00:00:02 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host, Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm your host, Mark Kenyan in this episode number two forty two, and today in the show, we are back with another episode of our Rut radio mini series in which we're getting from the field reports from deer hunters all across the country about current conditions, deer activity, the progress of the white tail rut, and everything you need to know to have success right now, all right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by Onyx, and we're back for our weekly Rut radio mini series in which we are hearing from experts all across the country about the latest in the white tell world. What kind of action is happening right now, how the conditions are impacting deer and dear activity, how other changing variables in the future might impact things down the road, and all that's done by way of the interviewing skills of my buddy Spencer new Hearth. How are you, man, I'm doing good and I am feeling especially optimistic because on Monday night I saw a certain dear would this certain dear be named after a Forced Gump character. Yes, yes, at two hundred yards on Monday night, I had Lieutenant Dan and I was hunting the property where I've been catching him movement, catching him moving basically since July. I was in the standard that I was trying to kill him out of in early September, and I hadn't seen him much since then. But that evening I saw him get out of his bed, which was about four hundred yards away and from where I kicked him out of his bed back at the end of August. He was only betted maybe a hundred hundred fifty yards from there, so he hadn't moved too much. Um. But what I do know about him is that he has kind of changed his food pattern. Previously, in the summer and early early September, he was hanging out my soybeans a lot, but now he is obviously focused on some natural brows as well as an LFLFA field on the neighbor's property. UM. On a scale of one to ten, Spencer, how freaking stoked were you when he finally saw that deer? I kind of believe that was excited. It was pretty excited. Uh, And it's really like one of the biggest bucks that I've seen on the hoof. I suspect him to be in the one fifties or one sixties um, and so I was really excited. If I didn't even know this deer existed, I'd have been stoked. Now, something that has me a little bit concerned is he was betting and it appeared that he was feeding on the neighbor's property. Now I can get sort of close to his betting um on my property still, But right now, I'm not sure in this next week or so that it's going to happen with him, because he's probably not going to change much of what he's doing. But once we get into that late October early November, he starts getting a little more restless. He would maybe be more vulnerable to some calling. I think that you're gonna shot at him some morning. That is awesome. Now, I know we're gonna hear from a lot of folks here shortly about what's been happening the last four or five six days, which has been this this cold front and moved through for a lot of people. Do you attribute this sighting and the activity that you saw in South Dakota would you attribute it to this changing weather. Um, I'm not sure about that, because North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, we've been kind of unique and now we've been cold for a long time, or prior to that cold front showing up, we had already been cold for like five days. And so, uh, I'm not sure what I would attribute that sighting to. Actually saw a lot of deer that evening, and I think one of the big things is that those deer had remained on pressured. Something we'll talk about a little bit later here in the episode. Um, is precipitation. But for me to get to this property, uh, I have to travel long ways down m no maintenance dirt road, and so I hadn't been back there in a long time. I know the neighbors have not been hunting in a long time, and so those deer are just largely on pressured right now. It's a nice that's a nice thing to have. That's that's gonna bode well for you, hopefully for the next week or two. I mean, I would you agree that probably the pressure won't ramp up around you until more of that rut time period. Yeah, And and even then, the archery pressure is still fairly low. But once we hit firearm season in mid November. Uh, that's when the deer are more likely to you know, look up in trees and and that kind of thing got you so South Dakota, you saw a lot of activity. What what number would you stick on it? It was good? I would put it like a seven or eight. And you know, really optimistic for this time of year if you have a food source, if you can focus on something that's a natural browse. Right now, it's coming like the deer, rapid moving. But still haven't gone back to that big egg quite yet. Man, I'll tell you what I am being tempted. I'm being so tempted to hunt the Holy Field property with this weather right now. Um, the activity around us in Michigan has been really good. I guess skipping ahead of a little bit to my report if you don't mind. Um here in Michigan it's been pretty darn good for most people. And um, you know, it looks really great the next few days to really really high pressure and cold temperatures, you know, ten or more degrees below average for this time of year. Very high pressure days coming up here like tomorrow. I think it's gonna be lights out, um, and moving into the weekend still too. And I one was this, This would have been Friday night. Our buddy Andy May, who either you've met or at least you've you've you've heard on the podcast. Probably my buddy Andy May. He shot just a mega Michigan buck um on that second day of the cold front. And then over the weekend I think it was Sunday. Another one of my friends who's also my taxidermist, he shot a huge eight pointer again on one of these couple of days after the cold front. UM. And I've just been seeing, you know, just been seeing lighting up on social media, a lot of deer hit in the ground, a lot of people are seeing great activity. UM. I can't remember which night this was, some night this weekend, maybe Sunday night. UM. I was out watching the holy Field property and I saw a buck I call Survivor. He's this deer that last year was a three and a half year old. And because I was targeting holy Field, I said, all right, this buck is the buck I really want to make it to next year because he'd be awesome to see. He's a four year old. And at that point I was hoping I was going to kill holy Field that year and then Survivor would be the buck I could chase until in eighteen. Um. Well, Survivor didn't make it. He survived seventeen. He's alive now. And last night, whatever night, this was Sunday night or Saturday night or um whichever, that was the first time I saw him moving daylight this year, and that was cool. Got some really good footage of him with the spotting scope. He was feeding in this Brassica and oates food plot that I had planted out there, and he was moving probably minutes before dark, just feeding. He wasn't nosing around doze or anything. He was just hanging out. Um. So that was exciting to see. Now, I don't know sure what I want to do with that deer yet because I'm still holding not hope. You know, that holy Field might be alive. So for now I'm not targeting Survivor. But it was encouraging to see a four and a half year old, Dear. Any other year, probably a four and a half year old will be the best year I have to hunt in Michigan, and I would be getting after I probably would have haunted the next day after him. In that case, but because I'm playing it safe thinking about a whole we feel I haven't done that. But gosh, with this weather, it's very tempting. I've got I've got a really good wind direction to go and hunt that stand where Survivor was a couple of days ago tomorrow thirty point four five, almost thirty point five. As far as barre metric pressure in the forties, which is like ten twelve thirteen degrees blow, I average drowned now. I mean, that's the kind of situation that usually I'd be jumping on. So I'm kind of getting anti panty over here. I don't know what to do. Spencer, Well, I want to reiterate um that this last weekend there were a ton of big deer that hit the ground, and like we talked about in the last week's episode of Radio, people were optimistic, probably the most optimistic episode that we had had yet, so as we expected, you know, a lot of deer got shot over the weekend and that was exciting to see. In this week's episode, Um, it may be leveled off a little bit and it is more of the kind of things that you would hear for mid October. It is still largely weather dependent on how confident people are and who we talked to. This week, we have Todd Pregnants from White Knuckle Productions in Iowa, and then Clay Force from Stewart Ranch Outfigures in Oklahoma. That in West Virginia from three or four Outdoors is Trey Kerns, and then from Deer Hunter Podcast in Michigan is Kevin Vistison. Sounds like some good stuff. I'll be interested to hear what whatever one's seeing and thinking. I know, I saw on Facebook that Todd pregnantzas Buddy Tyler killed an absolute jaw dropper in Iowa. Um does he talk about that at all? Uh? He did bring it up. He had, you know, a few takeaways from that. Hunton that was another one of those deer over the weekend that uh, you know, confirmed that what everyone was saying last week on the episode was accurate. There were going to be a lot of white tales killed. So so I think what we have here is a perfect case study of of how accurate helpful radio can be because what everyone was saying last week ended up happening. And if you took advantage of those ideas and thoughts, maybe you had some success to like the folks that we're gonna hear about today. So I'm gonna I'm gonna tout our own horn here, Spencer, good job to us. That's right, That's right. And one final thing I want to bring up before we get into the interviews is that, um, you know, last year we did kind of a year in review and the subject for October was acorns. Every call, every episode, people were talking about the huge amount of acorns that were in the woods. Well, this year it hasn't been so much about acorns. You know, people have talked about it, but not to the level of sen But but a big theme that you'll hear a lot on this episode about and previous episodes is the rain. Much of the Midwest and the Great Plains has gotten unusual amount of precipitation over these last few weeks, and like where I'm at salth Dakota, for example, we've had some record breaking days for like twenty four our rainfall. And I think that is an important subject for white tail hunting on a number for a number of different reasons. Um. One of them being is just that large amount of standing water. If you hunt someplace that's like a horseshoe and a river. UM. I have a couple of properties like that that I that I like to check out. Um, that almost creates a barrier place where deer would naturally be able to cross in the fall. It's now almost like a high fence that unless they're absolutely forced to cross that river a predator or something, they're just not going to. And so you know, the high water has kind of change, dear movement. I would say. Another thing is with acorns on the ground, if you get a lot of this rain, uh, you know, some standing water, soggy soil can promote fungus growth in the acorns, and that can make acorns rot faster. So you know, we're losing some of those natural food sources. And then the biggest thing I think is that this will definitely slow down harvest. Uh. You know, in my area of South Dakota, it looked like beans we're gonna be out, you know, over ten days ago or so. But we got all this rain and that's going to delay things almost until November possibly, And so the food sources are going to look differently this year than they did last year for sure. And a big part of that is precipitation. Yeah, that's a great point. I'll add one more thing on precipitation, because every year when we get a spell of a lot of rain, I get all sorts of emails or face what messages saying what do you think about hunting in the rain? Is it a good idea? What's the activity? Like blah blah blah, And so I just want to give, like my thirty second cliff notes thoughts on hunting and precipitation. I tend to like it quite a bit, especially in states like Michigan where there's a lot of hunting pressure. For whatever reason, it seems like compared to some other guys that here that hunt, Like like Dan, when he tells me what iowa, He's like, I don't really care for those rainy days. But when I see a rainy day in Michigan, I'm almost always in the tree and those mature bucks that you never see moving in the daylight otherwise, so consistently here in Michigan on those cruddy days, that's like the first time or the only time I see him on their feet. So something to think about. Now, if it's like a torrential hurricane downpour, no, but if it's like a light drizzle, those days can be money or even if you do have a heavy rain, if you're out in the tree stand during that heavy rain and it stops. As soon as it stops, those deer will be on their feet and moving around. You want to be in the tree, then you don't want to be walking in or you don't want to be sitting on your couch because for an hour of the night it was raining. So I'd recommend hunting on those rainy days, but be careful about the implications of that. So obviously, if it's raining a lot, you have concerns around a blood trail, so be really, really careful with your shot selection, be really smart about how you're gonna approach that. And and something I'd highly recommend if you're going to hunt in the rain is trying to make sure that you have or look into options as far as having a tracking dog. We had a situation this past Friday night. My buddy and as I mentioned, shot this buck and it started raining right after he shot the deer, and he was concerned about it washing away the blood. So he gave me a call. And I've got another friend who has a tracking dog who I've had come out and track deer with me, and and I kind of kind of helped train him on some of my deer and he runs him on all sorts of other folks that shoot deer around here. And this dog is great. We went out there there was a lot of rain, really hard to find blood, and probably would have not found blood, maybe wouldn't have found the deer without a ton of grid searching in this area. But because we brought that dog out, within less than ten minutes of getting out there, we were at Andy's deer, which was more than two yards away probably from where he shot, in very very thick like crp grass like you would have never seen this thing. Probably that dog got right on it, even though the rain had washed almost everything away. These dogs can get on that smell. So that's something to think about if you are going to hunt in rain. Blood trailing can be more difficult, So make sure you've got a dog handy if possible, that can make sure that you know, of course, you gotta really prior ties and make sure you can recover that deer, and um, having a tracking dog is is a great way to ensure that. Yeah, man, all great points, but Mark I'm gonna cut us off. We have blown way past our normal five minute conversation, so let's get to our first color. Here's your heart beating really fast? Is your stomach grumbling? Are you uncomfortable that I'm making this go so long that we are beyond the thirty minute episode? So let's let's get to the first color, all right. Before we get to our first update, let's pause for a word from our sponsors at white Tail Properties. This week, with white Tail Properties, we are joined by Justin Mason, a land specialist out of Kentucky, and Justin is gonna be telling us about what government programs are available to help landowners generate additional income on their property. Uh so, I think you know. The number one thing I remember is on your hunting property, as long as you own it, there are programs that you could be eligible for. UM. I kind of break them down into a couple of categories. There are one time in roll it programs like the Wetland Reserve program. You unroll the program one time, it pays up front, and then that you know that program is established for a lot of times in the lifetime of the property. The most common would be those annual payment programs like CRP UM it's short for Conservation Reserve Program And really what CRP does is it pays the landowner not to farm the property, so it goes into either some sort of UM annual program with either trees. You either play some trees or a lot of It is uh kind of a cool season drafts, which when you're hunting those Midwest states and you see those CRP fields, that's that's what a lot of those are enrolled in. UM. So those are probably the most common types of government programs. If you'd like to learn more and to see the properties that justin currently has listed for sale, visit white Tail properties dot com backslash Mason that's m A S O N alright, and joining me on the line first is Todd pregnants from White Knuckle Productions in Iowa, not Todd in Iowa. What would you say the bucket activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten. On a scale of one ten, probably about a two or three. In the last two weeks, it's been pretty slow. UM, what we basically do this time of years, watched the weather fronts and yesterday was the first real kill date that we've seen here in Iowa. And actually one of my good buddies uh knocked down a big, big buck last night, And just through the community and group of guys that um I hang out with, everybody has been kind of saying the same thing on their trail cameras that bucks have just disappeared the last couple of weeks. And I don't think it has anything to do with hunting pressure. I think it has more do more with food sources. Uh. They have been on the acorns hot and heavy, and a combination of that with a lot of standing crops. Still not a lot of farmers have gotten their their food out just because the weather has been so wet down here, So I think a combination of servile factors have really restricted the movement. But boy, when you get that one cold front coming like we did yesterday, it absolutely changed everything. And of course my buddy got a crack at one of these bucks that hadn't shown up on a camera a couple of weeks. So this is the time here you really got to watch the weather. Are there any takeaways that you had from your buddy getting that big buck on the ground. Yeah? Absolutely. It was actually kind of an interesting UM when when he was. When he finished gutting the deer, I asked him, let's cut off the stuffic, I want to see what's what this buck has been feeding on. And it was a big dandy buck, and um, it was very interesting. I find it fascinating to see what these animals eat. But the one thing that really was a surprise to me was there was quite a few acorns inside of its belly that literally hadn't been chewed. He was swallowing the thing's hole, which I honestly didn't know white deal did I've I've watched so many deer over the years sit and crunch on acorns, and you find it amazing that they can get the nuts out of the shells. But this sucker head all sorts of big acorns inside of its belly, as well as tuns and into green brows, which is very normal. Usually the belly contents are at least thirty green brows. And then he also had quite a few corn colonels in there as well, so can I have a mix of variety of different foods. But but that weatherfront really really put everything on their feet. I was out hunting and filming with a different front of mine. We saw some nice dear moving last night, but before yesterday it was almost like a week of just not even worth going out. We're recording this on October, and you said you suspect the buck movement is at two or three right now. Um on year's past in mid October, is it typically that poor in your area? Yes, generally, And each year's front based on when they get the crops out. Some years the crops are all out by now. Other years that send them into November. But usually we hunt the front um. And I'm just looking at like the next five days, for example, and they're pretty mild temperatures fifty four sixty and six before. So my five day goal, I would hunt that one afternoon Thursday, which is October eighteen. There's going to be a small front coming in and it's not it's not a significant front, but that would be a spot eyed move into one of my easy to access areas, possibly a green food plot or a field edge. And that's the type of hunting I'm doing this time of year. I just I don't want to get into my my betting areas or any of my thick cover because it's just too early to generally catch those big ones moving much so with all that standing cornette and other crops available, do you suspect a lot of bucks have not fully transitioned to their fall range? Then, Uh, like a lot of the deer that you're going to be targeting come November, are they betting and feeding in the areas that they will be a few weeks from now? Um, some will just start moving in now. And last year, for example, I killed a beautiful but a one ninety class typical ten and I never had a single trail camera picture of that book until October. It was the fourteenth or sixte um. And I mean, honestly, in the last twenty four hours, I've gotten a bunch of texts from bodies who literally said, man, all of a sudden, deer just starting to show up again. But there is people call it the October law. The deer are always moving around. But the hard part is for a lot of guys, myself included, access on farms is dramatically reduced when all these staying crops are out. I mean, you just can't get into the areas unless you're going along the field I does, um, and certain cases you just can't get into certain areas and So for my my situation, my experience, what I've seen over the years, this is the time of year where I like to be patient, watch my cameras and let the cameras dictate my next move, because there's been years passed where I was hunting a big eight year old four or five years ago, and all of a sudden on October one, I got pictures of him. He had moved into the area, and I went right after him. I didn't. I didn't end up feeling the season. But I really do trust material games, and that's the one thing we do have going for us today that we you know, before you really had to hunt in order to get that intel, but now all the cameras just help you so much. I try to be very patient this time of year because I think more often than not, guys ruling their opportunities for later in the season this time of year because they're just they just want to get out in a tree. You know, there's a dying hunt. The expect in mid October like this that the woods would be lit up with signmaking right now? Is that something that you're seeing in Iowa? Um, a little bit. But again I'm not getting into my my deep, deep dark secret areas not until round Halloween and then obviously in November, but anywhere near a buck's core area will be torn up. Right now. They're starting to get build up their neck muscles, their testosterones growing by the day, and they're getting more and more riled up. So this is definitely an area or a time of year where if you if you are in the timber and come across a lot of concentrated sign and aggressive sign, set up your stand right now, like that is the best indicator that he is very close by, because if they're just not moving very far, but they do move every day, I mean they're up feeding, doing their thing. It's just a smaller, smaller area than when the rod hits. Then they're they're generally just putting on more miles looking for those But most of the bucks here in my local area, I hunt in the dobetting areas and most of the big dominant box they don't even show up and start hanging out in those areas until right about Halloween. I mean they have they know when the dough is coming to heat. They don't waste any time energy um out chasing them around, grunting and doing the things that immature bucks do until they know that the dos are getting very very close going forward, then it next week or still, what do you think that bucket activity is going to be on a scale of one to edit, Iowa probably a five. Um, I would just be looking at the front I I would honestly be hunting the fronts. And based on trail camera pictures, um your buck activity. The younger bocks will start becoming more and more active daily, basically the two, three, four five year old animals. But the big domino box that I'm chasing, the old ones, they just don't move that much until very very close to the route. And my role of thumb is really Halloween. The thirty one of October is really when things start to magically change in the in the big dominant deer. But um, this is the time here, I think again, You've gotta hunt smart and plan for later in October. Unluss, You're You're trail cameras are talent? You different? And I really do That's pretty much the maker break this time of year is if if deer showing up on trail cameras during daylight or just after dark, because then that gives you a very good idea where they're where they're batted based on the time of pictures that you're getting up these dare we thought it seems like every season you kill a giant buck. I'm sure this year will be no different. So good luck this here and thanks for joining me. Well, thank you very much, appreciate the opportunity, and I just want to wish everybody out there the bust of locking. Where are your harness use lifelines and be safe out there guys, all right, and joining me on the line next is Clay Force from Stewart Ranch Outfitters in Oklahoma. Now, Clay in Oklahoma, what would you say the bucket activities been lately on the skill of one to ten uh, from what I've been seeing based on camera and based on just getting around buck activities high. Um, I think i'd probably put it around a six to a seven right now. Is that typical for mid October for you guys to have around a six or seven for buck movement? Um? Honestly, no, I think typically it's a little less than that. We're having some at least for Oklahoma standards, extreme weather shift. We're in the mid forties right now, and I think that's kind of attributing to bucks being on their feet a little more. Typically it's still highs in the up seventies, low eighties kind of thing, and so typically this is kind of that October lull, uh so to speak time of time frame. So I think with this weather, the rain that we've been having, crops are up a little more than typically they usually are this time of year. I think that's kind of all attributing to a higher buck activity for this year. The story in much of the Midwestern Great Plains has been rain over these last few weeks. Is that something that's affected you guys in Oklahoma as well? Yes, sir, Yeah, we've had, uh, depending on where you're at on the ranch, somewhere between fourteen and about eighteen inches in rain in the last two weeks. Um. I don't think it's affected the deer uh negatively, um or at least what I've been seeing a lot of our creature up and just as far as us getting around and check things, it's affected that. But as far as deer movement and dear being out and about, um, I don't think it's affected it negatively in any in the aspect. Right now, What are you seeing for signmaking in the woods. I think I think bucks are hits about five fifty here on the ranch right now. I'm still seeing dear bachelord up, still moving in groups, but I'm also seeing dear her groups starting to break up a lot more scrape activity and starting that seeking phase a little bit um as far as this time of year, So I think for right now we're about a fifty fifty split and the weather is supposed to stay consistent. So I see bucks really starting to hit scrapes, really starting to start moving toward that rut time frame, uh here in the next couple of weeks, which should really shape up pretty well because we've got muzzleloader season coming up here in about a week and uh so it really should shape up for a good season for us with that Muzzlelottle opener happening at the end of October. What are the conditions that would be ideal for you when it comes to weather or moon phases or crop status? Uh? Right now, if we could keep this consistent weather pattern where our highs are in the mid sixties, lows are in that mid up or forties, low fifties. Uh and if I haven't checked the moon to face calendar or anything. But if we could get that rising moon late in the afternoon, it would be about as prime conditions as we've had for muzzloader opener in the last probably two to three years. Weather it seems like the last couple of years we still have had highs in the eighties and uh we've had some success, but I'm really optimistic on this year just do with the weather the way it's playing into this opener, I think we should have a high success rate with our hunters coming in and around that muzzleloader opener. Would you be using any calling techniques rattling, grunting, snorwheeze, is anything like that? Yes? Or our deer tend to tend to be a little more vocal or at least from what I've been seeing on the ranch. And I always recommend our guys to bring a drunk to bring their horns. Uh, it can't hurt anything. And I think with these deer starting to break up and starting to kind of established that pay king order, making a grunt or hitting the horns is always beneficial b our hunters going forward. Thenis next week or so, what do you think that bucket activty is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Oklahoma. Um, I would keep it around that seven mark. Um. I don't want to go too much higher than that. I think with the weather, I think with everything kind of shaping up with a kind of a pre a little bit of a pre rut seeking checking scrape phase, I think seven is a pretty solid number for the next week or so in Oklahoma. Alright, Clay, Well, good luck to you and your hunters in camp. Thanks for joining me alright. Appreciate Spencer alright and joining me on the line. Next is Trey Currents from three or four Outdoors in West Virginia now trade in West Virginia. What would you say the bucket activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten, I'll say the buck activities been around a four or five spencer. It's uh, you know, it's not been, you know, super shut down. But um, I've seen a lot of smaller bucks maybe around the area, and I feel like a lot of those bigger bucks have really been keaning on scrape activity. Um, but a little bit of pre rud action. I feel like with this cold front coming in and has really been getting the bucks on their feet. Are you seeing a lot of scrapes in the woods end. You mentioned that mature bucks are checking them, but are you finding a lot of signmaking in general? Yeah, Actually, you know, uh, seeing a lot of scrapes pop up um throughout the property that we've been hunting. And then also you know, scrapes that you know have been there since last year are really starting to heat up right now, and uh, definitely starting to keen on those and move some trail cameras around to try to locate where these big bucks are hitting those in the daylight hours. It seems like a lot of hunters in your area are focused on acorns right now. How about you, guys at three or four outdoors, what food sources are you interested in this time of year? Yeah, definitely definitely acorns right now. Um, we try to establish um acorns have an overlying factor on our deer movement, and we've had a huge mass production this year, so I feel like that's you know, definitely a good spot to see you know a lot of deer um throughout the day whenever you're sitting, So there's never you know, there's never a bad option of you know, going and sitting on an acorn flat throughout the day. How about as we get into November, or is your focus for food sources going to be the same and staying with acorns and we start looking to something else. No, I wouldn't say staying for acorns. I think, you know, first in November, UM, a lot of our properties and properties that I hunt, my dear start to transition um into the you know, thicker cover um and then definitely start hitting uh some green forge. As far as you know, our fall plots that we've we've had established the turn ups, winter week, et cetera. And UM, I really feel like you know, deer masure deer um you know, three or four or five year old deer or really they starting to get on their feet as far as you know, pushing those around, and I feel like a food source you know is good for those. But as far as you know, just you know, trying to hold those deer down, I think these deer are really starting to target think it's come come in first November and really start to pending these deer down within that area. And that's where we see a lot of the movement UM in our area around the first November. Some of the hunters though with three or four Outdoors have found some success here in mid October. What have those setups been like? Yeah, those um, those successful setups that we've had thus far. Um in the month of October, it's you know, it's always a slow month for us around this area. But UM, we've mainly just been focusing on getting as close as possible to those betting areas that we believe that these deer betting areas um that they're you know, betting in, and then moving towards those foot sources right at last light. And that's where we've had our success this year, is in the evenings and having those big bucks that are mature moving from those betting areas right at last like to those food sources. And I think that's that's where we've really made our money this year so far. How about calling if you started hitting the rattling antlers together yet or you carry your dune tube with I. I've carried my stuff with me. I have not hitting anything yet. My cameras are starting to show some buck activity as far as you know, starting to fight in some pictures and stuff like that, but I I haven't yet, just based on I just feel like personally in my area. It's it's not you know, really keen knowing right now, but I can definitely see that with this, you know, the quarter weather coming in and then you know, the next week or so really starting to maybe get some light running in and hitting the rattling horns. But you know, anything you know is capable of happening in the next couple of weeks and deer really start to start getting on fire. So going forward, then, in this next week or so, what do you think that bucket activity is going to be on a scale of one to tend in West Virginia And the next week or so I look forward to definitely be probably around a seven UM in West Virginia as far as really heating up um. And then you know, I think you're really going to start to see some mature deer start to get on their feet towards the end of the month. Alright, J Well, good luck to you and the other hunters at three or four Outdoors. Thanks for joining me. I appreciate Spencer. Thanks for getting hold of me alright and joining us on the line. Next is Kevin Vistison from Deer Hunter Podcast in Michigan. Now, Kevin in Michigan, what would you say the bucket activity has been lately on a skill of one to ten one turn, I'm going to go right down the middle and go five. This week might be one of the more difficult weeks of hunting that will, you know, that will encounter all season. Essentially, the deer are out of their summer patterns and they're just settling in. You know, those new small game hunters have been in the woods now for a couple of weeks as well as archery, and the deer starting to get bumped around. They're out of their summer patterns. They're starting to move into the rut phase. They will, you know, probably not do a lot of daylight moving um here in the next week or to until the rut you know, starts going in, some ghosts start coming into astros and uh, then I think people will be able to start capitalizing on some some daylight movement. Now. I know you've been hunting northern Michigan as well as Southern Michigan lately. How those two areas been different for you when it comes to seeing buck movement or what do you think the rut stages in those areas. I think the biggest thing is the food sources Southern Michigan. I mean the food sources are similar, but Northern Michigan they're just stretched out over a larger area. And obviously all properties are vastly different, and that has to be taken an account. A piece of managed land with food pots is going to hunt a lot different than a UM state forests that you're competing with pressure and other hunters. But oaks a ton of acorns on the ground this season, more than I remember seeing UM in any recent history. UM clear cuts that were done in this past winter or this early spring I've noticed are still green and holding leaves, whereas clear cuts that are two or three or you know more years older, the leaves have already begin to go yellow brown and in some instance has fallen off. So those clear cuts that were done this previous season definitely have increased the deer activity, where those older cuts the deer off of them, and they're already they're on acorns and other brows versus. Down here in southern Michigan, the food sources can be UM still just a lot of stuff is green their natural forage as well as you know, any food plots that were done for fall hunting, are you know as good as they're going to get really all season. And the deer on those um, they're tearing the corn uh down that's not picked yet, and then the stuff that has picked there in those fields at night uh on on the stuff that was left over from the combine. Are you finding a lot of signmaking in the woods right now as far as rubs and scrapes, skill, Yeah, scrapes are. I mean every day now they're popping up more and more. I checked some trail cameras this morning, and just en route to two cameras, I think I came across six scrapes. And we had some rain and wind here yesterday, so I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you know you and all six of them were done just last night. We've had cold temperatures, um a lot believes are starting to fall. I'm having had the opportunity to put these SD cards in and look at them yet, but I assume that I'm going to see increased activity. And I know, just going off the number of photos that were on the cards that you know, it's it's a sizeable more amount than the last time I pulled cards back in beginning of September, So now you probably have some of the more pressure deer in the country there in Michigan. What are your calling strategies when it comes to this time of year, as we even get into the rut? Will you call it to those books or do you find that typically has a negative reaction uh rattling to start wheezing, the real aggressive loud calling. Um. All that I've ever seen happen from that is dear, run the opposite direction. But if you can, and uh, I spend a lot of time in the woods, so I hear a lot of deer grunting. And I'll say, even from northern Michigan to southern Michigan, the way the deer talk to each other sounds just a little bit different. And if you can identify that one way. I do this as I run drill cameras on video mode, so with sounds, so I actually get a lot of data of deer talking to each other, and through a couple of different calls that I use, I'm able to mimic that fairly well. And I'll just use real subtle recreations of the sounds that I hear. Of these books essentially when they are you know, in pursuit of a dough whether you know, I guess I'll identify it as attending grunt, some just short, uh subtle grunts when a buck is in pursuit of a doe. And I've had great success with that for the course of the last ten years. I've probably killed the half dozen bucks in that manner by replicating that sound and actually you know, bringing even blind calling, uh, just having deer come in to investigate. And I've passed a lot of year and a half old bucks doing that. But every now and then a nice two and a half year old or three and a half will come in to investigate, and that's been a a great Um, that's the only way I've ever been effective to call and kill dear year in my state. Going forward, Then, in the sixt week or so, what do you think that bucket activity is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Michigan? I would say that it's going to start to increase, provided that people are conscious of how intrusive they're being with their properties and the places they hunt. Um, these deer are moving at night every night right now, So if you're don't allow them to pattern you before you patterned them and they do that pretty quickly. If you go to a tree stand one or two times, I'm pretty confident that those deer will come across that scent and they will. I d where you are, Um, you have to be on your toes, um. And if you're doing that, if you're not letting them get ahead of you, and you're staying ahead of them, then I would say over the course of the next week, things are gonna you know, increase where we'll be getting into the sixes and the sevens and by Halloween. Um, you know, from Halloween to essentially November. Um, you know that whole beginning, latter part of November is is just gold. So all right, Kevin, good luck in Michigan, and thank you for joining me. Thanks Spencer, and that concludes this week's episode of Wired to Hunt's Radio. Thank you to Todd, Clay, Trey and Kevin for joining me, and thank you guys for listening. As always, make sure you're following Wire to Hunt on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and follow me Spener New Hearth and my blog rut Fresh on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well. The next time I talked to you, guys, we are going to be in the October twenties, and I'm really excited to finally get some reports where people are talking about seeking and chasing and pre ruts and just anything that has the word rut involved, because we're pulling up

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