00:00:02 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wire to Hunt podcast, your home for deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host, Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wire to Hunt podcast. I'm your host, Mark Kenyan, and this is episode number three eighteen and we're back for another Rut Fresh radio episode in which we are getting the latest intel from across the country on the progress of the RUT, current deer activity, and how you as a hunter can have success. Right now, welcome to the Wire to Hunt podcast, brought to you by on X. We are back here Spencer and myself for another Rut Fresh radio episode. That means we're talking about the latest updates and intel from across the country, as far as the progress of the RUT, as far as deer activity, as fair as current conditions, and what all this means for us as hunters when this comes out. We're entering heck it, what is the third week of November somewhere in there, give or take. So if if you guys are like me, you might be worn down. You might be a little bit exhausted from the marathon that is the first couple of weeks of November and all that crazy rut hunting. Hopefully you have to spend a lot of time in the woods. Um. But I'm here to tell you Spencer that there's still some good stuff to come, right, There's there's still reasons to listen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think for sure. Um. And And recently, Mark, in our white Tail weekly newsletter that comes out every Monday from Meat Eater, you had written in there that the end of October for some hunters is the preferred time to kill a mature buck. Can you go into a little bit more details as to why that would be? And you mean November not October, I'm sorry, the end of the end of November. Yes. And the basic gist, um, is that you know, many of us think about the first two weeks of November being that most exciting period because that's the build up to peak breeding. But if you live or hunt in an area where you don't have the middle of November fire arm opener, if you've got a spot where you can keep on bow hunting without that added gun pressure right through the month of November, that third week can sometimes be the very best when it comes to that really old, big, old giant buck. Because those old guys, they're experienced enough to know that there will still be some does coming into heat. So I've heard from folks. I remember reading from Don Higgins talking about this a while back, and a number of other people too that hunt in some states like that, that right around Thanksgiving, give or take, is a dynamite dynamite time. And I remember thinking this to myself maybe seven eight years ago. I was hunting down in Ohio and they don't have that gun season until December, so I remember being down there excited to finally be able to hunt in that like November twenty five period and and not have it all be a bunch of hunters and orange and was hoping for some of that late November activity And as sure as ship got it when in the middle of the day a buck I've been after, I was calling him Glenn at the time he can cruising through even And then an hour and a half later, the other buck I was after, I called him Jawbreaker. He came through a one thirty, just cruising right in the middle of the day looking for does still and it was November, I think. Um, And that's something that you hear from, you know, time and time again, from guys that are pretty experienced and stick it out. It's something you can you can count on, So I don't get that luxury. In Michigan, our firearms season opened on the fifteenth and and everything kind of goes out the window after that. Um. Not to say you can't still have success, but it's just different behavior. Um. But if you're able to keep going, if you have the time, if you can kind of summon the energy to keep after it, good things can happen. Yeah. And this is kind of an awkward time as a bow hunter to decide where to be because we're coming between peak rut and post rut. And so if if I were picking a place to hunt during this time of year, I'm thinking that I would still be looking for the same stuff that you were looking for like a week ago, dough betting and buck betting, pinch points funnels, those kinds of places. But if I was gun hunting, I think right now I would look more to field edges where you can take advantage that extended um you know, shooting distance of two yards whatever that is, and try to catch those doughs coming out in the evenings and hopefully there's a buck following. What what would your set up look like if you were bow hunting or god hunting right now, Mark, Yeah, well, I would say I would echo what you just said, that being the fact that does are still the ticket at this time of year. If you're looking for that old cruiser, he's still going to be checking those dough hotspots. So the dough betting areas, dope feeding areas, um so, so plant yourself right there. I would tell you, though, if you hunt in a state with heavy gun hunting pressure, and if you're in an area where there's a lot of other hunters around you, you're probably going to see a change in behavior as far as how deer relate to openings in fields. Because you know, if you're in Michigan and six hundred or seven hundred thousand hundreds have just been blasting at you for the last three days, you might be avoiding a wide open field. You might now want to stick to the cover. And that's not always the case. There's if there's pockets of pressure or pockets of unpressured land, those deer can still behave normally, but if you know that your ground has just been pounded, you might want to start thinking about that security cover. Try to find those escape zones, those little sanctuaries where bucks are going to get away from all the other hunters. It's a very different approach than targeting your typical rut areas. Um. But that is one thing you can do is take advantage of that gun hunting pressure, because you know that they pushed them out of all the normal spots. Find that safe zone where they escaped to, and if you can slip in there and detected, you might be able to catch a buck that thinks he's got all figured out. But but I'm benknownst to him. He'll be there. Um. So that's one other thing to think about. Yeah, and this is like a tough time of year to stay optimistic if you still have a tag and you're still bow hunting. But um, I think you've said a lot of things that they made sense, Mark, and I think that listeners will get a lot of good intel from the people that we talked to this week as well. I want to hear who those people are. But before we do, can I give you a special hot piece of intel. Absolutely, this is no one gets well. I guess the people follow me on social media they'll know this beforehand. But for podcast listeners, you're gonna get an update before anywhere else about some news related to my hunts. I got a sighting of Tran last night. He made it through the opening weekend of gun hunting season. So the buck up and after all year is still alive and on that property can hunt. They just start picking the corn last night too, So the standing corns coming down, my target buck is still alive, and I'm going out there right now to try to get a shot at them. So I've got a very You spoke about how it's hard to have optimism sometimes. Well, I just got a huge boost of optimism because when you get that corn coming down, there's nothing that's gonna pull dear, and like that it's in a little secluded spot, and uh man, I all of a sudden feel really good about my chances at this buck again. And are you carrying a gun with you? I am. I'm gonna go in there, and and I am an equal opportunity when it comes to weapons, So whatever is legal at the time, I'm gonna use. So try and better watch out and something that I'd like to take advantage of. When you do have that harvest, harvest springs with it a lot of chaos. There's combines in the fields. There's pickups in the field, there's grand cards in the field. UM, take advantage of that. And if you have a gun tag um, or if you want to hang another tree scene, like drive an a TV into the field with tree stands on and set that up. Or drive your pick up into the field and drop your ground blind off there and set up a ground blind. That's not going to look that out of the place following a harvest when there was all this chaos of machinery and noise and foreign objects and farm implements there. So a ground blind really isn't going to look that out of the ordinary. UM. I love to take advantage of those fresh harvests like this. Yeah, that's a really good point. And I'm planning on doing exactly that. I'm gonna hunt heading there and hunt tonight. If it doesn't work out tonight, uh, the next day, I'm gonna use I'm gonna finally be able to drive my truck back there. I'm gonna go and set up a couple more cameras to be able to observe some spots I haven't been able to get too easily without making an impact. I might rearrange a tree stand might throw up a ground blind a few of the different things you talked about. I've got a one day window or whatever. It might be a one or two day window while this is all happening, to take advantage of that cast. Like you said, so, I'm gonna swing for the fences. See if we can't make some late season or all late action happened. Alright, Mark, Well, besides your report in Michigan, we're also gonna hear from Keith Thompson in Montana from Montana White Tails, and then Kelsey Young from Knee Deep Outdoors in Kentucky, and then we go to Florida and from the Florida Outdoor Experience, we talked to Ryan Knitts, and then we go to Derek Nelson in Wisconsin from Matthews Archery. Good luck on your haunt with trand Mark, and we will talk to you next week, alright, and enjoining us online next is Keith Thompson in Montana from Montana White Tails. Keith in Montana, what would you say the buck activity has been lately? On a scale of one to ten, I'd give it a nine. It's really popped off here the last few days, surprisingly because it's been getting into the mid fifties during the day, but it hasn't seemed to slow it down at all. Um. Definitely bucks on their feet cruising for sure. So it's a good sign for us coming for the next two weeks of the season. So what phase of the route would you say that most of Montana is in for white tails? Definitely Here where we're at in southwest Montana, they're they're definitely seeking. Um. I've been glass in some fields here the last three or four nights and there has not been a single dough in the field that has not got her asked by every single buff that came through. I mean, it's it's the time to be in the woods around here, that's for sure. What kind of fields are you glassing? I'm staying food source out here is gonna be out out fields. Um, there's you know, it's just it's basically the only food there is around here. And you've got some brows, but that's kind of weak this year. So the out fassil fields has just been getting hammered and it's just it's been a dough frenzy, so the bucks have been really keying in on that. Would anything change for you with the food sources. If we've got some snow in that area, would it stay the same. It'll basically stay the same. Like I said, there's there's really not much else for them here. So as long as we don't get a super hard iced over snow here we can, we'll still target pretty much the same fields. If we're in that seeking and chasing phase in Montana that are you seeing some midday movement right now? Yeah, definitely. Um. I had a bow hunter this week kill one at Bunk was by himself said, his noses in the ground the whole time. He walked right to the base of the tree, hunting some Western open country like that. How do your set ups change with gun hunters versus bow hunters during this phase of the rock Obviously the a little bit easier. Well, we with our bow hunters, we we target the river bottoms, will hunt a lot of neck down points where the river might bend and it pinches him down to you know, maybe a forty to sixty wide yard gap, um, compared to like you said, with the rifle, we can we can cover a lot more ground. And you know, there's different fingers that branch off some of the creeks that I'll generally walk with the gun hunter and we'll kind of do some spot and stalks for the white tails for that. Are your hunters seeing any fresh signing camp? Definitely? Yeah. I had, Uh one of my hunters came in. He haunted to stand yesterday and I took him in this morning. He hunted it all day to day. Here at dinner we were talking about he said that there was two new scrapes in there, but then forty of the tree that definitely weren't there yesterday. So are you concerned with the moon phase at all when you're hunting white tails in Montana? I mean everybody has their own theory, but basically at this time of the year, and I think if you can get some decent weather and just be in the woods, I think it's going to happen eventually for you. So where are you running your trail cameras right now? Um? I have a theme set up on scrapes still, they're they're super active. I just want to pull two cards tonight and I had three new bucks show up that I haven't had a year long. And I mean these the deer have been pretty much homebodies all season, and these are three new ones this to the first. I've got new deer in probably a month, so that's encouraging to see. If we got quite a bit of snow, you'd expect that to drive some elk out of the mountains and change up where they're hanging out. We got quite a bit of snow. Would that change anything for the white tails though? Or do you think they'd still be doing the same stuff. I think it'll probably stay the same way because they're they're kind of isolated into the river bottom here where we're at, so I know it would definitely help though if we got some because it's going to push some of them dear out sooner into the outbat field little be a little bit easier to target them that way, I think 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 Montana? I would I would have to say, I hope it goes up. I mean, it's it's been so productive with mid fifty degree temperatures. If we can get it down in the twenties and thirties, I think it's really going to be good. I mean, no, nine and a half to ten, I would have to hope anyways. Alright, Keith, with good luck to your hunters in camp. Thanks for joining me, Thank you alright and joining us on the line. Next is Kelsey Young in Kentucky from Knee Deep Outdoors. Now, Kelsey in Kentucky, what would you say the bucket activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten um to say, in the past couple of days, it's heated up quite a bit, So for Big Bucks, I'd probably say it's about it, really close to nine or even maybe a pm. Um, we've got a very odd year with the heat and weather, so it's thrown the rough back really probably a week or two. And in the past couple of days, um, the Big Bucks have really been up to daylight chasing the dose quite aggressively. So what phase of the road do you think most of Kentucky is in right now? For the most part, I'd say they're really in the chasing properly, almost peak rout phase. I mean, we're in central Kentucky, so things maybe a little bit different more towards the western part of the state or northern part of the state. But for the most part, the deer is really the dose are starting to come and heat, and the deer's really starting to chase and get on the tails a lot. So what is your preferred set up at this phase of the rout Um I've had to go to set up, it's probably really just in a natural travel corridor for dose because they're really starting to come to heat. At any minute, a big buck could be right behind them, So I would probably have to say I would set up just in a natural corridor travel travel area where you know does come through frequently. If you think that that part of the country is a little bit behind with the rut right now, are you still seeing some relevant signmaking then oh yeah, they've been. The bucks have been wanting to rut for a couple of weeks now. They've been making a lot of scrapes. Um. I've actually been up to call a few small bucks in by rattling and grunting, So they've been ready for a little while. Was that they was kind of waiting on the doors to get kicked into gear. So here, um, probably these next coming days. I mean, if you can get in the woods, you really need to because it's gonna get good. So where are your trail cam is that right now, I try to possess my trail cams this side like where I really when I'm hunting on the natural travel ways, where does come through frequently? Because I mean, if you've got a hot dough and they're walking through that pathway, a bucks won't be behind them any minute. So it's just a good way to kind of get an inventory of what bucks you still have alive. And new bucks show up any day, so it's a good way to figure out what new bucks have came through. Gun season has been open for about two weeks now in Kentucky. How do your setups change when de you're responding to that pressure. Yeah, then for at first we again even second weekend, there's a lot of hunters out that's normally not out there, so the deer kind of go nocturnal on us. So we try to just stick it out. I mean, you never when they're rutting, you never know what's going to happen. But for the most part, um which I get as close as we can to bed and areas without bump them out because they try to hunker down and stand there, and every once I want to slip out and mess up force. As we get into the later part of the month and we get into post what food sources are you going to be focused on in Kentucky the real bad dry weather and heat. Um, most of our big kind of act fields have been cut already, so deer's kind of um going to natural brows. I mean, if there's still acrons on the ground or some kind of nut on the ground that you can see that deer's coming to and feed on. That's gonna be the best case scenario for where your um. That's really with the agg fields cut and everything else, that's if you can get to a natural browser, you know, dear is gonna be that's part of your best option. Right now, you've mentioned the heat and the drought a few times. Does that mean that you at a premium on water sources this time of year or is that still not something you're really concerned with during the rout. No, water is a very important thing during the rut um. I mean the big buck turk who's also they got miles at the time. So water, if you can find water in an area they're using, that's a key place to set in on. Luckily, where we where we hunt, um, there's a creek that runs right to the middle of it, so it's kind of water always there for them. But if you can find a water source that they are frequently a lot, then that's the place you need to be too. Going forward. Then, in the sex week or so, what do you think that buck activity is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Kentucky by this weekend? I'm gonna say it's still gonna be about a nine or tena but I've give it probably if you give five more days, the bucks are gonna start walking down with the does, and it's gonna get a lot tougher. Um. The younger bucks call still be trying to chase and find some dose so and may tamper off about a six or something about five or so days. All right, Kelsey, good luck to you and everyone else from Knee Deep Outdoors. Thanks for joining me. Thank you have a good alright and joining us online. Next is Ryan Knits from Florida from the Florida Outdoor Experience Narayan in Florida. What would you say the bucket activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten. Right now this time of year, we're looking out about an eight um and that's mostly because it's not degrees anymore. We're starting to feel the cold weather. And I mean with a flip of a switch, the bucks are out on their feet. What phase of the road would you say that different parts of Florida are in right now? Well, I'll start. I'll start in the bottom where I am, um, South Florida, and that's typically I would say Orlando at South Um. As far as the rut goes, I would say the main part of it is over um. You know that that part is usually the beginning of bow season in September. That's when we see are really good rut here um. And like I always tell everybody that the Florida should be broken up into two parts. South Florida is a totally different part. In the North Florida. It's a lot warmer down here. Are temperatures stay a lot warmer down here than that than it does up in the Panhandle in North Florida. So are right here, um can be anywhere from September, which I think is the best part, till January, and it could be any time at any point in time in between. You could catch a dough and heat getting chased by a buck. Um as you move your way north central Florida, and in northern central Florida, I think right now until Thanksgiving is going to be the time to be Um. The cold fronts are heating up there, and um, you know, the oaks are dropping. Um, not many people. You know a lot of people who use corn to bait and deer. They're not seeing them on their corn piles. That's very typical this time of year because the acorns are dropping. Once those acorns dropped, you're not going to get them on the corn. It's just not what happens. And then you got the panhandle of Florida, Um, your talahasty and that is not gonna get good. I think until December and January. It's very consistent with Alabama. So that whole part of the state that touches Alabama, you're not gonna see much activity. I mean, you know you might start seeing it right now. Um, I'm not sure as a sign up there. But down here in the South, all our rugs are old. You know, they're not bright orange anymore. You can see they're about a month old. And so that's pretty much where we are with the phase of the rut. You mentioned acorns briefly, there. What other food sources should Florida hunters keyed in on right now? Well, if you're a private land hunter, um, like I said, even if if you have protein in there. The deer now that it's starting to get colder, so they're gonna start thinking about food again. A lot of stuff down here in Florida is starting to die. It's not green anymore. So whatever is green, the deer down here will eat it. Does not matter what it is. There's nothing you know down here in the South. If you're a public land hunter, Um, there's not much to work with, and the deer don't really have much to work with either. So if you can find anything green, and most of the times that's gonna be flag ponds, canals, anything like that, Um, the deer will eat it. I've seen him eat twigs. So whatever you can find that is green and looks lush, those deer are gonna be hitting it. What does a typical post rut set up look like for you in your part of the state, Well, post rut. So where I'm at in the South, we do get a second rut, and is it's just as good, if not better than the first one? I think, Um, January, early January. Down here in the South, we always get a good rut. I've seen bucks fighting to the death the first week of January. UM. So down here in the South it's wild, wild West. You can be hunting rutting bucks up until January. But I do think that post right, you're gonna maybe start um hitting the food sources. It's nothing but food source, food source, food source, food source. UM and those cold temperatures you can catch I catch a lot of deer working bag ponds. And if you don't know what flag pon is, it's just an open area and a pine flat that's filled with water. And you'll catch those deer in a cold winter morning, just sitting in those flag ponds. Whether they're just maybe the water is a little warmer, but they're also eating the little bit of what, whether it's an algae or whatever kind of greener he's coming from that water. You'll catch them a lot of times in those flag ponds. Do you plan for the moon at all this time of year? I don't. UM. I've never really been a moon guy. Um. If you know I'm out there, I don't care if it's overhead, underhead, how big it is, I'm out there. Um, of course, you know the full moon. You know, I sit all day and I do see a lot of big deer on their feet midday on a full moon, I see it a lot. So, Um, you know, a couple of days after a full moon I think can be really good if you can sit all day. Um, that's just how it is. But I've never really been wanting to pay attention to the moon too much going full were then in the sext week or so, what do you think that bucket activity is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Florida. I think it's gonna get even better. I'm gonna say and give it a nine next week. Um. The temperatures are staying pretty consistent, which is good. You know Florida, the winter can be very hit or miss here. You get a cold front for three days and then it's back to ninety. And that hasn't been the case yet. It's been cold. It's staying, you know cold. And when I stay cold, fifty degrees to seven degrees instead of seventy to ninety. Um. So if it stays consistent as far as temperature wise, which it has, it's just gonna keep getting better. Um, you know those big bucks, now, I don't I don't think you're gonna be killing them necessarily, maybe so much of the right, it's just mostly the temperatures and the days are getting shorter. Um, so if you get a nice cold morning, good chances are that buck is going to be out there. All right, Ryan, good luck with that cold front. Thanks for joining me, all right, thanks alright and joining us on the line. Next is Derrek Nelson in Wisconsin for Matthews a tree Now, Derek in Wisconsin. What would you say the bucket activity is Ben Lanley? On a scale of one to ten, I put it right right around a seven probably. Um. You know, I think a lot of people have been experiencing this last week. Um, you know kind of what's known as you know lockdown. Um, a lot of these a lot of the bucks that blea bensie and you know they haven't been seeing they have been getting photos kind of you know, like a lot more nocturnal stuff, um, you know with those so um, you know, it was kind of it was going pretty heavy kind of from you know, probably the fourth through about the tenth and then you know we have we've had a a few days where it seems like it's been slowing down a little bit, but um, it's kind of starting to break loose again from you know what I've seen, what a lot of my coworkers have been seeing in these last few days, especially this last weekend. What's your strategies for setups during the lockdown phase and then coming out of that lockdown phase going into post rud Um. Well, I'm mean what I've been trying to do, and um, what a few of my friends you have been trying to do is is you know, hunting a lot closer to betting than food and doe betting in particular. Um, it's something you know, I've been hunting a lot of public up here. Um, and you know, when we don't really have you know, unpressured food sources to hunt, you kind of gotta figure out where deer betting and try to get as close as you can safely to those and um, you know, so if you can get in where you know, traditionally there's been a lot of dope betting, there's been a lot of buck activity on you know at the edges of that, and um that's been you know, turning up decent results for a lot of people recently. So are you still seeing any signmaking in Wisconsin? So? Um, on my pieces that haven't been it's actually funny. I'm I'm sitting in the truck right now. We're on our way back. We just pulled one of my buddies just pulled the camera off of one of his pieces, and um, it was funny because his camera was set up on um like a big community scrape that he was he was pulling his his camera down because there's actually other guys are gonna come in and gun hunt that piece. Doesn't want to get his stuff getting stolen, but he's who and grabbed it and got back in the truck. He's like, man, that scrape is still wide open. Um. Which I've had a you know, a few cameras on scrapes on a couple of my pieces and they kind of you know, um, they hadn't been hit you know, recently at all, but apparently they're still getting hit in some spots. So with that gun opener coming up this weekend, what's your strategy. He's a public land bowl hunter. When you're trying to account for that extra hunting pressure, Um, that's a tough one, you know. I Um. I've hunted on public um during the gun opener a couple of times and thought, you know what, I'm just gonna get as deep as I can and um, you know, try to hit some overlook spots. And I haven't had a ton of a ton of luck with um getting away from people. UM. I mean there's more hunters in the in the woods you know, this week again than like anywhere else in the country ever. So UM, it can be a little tricky. UM so UM. You know, I'm not sure I really have an awesome answer for that yet, but I'll let you know if I find one. Are you doing any calling or decoying during that lockdown phase at the rut? Um? Yeah? Calling actually, UM kind of this um the tail end of the rout when you know, kind of this like desperately seeking phase. I know a few of the guys that work we're just talking about how rattling can be. UM. Like. Some of the most effective rattling you can have is right now. And you know my boss actually two days ago, UM like rattled in a good buck right to the base of his tree. Um. On Friday. Um before this past weekend, I rattled in a buck UM and so it's been it's been decently effective um right now, just kind of got to be in the right place at the right time. You talked about when you're hunting public land, how it's a challenge to find those destination food sources, but what is the food that you are focused on when you are hunting those pieces been kind of um primarily focusing on on you know, corn as it's getting cut um has been I guess the most effective um for me um actually on you know, I hunt a lot of public um, but I've also got you know, one little private piece that you know, I've had access to as well, and it was mainly all corn um this year, and it could there's actually this one little this little kind of secluded corn field just probably like four acres up on the top of this ridge that just got cut um last week. And I was in there like two days after it got cut and I saw a lot of activity up on that cut corn and you know, in the kind of the fields um surrounding my piece. It all kind of came out probably a week before that, and you could tell there's a lot of like nighttime movement out in the in the corn. But on my cameras that were on the edge of that. I was getting a lot of activity right dark and after dark, just um dear pouring into that stuff. So, um, that's kind of been what I've been keeting on going forward. Then in the next week or so, what do you think that bucket activity is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Wisconsin only think? Um, I think the gun season is gonna have a little bit of an effect on it. Um, But I think kind of here they're coming out of out of lockdown a little bit, and you're those bucks are looking for the last few days that are that are coming in. Um. I think I think it's gonna spike a little bit, but I probably put it, you know, around a seven or and eight against all Right, Derek, I hope you get a chance to use that new VX are good luck and thanks for joining me. Appreciate it man. And that concludes this week's episode of rut Fresh Radio. Thanks to Keith, Kelsey, Ryan and Derek for joining me, and thank you guys for listening. If you want more great intel like this, make sure you're checking out The Meat Eater dot com and subscribe to our White Tail weekly newsletter where you're gonna hear a bunch more on the rut from people like me Mark and Tony Peterson. Good luck with what is left of your rut hunting, and we will talk to you next week, But until then, stay wired to hunt.

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