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 Hunt Podcast. I'm your host, Mark Kenyan, and this is episode number three hundred and six, and today in the show, we're back for another one of our fresh radio episodes in which we're getting the latest intel from across the country on what deer doing right now, how current conditions are impacting it, and the tactics that are working right now. All right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by on X. We're here for this week's rout fresh radio episode in which we are going to dive into the latest and greatest intel from across the country in regards to what white tailed deer doing right now. And Spencer interviewed a handful of guys all across the country. We're gonna get those updates shortly, but for now, we've got to do our quick intro check in session. Uh, Spencer, what's on your mind? Do we have some good news coming up? Are people excited? Are people kind of saying, hey, it's slow, there's nothing going. What's the general vibe? People are optimistic? Because we are coming off of a cold front and now we're going into another cold front. Basically, wherever you haunt in the country, you either caught a cold from last weekend or you're getting one this weekend. And that gets hunters pretty excited. Yeah, it's uh, it generally leads to some good stuff. So, yeah, I'm actually going to be doing a mentor hunt this coming weekend, taking out part of that Field to four program by q d m A. And so we're taking eight new hunters into the field for the first time, and I think the conditions will be perfect for so I'm excited for that too. Yeah, such cool program. Now, we if a lot of these fronts that you get in October, you tend to see some precipitation as well, and you kind of give your thoughts annually on this market as far as what rain will do to deer movement. But can you tell us about that again? How how you think rain this time of year, anytime and fall can suppress or help deer movement. Yes, So what I've always seen in Michigan is that we get a disproportionately good amount of movement during rain events by mature bucks. Um. I think that typically the typical thing you see is if it's a really really hard downpourt, it's gonna slow movement. But as soon as the ease is up to a light trickle, or if it stops for a little bit, then the deer just seemed to pour out. So lots of times it can be a good thing. If I see rain in the forecast, I want to be in the woods, if not during it, at least immediately after it stops. Um. Take for example, my first hunt in Michigan. I told you about it. Well, I don't know if we did talk about because we talked about the night before my first hunt. But the night of my very first hunt, it was pouring rain, wendy, lots and lots of rain, and started seeing deer trolling out as that rain just started slow a little bit. Buck dough dough dough dough, buck dough, dough dough, And then all of a sudden, really nice, big three and a half year a buck came out while I was still raining. And I saw maybe four or five different bucks that night, ten to fifteen does. Um. So they were definitely moving in that And you know, I don't know why it is. I know some people don't seem to think dear moving all in the rain. But I talked to a lot of people in states like Michigan or Pennsylvania, and they seem to see that mature bucks, for whatever reason, made me feel a little bit more comfortable in those conditions. John eber Hearts a guy who preached this for a long time, and because of what he said, I started hunting in the rain a lot and started seeing this too. He has always theorized as because hunt is often aren't out there, and so that's become like a safe period for older bucks to move around in daylight. I don't know if that's the case or not. I can only speak anecdotally, but from my experience when I'm out there in the rain, I see better dear more often, so I'm not letting it keep me inside, and especially want to make sure that if it slows down or stops, you want to be there to catch that inflution movement. So that is how I look at rain. I will say a couple of things. Number One, if you are hunting in the rain, I always am hoping for it to be stopping soon after, because the concern is always blood trail. So if it is raining and it doesn't stop when I think it's gonna stop, or if it picks up more than I thought it's going to be. If if the rain is pretty pretty serious, I either will not take a shot at all if it's going to be a constant, constant downpour, or I'm gonna wait for it to be a very close, very perfect shot. Um. You know, if my max ranges forty, if it's raining and it doesn't seem to be stopping, I'm taking a twenty yards shot or in and it's got to be a perfect broadside shot. Like you don't want to have any question marks about tracking that deer. Um. I would also say that thinking about how you're gonna handle that blood trail is important as well. So I'm definitely not gonna push a deer if it's raining, because I would rather I hope it's going to bed down and die right away wherever it is, versus push it and then have a deer run a mile and then not have a blood trail. So I'm I'm thinking about that. Another thing to consider if you do shoot a deer in the rain is that a dog, a tracking dog, can track very well still in the rain, So In that case, Let's say you decided to go out, it starts to rain, maybe part way through your hunt, your eize, oh crap, I've got worries about a blood trail, or maybe it started rain just after you took a shot. In many cases, that dog will have a better chance of tracking the deer if you don't go walk all over things. So don't go trounce all over the place looking for blood. If you know this is going to be a dicey blood trail, just immediately call your buddy who has a dog, or look online trying to find someone. If it's legal in your state, that can be a dynamite way to recover your deer. Even if the blood trail is hard for you to follow, it's not going to bother the dog. We had this experience last year with my buddy Andy. He shot a deer in the rain. We picked up my buddy who has a dog, and we tracked it right to him. So keep that all in mind. Be very careful, um, because yes, while deer are moving in the rain, you don't want to lose a deer that you hit. So it's a very careful balancing act and you have to make a critical decision there um whether or not it's it's it's ethical to take that shot. So that's something I'm always trying to figure out my own mind, and um, it's something you need to factor into your decision making as you hunt. Well, I'm gonna be a bit of a wet blanket. But there is no research that shows that dear move like better during rain or better right after rain. But with that said, there are a ton of hunters. Hused, what a horrible pun. By the way, Yeah, you're gonna be a wet blanket there. There are a ton of hunters, though, who's a pinion? And I really respect and intel, I really like to get that say just what you said. That deer movement seems to be increase falling a rain shower. And I think back to an episode last year on RUT Radio. It was it was early to mid October, right around this time of year when Alex comp Stuck killed a giant public land white tail in Minnesota, and that was exactly the scenario for him. It was raining all evening, rain let up, I think like thirty minutes before sunset. It was kind of an ideal scenario. When bucks we're getting on their feet anyway, and uh, he ended up killing a big white tailent and he really credited that jumping deer movement falling a rain shower. Yeah, and I think if that rain is coming, I'd rather be in the tree than not. And um, see what happens. Get some rain gear, get a little tree umbrella, stick it out, because yeah, as soon as it lets up, it can just be dynamite. So I don't you don't want to miss it. You don't want to be sitting in the house. And then check your trail camera the next day or something and see that once the rain died down a little bit, they're all on their feet and you were inside eating hamburger. That's a bad feeling. So um since the last podcast, I think the last time you and I chatted that was after the very first night of the Michigan season, and I told you about how that buck trans showed up right, So the next day and I discussed this a little bit on the main episode of the wire Hunt podcast that'll be coming out tomorrow, so I won't get too much into this, but as I just alluded to a second ago, with that whole rainy night, that rainy night, Hunt happened, saw a bunch of deer. Uh, saw a really nice three and a half year old buck that I ended up passing on. UM. A lot of action, and then I hunted the next two days, still trying to get a shot at Tran. Didn't end up seeing him anymore. UM, so I took three stabs at him in the early season. Didn't work out, but I saw a pretty good amount of action. Saw that three and a half year old buck moving in daylight twice the night he was at ten yards, and I saw him the next night a couple hundred yards away. Um. And then over the past three days I've started hunting on the back forty and those are the first hunts in the back forty property, which is exciting to see, exciting to see how it, you know, actually plays out. After having done all this work in the summer, now getting to sit up in a tree and watch it for the first time was really cool. UM. Kind of a good news bad news situation is that hiking in for the very first hunt, I bumped a buck right off the edge of the field UM, in an area I was not expecting anything to be bettered, and it was a big mature buck. Big bodied, wide deer went jumping off and you could see him, and uh, so good news that we've got a mature buck. Bad news that we spooked him and that was our only mature buck sighting, but nice to know we have it. And we saw a good number of does, some young bucks. Our second night, I saw a couple of young bucks sparring off in the distance. And then last night we had a guest hunter in Cooperative Extension Bachealists from UC Berkeley who has been doing some very interesting research UM related to land use and private land conservation and the impacts of hunting on conservation, so stuff that ties in really nicely to what we're doing. And he came out and hunted for a couple of nights and he shot a doe last night. So we have the first deer off the back forty so that is uh, it's been pretty good, good to decent movement. I'd say like five to six on a ten um. We're seeing deer having fun, but not a ton of mature buck activity. Well, besides your Michigan report, we also have a report in Indiana from Brad Beaver at Lone Wolf Tree Stand. Then we talked to Caleb Combs in Oklahoma from Stewart Ranch Outfitters. Then we go to Virginia and from First Light we talked to Taylor Chamberlain and then we talked to Josh Sparks from Midwest white Tails in Iowa. What is the date again for your first white tail hunt? My first white tail hunt is like five days away at this point. I will be heading back to South Dakota soon after we wrap up the podcast, and I have a few days to archery hunt. But then after that I have a muzzleloader tag that I will be after for about a week straight there and that kind of kicks off my month of hunting a ton being gone a bunch of weekends, and hope that I don't get divorced. I'll tell her to be nice to you and let you get out there and hunt, because it's been too damn long since you have been white tail hunting. So I'm glad you're getting after and and interesting you make this point. Um, You're gonna have to run Fresh Radio solo next week because I'm going to be in Minnesota on my boundary waters hunt, totally off the grid. Um, I think or maybe maybe we'll be recorded just before I leave for that. Maybe we'll be able to do that. Um, but we'll be we'll both be getting in some interesting adventures here very shortly, so we need to talk about that. It's looking like it's gonna a little bit a rugged trip, Spencer. I'm seeing snow and very cold temperatures in the forecast. So yeah, the the entire Midwest. I'm like concerned about how I'm going to get back to South Dakota. For some of these Hunt speakers. There is a lot of snow and wind between here and home. Yeah. Well, I guess next week's we're at Refresh radio will be very interesting. So until then, I suppose we've just tuned into what we've got today. All Right, we'll talk to you next week or two weeks from now. All right, we'll figure it out, alright. And joining us on the line first is Brad Beaver in Indiana from Lone Wolf Tree stands Now. Brad in Indiana, what would you say the bucket activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten. Um. On scale one to ten, I mean it's October, so I put it at three or four. UM. It was nice last week because of uh that early October cold front we got I think had some of the bucks up on their feet. But again it's still really early, so I'm gonna stick with three or four. When you see a cold front come like that in early to mid October, how does that change your setups or do you get a little bit more aggressive? Oh? Definitely. Um. You know, anytime those October could crons come in, you have to kind of be prepared, um different than one I think would be in November. Whereas that drastic temperature change really gets the deer up on off their feet, so you really have to approach it, at least I do anyway, a lot more aggressively than something later in the season. UM. That being said, I I hunted a lot of buck betting um this last week in Indiana. Um, whereas in November I would probably focus more on food. This could be an awkward time of year for finding what the deer eating. With harvest and acorns eating the ground. What are you seeing there in Indiana for the preferred food source? That's a good question. I mean, if you can find um an oak flat or anytime acorns are on the ground, I think in October that's going to be the place to be UM. But the big problem. I think that the problem with the buck movement is that the crops are still up so UM. I hunted stand beans a little bit, and I think because of the cool front, that's why I saw some of my movement um, and they were hitting the beans. But with standing porn being up, um and all these crops still be in it, it's it's super tough to pin down bucks this time. Here. What are you seeing for signmaking right now? So obviously starting to pick up. UM. I saw a few scrapes here and there along along tree lines. I'm really starting to see rubs pop up. I think those kind of comes first, UM, and then they as the temps drop, they'll focus more on their scrapes. But um, again, obviously UM. Going into the second week of October, it's it's really gonna start picking up. Are you concerned about moon phases at all this time of year? I don't hunt moon phases at all, um. And the reason being is, you know, if the moon is full or if the moon is if there is no moon, I'm gonna hunt either way. I just you know, I don't have time to pick and choose when I get to be in the woods. So anytime I can be in the woods, I'm gonna be there. Um. Now, I do pay attention to it, just kind of for my own records, Like if I see bucks and think, oh, well, there was no moon, so maybe that's why. Um. But as far as hunting moons, I don't. I don't really pick out when I need to hunt and when I don't based on the moon. As someone who does a lot of hanging hunts, how does your equipment or your setups change from now kind of until we get into the rut. Yeah, that's a good question. I I hanging hunt, I would say nine percent of time. Um. I just like like staying mobile. Um My, my equipment is not going to change hardly at all between now and once we moved to the rut, but definitely my tactics will. I'll get a lot more addressive during the rut. As far as hanging hunting in the mornings, um, this time of year, if I can avoid it, I will try to avoid hanging hunting in the mornings, just because it's loud and inconvenient when it's dark. Um. So as we move more towards the rut in a November or I'll do a lot more hanging hunts in the morning and get a little more aggressive than I would be this time of year. Do scrapes factory into your decision making it all this time of year? Is that's something that you like to set up on. Yeah, so just because I think that's where this time of year, I think that's where you can pinpoint Bucks two is scraped and they're not as focused on food right now. I would say, um, if you can get into a betting area, I think you could jump on a book a little easier. But I would definitely if you can find an active scrape and if you know that Buck is checking it a lot in early October, I think that's a great place to be going forward. Then this next week or so, what do you think that Buck activity is going to be on a scale of one to tend in Indiana? I mean, obviously the closer we we moved in November, it's gonna go up. I mean that's a that's a given. Um next week, especially this weekend, we're supposed to have a really big cool trunt come through the entirement West. So um I expected it to be up higher than it was last week. Obviously, UM I don't think we're gonna be full bore pre rut. I would. I would put it in the five to six category out of out of tune are Brad, I like your optivism, Good luck in Indiana, and thanks for your time. Yeah, man, thanks for having me on alright and joining us on the line. Next is Caleb Combs in Oklahoma from Stewart Ranch Outfitters. Now, Caleb in Oklahoma, what would you say the buck activities been lately? On a scale of one to ten, I would say it's about us six h just because I'm always a little bit more optimistic than most. But typical early season stuff. We had about normal temperatures a little higher at first, So if you were on them, if you knew where the betting was, if you already had intail, it was real good. But if you were further out on field edges and stuff probably wasn't successful. It seemed like you must have had that intael because you just killed a big buck in Oklahoma. Tell me a little bit about that set up and why you were in the area you were. No, it was a good opener for me. Uh, I don't usually have success this early. I usually try and eight tell October tenth ish, it's about the time I started seeing them moving more. But this year I went ahead and went October one. We had a buck that I've been watching for a couple of years. It's a set up so that all the bucks come out of their bedding and then they're making their way through a transition area. It gets covered up in scrapes later on in season. There's a lot of scrapes. It's on the end of the scrape line, and so I hunted with the south winds and the bucks will cut you in directly in front of you. Um. It took me a long time to figure that out, but I find my got it and that's exactly what happened, shout him at like six o five. Luckily I went and checked that camera after Initially I was wrong because he was there and it worked out surprisingly well. What's the acorn crap like this year in Oklahoma? Everything I've seen so far, it's a banner year for acorns. Traditionally it'll be like the white acorns will produce one year, or the red acorns um will drop. But this year it seems like every tree that's in the woods is making acorns, so it will be interesting as far as trying to pattern it out, find whatever tree there enjoying the most. You know, white acorns are early red acorns late, but it's going to be interesting for sure. Are you seeing much signmaking yet in Oklahoma? I don't usually see that much personally. Tell about the second week of October. That's when I start seeing, uh a lot of the bucks starting to make scrapes and making their way around. But it's also just one of my favorite times to be out there. It's around the twelve October twelves just for some reason seems like they start picking up more and they start doing a little more pre rut checking different spots. Much of the Great Planes had a lot of rain this spring and summer. Did that change anything in Oklahoma as far as harvest status or mess up any betting areas, I didn't see any of it. It It looked like they still we have a dry spell there towards like when all the corn was harvested and everything. So as far as I saw, everybody got everything out in a time manner, I think it'll be good. As far as antler growth, we had a really wet spring. I think there's been a lot of Forbes a lot of forge um. That's a trend that's been going on the last two or three years in Oklahoma. I think it will continue. I think there'll be some really big deer out there. How do your strategies change when you see an approaching cold front like we have coming this weekend. Luckily, I already had a trip planned for this weekend, so I was going either way. But I think it's going to be really good the cold front moves through. I think like Thursday, Friday, Thursday night, Friday morning, there's supposed to be quite a bit of rain, so I always I won't make it, but if anybody can make it Wednesday night, I would assume that would be really good. And then I think the whole rest of the weekend will be great, whether it's whatever time it quits rain and where you're at Friday and then Friday evening, Saturday all day going forward. Then in the next week or so, what do you think that bucket activity will be on a scale of one to ten in Oklahoma? I'm always optimistic, so i'd put it high. I'd say about a nine. It's one of my favorite times of the year because it's pre ruts pre chaos. Everybody to be cruising cold front will have them on their feet. I mean, I don't see how it could get any better as far as just timing, It's gonna be good, our capable. Congrats on the awesome dear, and thanks for joining me. Hey, I appreciate alright and enjoining us on the line. Next is Taylor Chamberlain from First Light in Virginia. Taylor, on a scale of one to ten, what would you say the buck activity is ben Leyley in Virginia overall, I'd say buck activities about three to four. And I'd say that because, um, really not seeing a ton of daylight movement right now. Um, you know, I am seeing some some mature dear, uh starting to you know, make sign a lot of scrape activity right now, especially around the primary food sources. But um, you know, they're really not doing a ton of daylight movement. It's all mostly night pictures that we have on this craps right now. So, um, you know, as far as hunting goes, I definitely give it a three to four on on buck activity. You touch on food sources there now, most hunters this time of year focused on acorns and crowd fields. Things like that. But you do a lot of urban hunting, so I assume that's different. What are the food sources that you're looking for this time of year. I mean every food source that I hunted is properly specific, but food is key. So on properties that I have where they have some acorns, especially white oaks, I'm keying on those, especially on years like right now, where I don't have a ton of mass on the ground. The few white oaks that are dropping are pretty much guaranteed spots to have dear activity. If there's a mature buck in that area, um, he will be on that food source system, matter of catching him before light ends or catching him there in the morning. Outside of that, you know, I have a unique situation here where on the suburbs, the food source could literally be the landscaping on that property, um, shrubs, brows, I mean, whatever the deer turning to um that that's where you're gonna find them. But I really try to key in on the white oaks this time of year, uh, as long as there aren't a ton of them on the ground, and and here in in suburbia, we don't have a ton of options for white eggs. So where you find them and you can hunt them, You're gonna find deer guaranteed. Do you see the same kind of lull this time of year where bucks are harder to spawn daylight as hunters across the country that are hunting farms and more rural properties, I don't really see much of a low. UH. The loll that that I see is the direct correlation to pressure. So if you have an area, or if I have an area that has a mature buck in it, or any buck for that matter, just deer in general, and we start hunting, or I'm in there hunting at a good bit putting pressure on it, there's deer will react to that pressure and they'll start to move more in the UH outside of daylight hours. But on properties where I might not get around the hunting them for a while or there's no pressure on them, I very rarely see much of a lull. I actually see pretty much of a linear increase in more and more daylight activity based on the closure we get to the end of the month. Now you've run a lot of trail cameras. How does your trail camp setups change from early October until they run? As soon as I start seeing scraping activity or deer that are making sign I try to find those primary scrapes or uh that big communal scrape that's close to bedding or you know normally this time of year it's right around the primary food source. That's the best place in my opinion, to get activity or get get a good uh feeling of every buck in that area, because they're all going to come through there, and it's a great way to kind of get an inventory of what's in the area. And and and based on the timing of this picture, you can figure out kind of how the timing and frequency, you can figure out how how close that deer is living. So you know, if you have a deer coming by once a week at two o'clock in the morning, odds are that bucks probably not living too close by. UM. Again, in my my situation that your tend to travel pretty far because they have to to find food sources and also have cover, and you know they live in tiny wrote pockets where um where human human interference doesn't get to him. But if you have a deer coming by rate a daylight or his on a scrape, you know in the morning or in the evening pretty early before shooting light ends, you know that deer is bettered close by and have much better chance of harsen that animal. You're probably more likely to be hunting in rain there in Virginia than most hunters I talked to you. So how do you notice that change or suppressed deer movement? Uh? You know, I find that the rain doesn't really affect the dear too badly. If it's blown sideways and thirty miles an hour, then you know, if I don't want to be in the tree, odds are that you aren't gonna be up and moving. But on those light, misty rains, I find that the deer are moving a ton. Um. I really love like a light, light rain and a nice high pressure system with a uh, you know, a relatively low and consistent wind. I find a really good movement on days like that, foggy days too. Um, I see a ton of good movement going forward. Then in the six week or so, what do you think that bug activity is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Virginia. I think in Virginia we're still going to be in that three to four range. I mean, if you if you have a really good primary scrape on that primary food source. I get in there and hunt, and I think you have a really good chance of of shooting your target animal. But outside of that, I don't see any reason to push it. I think the moon is pretty bad and our bare mutch pressure is really low for us right now. So here in Virginia, I'm I'm holding off. I'm hunting secondary areas or you know, maybe taking a couple of flyers on some betting areas, But for the most part, I'm I'm waiting until the week after this to really start hand right down. All right, Taylor, great intel, and thanks for joining me. Thanks for having me all in joining us on the line. Last is Josh Sparks from Iowa with Midwest white tails. Now, Josh in Iowa, what would you say the buck activity has been lately on the scale of one to tend uh scale? Woman Send, I would say a buck activity in general has been a six um just saying that because of the recent cold front that we had to go through, and it was definitely a spike, uh, you know, compared to what you'd expect for that first week in October. What food sources are you focused on right now? In Iowa? A state that has a lot of big egg but also some pretty big acorn crops. Um. So the piece of public land that I actually had a really good counter on this past week. UM, I was focused on beans just because it was a pretty safe play as far as doing a hanging hunt. You know, first week of October and there's a big acorn flat right next to it. With the north wind, we were able to sneak in there, sneak out. But so really I could say it is focus on acorns and egg. When we have another approaching cold front coming like this weekend, what is your strategy as a public land hunter? Um, you know, the public land hunter, I'm not really holding anything back just because everything that I'm going to try, anybody else is welcome to do that themselves. So we're gonna go into that same spot with the north wind, I think bucks will be up on their feet again. Ideally with the cold front there's a big thunderstorm day on Thursday and then on Friday. The reason why I'm setting up on that bean field is because of all the scrapes that are popped up on the edge that we're hoping to catch a buck coming to freshen up those scrapes, and as we're getting further into mid October, hopefully I can do a little bit of calling and maybe bring him in the boat ranges. Time you just touch on scrapes there a little bit. But how much do signmaking factor into your decision making this time of year and how does that change once we get closer to the rug um this time of year, It's definitely going to be a lot more influential just because that's what I'm hunting. I'm not really breaking into September as much. Um. I'm really all about access and whether or not I can get in and out clean. So as far as signed, you know, scrapes are really the only thing I'm paying attention to as of right now. As a public land hunter, when do you notice an increase in hunting pressure when you have an obvious cold front coming through like this weekend? Do you expect to see more guys in the woods. I definitely set to see more guys in the woods just because of the weekends. Uh, That's one thing that I would definitely say. In Iowa specifically, I noticed the pressure increases exponentially with the rut, and that's the time of year that we're getting a lot out of state hunters, guys taking their vacations. So really I think October early mid amily is an underlooked time of year to go out and hunt on public land. Personally, with harvest taking place in Iowa anywhere from now until mid November, how does that normally change things for you in the combines at the fields? Uh So, for in Iowa this year, at least where I'm hunting, harvest is gonna be a little bit later than normal field They're still pretty wet. But as of right now, I'm using that to my advantage of hunting along those you know, agricultural fields. Once those crops come out, that will cause me to go deeper into the September um just because I think that's where they are going to start the transition for cover, especially bucks. And as we get further into the year, you know, I'm more or less focusing on where the doors are gonna be opposed to where I think the bucks are, So it really just kind of changes where I'm focused going forward. Then in the sext week or so, what do you think that buck activity is going to be on a scale of one to tend in Iowa coming Friday at least, so we're gonna be I would say anywhere from the six and seven, just because of that cold trying Friday. We're gonna rain Alliday Thursday, and then we've got about a twenty five three temperature drops. It's gonna be down the low thirties and that's I think that's gonna shock the deer in the activity and hopefully them mature box just like it did this past week. All right, Josh, Well, good luck to you and everyone else at Midwest White Tails. Thanks for joining me, appreciate it. And that concludes this week's episode of rut Fresh Radio. Thanks to Brad, Caleb, Taylor, and Josh for joining me, and thank you guys for listening. I hope this October coldfront finds you well and I'm excited to take advantage of it, like I hope many of you are. But until we talk next week, stay wired to Hunt

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