OK, all those things may be true....but what about the MOON? This year, just the way life works out I will be hunting public land in MI on the weekends of the 13th and 20th. While I'm normally not enthusiastic about mid-Oct hunts, especially on Public Land, I am optimistic about the 13th- nearly a new moon. On Public Land. While I don't believe moons affect rut (November here in the MW) much if at all (especially on Public Land); I do know I see a decent amount of daylight deer activity on new-ish moons outside the rut. Or when coldfronts move through. Eff you science. On Public Land.
I can’t remember ever doing it, so if I ever have it certainly wasn’t one of my better bucks or I would remember. But I agree with your thought process. I think, at least in my country where it’s still fairly warm, the cold front aspect certainly has to be the biggest criteria you mentioned as on a typical early seasons day I do believe the big boys are already in their beds before daylight. But arguably, they are most likely, on a typical early season day, still in their beds when the sun goes down as well, especially after the first couple of days and a little hunting pressure and more human activity in their territory. Bottom line is it’s tougher to kill a mature buck early season any time of the day but if you have plenty of places to hunt and saving your better spots, why not give it a try on some of the marginal places.
I'm grandfathered in. Flint born and bred, son! That's OK though; my backup is Central 'Sconnie. You're screwed.
Probably more like dad..... I'm a yooper. Menominee so I am in too. Well, my lifetime license says so anyway!
Well the weather certainly isn't cooperating for this plan. It's been warm and now it looks like a lot of rain coming over the next week. There's no cold fronts of any worth in the extended forecast either. This should be interesting. This weekend I'm going to try and sneak out mid-day while it's raining and do some power scouting of a few areas where I think a buck may live. Going to try and locate a spot I think could be ripe for an October morning ambush.
It's usually pretty warm here and deer are feeding all night. They're in food sources until about a half hour before sun up and then slip back to bed before shooting light. Mornings are tough for sure.
self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.
I have. I was hunting oaks on a transition line / property line between larger timber and bedding. He came in at 830, fed on acorns until I took the shot at 930. I do not really ever hunt October mornings anymore due to lack of properties to hunt and what little I do have locally the entry routes force me to go through ag fields. Comes down to the risk vs the reward. I feel it is a gamble I will lose. I absolutely would hunt select October mornings if I had access to a property that afforded morning access.
With over 5" of rain predicted here in central Oklahoma over the weekend I'm having those same thoughts as well. My shooters have been staying in the woods. I suspect with the heavy acorn mast and warmer early season temps they are not moving much or very far.
We have a 20 plus degree change for today. Some places near 30. Of course that projected rain would throw a monkey wrench in the plan.
Tonight is definitely going to be the best night to hunt in the next week or two, unfortunately we have Todd's dad's funeral service this afternoon. He passed away on Sunday after a couple years battling various cancers and other health issues. Hoping the next "real" cold front after this one is going to actually bring some temps that will kill the bugs and get the bucks feeling frisky.
The way my schedule is looking with a elk hunt taking up all of september, trying to keep my new amazing gf, and train/hunt my dog I dont have a ton of options in october for hunting so I will be out this saturday morning & evening trying to fill my doe tags. I will report back any interesting sightings.
That first week, especially if you're hunting unpressured deer, can be awesome as they're still on easy to read food/bed patterns. One trick I've found is finding good food between the primary food and the bed. They seem to hit it on their way to bed and can mill around that food for what seems like hours in the morning. I've only taken one 3 1/2 year old in the morning, but I've seen several now in situations like I just mentioned. I also take it easy the first couple weeks and have only been hunting mainly evenings. For me, the reason was simple. I was bumping too many deer in the mornings. The interesting outcome for me was that my hunting stayed better longer into October where before, the fabled "October Lull" was in full bloom by the 3rd week. Sort of proved to me that the lull is more about pressure than deer going into hiding...
I’ve killed 2 mature bucks that I can think of and had a great encounter with a 4 year old on early/mid October mornings. I know I’ve had more encounters/sightings of mature bucks early season but these are a few that stick out in my mind. The first one was in the late 90’s. I didn’t pay attention to age back then but I still have the rack which is probably 120-130” and he was a big bodied deer. My uncle gave me the tip that he had been seeing him run behind the pond back towards a bunch of cedar blow downs. I ambushed him at about 10 min after shooting light. Conditions were chilly probably temps in 50’s. I also remember overcast skies and it rained later that morning cause I skinned him in the rain. The second buck was a total fluke. Another hunter jumped him to me on public at about 9am. Guessing that doesn’t help you any. But it was warmer temps probably around 15th of the month. The last encounter I had I was hunting a transition of cypress rows that divide bedding from hardwoods and Ag fields. It was Mid October (17th?) In 2015. and I remember being underdressed and cold. At about 8am I saw a Giant 10 pointer we later named Arnold because the muscle ripped through his body every step he took. He was a true beast with about a 140-150 frame. He picked up my movement I’m guessing when I lost sight of him behind a shrub and he was outtie. He was coming into that bedding area staring into it like a statue and drinking in the air. After he left a doe and dawn appeared about 5 min later. They put a show on below me until they bolted. I thought geez.. first the buck busts me then the fawn? I might as well go home. Then it all made sense when a coyote appeared. I drilled him at 10 yds so the hunt was still a success. For what it’s worth those are the 3 hunts that stand out in my mind for early mature bucks. 2 dead and 1 totally kill-able. Sorry I don’t have exact dates and conditions. Edit: also these were all in southern Illinois
I have only killed a couple good ones during that time but in the afternoon. I think only one in the AM during that timeframe.
I killed my buck on the morning of October 21st last year, a Saturday morning. Shot him at 8:30 am as he came through a transition area between a food plot and a doe bedding area. We had are first real cold front come through early Friday morning. Thursday's high was upper 80's, Friday was 65, and Saturday morning, when I killed him it was around 50 with a high of 62 on the day. Good cold front for Arkansas in October. That was the coolest morning in six months. Next to wind direction, cold fronts are key to October morning hunts.
I probably have not hunted mornings that time of year more than five or six times in my life. I did however, manage to kill a nice one doing it. My hunt sounds very similar to the hunt Buckeye described. I hunted an oak flat that was transition near bedding. I watched the buck feeding on acorns all morning at about 75 yards. He did not move from a thirty foot square area the entire time. Finally, at about 9:30, he started making his move towards bedding and away from me. I waited until he could not see me, and I could not see him and I grabbed my rattling antlers. I did some light sparring and he came right straight to my tree. That was on October 16th and my first sit of the season.
