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. Today in the show, we're here for rut Fresh Radio, in which we're getting updates from hunters all across the country on the latest deer activity, current conditions, and the tactics that can work for you. Right now, all right, welcome to another episode of the Wired Hunt podcast, brought to you by on X and UH. It's a rout Fresh radio day. We are still on it getting updates from all across the country on what's happening in the white Tail woods. And at this time of the year, it's not really you know, rut related, it's going to be more are so weather related, It's going to be more so what's the food source, deer feeding on different things like that, because we're we're into their late season. This is this is that time of year where if you've got certain things in your favor, you could be in for some great hunts. If you don't have those things in your favor, it might be really rough. Um, something that's nice to have in your favor is to have some friends that have got a primo property that they invite you to go hunt and and and chase and explore big bucks on and Spencer. I here, that's what you have been up to recently? Have you been putting together a beautiful case study for us and how to kill a big, old, mega giant buck in December? Ah? Man? After this last week, Um, it seems pretty simple. So I just got home from Kansas. UM. I was haunting with our friends Nate and Thomas Crick from Identical Jaw. You've heard them on rut Fresh radio before, maybe even on the regular podcast. I don't know if they have been on an episode or not, Mark Um, but they they bought um eighty acres in Kansas and decided they were going to turn into a deer mecca. Have you ever heard of anybody doing anything like that? Mark? You know, I've heard someone trying to do it in a slightly less interesting state than Kansas. Um. They did, all right, but maybe not as big of bucks as the Kansas eighty. Sure yep, So those guys might be something that rhymes with back forth it that's right, that's right. So those guys invited me down to come and hunt their Kansas ad property this fall. And so I went down there for gone season, and now I came home with my biggest buck of the year. You know, from a tactics standpoint, we knew that there was going to be good movement here. These guys have had this property for a few years, and they were telling me that last December and last January, their trail cameras had big bucks um like damn near every day in December and January. And it's for one big reason. They had the best food. While everyone else um had picked corn and picked soybeans, these guys had standing soybeans, they had clover, and they had brassicas, and the deer really wanted to be there. Um And and their trail cameras almost function as many people's do doing the row when new new bucks are showing up, and you're like learning about these bucks that are in the neighborhood and they're just like passing through the property. Well, for them, that happens right now because they have the best food. Um And and that's how we ended up killing this deer. We killed him on the fifth night, and we'd hunted every day in morning and evening, and after the second morning, we had kind of decided like, we probably shouldn't even be in here in the morning. This property just doesn't set up well to kill a buck in the morning. December morning hunts are already hard enough the way it is, even when you have like a manicured property for white tails, it's still really hard to do. So after that second morning, we're like, we're just going to do more harm and good if we're in here, So we're gonna leave it alone in the mornings. And then I went hunted some public ground nearby um. But each evening the deer did what we wanted them to. They showed up to this beans and brassicas plot. They were looking for what was the best food in the area, and we were waiting their form. We knew logically that if we were there every single night, at some point the mature buck was going to slip up and show up in daylight. And that's what happened. How what kind of like quantity of food are we talking like? So something that people often ask is is how much good food d you need to actually draw deer in the way that these guys were able to? Are we talking him half acre food plot or is this twenty acres of food? So this, if you look at aerial, it looks pretty insignificant because you're surrounded by thousands and thousands of acres of egg land. But when all that egg land is suddenly picked over, um, and there's not much around. All the deer came to this property and they had three different plots. Two of them were pretty small, like less than a half acre, and the one that we ended up hunting was three and a half acres. That was all it took to like draw in all these deer from all over this neighborhood. And when you say all these deer, I mean, are you seeing five deer and night? Are you seeing fifteen deer and night? What kind of quantity? Yeah, five to fifteen. They had said that their deer density is kind of low. Right there. They had some of the q d m A s q d m A guys come out and walk their property and looked at their trail cameras and sort of assess the deal. And they had told him that they were shocked by um, the lack of deer that were kind of in the area. Now, this property used to be a cattle property. Deer kind of have right like a shared memory of an area, And so there could be five and a half six and a half yield bucks walking around that have never known this property as anything other than a cattle property. So while this December, you know, we were only seeing five fifteen deer a night out there, I could see in five years for these guys that it's double that number, just because more and more dear are going to know about this and they're going to be there for him. Yeah. Another question I had for you, and it's related to that whole December morning thing. You know, we've talked about this in past episodes in past years, UM, but a lot of people wonder like should I be hunting the mornings at this time of the year. Um. In this case, you said that it was just you're you're maybe doing more harm than good. Can you elaborate on why this spot was not setting up well for a late season morning hunt. I'm I'm not even sure like what a good property sets up at sets up as as a late season morning hunt. I think ideally, if you wanted to have a good late season morning set, you would need some sort of distance between where they're betting and where their food is. Um. So if I were to think about um, like creating a property, you would be some food like they had, which is being Subraska's, and then maybe like some crp between that food and timber um where they have to kind of pass through every single morning. Now, this property didn't have that. It was straight timber right to the food, and so deer would pop out and they would be on top of you, and so it was just like such a tiny window where the deer would be visible before they'd be going off to bed. Even when you have like a great property like this, there's just very few situations, I think, where you're gonna find like a really good set up in December for white tails. Yeah, it's tough. There's there's not a whole lot of room for air at this point in the season, especially in those mornings. Um. So I'm glad that persistence paid off for you. You You got you gotta walk me through the details at least of the last night. So you sat the same being plot five nights in a row. Uh, tell me the exact setup, Like, how were you set up in relation to where you on the opposite side from the betting, where you on the same side of the field as the betting. You know, did these were the deer flooding out there the whole right or was it the last two minutes of the day kind of thing? What the hell did this buck look like? Spencer? Paint me a picture? Okay, So before I got down there, these guys were sending me some trail camp pictures, like here's some of the bucks that are around. But keep in mind that again, new deer tend to show up for us. In December, one of the last trail camp photo was they sent there, like, this is one of our o G bucks. This is one that's been around since we bought the property two years ago. We would love if you were able to kill this buck, but we've only seen him in person one time ever, and that was in July of this year. Other than that, they're very familiar with this deer. It's maybe one of the deer they're most familiar with. Um they had never really laid eyes on him in season, so that was like the buck we hope to kill. But um man, I wasn't gonna let like any four and a half year old four by four walk by. If they gave me an opportunity I was gonna kill it on the last hunt, those four by fours. I've got to know it's dangerous to walk past year because that's like your kryptonite. Man. Yeah, I I don't. I'm gonna need to kill a hell of a lot more of him before I see you on and I'm like, no, I'm not gonna shoot it. Uh. And that wasn't the case in Kansas. If one slipped up in front of me, I was gonna kill him. So so you did you end up seeing some bucks like that? Though? I feel like on Instagram I saw that you were seeing some shooters, but like too far out of range or not quite a shot or what was the deal of that. So Nate and Tom have only ever bow hunted deer. They have never gun hunted. Um, so me rolling in with a rifle was pretty foreign to them, and I had explained to them. I was like, um, to kill a deer with a gun, you basically just need to lay eyes on them, like a rifle hunt ends where a bow hunt begins. And so when we're overlooking this three and a half acre plot, and if we set up in the middle of it, and even if there's a marginal wind. We just need a buck to like get his front hoof in the food plot and I can kill him. It can just end right there. Um. So like, okay, that's great. Um. So we we ended up setting up with some marginal winds because I'm like, we we just need him to like show up. And so the first night, a buck just shows up and then he slips away into the team, right, don't get a shot. The second night, two more um what we identified as mature bucks that I would have killed, did the same thing, just like showed up, almost got that front hoof in the paw, and then disappeared after like, you know, ten seconds. Because we were kind of hunting these marginal winds, and we threw up a ground blind in his spot that there hadn't been. Um. So the first two evenings we just had the deer two suspicious. The fifth night, though the deer had finally been fine with the blind. They were showing up earlier. Um, they would walk, you know, within twenty yards of the blind. They just didn't care about it. And so when I say we had first club or when we had close calls, um, we did because we laid eyes on them. But I was I was exaggerating a bit. We need to lay eyes on them, plus get like ten seconds um where I can where I can get the scope on him. So it was close. It was close. On the fifth night, we had only seen but we'd seen nothing up until sunset, absolutely nothing. Ten minutes after sunset, one roll one small buck rolls in um. And then we had sunset at five or excuse me, shooting light ended at five. And and here's what happened between five twenty and five twenty six. We had eight more dear roll into the field and when do do do do do do? Young buck? Um? And then the buck that I ended up killing, which we think is this five and a half year old buck. He's a four by four but he's got all kinds of jock. He has fifteen scoreable points. Um. He is incredibly narrow. He only has um eleven and a half inches for a with Yeah, this is just like a straight up rack. And I think if you maybe like caught a clinch to this buck in the timber at some point he was just looking, you'd be like, oh, you know, a young buck or whatever. But because we had so many trail camp pictures of him, um, and we had a chance to see in broadside and stuff. Um, we we knew what he was. And so he rolled out into the beans with about two minutes of shooting light left. And this was finally the buck that allowed us to lay our eyes on him plus give us that ten seconds. So he rolled out too the beans about fifty yards from where we had the blind sent up, and he was walking quartering away. He had someplace he wanted to be and there was some specific spot in nebrassicas of the beans that he wanted to get to to feed. Um, and I shot him about seventy yards and he ran to the edge of the food plot and died. And that was my Kansas hunt. Yeah. Wow, you kind of couldn't write it up much better. I mean you had a little drama and then he had to wait all the way to the fifth day, so it felt like you worked for it. But then, uh, the success finally arrived and he died in sight. I mean that's a if. Ever, there wasn't editors story coming together. That's that's it right there, Spencer, exactly. And and we had kind of went into that last night. Um, and this is something you're gonna here talked about in this week's episode of Red Fresh Radio, the weather hasn't been great. The weather forecast coming up doesn't look great. And what I mean by that is just like very monotonous um above average temperatures. Where we were at in Kansas coming up here, it was gonna get into the low seventies this week. On that Sunday though the high was like forty three and the low was like twenty. We had uh sort of a stronger north wind than what we've had. We're like, this is is probably our best shot. Um, you know, we're gonna be hunting for like the next seven days if it doesn't happen tonight, but this is probably the night and it all worked out. That's awesome, man, that's right, that's right now. I know market in the past you've talked a lot about like what is the ideal weather in December and how that can change things, So like what should hunters be crossing their fingers for when they open up their weather app right now? Well, you know, it's not terribly different than what you like to see at the beginning of October or at the end of October. Like I'd love to see a cold front hitting just at this time of the year, you know, instead of being you know, from seventy degrees to a fifty degree day. You know, I'm looking for a thirty five degree day dropping down to a ten degree day or something. Obviously adjust that for wherever in the country you live, but where we want the cold of the temperatures the better. Uh. Usually higher bara metric pressures as is the case you know all year, are indicative of what you're getting after a big front like that pushes through. So those days after the front hits where you've got some bluebird skies, you've got that really cold weather. Finally, maybe some snow fell. You know, the more snow the better too. If you're in part of the country where it gets snow, that's gonna be a really good thing to get deer feeling like they have to feed. And that's what you're counting on this time of year. As you described, we need these deer to really feel the russure to put the feedback on. Those are the nights when more dear than usual move. It's those nights when the big old buck that maybe doesn't want to move in daylight a lot of the time, when he's gonna say, hey, I gotta get going. Um, those are the days we're gonna get that little extra push. So you know, I don't I don't see anything like that coming down the line for me in Michigan. But it's certainly what you hope for. Yeah, And so with that said, you're gonna hear a little bit of pessimism from our guests this week. And who we talked to is Alex comp Stock from White Til DNA in Minnesota, Hunter Forbes in Kentucky from Southern White Tail Outfitters, and then in Oklahoma it's Clay Forest from Stuart Ranch Outfitters, and then Bomartinic from East meets West Hunt in Pennsylvania. So he just killed the dandy out there, didn't he He did? That was um like a megabuck for any part of the country. But then when you consider there's probably not a corner bean field um within hunterd miles of where he killed that buck in the mountains of Pennsylvania, that's a giant. Yeah, that's pretty awesome. Well, uh, I'm excited to hear more about it him from him and all the rest of the guys. So should we just get ready, you know, hold on before we get to a Spencer, I have to make a couple of plugs. Are you willing to hear me out on that? Do your thing alright? Number one back forty episodes are still coming out every Sunday. Last weekend, my episode in which I kill my white tail out on the back fort he came out, so check that out. I got the drop time buck on the ground. Finally, really cool hunt. Um. And then here in a couple of days, our last episode of the season will be coming out in which we brought the Hunt giveaway winner and then a new hunter out to the property, so you can find all that over at the Meat Eater YouTube channel. Really proud of how those things are turning out, so check them out. Hit a like button on there if you could give us a comment if you want, make sure you subscribe. Um. And then finally, there's also, as is the case, a lot of places all over the web these days, some cool sales going on. Over at Mediator, We've got a twelve Days of Christmas sale going on, So if you just go to the mediator dot com or check off the store over at the Mediator, you're gonna see a different product coming up for sale every day. I saw something like or more maybe off for some of these things. I think there's gonna be T shirts, there's gonna be DVDs, there's gonna be I don't know, all sorts of good stuff from the mediatare folks. You can find it there. So is there anything else? You know? If Spencer going on that we should be telling people about. Well, if you want to see this buck that we just talked about that I killed in Kansas, you can held over my Instagram at Spencer new Hearth or check out the twins that I was hunting with. That's Nate and Thomas Crick and their Instagram handle is at identical draw wonderful. Alright, Spencer, I'd say take it away, talk to you next week. Mark sounds good, alright. And joining us online first is Alex Comstock from Whitetail DNA in Minnesota. Now Alex in Minnesota. What would you say the buck activity is ben lately on a scale of one to ten, Yeah, I'd say lately has probably been about us three. It's been really slow here um and right now conditions aren't really help. It's been abnormally warm and we have really no snow, which up here in northern Minnesota. The time of year, it's usually cold and cold and snow helps with a hunting in. Right now, we don't have either, so it's been pretty slow. I know, you just helped a buddy recover a book a few days ago. Tell us about that set up, why you guys were there and why that buck was there. Yeah, So that was my good buddy Garrett, who I do pretty much all of my all my hunting with here in Minnesota. And that was the pretty much the one evening here in the past week or so that that we've even seen a buck. And it just happened to work out. He actually had gone gone into a spot UM and did a hanging hunt that we had identified the week before, and we had hung a trail camera. We had a number of bucks using the area UM pretty much all at night. And what this spot is just a little there's kind of like a little crp field that these deer kind of filter through in the evenings and the mornings headed to to food. And we pretty much set up um just about fourty or fifty yards off that in the timber and Garrett was able to catch catch out this buck coming through headed out that way right at last sight. I mean you shot it with I think two minutes to spare or something. And uh, I was able to put a new buck down that just showed up in the area on camera about a week ago. Where do you run most of your trail cameras in December? So right now, if you know, if I can get them over any type of food sources. And so for me being up here in Minnesota, don't have um any agger on hunt or anything like that. If you have that, I would you recommend that. But I've got you know, stuff in the timber such as buck thorn that a lot of deer keenan on this time of year. Um. But like I had said before, with the lack of snow right now, deer really spread out in my area. So it can be kind of challenging this time of year when you're doing some in season scouting late season, what sorts of things are you looking for? So pretty much where I'm just trying to identify as where the deer spending the most of their time feeding and then where they're betting. So I am doing a lot of in season scouting this time of year, um, especially if conditions are ever changed. So for example, last year, in the same area that I'm hunting now. We had two ft of snow and so what the dealer were doing last year is completely different than what they're doing now. And so getting out there scouting, you know, we had a little bit of snow where I can check to see where, you know, trails that are being used frequently are being used recently and doing a lot of moving around. So I'm constantly out scouting right now, hanging new sets and kind of do it not almost daily. If you had some sort of weather event in Minnesota, would you expect to see a shift in bedding and all I would expect to see the shift in bedding if we were to get a substantial amount of snow. So pretty much Rye hunt is all on a essentially it's a humongous hill and as there's no snow, deer can in bed pretty much anywhere, and as we get more and more snow and pushes them down this huge hill towards the bottom, and that would definitely change things. Are you doing any morning hunts in December? Um? I am not doing a lot of morning hunts if it's if we're going to get you know, right now, with it being particularly warm, if we have any days where the low is going to be pretty cold and it'll be a lot warmer in the afternoon and it's gonna be in the morning, I'll definitely try and get out for a morning hunt. Is water focus for you at all in northern Minnesota during late season? Um? Not really for me. If there is usually at this time here, if there is any type of water, it's all frozen over. Um. And even where I'm at there's pretty much nothing for water sources for me right now. Going forward then a next week or so, what do you think that bucket activity is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Minnesota? I hope it can go up a few takes, hopefully about a five or six. The weather is supposed to be warm here for the next few days, and it's supposed to start dropping and getting down into the to the twenties with lows in the around TENLA in twelve degrees. So I'm hoping that there's no snow in the forecast, and I'm hoping the colder temperatures will will help that that buck activity here the next week or so. All right, Alex, I hope you get that weather you're looking for good luck with what's left your seas and then thanks for joining me, all right, appreciate it, Thank you Spencer alright and joining us on the line. Next is Hunter Forbes in Kentucky from Southern White Tail Outfitters now Hunter in Kentucky. What would you say? The bucket activity is ben lately on a scale of one to ten, but so I'm not giving about a four as of lately. Um, because of that, we really hadn't had consistently cold weather. We finally got a little bit of it. Um, deer just recovering from rifle season and yeah, we're sitting at about a full right now. Um, hoping to improve this next week. What is the idea whether that you're looking for in Kentucky in December? Um, the colder the better. In Kentucky you're allowed to bat them. And between that and the food sources, you know, the colder, the more activity you're gonna see. Um, we're going into late musloader season this weekend, so we're just trying to hunt food sources and colder it gets, the more they got to eat. So that's kind of how we're playing it. I know you run a lot of trail cameras there on your properties. Where do you want those in the late season. Yeah, it's sticking to food. It's pretty much how we're playing it. We transition from mornings in November um to just afternoons UM. Going from this point forward. Uh, A lot of the key for us is access. You know, a lot of leaves are off trees, um, a lot of times are gonna bedding closer to food sources, and so a lot of what we're doing is just playing the access smart um getting in around lunch and sticking it out the rest of the evening. So is there a scenario in December on your properties where you'll be hunting in the mornings. Uh. Once again, it goes back to access. If you can, you know, sneaking the back doors somewhere from them going from a food source back to bank. Um, it's relevant. And also if you're noticing on your camps you're seeing some bread activity a lot of times that second run is it's starting to happen right around this time. UM, And yeah it's possible. UM. As a whole though, we try to just stick the afternoons. But yeah, there's definitely some scenarios where you can make it happen. You mentioned that the bedding seems to move closer food. How close to your food sources are we talking that these beds shift to It's kind of relevant to cover and a lot of different factors. Um depends how close, especially if you are baiting and you know how close you're putting it too bedding um. But a lot of times will be within a hundred yards UM. Ideally you'd want to stretch them a little bit further if you can play elevation, since you really don't have the foliage on the trees and stuff to be able to get in tight to that. Besides bait, what other food sources are relevant? Right now? In Kentucky, all the good farmers already have their crops out. It seems like, so you're you got cut fields um. As far as the corn of beans go, a lot of a lot of the uh, the cut corn fields turn into wheat um. And so those are gonna be a little bit better on your warmer days. Um. It seems like they're more sole than grain when it's cold. So there is cut bean fields the corn fields um. And then like I said, that wheat grown up. And then of course whatever food plots you've done. Um. It seems like our Braskas are just starting to be hit UM definitely well after we had a couple a couple of good freezes last week. So how do your set ups change if we have a cold front versus a warm front in the late season or do they both look the same. For the most part, it's looking the same for us because we're mixing up our food to have it all in one um for instance, you know, putting grain out around those weed fields around our food plots. Um, having the mix of you know, your greens, um and your grain around each other, so it's kind of all in one package. UM. Kind of how we're playing it historically. Do you see much of a secondary rout on your properties in Kentucky? We actually do. We have a pretty high deer population, a lot of dose UM. Wish it was a little bit close to ratio, but it's just not pretty hard to control for us, and so a lot of those does don't get bread they are coming back in. So yeah, it's it's definitely a real thing for us. And when is that window that you're typically seeing that kind of action right right around now? It's always traditionally around that opening of the lazzlater season, which falls on Saturday for us, you know. So yeah, I'm gonna say from right now, being about the nights you know running onto around the well, the fourteen is typically the uh, the peak of what we see as far as the second rut gase, it does very property property Like I said, wherever those hired deal populations for us or wherever we see it. More so 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 ten in Kentucky? We gotta cold front coming through. Looks like we got some running Saturday, and that Sunday Monday looks pretty good. I'm gonna give it, you know, sumthing up there and around the seven um that should go on, the food that should be on their feet, chasing a little bit with that secondary rut. So yeah, feel feel good about a seven Alright, hunter, Good luck to you when your hunters in camp. Thanks for joining me, okay, specter, alright and joining us on the line. Next is Clay Forest from Stewart Ranch Outfitters in Oklahoma. Now, Clay in Oklahoma, what would you say the buck activity has been lately? On a scale of one to ten, I'm gonna give it about a five right now. Uh. And the reason I'm gonna do that is, you know, our rut for the most part in the southern part of the state is it's pretty much all the way down, um, and a lot of bucks are kind of grouping back up and and hidden food sources. So you know, for the most part, bucks are kind of licking their wounds and uh, kind of getting back to two food sources. So it's it's not really really good, but it's not really really bad though. I almost stick with that kind of number a five, kind of mid mid range with activity in Oklahoma right now, with that high density that you have around your place, do you normally notice any kind of a secondary rutting action? We do, Uh, we will see a little bit of a of a secondary rut this time of year and really push all the way into Christmas, but it's really few and far between, and it's something that I would never count on, uh if we were if we were trying to focus on a on a trophy animal. Um, it's just it's not anything that you can kind of put your hat on. So this timing year, we're really folk sent on food sources and getting to where those bucks are trying to kind of regroup from from the rut, you know, winding down that sort of thing. So if it were me and if I you know, with with with clients and hunting personally, we're really focusing on and focus seeing on food sources. What are those food sources that you're focused on? For us, we plan about a hundred acres of small food plots and we have uh turn ups planting in those, and then winter wheat is a big food sources just in this area, so a lot of farmers and rangers plant winter wheat for for stalker cattle. So you're really focusing on those winter wheat fields or are late season food plots or we've got we can feed corn in this area too, you know, that's where a baits stay. So corn feeders are a source of food as well. But for the most part, a lot of these deer don't get too much about of corn and they're really focusing on that that green source food that winter week turn ups, oats, you know, anything that's sort of an act type field. Are you doing any kind of morning setups in December? We do um you for us in the morning. You if you're going to especially to a big winter weeks field, you gotta get in early because those deer are gonna be there early. So we will get guys in forty five minutes to an hour before day live, just because we know there's gonna be deer on the field, so we don't push them out completely. What is the ideal weather that you're looking for in December in Oklahoma? Uh, right now it's about seventies five degrees, So that's kind of a loaded question. Um, honestly, just kind of right around all that thirty five forty five degree mornings, fifty degree afternoons, if we can get some weather coming in. We've got a front coming in on Friday, so I'm sure dear will be moving in front and behind that with that pressure change. So really kind of just looking for those fronts that come through and hunting in in front of and behind those those coal fronts that are blowing through. Um, and it seems like a day or two after those fronts blows through, and whether kind of nor belizes a little bit, we really have some good success that next one or two days after the front blows through. So really kind of focusing on those cold front in the day or two after that following gun season in December, do you notice any kind of shift in bedding in Oklahoma? Not really, not on our place, um and not like I'm just speaking for ourselves right now, but our gear for the most parts stick to big, tall native grass pastures for betting. U mean, you'll find him with some of these siski flats in some little thicker areas. But for the most part, betting doesn't really change, uh for us as far as what mature dear does. For that for that fact, where they bed um normally from December all the way you know, back into the summertime. So they're they're betting patterns typically don't change a whole lot. Where are you running a lot of your trail cameras right now? Foods horses, they're they're all back on food right now, whether that be a feeder or just right in the middle of the big food plot or or wheat field. So I would have all of your on all your cameras for information on on food sources. Has signmaking pretty much gone cold for you? For the most part, He's still seeing a little bit of uh, some some fresh rubs, you know, maybe some fresh grapes that sort of thing, with some little bit of post rud activity. But again, it's not really anything that I would count on as far as trying to get a mature to year down. Um, it's just kind of that that post secondary run, just those few deer that hadn't got a dough bread or anything down. Is that sign making is happening 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 ten in Oklahoma? I'd be a little more optimistic. I probably push it to around a seven. We've got a front coming in and on Friday, and we're supposed to have a little bit of weather on Friday and the Saturday, and then some some nicer, more December like weather for Oklahoma in the next week. So I think that's really gonna help. I think they're really going to be focusing on food and with that little pressure change, I think we we should have some good activity in this next week or ten days in this part of the state. Right Clay, congrats to all the success your clients have had this year. You guys have done an awesome job based on Instagram. Good luck with lot's left of your season. Thanks for joining me all right. Thanks been to appreciate it alright and joining us on the line. Next is Bomartinic from East meets West hunt in Pennsylvania, now bowin Pennsylvania. What would you say the buck activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten, Well, it depends on where you're at, but I would say that the buck activity and my area in northern Pennsylvania has been about a seven. And I'll say that because I don't think that normally they'd be moving on a seven. But with the amount of hunters, with deer season coming in last week so the rightful season, most hunters per square mile anywhere at that time of year in the United States here in Pennsylvania, and the deer moving because people are moving them. So that's a little bit different than your typical reasons for movement, but I think that made it a little bit higher. Now, you just killed a mega mountain white tail out there this last weekend during rifle season. Tell us about that haunt, why you were there, and why that buck was there. So it seems like with hunting pressure in Pennsylvania and they in the mountains here that they're either on the tops or in the bottom, so that people don't like walking those steep side hills. And from my my trail cameras and then just past knowledge, they seemed to like to stick to those side hills, especially with the pressure. So what we did was me and my buddy Johnny went off on the point of this hill on the edge of some thick hemlock cover. The prevailing wind was coming across the top of the hill, had some rising thirdwals. Everything was a perfect picture perfect uh hunt as far as where that buck would be betted. And we didn't know that specific deer was going to be in there, but was hoping so. And just on the edge of of that thick cover. Um My dad came around the side of the hill and did a little bit of a wind bump to him and a deer stepped out at twenty yards from me, and I was able to fo them right on the edge of the open oak folks, and the thick came walked over. Now I know in the past Bout we've interviewed you for some articles on the meat eator dot com where you've talked about how these bucks like to bed I think on the upper third of hills in big woods. Do you notice that same thing in late season? And why do they want to be on that upper third? So, yeah, it does depend So most of the time they like to be in that upper third because they can have that prevailing wind come across the top and they can so they're covered from the back and they can see down over the hill, but also get those gay time thermals coming up and hitting them in the front, so they're basically covered from all angles. And and also if if something did come from behind them, they can just bomb off the edge of the hill and get away pretty pretty easily. As it gets in the late season, I have noticed they kind of, um, they kind of drop a little bit lower. Um it all spit all depends on the food. But in the specific area. And he was actually bedded more towards the in the middle ground, so the probably towards the bottom of that upper one third, and because that's where the acorns seemed to be lower. So he could leave his the thick hemlock thermal cover to protect him, you know, from the cold winds and and everything else, and also just keeping out a sight of people would also be able to take a few steps and and be in the acorns within eight yards, so you know, close proximity to food, and it seems like they moved a little bit closer to the food in the late season. What are the different types of food sources that you're looking for this time of year in Pennsylvania. The two main ones are if you can find any red oaks that still have the acorns um on the ground, that's it seems to be a hot ticket item right now. And also fresh logging cuts, so where they're just the fresh timber cuts um isn't even if the loggers are in there during the week the weekend, it can be great because they cut down the tops and creates a ton of brows and seems the filter the deer in with the hunting pressure. Right now, you're gonna it's mostly first and last light in those logging cuts. If you're doing some in season scouting late season, what sorts of things are you looking for food? Trying to figure out where they're feeding in relation to that thermal cover, and typically on on those side hills those points, UM, So I'm looking for hemlock trees, pine trees, anything like that in relation to either the oak trees or or logging cuts. What is your trail came replacement look like in December in the big Woods, I'm still keeping them on scrapes and travel routes that seemed to be but but close to that that cover. If I have a with my cell cameras, I typically run those almost in the bedding areas pretty close because I don't need to go in there and check them. UM. But otherwise, as I'm still running them on scrapes, they still seem to be checking those licking branches as they're heading now towards those food sources. So for how long do you think that scrapes and rubs are going to be relevant there? UM? I will typically run that through even in the January. UM, they'll they seem that found frushtrates this past weekend m being worked and but it's not the same as your rout scrapes. I'm talking about the ones that are super close to the bedding or the food sources. The ones that are more relevant for hunting seemed to be closer to the to the bedding cover UM for for this time and year, mostly because of pressure and UM, and they're not going as far for the for the food there going forward. Then in the sixt week or so, what do you think that bucket TV is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Pennsylvania. I think it's gonna drop down to about a four or five. So one they are hiding um that they're hiding out. They've been having a week and a half of gun season pressure as well as we have some warm temperatures coming in, so I think the daily movement is going to be definitely significantly lower than it was even the past week. R Bow, congrats again on that awesome buck uh. Good luck with the rest of your season, and tell people where they can go on Instagram to see that white tail you just killed. Yeah, so they can head over either my personal page which is at Bow dot mar Tonic it's apellt the e au dot m A R T O n I K or at East meets West hunt A right, Bow congrats again, thanks for joining me, Thanks Spencer, and that concludes this week's episode of rut Fresh Radio. Thanks to Alex Hunter, Clay and Bow for joining me, and thank you guys for listening. My season is officially over, but we're going to keep making rout Fresh episodes for a few more weeks, so I hope you're still listening. I hope you're still in the woods. And until I talk to you, guys next Wednesday, stay wired to Hunt.