? Part of the thing is with with where I can hunt. The side A couple of places, different places I can hunt, but for the most part I really don't have all that great access to food, which is kind of interesting. Um one spot had some good mass crop. But for the most part I am hunting generally hunting transition zones and um closer to betting areas. So right now I'm starting to get because of because of the time of the year, seeing the uptaket and buck activity, I'm starting to push in a little bit closer to the betting areas just because they know that they're going to be cruising in and out of there checking for those. Um. So just you know, obviously being as careful as I can, but I'm starting to get a little more aggressive as the as the calendar take spy and I only have nineteen days left in archery until rifle starts. So you gotta make the move now before rifle starts. Because once rifle starts in New York, do you gotta hunt them like rabbits. And it's a different ball game. Sure, it's so going forward in these next ten days or so, what do you think the bucket activity is going to be on a scale of one to ten. I think it's gonna be up towards eight. Uh. For us here in New York, we got the weather is finally going to stabilize, and so hopefully the pressure, the barametric pressure is gonna stabilize. And I think that because we are now what it would be like two or three weeks, I think from the full moon, um, and the fact that I've already seen dose you know, I've already seen bucks chasing those a little bit, um, I think the next ten days is just gonna explode because of the weather and the timing with the moon phase there. Well, that's exciting to hear Jason and they. I hope you can get it done before gun season opens up there, Thanks man, I appreciate it alright. And joining us on the phone. Next is Clinton Fawcett, a bow hunter die now, Clinton, Illinois. What would you say to the buck activity has been there on a scale of one to ten. Well, for the past week, um, we have been seeing several bucks. I would say the buck activity has been a seven. And so is is that what you'd expect for the end of October? Yeah? Yeah, Normally I really like our Frank and I we really like hunting the last week of October. Um, we have usually on a normal year, we have a lot of success and we have been seeing, um, several of our shooter bucks. Now, the overall dear activity has been down with this warm weather. Um, but we have been seeing, uh, several nice bucks that we've been hunting. And so those shooter bucks that you've been targeting, what are they doing when you've had encounters that they're hitting scrapes, are they chasing? Does are they just you know, bed to food? What's going on there? Well, the first two big bucks that we encountered. Frankie was by himself the first day and he grunted one in and called him and that would have been last Wednesday, for no excuse me, would have been on Thursday. And uh, the big eight point that I was after I saw on Wednesday night and I had actually rattled and he come in last night we saw and it was just out cruising. The last three days, it seems like they've been pretty unresponsive and they're just kind of getting their nose into the wind and just heading out searching. Um. My pictures have been down the last three days on scrapes. It seems like they kind of transitioned over to just you know, putting the nose in the wind and kind of trying to look for that first dough saran. So what are your calling textique techniques right now? With the rattling and the grunting. Are you doing any blind calling at this point or not? Actually both the deer we called in UM was blind calling UM a lot of times. If if we're out and it's getting later and nothing's been happening, what we'll try to blind call at least once UM, not not multiple times. On the same farm. If we're hunting the same setups, we try to eliminate. You know, we don't call every time we go in, but if we're bouncing around there a couple of different farms, we will um. But the deer last night we saw him. He was seven yards away. I've been trying to kill the deer since the first October. We've been on in and see him several times. But he come out and I could tell pretty much by his body posture that we weren't gonna getting done with him. But he had his nose into the wind. He was kind of on cruise mode. And I grunted at him, immediately stopped and looked um and then we let him he When he walked off, we did try to sport we's at him, and he did posture up a little bit, but he looked for probably a minute or two, and then he just continued about his way and we let him get oh, probably a hundred fifty yards away. In the CRP. We could just see his horns and we rattled at him and he turned and came just a little bit and then continuing on. Now, the setup wasn't perfect for him to come in. You know, with those big beer when they get the wind where they can't get in their face or at least get a good cross wind to come back to that rattling or calling. You know, a lot of times it's pretty tough to kill a big mature beer that way. But you know sometimes they'll come blazon in there. But right now because he they're just not in that mode, at least not around here, right And so you said, overall the deer activity has been down, but you've encountered a number of mature bucks. Why do you think that that you've and encountering these mature books if if the deer activities is at a lull right now, well, we Frank and I run a lot of cameras all the time, um, so we know where where the deer at most of the time, or especially right now, they're still on like a historical based pattern where they were last year mostly and once those deer move in there and you know, we look at that past day so we can get in there on them. But also you know, the last week October is a great time to kill a big deer because he's he's out looking, you know. But to tell you the truth, the best pictures I had so far this year was from the nineties. I had lots and lots of deer um big bucks on their feet in the daylight. And honestly think it's you know, we got a lot of cameras in the core area, and I think, you know, you just catch them there at the end on a little cold front or or maybe the wind switching direction. The next day, they get up and get moving. So I think that's always been successful just because we're you know, we're very close to where they're betting um and where they're coming to, right, And so if you're getting all this good movement now at the end of October, do you worry it all that come there? These deer might disappear and head off to the neighbors that they're cruising so much. Or is that not a few of yours? Oh? No? I hate I hate hunting in November. I absolutely hate it. I wish I could just hunt the last two weeks of October and then maybe hunting late season. Um. I am a I am a patternal deer hunter. I don't like hunting deer. I can't pattern and stuff that gets out of my control. Even with it work and stuff in life, I'm not very good at it. So November just does not. I just don't like it. Absolutely. And what about going forward for this next week or so, what do you think the buck activity is going to be then? On the scale of one to ten, um, truthfully, with it today's Monday, I'm not looking for a whole lot except for on Thursday. I would say if it gets above a five or six, I'd be surprised. Um, the temperatures here in central Illinois aren't supposed to do much. You know, it's really warm today in tomorrow. We're supposed to get an inch and a half of rain on Wednesday, So I think Thursday morning could be pretty good because they gonna have high pressure in the winds will get out of the north. So I'm thinking Thursday could be good. Um. After that, the tempts are just supposed to mellow off. Um. The pressure is supposed to be high on Friday and Saturday, so you know you could catch them there. But just in my experience, the first four or five days in November usually aren't very good for us. UM. It's usually you know the fifth, after the fifth, it kicks off, but it's almost like it just gets a little flow, you know, right now are pictures are down. I feel like the bucks that have been harassing the dose enough now that they're kind of hiding, but they're not ready. Some of these big deer are definitely gonna be on their feet kind of cruising and looking. But I don't think they're gonna be called responsive. I think you know it's gonna be a typical You better just be in the right place at the right time. Um. But as as far as I'm just going nuts running around, I don't see it happening yet. I think we're a week off from that. But I would say if a guys in the woods on Thursday, you could see a little spike in the in the buck movement that morning after that rain. Right, Well, I hope those mature bucks stick around for you and we'll continue to fall along at bow haunts your day. Well, thanks Spens, right, I appreciate the call, and I appreciate you guys letting me be be on show all right and joining us on the phone. Last is Josh Honeycutt, the deer editor with Real tree dot Com. Now, Josh, I know you already tagged out in Kentucky, but that hasn't kept you out of the woods. So on a scale of one to ten, what would you say the buck activity has been there lately? Yeah, I've been spending a little I've killed my buck tag and filled my buck tag and Kentucky and but I still filmed some other people in Kentucky. So I've still been out in the woods, still been keeping eye on trail cameras. Um. And it's been kid of slow as far as the dayline activity, uh for the last a few days because of this really really hot temptures you had here in Kentucky. It's been one of the hottest Octobers on the record. UM, So it's been pretty tough as far as those deer moving in daylight. I'm still moving daylight, just not very farsome feddic areas. Um. And so I'll skill I want to seem I would probably say it's went down a little bit since the last time we talked the middle of October too, probably from like a six to seven to a five or six. It's went down a little bit, uh, just simply because of the extreme temperatures that we've had. So you've got bucks out moving, but not necessarily in daylight. Um, are they moving like in the middle of the night or before and after shooting light just as soon as the shooting light, just as soon as as legal shooting lights over. I'm getting pictures of bucks. I mean, I know they're moving in daylight. Still they're just not have they haven't been moving as far from their beds of an afternoon from getting a lot of pictures of bucks of a morning in daylight because it's cooler, but as far as afternoon sets. But they're just aren't moving as quickly of an afternoon. So so the last week or so, the mornings have definitely been more productive based on my camera checks, based on the time that I've been in the woods filming, uh, some other people hunt and uh. But as I think that's about to change because we're gonna be moving into the weekend. It's gonna stay warm until the end of this week and then moving into the week Friday and Saturday. Uh, we're supposed to cool down. They're supposed to be about a fifteen degree temperature swing. So uh, being that with just with the temperature swing, we're gonna have the end of the week, paired with the fact that it's gonna be around that, you know, the end of the first week in November November five six, I mean between, but just between those two factors alone, I expect to see a big increase in daylight activity and overall activity by the end of the week. Sure. And so those bucks that are out moving at night, do you know what they're doing? Are they are they laying down some sign? Are they looking for dolls? Are they you know, getting to their food a little earlier? What's going on there? It's kind of a transition period. We're kind of right there on the tail end of the pre rut moving into the rut. You know, we're not it's not full bone right yet. I mean I've not been I've not seen any chase and activity. It's kind of in that seeking phase, seeking phase, the beginning of the seeking phase of the rut. Uh, there's I haven't seen a lot of chasing activity. They're really still in that, uh, the period where they're laying down a lot of signs. A lot of rubs have popped up the last um seven to ten days, a lot of scrapes have popped up the last five to seven days, UM. And those bucks are laying down signed pretty hard right now. Um, I've seen quite a few bucks. Um, new bucks that I have not seen this year. Um just showed up within the last seven days on camera. UM. So the deer moving, uh, they're starting to move more that in the overall activity has continued to increase throughout October. It's just these afternoons because of this hot temper. This hot weather as prevented prevented those deer from getting up as quickly as they would of an evening. But those morning tents of men kind of decent because there's been a lot of times where I've had pictures of bucks um hitting camera sites. You know, we're right there around the beginning of legal shooting light. But I expect that I expect activity to increase quite a bit as we moved towards the end of this week and in the next week, because they're supposed to stay pretty cold. It's not gonna be cold. That's supposed to stay pretty cool from this weekend and moving into the next week and the even the end of next week. Yeah, so that upticking activity, what would you say that will translate to that on a scale of one to ten for buck movement in this next week or so, Well, my favorite week over the whole year hunt is next week. It's that pulled my account calendar up here. Uh. Next this week is obviously the week of Halloween. You know, next Saturday is gonna be the fifth. UM. So we got next week, we got the week of the six from the six of the twelfth, that's my favorite week to hunt of the entire year. UM. That is usually UM for most people. It's a little bit different from place to place, from state to state and from region region, but that's usually generally your best uh buck movement. Uh. That's you're kind of that chasing period. It's that week prior to peak breeding, uh, what people refer to as the lockdown phase. This next not this week, but next week. I act next to see a lot of chasing going on, simply because of the time that it's, you know, the time of the year, um, what the point of the rut that will be in, and also because of the temperatures will have. So this week I'll be still being Kentucky running the camera filming some guys hunt. Uh, and then next week I'll be heading uh heading to Indiana to get my Indiana hunting license in chasing the Indiana buck up there on Public Plan because I expect it's gonna be pretty good. Well, it sounds like an exciting next couple of weeks coming up for you, Josh, and I look forward to watching for pictures that you got from the Hunts. So thanks again for your time. Yeah, thank you. And actually, like I said, I expect, I don't know if I give you a number, but i'd say it's gonna be between the nine at the end next week. Well, I'll take either one of them, all right. Thanks, thank you, and that concludes this week's episode of Wired Haunt's Rutt Radio. Make sure you follow Wired Hunt on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Spencer ner Heart. Thanks for listening, and I want to wish everybody a happy rut.

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