So yet again October finds me in the woods, sit after sit getting skunked, (well 2 sits)(I hunt the hardwoods, no food plots yet.) There is one main water source on nearby properties, that my property corners too. There is also an oak grove on my corner, white and red oaks, and some thick thick stuff as well. I found this this year and thought my october problems would be a thing of the past. I'm set up good to, my scent blowing away from the grove and the pond. To avoid bumping feeding/bedded deer in the morning, I've been going in at 330am ish, a solid 2 1/2 hours till legal shooting light. I walk very slowly, on a old logging road. Then walk an arc to my stand getting my scent away from the stand. I take all the normal precautions as far as scent control goes. I'm very strict, wash all my clothes after every use, use scent lok bags. I even apply evercalm to my boots 75 yards away from my stand to cover my tracks. I have daytime pics of mature bucks 3 1/2 years old, does, and smaller bucks, Night time pics too of course. The first sit i had out there was september 20th. I had a good buck within ten yards 20 minutes before legal shooting light, then had a nana doe and a few fawns throughout the morning. This past weekend I finally made it back out there, bright and early, in the stand by 430. It was dead quiet on wet leaves, as far as i know i didn't bump anything. I had the perfect wind out of the N-NE 0-5 mph. Sunny. and got skunked. same scenerio this morning as well. There are a few scrapes and rubs around that area that are fresh. Kinda stumped in October again!! What is your October strategy? (keep in mind this is the hardwoods, there are white oaks/acorns everywhere, and only one water source)
This year I put one half of the farm off limits to myself, and I'm the only one there. Opening day was Sept 7 and yesterday was the first time I've hunted it. UNBELIEVABLE. I had deer everywhere in this bedding area, I can't give an actual number of does but I'd estimate around 12 or so. The only buck I saw was a spike who was chasing does all night. Normally I'm in the same spot you are where deer sightings drop off the first three weeks of Oct, but I think pressuring one side of the farm has made the other side even better when it counts.
I don't get too excited in October, sometimes I get lucky and as of the 18th I will be out only 3 times this year. My advice is to watch the trail cams close and scout from the road as much as possible. Regardless of the info I have I am all in starting around the 30th of October and until then I just kind of **** around.
For early October, the only consistent way to kill bucks that I've found is to know where a specific buck is bedding and how he uses wind/thermals after he leaves that bed to feed. I've only made this plan work on two occasions, but it's accounted for my #1 and #3 bucks and both were killed between 10/1 and 10/10. Once you know where he's bedding, then you need to understand how he will move using wind direction and thermals when he decides to get up from that bed. Most mature deer aren't going to hit a destination food source until well past legal shooting light, so you need to be setup in the first 1/3 of his travel route towards a large destination food sources. Both bucks I've killed like this were browsing well inside the timber on acorns, and I believe both setups were within 100-150 yards of where the deer was originally bedded. It's hard to implement this strategy unless you found the bed patterns the previous winter. Both times this has worked for me the beds and travel routes were located 8-9 months prior to opening day when there was snow on the ground and the previous seasons buck sign was still all visible.
Definately, I pulled the LW. and don't plan on going back until the 2nd week in october EDIT*******i meant 2nd week in NOVEMBER Ya i know better, I know mornings are the worst time to hunt in the early season, i know i need to stop it. afternoons are so much harder for me to get out. This past winter i did ALOT of work to my property, making bedding areas and trails for the deer. I've steered clear and havnt been in since late sring, so i have no idea of whats in there!! my property was hopping until i shot my doe on opening day, and everything died off after that. It would kill me to NOT be in the woods!! I think I'm gonna law low until i get back from Illinois 2nd week in november. Painful to do so, but i don't want to screw things up for the rut on my property This past winter i found several buck beds, and there sheds. I was getting them on trail cam pics until middle of august and then they vanished and havent seen them since. I assume they are still using the same beds..but where they go now i'm not sure with all the oaks around.I think I'm just gonna stay out until 2nd week in november after Illinois. Last year i patterned a buck like you mentioned, found his bedding, his food source and nailed him september 20th, while he was still predictable. We are due for a heavy rain mid week...should i scout that day to see what i can find? or do i stay far way so i don't ruin it for the rut??
No worries brother, I thought the same thing but then remembered that this happens every year. Each year I try to improve my property and expect more from the early season and it just doesn't happen. I've only seen 1 deer in my 3 sits so far. After looking back in my journal I realized it happens every year so I don't bother getting worried about not seeing deer until after the leaves have fallen and I can see further. For all you know the deer could be there but you just can't see them, they slip in and out of lanes like ninjas. So far this year the nonsense wind/rain bout hasn't helped either.
I hear ya man - I don't blame you for hunting the morning if you cant get out in the afternoons! Your dedication (2.5hrs before shooting light... ) is awesome and you seem to be taking great precautions. I have a feeling you will start seeing more and more deer as the month comes to an end!
Unless I am trying to thin some does, I normally don't even consider going out to hunt until the last few days of October. I figure there are much more productive things to do than sit in a stand during the slower time of October. Don't get me wrong, if I had the time, I would probably hunt every day. I know good bucks can be killed any day, but I just save up my time for the highest likelihood of seeing mature deer on their feet. Right now they are hitting the acorns hard and I just hate to push into the deep timber and screw things up to hunt that pattern.
This year in August/Sept I noticed the deer starting to move from their summer core bedding areas as well. I used mock scrapes and cameras to relocate them and find which ones stayed. What I've found this year is that on my main property (250 or so acres) there are 6-7 primary areas that I found buck beds on last winters. Some of them got used all spring/fall and are still being used, some of them were vacant this summer but being used now, and some of them were used all summer but are vacant now. But it's still the same 6-7 total primary buck bedding areas. When I noticed deer starting to move around in late August to mid September, I setup cameras and mock scrapes in low impact areas close to each of those bedding areas and was able to determine which ones were still being used and by which deer.
Find the food. You have. Hunt the wind correctly. You have. Do your best on entering without bumping deer. You have. You have done your part. Stay positive. The odds have been tipped in your favor.
I've been out a total of 2 times since the season opened Sept. 15th. First time no deer just turkeys and was lucky enough to kill a tom. Second time out seen just one doe that acted like she was on crack. Trail cam pic's showed lots of activity right before the season opened since then it has been mostly night time activity. I know the deer are thick. The beans in the food plot never made it over 6" tall all season and there were tons of nighttime pic's in the plot. The acorns these deer eat on are NW of where I hunt on a property where there isn't any "legal" hunting allowed. Not saying people don't sneak in there and hunt. I hunt in a fairly residential area so there is little hunting pressure. Mornings here are terrible for me. I can only do evenings. On this particular property I hunt October is always a crap shoot depending on the acorn crop. There are about 1/2 dozen Pin Oaks that I can count on for acorns every year but the deer don't mess with them much until all the whites are gone. I usually don't see many bucks of any size until the end of this month in to November then it is a highway. To me it just sounds like it isn't the deers favorite place in October.
I know how you feel!! I had a couple nice bucks working a mineral site and food source religiously up until about a week before my season started then Bam " desert" haven't seen a buck or have them on cam since!! I hunted last week and saw 6 does all week and the closest they were was 80 yards!! Hopefully things will pick up shortly!!
Ya i know this is what i did last 2 years, was push them deeper, and gave my neighbor a banner year! I'm backing out, resisting the temptation. hopefully i didnt screw it up to much.
Is it really as simple as acorns? I have none, well almost none. I can only think of two acorn bearing oak trees on my property. Neighboring properties have tons of them. I have everything else they could possibly want. Food(Soybeans, Clover, Chickory, Brassicas), Water in the form of a creek and a pond, and ample thick nasty bedding areas. After my third hunt of the season, and only seeing one deer, I grabbed on of the chips out of a trail camera that is in a nice spot. Just on the back corner of the soybeans and in nearly two weeks of taking pictures, there wasn't one single buck on that camera. Not even a yearling out wandering around. This year is really blowing my mind, I always tend to lose track of the bucks as velvet comes off and I usually have less bucks on camera this time of year, but NOTHING? The funny thing is, this is the least pressured my land has been since I have owned it. I've been good about staying out. Only checking trail cams every 2 or 3 weeks. Only hunted 3 times in almost a month. I'm just hoping for a 180 turnaround by November.
usually 1st week in november you will see some chasing if you are lucky. usually 2nd and third week in november are when things really happen, scrapes and rubs are popping up every where, some are more active then others. I walked past one this morning on the way out and it was fresh and wet with no leaves in it, 2" hoof print in the center. I've only seen chasing in person 2 times in RI. nothin like the midwest....LOL
