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. This is episode number two hundred and thirty six, and today in the show, we are here again with another radio report, getting updates from across the country on the latest white tail activity, conditions, behavior, and the tactics that are working right this very moment. All right, and welcome to this week's episode of Wired to hunts wrote Radio, brought to you by Onyx. This is your host spent anymore. And on the other side of the line is Mark, who is yet again slacking in front of a computer, so have him on his cell phone. How's it going, Mark, you know, doing the best I can here man. I'm driving home to Montana right now. Um been l cutting over the past well for five days, I was l cutting, and then I've had a day and a half meetings and then it was right to the truck and onto the road, try and get home times, spent a little time in the family and then be ready for the Michigan Archery opener. So I'm very excited about all the aboves. Yeah, I don't take back the slacking thing. How do you feel about the Michigan opener? You will be hunting on Monday? Correct? Yeah, yeah, Michigan opens on Monday. I'm really excited about it. Last time I checked the weather, I've been. I've been as long as the fifteen day outlook has been available. I've been checking it out, and it's pretty good as far as it gets not too hot. Um, it looks like we're gonna have like just below averaged temperatures maybe, which is usually a great thing. The only downside is that those temperatures have been in place for a while now, so it's gonna be like almost a week of like sixty degree temperatures leading up to the opener. It's not like it was really warm and then all of a sudden we had that front hit. I think that usually those temperatures I know you're not necessarily believe are on this, but I feel like you get some that best activity right when the change occurs. Just after the change. There's not so much change in this situation, so I think it'll be pretty decent. Um. It definitely bad, but I'm not looking at it as like one of those blessed cold fronts that get everything up and moving. Uh. So that's my high level thought process at least. Yeah, a lot of the people that I've talked to have referenced, like today September as being one of the days to be out there because this is at the beginning of that cold front rout. Fresh people were talking about as well that we're providing reports. So uh, you know, if you're listening to this, the end of this week is is going to be pretty solid or people are optimistic at least for for that cold front. Hunting it right now? Yeah, yeah, I think, Um, it's a great time of being the woods, you know, for people's seasons that are just opening. It's really nice because you've got the limited hunting pressure since mostly no one has been out up to this point, plus the good weather. I mean, this could be one of your better chances of the year, at least before the rut. So I'm gonna when I'll be hunting one of my better early season stands and uh take a stab on the Holy Field property and that doesn't work out, I'll kind of back out and reassess the plan. But opening night will be highly anticipated. Evening Master. Sure, Well, I have not been hunting for a while now. I think it's been over two weeks probably since I've been in a tree stand. And like I said last week, I'm kind of saving up those wife vacation days because I'll are burning them here as soon as we get off the phone. I haven't an a little punt this weekend, um, and then after I get home from that, it is like craziness until December. I have I don't know if we've talked about this, but I have nine buck tags this fall, so I will be busy once yea, once we hit mid October, like then through December, I will be maximum amount of haunting. So that is why I've kind of taken my foot off of the gas pedal for right now. I guess that's reasonable. If if your wife's gonna let you go chase nine buck tack down, I suppose you could take a few weeks off on the front end to give her a little time of attention. That's right, that's right. So on this week's episode, we talked to Dave Bechtel from Chase Nation TV in Wisconsin. Then we go to Tennessee and from down south hunting it's Adam Cruz, and then we talked to Jake greg Is from Daybreak Ranch in South Dakota and then from Louisiana Bowl Hunter in Louisiana is Kyler Moppert, all Right, sound like a great diversity of characters in areas. I like that. I'm looking forward to hearing this one, especially since, um, especially since I'll be actually hunting now white It's been a little bit kind of like you, I had a three weeks break from white tails, and that's kind of been hurt my soul. So I'm ready to get after it. So one thing I wanted to bring up was that Jake from South Dakota brings it up on this week's episode. He also brought it up in a rout Fresh report a few weeks ago, and for me when he when he said this, he was kind of a lightbulb moment um. Last year, the night before I killed that big buck, which is two days from now September, the night before that, UM, I had a couple younger bucks, like two and a half or three and a half year olds, come towards the cornfield and they bed down before they got there, and they basically stayed there until evening and then got up and moved around. The next night, I saw it again with a younger buck that he had came out and bedded until like thirty minutes before shooting light ended, and got up and went into the corner and it was just like a really weird um and a kind of a transition, betting that they had done right at sunset. And Jake brings that up on this week's episode to how that's something he's seen in the past, and he's already seen it two or three times this year, and we haunt similar areas. Now we're a few hundred miles apart, but when I say similar areas, I mean big agriculture. So if that's something that you've seen before, this is uh, you know, really fascinating me that we both witnessed this now kind of that end of September thing, uh slide into my d M S. I'd love to to get more reports on this same thing. Is that something you've ever seen, Mark, that you've noticed bucks kind of going into like a micro bed right before sunset? You know, I'm not sure if I have to. I've heard of similar stuff like that. I mean it makes sense. I've seen like Doo's bonds definitely do that. I've seen like a fawn or Doe come out feat for a little bit and go use me, then go back in bed, like just inside the edge of the timber or the cover. Um. But I can't say I've seen Bucks do that, at least not off the top of my head. So that's the trust thing I order. I'm serious that that's about it makes. I mean, I can sort of understand it. They're going to move out survey of the situation, but they're not quite ready to go out to the wide open yet, so they're gonna hold off a little bit because it's kind of like just prolonged the transitionary period. I mean, is that kind of how you're staying it. Yeah, Jake goes into more detail on it in the episode, so you know, we don't have to go into it too much more. But it's a trend that I'm fascinated in tracking if other people have seen this too, like this betting after the betting before going to food, so that that's something that you know, with these late September early October hunts, I'd be interested if other people witnessed it all as well. Very interesting. I will be interested to hear what he has to say about So maybe we should shut up and get our run the party, guest intrbutors on the line, all right, talk to you next week. Mark. Thank you Spencer. Before we get to our first update, let's pause for a word from our sponsors at white Tail Properties. This week with white Tail Properties, we are joined by Dave Skinner, a land specialist out of Kentucky, and Davy is going to be telling us about what to look for when buying a property with intentions of early season white tail hunting in Kentucky. Our season comes in in September, and if you're looking specifically for that early season hunt, there's a couple of things keep in mind. One, just like late season food sources are king um. And there's two food sources in Kentucky that trump everything else in September soy beans and acorns. UM. If I'm looking to hunt specifically that early season, I want to make certain I either have soy beans on the property or adjacent to the property. More than anything, though acorns are always number one, I want to know that there's white oak trees on the property. UM. We pose when those eight mons are falling that's where the deer will be. If you'd like to learn more and to see the properties that Dave currently has listed for sale, visit whitetail properties dot com. Backslash skinner that's s k I N N E r are And joining us on the line first is Dave Bechtel out of Wisconsin from Chase Nation TV. Now, Dave in Wisconsin, what would you say the bucket activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten on a steel one king at say either a five or six. Right now the opening part of the season, UM is extremely hot, UM higher tempters and we normally have had UM so that's shut down a lot of activity. And just this last week we hit a cold front and gears started to be on their feet. It's not super crazy, but now but um, within the last couple of days they're starting to see some people seating gear and a lot more activity. I mean we've had a twenty degree difference within the last couple of weeks. You took advantage of that cold front. Dave, tell us a little bit about that setup where you shot that nice white tail. Yeah, it was an area that had scouted a bunch next to the season and it's it's actually pretty sweet. It's a cameracks swamp up a ton of cat tails, a ton of water that puts up to a bean field and then has a treeline that is just loaded with oaks. So it's a perfect scenario as far as if they're in the oaks, you're gonna be a getting them on the tree line. But if it's in the bean field, you know you're right there. And I was set up in a speeding area, were on a transition right, Um, you know, when it worked like clockwork, I ended up seeing a nice buck. I thought the hunt was over and then next thing I know, um, here this block came. He came right out of the cat tails. Um but ten to fifteen minutes before close and I was fortunate enough to make a good shot at him, and you know, I had a twenty yard recovery. So had those oaks not been there, do you not think you would have had a chance at that dear, I personally think he would head it into the bean field. I do um a lot of the oaks have dropped and then they were dropped in leading up to the season. I do think there's a lot of the ones on the ground right now. Um, But I think he was probably working his way to those beans. Um, because a lot of those um, we're getting hit still. You know, I do a lot of driving around at night, right before dark when I can't hunt, um, trying to get a good gage on where I'm seeing gear. And I was still catching a lot of deer out in the bean field. Um. But with the temperatures being the way they've done, they seem to be coming through the beans. I mean right at dark. I mean, if you're not set up within a certain range of the bed or in the stage eunier, you of leading into the to um, you're not seeing them. You mentioned on that hunt that you saw another buck as well. Were these two deer hanging out or are all the bachelor groups around you broken out? They came in separate, um, completely the separate. They were not running together. Um. My wife is actually hunting on the edge of another bean field not too far from me, and she had and then something him with the figure block, and then I had to um at the death that actually did come through together. But I don't necessarily think they were in the classroom groups still going. I mean, have you found any signmaking start to appear then or do you think we're little ways off that yet? As far as scrapes and drubs, um, I have found some rubs um, not crazy. Uh, few rubs have not been searching as of yet. You know. On then in the beat it's strictly hunting and a lot of areas and they go into It's either I hang and hunt sum or I'm going in to kill um. So I haven't done a lot of venturing just because when the time has been right, I've been going in to kill. Going forward. Then a six week or so, what do you think that buckettivity is going to be on a scale of one to tend in Wisconsin, skill is one of ten. I think it's gonna start picking up a bit. I would I would say solid six. It's possibly even the seven year pulled front moving in. I know Friday, we're supposed to have a more class women in the highest fifty six. So Friday night with the unit in the words I can start point. Congrats on the great dear Dave, and thanks for joining me and can alright and joining us on the line. Next is Adam Cruise from Down South Hunting Podcast Tennessee. Now Adam in Tennessee. What would you say the bucket activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten. I'm gonna say, based off of troke cameras that I'm running on our private farm in the southern part of Tennessee, Uh, the movement's actually spiked, and I would put it around a seven or an eight at this moment. Why do you think that movement is spiked recently? You know, I think it has a lot to do with where troke cameras are positioned. Uh they're on side of sides of ridges that hold all out of acorns, generally speaking, And I think we've got these cameras and really good good spots this year. A few weeks ago, we were barely getting any bucks on camera at all, just maybe a doe here and there. And then within the last week or two, I'm getting hundreds of pictures of different different bucks. I've probably got five new bucks that showed up on camera within the last week. Not all of them are mature bucks, but you know, just a ton of deer activity. And I really think it's around, uh, the fact that the acrons are now dropping and those deer kind of moving into these traditional spots that they're in at this time of year. How about other food sources? Do you think the deer right now we're ignoring food plots and soybeans stuff like that. I think it all depends on, you know, what the situation the plot is. So on the soybeans side, you know, if they're still green, Uh, the deer will definitely be hitting them. And if if I had access to stilly beans right now on on some private ground, that's exactly where I would be hunting until they turn brown. You mentioned you run around a lot of trail cameras. That movement that you've been seeing, is it mostly daytime or nighttime? It's about fifty fifty actually, But when I say the of daytime, it's really it's in that that dusk and dawntop situation. So right right at first shooting light, we'll have deer hanging around for maybe twenty minutes, and then kind of the same scenario at the back half of the day, the deer starts showing up maybe twenty minutes before the shooting light ends. Uh, And then I'm getting some pictures of some dose dur in the middle of the day. But as far as the buck movement, there in the middle of the day. I'm not getting just hardly any It mostly is at night and then right there at first and last light. So if we were trying to get in on these deer right now in the morning, it would pretty much be impossible unless we picked their their right bed that they were going to, and then we might be able to have some success. Really, the way to arrow a buck right now is to actually be able to hunt those evenings and get in there on them. Is that something you think will change over these next few weeks or our acorn is going to be the focus for a while. It's gonna be my focus all the way through October, really, and that's my main food source that a hunt on on my private private land, and i'm public land. I got some other areas that I can hunt where there's some corns that's standing right now, and as soon as that's cut, you know, I'm gonna be heading hitting there as fast as I can and hopefully beat everyone else there. Are you seeing any kind of ruddy activity in the woods to this point as far as scrapes or rubs, I'm not seeing any scrapes or rugs, But I am getting some some deer on camera sparring, which is always really fun to watch and have have pictures of that. Well, how do you think the weather changes things this time of year if we get a good cold front or if a warm front comes through instead. You know, this time of year, I'm just not certain that the weather has that much effect when it actually dips, But when it's hotter, I think that can really play in a hunter's favor if you have a good source of water and you know where your deer are bedding and how they're getting to the water, plus being there where food is nearby. So if you have that combination of those three things, the food, water, and bed I mean you've got a recipe for success. And really this time of year, I think is it is one of the easier times a year to kill a good buck in the state of Tennessee. Uh, that's when I've traditionally had the best encounters and killed my best deer. So I'm really excited what the next couple of weeks brings. And I the hot weather doesn't bother me because I know where, I know where they like to go get through water. Going forward, then the six week or so, what do you think that bucket activity is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Tennessee, I'm gonna say it's gonna probably stay in that six to seven range. Uh. The temperature, like I said, I'm not sure that it has much effect on deer movement right now. It's actually but it is. It is kind of lower temps than it has been. So if nothing else, that excites me, and it gets wants me to get in the wood more, you know, having to fight that hundred degree temperatures and all that sweat coming down, and that's not usually that much fun. We look forward to hearing your updates on Doalla South hunting. Thanks for joining me, Adam, Hey appreciate it. Spencer's truly pleasure, Sir, alright, and joining us on the line. Next is Jake Gregg is from Daybreak Ranch in South Dakota. Now, Jake in South Dakota. What would you say the buck activity has been lately on a scale of one to ten right now in central South Dakota. I'd probably say the the buck activities around us six out of ten. And I say that because they're still kind of transitioning from shedding their velvet into their fall ranges and and you still see some badsh with groups together and a lot of a lot more nocturnal movement. Yet all the crops are still standing for the most part. Uh So I would say it's still it's probably a six out of ten. Do you think those crops are gonna be coming out anytime soon? And how does your strategy change once the combines get going. Yeah, we've had some some actually wet weather lately and that's kind of delaying the harvest a little bit. Some of the soybeans have been harvested already, and I know there's corn fields that are ready to come out, and actually some that were cut for silage already, so that that changes strategy a little bit. That's holding a lot of the deer. The corn and sunflowers are holding most of the deer at least are right around here for us. And as those started to come out, those deer will kind of slide into the next best cover nearest to that typically, and so you might be looking to hunt. If you're hunting field edges before, you might might be hunting more of those cat tails, slews or or you know all the bandoned farmyards where the deer slid away. You know, a quarter mile from of that field where they were living to the next best cover. Are you finding any signmaking yet? Yeah, just the last three or four days, we've really noticed more more rubbing posts that we put out for the deer getting getting hit hard, and these shelter belts have have rub lines starting to pop up along them, and then and there's scrapes or for stumbling onto too, so they're definitely starting to to work those rubs and scrapes. Well. A few weeks ago, Jake, you rotor report for rut Fresh, and you talked about how when the crops are still standing like this, that the bucks tend to do this thing where they have a like a transition bedding that they get up out of their bed late in the evening, they'll bed down someplace else before dark, and there's an opportunity there for hunters to get a chance at mature. Do you talk about that a little bit? Sure? Yeah, Actually witnessed it happened last night. I was sitting on uh dug out, a water hole tucked inside of a sunflower field, and two bucks came in there, and one came and actually drank, the other one never did drink, but uh laid down right at the end illegal shooting. He actually bedded down right there in the grass next to the dugout, so we see that a lot um an. It makes difficult to kill deer, especially when they're doing something like that where they might might be killable for the last half hour of the day, but you've got to be really right in their bedroom to do it, and right now their bedroom is typically inside of these crop fields, so it makes it pretty difficult unless you got a really nice tucked away spot where that buck feels secure and he's gonna get up and and maybe feed and just stretch his feet. Seems like they'll you know, they're feeding all day inside of a corn or sunflower field, snacking and bedding down, and it's almost like they just have to get up and move. But they're not, you know, they're not confident enough to go out in the open where they might not be so secure until after dark. So we actually see a lot of our better dear kind of in these secluded, uh tucked away spots inside of a crop fields. But that's something that you won't see as much once those crops don't come out correct. Well, they can do it all fall, but you really see it now when when the crops are standing and they they don't really have a mission to be on per se. So here as the fall progresses, those bucks will will be more on the move and and and more killable on their feet longer. But in the summer we see that the most, when it's warmer, especially where they're they're like I've like I said, it's almost like their version of cabin fever. They just can't stand to be hidden in that crop field any longer, and they need to get out and move, but they don't want to move where they're headed for that evening quite yet. Going forward, then in the sixt week or so, what do you think that buck activity will be on a scale of one to ten in South Dakota. I think from here on out it should only get better unless we get some really hot weather or something that might might make them move less. I would say in the next week or so, i'd probably be uh seven or so out of ten. And and all those bucks are they're callable. But with this cold weather I thought that they would be even more visible. But they're still moving pretty late in the evening and and then you have to be pretty lucky to catch them right first thing in the morning, before they make it back to where they're going to spend the rest of the day. So I would say a seven out of ten for now. Well, good luck to rest the season, Jake. I know you're gonna kill a couple of good days this year. It's not even a matter of if it's just in So thanks for joining me. Hopefully you two Spencers appreciate it all and joining me on the line. Last is Kyler Moppert from Louisiana. Bowl Hunter in Louisiana. Now Kyler in Louisiana, what would you say the buck activity has been lately? I'm scaled one to ten, well a scale of one to ten for our open areas are going to be Area ten, Area three, Area seven. Um, we've got a pretty a pretty substantial buck activity for this early in the season because number one, those are the only areas that are open, so only about maybe a quarter of the state is open for hunting. But the reason why that is is because that population of deer is more of a coastal population that is um in a different ret cycle. They read a lot earlier in the year than some of our other deer we have in the state, it would be comparable to maybe a Florida ret cycle of a lot of their swamped here. So UM, on a scale of one to ten, I'd probably put it about a five or six right now with the heat, a lot of oppressiveness with the weather and just being out in the woods and uh not being easy for them to want to move, pick up and move during the day. But um, the other parts of the state, UM, I would probably put it about a five or six, mainly because there's no hunting pressure on them, but they're still not moving just because I mean it's still been a hundred degrees down here. But the season opens up on Monday the first for the rest of the season as well. UM, So this time of year, you know, people aren't exactly that gung ho about getting out in the woods because of you need about seven thermo cells and almost an a C unit strap to your back. But if you can get out in the woods and you can sit in an area where you know you've got some um, some rutted bucks moving through or you've got some bachelor groups moving through that and haven't broken up yet, and you've got a pretty good chance of uh seeing something. And how did those setups vary for those guys who are maybe hunting the route right now versus everyone else who has an open or coming up on Monday. UM. You know, so we we are a uh, we are a state that does have legalized feeding UM. And this is something that we actually talk a lot about on on our podcast that We've got UM. That's kind of a hot topic for a lot of people in the country. Some people like it, some people don't. But the thing that's interesting about Louisiana is that we hunt areas that is so thick you have zero percent chance of ever doing any type of spot and stock, any sort of setting up on observation stands. And we're hunting thickets where you might only have one small hole to put an arrow in, and so UM, you've got to be able to bring those deer in close without having to track them all the time. But the setup is gonna be UM pretty much the same. If you can attract the dose, then you probably and it's the rut um you can probably bring in some bucks in behind them. So what I and what a lot of people do is, UM, we're hunting a hundred yards from the feeder UM or hunting a hund yards from where weever, wherever the food sources that we're putting out, and we're trying to let the doose pass and then focus in on the bucks that may be behind them right and kind of get out of that circle if you will, that that circle of vulnerability around your feet are where a buck might not come into. Get out behind that and hope that you're on the right trail for them coming in. Do those different deer populations in Louisiana react to weather differently? Say you were to get a huge rainstorm for a few days, or if a cold front comes in, do you notice those two different populations acting differently when that happens. Absolutely? Um, you know, I would say rain is our number one motivator for getting getting deer up and moving. Um. We're pretty uh, we're pretty level. When it comes to weather. It's gonna either be hot or it's gonna be hotter. We don't have a whole bunch of cold fronts coming through. We don't have a whole bunch of, um, you know, huge temperature swings until maybe into December, late January, Um, but early in the season. If you're gonna hunt from now until Thanksgiving, you pretty much know you're gonna be in a short sleeve shirt and uh in ninety degrees that you're gonna be hunting in once the sun comes up. So um, like I said, it's pretty pretty uh stable as far as weather for us. Unfortunately it's stable on the hot end. Um. But because of that, the deer you do see a lot of um, I wouldn't say a lot of it, you do. You do see primarily very crepuscular deer where they are only moving in the morning, they're only moving in the evening, and there's not a whole lot of hour or two after sunrise, hour and two before sunset. It is like right there with the sunset, right there with the sunrise. So a lot of very short hunts. Sometimes you know, it's not really worth it to get out there at one in the one in the afternoon. At the time of year, a lot of times you can climb up at four thirty five o'clock hunt for an hour and a half until it gets dark and um and if you don't see anything in that time periods come back the next morning, you know. Going forward then in this next week or so, what do you think that bucket TVT is going to be on a scale of one to ten in Louisiana, Skeller one of town. I think it's going to say the same thing. It's gonna say a four or five. Um. Just this type of year, this time of year, with um type of weather patterns and the heat that we have, it's hard to expect them to get up and move until another month or two down the road. It's great intel, Kyler, good luck on your approaching opener, and thanks for joining me. Appreciate it. Thank you, And that concludes this week's episode of Wired to Hunt's Radio. Thank you to Dave, Adam, Jake, and Kyler for joining me, and thank you guys for listening. As always, make sure you follow Wire to Haunt on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and follow at Spencer New Hearth and at Fresh on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well. The next time I talked to you get guys, it will be October, and I am so excited for all the rest of the states in the Midwest to open up. Good luck to everybody, and stay Wired to Hunt. H

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