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. Is this episode number two and fifty and today in the show, we are back for a mid November edition of RUT Radio in which we're talking to hunters all across the country about the latest progress of the rut, white tail activity, how conditions are impacting activity, and the tactics that are working right now. All right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by Onyx. We are here today for another edition of our UT Radio mini series in which we're hearing from hunters across the country about the latest on the progress of the white tail rut, dear activity, how current conditions are impacting deer and the different things we can be doing as hunters right now over the course of this next week to have some success. And with me to do that is Spencer, New Hearth. Spencer, how are you doing? I hear there's uh hear, there's there's finally some good news for you. Is that is that true? I'm doing good. I just filled my first deer tag of the season. So I have a new energy as we get into the middle of November. Here, Yeah, how does it feel to to be like the rest of us now? Instead of killing like nine things right away in the season, You've had to wait till middle of November to finally make it happen. You're back back to Earth, right back to Earth. But I hope I changed that. I hope. I am just lighting up your Instagram feed over these next few weeks with more white tails, so we'll see. I hope to change it. I hope. So too, do you do you want to give us a quick synopsis of the story or what are you thinking there? So this was a haunted northwestern South Dakota. It was a white tail tag, but that is an area that's kind of dominated by mule deer. It's an area that had a lot of leftover tags, pretty easy to draw. Um So I kind of knew that going into it, and I didn't have real high standards. Um So my strategy for that was to just for look, look for something that didn't appear to be like super rough, super super covered in cedars or yucca like you find those mule deer, and we got really deep innos in public like two miles back. Uh, And I found the white tail that I ended up killing just twenty minutes in the opener. So it was a short and sweet season for me. And so were you just kind of stalking along glassing and then you spot him and took a shop. Uh. No, I had a destination that I wanted to get to, a specific draw that looked like it had some hardwoods, which there aren't a ton of in that area. Uh. And it also came out of a hay field, which looked like something that you would find white tails on pretty much anywhere. And so I got set up there. Uh, it spotted a number of you will hear so far that morning, a few white tail does. And then this white tail buck that ended up getting a position on I think I killed him in like a hunter eighty yards. Nice. That's awesome, man, congrats seeing like running activity where they're chasing do anything like that. Yeah. So it's hard to uh draw any conclusions from that haunts because those rifles seasons on public land can be kind of weird where you have dear that maybe you aren't necessarily behaving like deer wood. And so you know, I saw some rutting activity from like the standpoint that there was a mule deer buck chasing some white tail does and there was just some chaos in that job. But again, uh, public land northwestern South Dakota kind of a weird landscape. It's hard to you know, get any exacts or anything that applies to most white tail hunters from that scenario. Yeah. Interesting, Um, do you want to hear Michigan report at all? Yeah? And I can't image and there's anybody to give a better Michigan report because you've been at it for like it seems like ten straight days or something. How how many days have you been in a tree now consecutively? Uh? Well, November two because I had those business meetings on the thirty one and first, which took me out of the tree, But otherwise it was it was five days before that and then two days of meetings, and then November two through today, which is what the twelfth. So I think it's eleven straight days there um in Michigan. And yeah, I mean I've seen a lot of different things. Last week I told you about some of the you know, I saw that mature buck lockdown with the dough. Um, I went to a new property. After we talked last time, I was on this hunt with with Ronnella and Yanni and the rest of the mediator crew, and UM, we saw we saw running activity. I also thought that maybe there was some lockdown going on because we did not see a whole lot of activity from the mature bucks. UM. And in general seemed like lots of the time was very dull. There was not much going on. UM. But there were a few day as that kind of gave us like punctuations of excitement. UM. So a lot of slow periods, but then the occasionally I had one morning where there's a lot of chasing going on a lot of young bucks, and then I did have a mature buck cruise through in the middle of the day UM. And then yesterday I did have another potential mature buck cruising in the middle of the day. So definitely saw that cruising. UM. Steve saw on mature buck do the same thing like late morning, and Yanni saw some cruising in the earlier in the morning. So a lot of cruising, a little bit of chasing, and UM, we didn't see bucks locked on the doors necessarily, but we kind of were hypothesizing that that was probably what was going on. UM. Another thing worth mentioning is that we definitely did see that our activity on trail cameras our scrapes has gone down pretty significantly, not nearly as many visits to the scrapes UM. So that's another thing worth pointing out. We weren't we definitely aren't keying in on signs so much right now. It's it's really when we were able to find deer and get on deers when we were either really hyped dough betting or actually in those kind of ridge system funnels, so terrain that is that's funneling deer movement as they go from betting area to betting area. UM. That seemed to be the ticket for us. We we didn't end up didn't end up filling attack, but we we had some close calls. So it was good. It's good trip. Yeah. And this time of year, like you talked about, once you get into the November teens, the the activity seems to come and go in like really big waves. Like one day you'll see incredible movement, you'll seem like bucks are chasing do you will be out of midday and then the next day you might not see anything at all if if they're handful of bucks got pulled off the property, buy a hot dough, or if those bucks are on the property, but maybe lockdown with a few doughs. And so you know, going back to seventeen. On route radio, you always get some reports that maybe don't agree with each other, uh, from from all over the country because it's just a really strange time of year. Oh yeah. I always try to remind myself if I'm sitting in the tree and it's dead, I just need to always tell myself that it could change an instant, and even though it might be dead right now two yards away, it might be a rut fest and that could be here in seconds. Or if I make a move tomorrow two and I happen to be in the right spot, then it could be chaos. It's just so much here but not there, and hot and coal. I mean, you just have to kind of go into it knowing that that's gonna be the case sometimes and just be willing to push through it and try to adjust if you can for sure. And like my greatest solution in South Dakota here is if we get to that stage where uh, it's getting difficult to find mature bucks moving is to pick up a gun when the gun seasons open. I am not a hashtag bowl only guy or some is like going to frown upon someone picking up a rifle or a musload or whatever. Uh. I am an advantageous hunter, so when our gun seasons open, I'm hunting with a gun and that usually seems to remedy any poor route movement. How about you, Mark, Are you gonna pick up a gun here? On? What is it? November fift in Michigan? Yeah, in Michigan, and I think I am this year. Um. I usually, I think I've mentioned in the past, I usually go to my family deer camp for a couple of days, but this year we're pushing that off a little bit later than usual, so opening day, in the first couple of days, I'll actually be on my main property. So I'm kind of excited about that. Um. I am hoping that that buck I was chasing last week is still around. I have reason to believe that maybe he is, So um, there's a little bit of extra excitement here because I've got a few more days of the boat to get after him, and if that doesn't work out, I'll keep it going. So we will see the hunt. The hunt will continue well. This week on the show, we talked to Bryce Slamley in Nebraska from Sitka Gear, then Beaumartonic from East Meat to West in Pennsylvania, then in Tennessee from Wildcare Deer Tracked and it's Josh Smith, and then Keith Thompson in Montana from Montana White Tails Excellent. We have anything else we need to cover before getting to those? I don't think so. Uh, you know, I think we did a good enough job of acknowledging that this time of years is going to be strange for reports and strange for hunts. So, like you said, just keep after it. That can all change in a second. Yeah that is. I mean we could just do nothing but repeat that over and over and over again on this podcast, and that might be the best thing that you could listen to right now. You just got to remember that it can all change, So just stay stay persistent, stay focused as best as possible, stay positive, um and good things oftentimes will come to those who do so. Before I before I get off here, I just want to wish everybody good luck and uh enjoy these days because before you know what the rut is gonna be done and we'll be back to looking forward to next year's rutt. So often I find myself like, oh, I can't wait, I can't wait. But then when it's actually here, then I'm stressed out, or I'm tired, or i'm you know whatever, complaining about something in my head. So I need to often remind myself to just just embrace it. If you have a close call and it doesn't go your way, that's upsetting. I know, Like I had a moment like that where I was really frustrated. I almost got it done. It was so painfully close, and then it didn't happen, and I was upset. But then later that afternoon, I just needed to remind myself, you know what, that was such a cool encounter like that is something you dreamed of all year, of being that close to a deer like that, And yeah, you didn't get to send an arrow, but you've got to have this really neat interaction with a with a special animal. And that's the kind of thing that the rut provides if you, if you choose to enjoy that and not get too focus on the end goal. So that's my little uh Pepper rally for everyone. Today, it's well said. We'll talk to you next week. Mark. Thank you Spencer. 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 Billy O'Connor, a land specialist out of Kansas, and Billy is going to be telling us about what to consider when buying a property with a friend. Um, you know, buying a property the friend is a great idea. You know, it helps you get more land for less and it also helps with the cost and investment of time that kind of need for improvements. Plus it's just fun to kind of share in the experience of owning lane with someone who is passionate about the outdoors as you are. But um, you do need the process a little bit to make sure that you kind of cover all scenarios kind of going down the road. Um, when buying with a friend, you first want to talk through ideally what each partner wants out of the experience. You know, is this for an investment. Is it to raise mature whitetail by let him get to a certain age class. Is it a place you want to bring friends and family to hunt as well? Assuming you both want to manage for deer. Usually friends have the same goal and approach to management, but often one person will want to hunt other things such as quail and small game, and the other partner may not necessarily want to do that. So you kind of want to talk all that through UM. If you are not a state buyer, you do need to keep in mind at the State of Kansas, you're allowed want to land and attack her at the acres. So if you both want laying under tags, you need to make sure the properties at hundred six acres or more. I'd suggest you by the property under an LLC UM. That way, everything could kind of be explained in the by laws. In the event that something does down the road where you guys do need to split it or sell it. You know, things such as a divorce, or someone has more kids than they anticipated and or a death in the family and someone needs to sell. Um. Those type of thing you can kind of go over and get that out of the way from the get go. If you'd like to learn more and to see the properties that Billy currently has listed for sale, visit white tail properties dot com. Backslash O'Connor that's O c O. And n O R. And joining us on the line first is Bryce Lanley out of Nebraska from Sick of Gear. Now Bryce in Nebraska, what would you say the bucket activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten. Well, I'm gonna go back to my conservative self and tell you five. Um, it's just been one of the more disappointing early Novembers for me. And I realized that the rut is feast for famine, and you know, a half mile away it could be a whole different story. But I've got enough friends that that are kind of experiencing the same thing. It's just been a weird rut. And so if you had to put a label on what stage of the route you think the deer in your area, what would you call it? You know, I'm not seeing much cruise in a troll and whatever you wanna call it. And so it makes me wonder if bucks are locked down and um, you know, then you've got some you know, smaller bucks kind of hanging around the vicinity hoping to get some action as well. And it's just we're not seeing very much trolling, um, at least not in the properties where I'm at. So I'm getting lockdown. So prior to this, then in early early November, were you seeing some better movement than what you would consider that seeking and chasing a little bit? And you know, it's late October on trail cameras and from stand we're seeing a little bit more daylight activity from some of the bigger Bucks. And I was very encouraged in the days right before Thanksgiving looking forward to early November. But I never saw a pick up personally. Um. It doesn't mean it wasn't happening for other people, but I I didn't see a pick up at all personally. And usually this time of year, I'll do a number of all days SIPs and I tried to of them and it just I wasn't seeing anything in the midday. So it's really disappointed. This has been quite an unusual November for you. Correct, what don't you tell us about that? And then you know, tell the audience maybe a little bit about what kind of record keeping you have going back to the eighties. Well, I started keeping records about and UM keeping track of daufon ratios and every documenting every single hunt UM also keeping track of how many um bucks and aunt ors do that passed within my very limited range with my bow and arrow and um and offering shots. And it's been a weird year. I you I have not experienced the typical early November days where I would see ten or twelve different bucks all cruising, all with their minds, you know, they're making tracks through the woods. I haven't seen much of that at all. I mean literally almost none. Um. It has been uh an encouraging year in the number of bucks buck sightings within range that I could have had a shot at. I've had seventy four of those opportunities in sixty seven punts and that's well above average, and so that's encouraging. But um, most of them are one and a half year old and two and a half year olds. UM. The other anomaly that I'm seeing this year is that our fond ratio compared to dose is really low. It's a hundred dolls to forty one fonds um with you know, about four years scenes so that's really very low. It's less than half of um low years and it's you know, about two and a half times lower than the average, which is about a hundred to a hundred. And so I think we've got some predatory issues with low fur prices and lots of coyotes. I think that's part of the issue. UM. I'm hoping, I'm still hopeful that things will pick up after UM the rut you know reaches, you know, kind of a second phase where most of those have been bred and and now we get you know, hopefully the bucks will be back on their searching for for the leftovers. Earlier this fall, when I talked to you, you had said how the signmaking seemed to pick up earlier than usual this year. Are you still seeing any fresh sign in the woods? Very little? It's you know, we we talked before late September, it was just going crazy, and I still was getting a lot of activity at scrapes on trail cameras, uh into October. October very little since then. I mean, they might walk past it, but they won't stop even and it's it's an entirely different, entirely different type of UM reaction to the scrapes and so forth. Now, I have seen rubs pick up, and I've seen rubs in new places, And I don't know if those are frustration rubs or if those are something else, but I have seen rubs pick up but the activity of the scrapes has been very little the last week or two weeks. If hunters are experiencing lockdown this week, like you suspect, what are some of your strategies for finding the mature buck. Well, what I've seen with those that don't want to be hassled is that they are hiding in out of the way locations, which is probably also where the bucks will like to try to you know, stash them down as well. Um, but I'll find those like literally betted on the river bank, are out in the middle of nowhere, in just little tiny grass patches. And so what I like to try to do is figure out, Okay, if a buck is on the search for those types of those, where are some pinches in between where I might catch him? And so I guess I'm trying to do is maximize my opportunity by going to those pinches. And and also those pinches usually offer the hunter a little bit easier access in and out without boogering up the whole woods. And so that's kind of my my strategy at this point. Going forward then to the next week or so, what do you think that bucket activity is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Nebraska. Well, I'm gonna turn optimistic, gone in and hope it goes up to about an eight. I I think that we got We're in the middle of our guns season right now, and so there's a lot of hunters of field, and so some people are getting some sidings just based on deer being pushed to them and that sort of thing. But I think once the gun hunters m wrap things up here, um soon, very soon, that I think, you know, things should pick up again and and the bucks will be back on the move because we just haven't seen much of a rut and I can't imagine going in here without seeing that kind of steady activity was trolling and cruising and so forth. Bryce, great inuntil good luck this year, and thanks for joining me, Thank you alright and joining us on the line. Next is Bowl Mortonic from Pennsylvania. From East meets West Outdoors now Bow in Pennsylvania. What would you say the buck activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten, Spencer, I would say that the buck activity would I would say it would be around nine. In the last week or so, it's been ramping up quite a bit. The first like week of November, even the end of October there we had some relatively warm weather, a lot of precipitation, and it seemed like the daylight activity was slow, and even from the trail camera side of things, on scrapes and everything, they weren't UM as active as they normally are at that time. So this this past week, UM activity is really ramped up. And I know, specifically out of the camp that I hung out of my family had had killed quite a few deer just UM and in the last week or so and finally seeing some mature deer of moving in daylight hours. So what phased it about? Would you say that most of Pennsylvania is in UM. I think it's uh if it hasn't already kind of entered into lockdown things a little bit. And I know I said there you're moving and everything. But as as we're getting into you know, the twelve thirteen, fourteenth of November here, it's it's a lot of the smaller bucks aren't aren't moving as much, and I'm starting to see some of their maturity or kind of out looking again. But it's more it's more sporadic, so a little more daylight activity, but more middle of the day type stuff, cruising some dope bedrooms, maybe looking for that second day. I guess have you noticed if signmaking still active there in Pennsylvania not as much. It seems like the scrapes are a little bit covered up compared to what they were last week. And um, it's more of the travel corridors are are being active and definitely thinking, you know, all day hunting if possible, is really important. Specifically, yesterday I had a mature deer cruising right at noon, um, outside of a dope betting area. So are those dope betting areas then your focus this time of year if you're looking for a lockdown buck, Yes i am. I'm trying to get as close as possible to those dope betting areas, and um, kind of sitting on the down wind side. And if most of my setups have to do with having more than one dope betting area in the area, So specifically hunting in the big woods will have a lot of the creek bottoms have dope betting areas set up around some tickets in the swampy areas and setting up in between them at any travel corridors is what I'm looking to do. You talked a little bit earlier about the weather in early November kind of affecting deer movement. Are there any upcoming weather patterns or moon phases or anything like that that you think might change, Dear wmen again. Yeah, So, actually, we just had a pretty good cold front come through in the last couple of days, and from looking at the weather forecast, it's gonna be even colder going out to this entire week and with some snow in the forecast. That woke up to a blanket of snow this morning, and um, that seems to really get up moving this time of year. Do you have any strategies with your trail cameras as far as where those are at or if you use that intail for anything in mid November. So, I'm not really using that intail for a whole lot of um stuff at this time of the year. But what I am doing is I'm leaving them on specifically creek crossings, and I'm still leaving someone scrapes, although they're not as active that they scum here and there, But creek crossings and any type of funnels around like beaver ponds things like that have been really good this time of year. To catch some of those those box cruising And I'll use that intael when I pull the cameras at the end of the year for next year, because it seems like every year they follow a similar pattern going forward. Then in the six week or so, what do you think that buck activity is going to be on a scale one to ten in Pennsylvania? So I think the buck activity is gonna stay around eight or nine. I don't think it's gonna get much better. From from the standpoint of there's not I don't think there's gonna be as many deer moving. But I think if you um want a chance at one of the really big mature deer in the area, as I stay with the end of October, I think great now is your best chance. All right, Well, well, good luck this year. I'll be following along at East Meats West Outdoors. Thanks for joining me. Thanks Spencer, alright and joining me on the line. Next is Josh Smith out of Tennessee from Wildcare Deer Attractive Now Josh and Tennessee, what would you say the buck activities men lately on a scale of one to ten. I think we're at a six right now. Primarily young young bucks have started Jason too nice year old? Is that the oldest. I've been out probably six times in the last ten days. UM, and I think November six, I know I saw the first five point, the first buck chasing activity that I had seen. He was running a couple of dos real hot UM. A few days after that, I saw another two and a half year old six running some does. UM. Saw four point cruising you know, um in the morning. UM. And actually that five point I saw morning and even running does two different groups uh, first repair and then a single dough um. And then I saw a six point cruising in the afternoon. And we've had some post Thanksgiving type of weather lately. Things have gotten cold and and uh rain for the last few days, a little bit earlier than usual for us. It's usually around Thanksgiving her after that this kicks in, so I think, Um, normally our rut comes in a little bit before Thanksgiving. I think we're hitting things a little earlier this year. UM. We're not at peak right yet, but uh, I think that the timetables are literally earlier than normal. So I'm interested to see what starts moving around here in the next week or so. I think we'll hit the peak of the rut here probably late this week weekend into early next week, and I'm looking forward to seeing some of my Stu bucks on their feet at that time. I know you and your family also do some hunting in Kentucky. How was the stage of the ruts been maybe different up there than what it is in Tennessee. Yeah, they're just usually a little more advanced as far as the timetable. Bucks are are rutting pretty good up there right now. Yeah. I've got my dad's actually up there with my mom right now, um, and they've seen good activity. She has seen a couple of good shooters out in daylight, but I didn't have a chance to pull triggers, so hopefully today I think they're out in this morning. So what did you say that lockdown is approaching either state right now, Kentucky or Tennessee or do you think we're a little bit off that. I'd say it's it's probably approaching Kentucky sooner than us. Um. I think it'll probably be internet timetable, probably uh, within the next ten days or so. UM. And I think here at home it will probably be more a couple of weeks maybe, UM, but it could be a little sooner. I don't know, you're join. We'll just see what the weather kind of does. I think we're gonna dry out a little bit and we may warm back up, so if it may put a couple of things, we'll see. What do you see for signmaking right now? If Tennessee is a little bit behind, then maybe you're seeing some rubs and scrapes that are still active. Is that the case? Oh? I think the most active rub that I saw I saw about a week ago, and it looked like it was made at least a few days prior to that, UM, and it was kind of along the line that all showed similar signs. So I think that activity is kind of slowed down for us. UM, the scrapes that we've had are kind of dropping off a little bit at this point. I think, you know, they're kind of all efforts are shifting towards finding that dough and that's kind of shifting my tactics a little bit as well as far as like what I'll use for our sense. You know, UM, I'm starting to use astro still right now at home. I'll drag that in every time. You know, we've got young bucks chasing, Like I said, I think mature bucks are gonna be coming in soon, so it's good to have out there. And then once I know that mature bucks are little up on their feet a little bit more and looking, I'll start employing a little more of that rotten buck at that time, and I'll use that in tandem with the astrostough. You guys are on quite a few trail cameras between your Kentucky and Tennessee properties. What is your strategy with those right now? You know, for example, where they set up UM and maybe how is that different from what they were doing a few weeks ago we shifted more to UM sign in the woods set up. We were setting them up near buck Betting UM earlier in the season. You know, we're doing a lot of field edges, just even a couple of weeks ago, a lot of field edges primarily looking at scrapes and and employee mock scrapes for intel. And now we've kind of we're shifting to even our setups are are in the woods a little bit more now. You know, as we shift into lay season in the rut, we're iron travel routes a little bit more than than anything going forward. Then the sixt week or so. What do you think that bucket activity is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Tennessee. I think we'll hit a nine here in the next week. Um. You know, I don't know if we'll reach full peak. Uh. I hope we will. Um, I think we might. I know I'll be putting in some time in the woods, So I'm looking forward to seeing those mature bucks getting up in Adam during daylight hours. Most of what we've seen is still taking place at night, you know, for anything over two and a half years old, So I think the time is quickly approaching. All right, Joshua, thanks for joining me, Thanks for packaging my favorite dear year, and and good luck this year. Hey, I appreciate it. Thanks for having Spencer alright and enjoining me on the line. Next is Keith Thompson in Montana from Montana White Tails. Now Keith in Montana. What would you say the bucket activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten. I'd give it a pretty high nine, or I mean the high eight. I'm sorry, you know, the last three or four days for sure. UM, it's really turned on pretty quickly here. It was kind of dead the last week or so because it was so warm here, we got a good cold front, got a little bit of snow and it definitely got the deer up on their feet. Um. Like I said, it's it's been. It's been hit or missed. But like I said, the last four days, it's it's been pretty much on fire. Every day that we've come across, there's been a buck either locked down with it or we've had some younger deer that we're nudge and everything. So it's been it's been really good. If you had to put a label down on what stage of the rut your part of Montana is in, what would you say that is um as far as maturity or go, I would definitely say the maturity are starting to lock down. Um. A lot of the younger box were catching them in some of the agg field, just checking does and everything else. But we uh, we killed four bucks this week alone that we're actually locked down with those. Um. You know, it really gave us the ability to spot and stoff those deer rather than set the tree stand. So it's kind of age based. I think the mature deer kind of locked up, but some of the younger bucks are you know, up cruising around trying to find the right though. Now you mentioned seeing bucks out in egg fields. Are you focusing on those egg fields because that's the food source that's hot right now? Where is that just where most of the rutting activity has been visible? Um, we've been We've been hitting the act fields pretty hard simply for the fact that you know, there's a bunch of does coming into them, and the cooler attempts kind of actually had the deer up on their feet in the middle of the day. So it was one of those deals where I mean you could see, you could see what you wanted to shoot, whether it be seven o'clock in the morning or one o'clock in the afternoon. It's been pretty consistent as far as deer movement the last you know, three or four days. So how are your strategy setups different with hunters who are in camp with a rifle versus those of the bow. Um, I mean it's we we cause rifles around here. The equalizer, you know, you can we've been hunting a lot of bail blinds and and you know, either that or glass and from far away to find the deer to move with the rifle. I mean simply, I mean, you know as well as I do. You can you can definitely reach out and touch him with a rifle. Nowadays, where with our bow hunters were, we're concentrating them more in uh some of the river bottom. Uh, you know, we're we're looking for bottnecks where it pinches them down the you know, the natural curve of the river really pinches the deer at some spots, and um, you know, the deer have their favorite crossings. We we tend to work all our bow hunters in there where you get that you know, forty and less shot. Are there any weather patterns this time of year, in mid November that you think really changed things positive or negative for deer movement Montana weathers Uh, it's pretty tough to judge. One day at snow and the next day at the beginning of the week it was, uh, well even yesterday morning it was it was, you know, four degrees out and now today it's supposed to be up into the forties. So it's it's been hit or miss. But the cold weather at the beginning of the week most definitely played a part in you know, more activity. I mean you could see it across the board we were seeing more out, more moose. I mean it was it just had everything up moving around a lot better. Going forward. Then in this next week or so, what do you think that buck activity is going to be on a scale of one to tend in Montana? Uh? Well, from my point, I hope pretty high. Um. You know, I think if the temperatures stay relatively cool, I mean I don't see it slowing down at all. Um. I mean I would, I would give it at least an eight, you know, and hopefully hopefully turned on from here. Generally, this week and Thanksgiving week the week coming have been our absolute best weeks of the rut. I mean, in the last twelve thirteen years. Um. So it's it's always an exciting time. You always look forward to it. Um. You hope you get the weather that you want, which is, you know, I prefer like mid twenties maybe, Um, but last year it crept up into the forties a couple of times last last year on this same week, and and the activity was just as good as ever. So it's it's one of those deals. You just you know what I mean, you you hope you get what you want. Light Keith, Well, good luck to your hunters in Camp. Thanks for joining me, yep, thank you, and that concludes this week's episode of Wired to Hunt's radio. Thanks to Bryce, bo Josh and Keith for joining me, and thank you guys for listening. As always, make sure you're following Weird to Hunt on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and follow me Spencer new Heart and my blog Rut Fresh on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Is well. Check out the meat Eater dot com this week for some videos, podcasts, and some articles by Mark and I, and it's also a great resource for all other things hunting, fishing, conservation, and cooking. Enjoy these final days of the rut, and until next time, stay Wired to Hunt.