What We are Seeing Now - Updated 10/31
Posted By
Bill Winke
at
10/27/2009 12:00:00 AM
Filed under:
journal
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This is the buck the Katie and her friend filmed on Saturday evening. He is definitely an older buck and he was out early looking for does. |
There is usually a short second upswing in active among mature bucks around November 20 for about five days right after the bulk of the breeding is completed.
This pattern has held up well over the years. I hunt just about every day of this timeframe and have for the past 20 years. I never saw much affect from outside influences (moon phase) except the weather. The rut occurs right on schedule here in the Midwest (the schedule I just laid out). You may not see a lot of daylight activity if it is warm, but assured, the rut is happening anyway. It is just happening with less chasing, less cruising and mostly at night.
WHAT WE ARE SEEING
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| Here is one of many photos of the "Great 8". He has a huge body and is a very old buck. He is starting to appear during the daylight frequently. When the wind is right, I'll hunt him in the area where I think he is bedding. |
Last week, Katie filmed a friend encountering a great old buck. Nate and Myles missed one Monday morning. Chad and I watched a mature buck chasing does on a soybean field last night (Monday).
It looks like the deer are preferring beans right now over green browse plants. I am not sure how they are relating to corn because I have not hunted near corn lately. I would guess they are using it, but probably not as much as they are using beans.
UPDATES ON OUR HIT LIST BUCKS
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| Here is a recent photo (the only one we got) of a buck we called "The Survivor". He is one from the hit list. Again, a daylight photo. It is very encouraging to see them moving during the day. |
I was excited to pull one of my cameras and finally, after two years of trying, I had a bunch of photos of a buck we call the "Great 8". He is very, very old and he was camped out in front of the camera. I wouldn't be surprised if he is 8 1/2 years old. We have at least four years of history with him and he was big the entire time. I got 40 or 50 shots of him over the past five days. His body makes his antlers look small, but I am sure he is over 150 inches. He is a tank. I remember when we filmed him this summer; he waddled off the field when he got alarmed. I don't think he is capable of bounding!
He is not built for bounding - he's built for waddling. I would almost feel guilty shooting this guy after he has lived here for so long. But it would be pretty cool to see him waddle off with an arrow through his lungs too! I would just like to get a good look at him after all these year and film him up close for everyone to enjoy.
A lot of the photos of the Great 8 were snapped during day, further emphasizing the fact that these old buggers are starting move during the day.
We have a good idea where to hunt this buck, and the next time the wind is from the west, we'll be in there near the area where we think he is bedding. Hopefully soon. Based on his age, I bet he won't be covering a lot of ground. I think he will stick close to that area. We don't necessarily have to rush this, we just need to be smart. Their core areas seem to get smaller as they get older. We'll have to hunt him carefully though because he will likely be right there somewhere.
CONCLUSION
It is time to start hunting, maybe not your best stands, but some of the areas you want to explore a bit more closely. It seems that a decent percentage of the mature bucks are on their feet during daylight now. Good luck. I'll update you with more on the Great 8 when we start hunting him.
UPDATE: 10/31/09
Believe it or not, Chad and I got on the Great 8 this morning and had him at 30 yards, beautiful footage, what an awesome buck. But he got away. You can see what happened on the Monday show. I am so bummed. Man, we have a lot of history with this buck and it was such a classic hunt.
