December 3, 2024 • 37 mins
Welcome to the Fourteenth episode of Rut Fresh Radio for the 2024 Season! In each episode, K.C. and Tyler interview deer hunters from across the country in search of the latest information on whitetail buck movement and hear stories of hunting success. This week we talk to Michael Stoll in Ohio, Justin Henry in Florida, Michael Hunsucker in Missouri, and Ronnie "Cuz" Strickland in Mississippi. Powered by First Lite Gear
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Wired to Hunt's rut Fresh Radio, bringing you
the latest reports from the White Tail Woods, presented by
First Light, creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand,
saddle or blind. First Light Go farther, stay longer, and
now your hosts ca C. Smith and Tyler Jones.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
The year's final month is here, But do you have
the information it takes to make it in December?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
To remember this is Retfresh. Let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Howdy everybody, Welcome to Retfresh Radio. Brock you a first
slide year.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I'm your host k C. Smith.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Tyler Jones is riding in the Captain's chair.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Captain Jones, that's him. We are headed out on it
another deer hunt.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
See here's a little little refresh for the ret Fresh.
Texas and the South in general is a wonderful place
to be for many reasons, all right, But one of
the ones in particular we're gonna discuss right now is
that it's December.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
And we're still thinking about rutting deer. It's pretty cool, man,
and I'm wearing shorts.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
You are wearing shorts, which I am surprised because it's
it's not that warm. Honestly, we actually have a really
good cold front that just came through and it's gonna
the cold temps are gonna stick, which is really exciting
for us.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I mean, we're looking at mid fifties in the.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Day and low's around frost, and that's that is some
good hunting weather. And honestly, I'd say anywhere in the
country that's pretty good hunting weather.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
I like it because if your rifle hunting, then it's good.
If you're bow hunting, and you see just this nice, cool,
high pressure days over and over again, a lot of
times you just get them swirly little light and variables, yeah, yeah,
and bow hunting in those conditions tough.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I will say, what about your shotgun hunt, dude, or
straight wall hunting?
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I want a shotgun hunt? How about all these I
want to buck shot some deer that are running, dude.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Baddy, that would be cool. That would be cool. I've
done a little bit of it. It's pretty fun.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
We do, so we do.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
We pig hunt that way a lot. It's just kind
of the way we do it most time. As we'll
drive to find these big brier thickets. And that's what
some people might call pushing pushing, Yeah, pushing pigs and
shooting them with shotguns and buckshot, and it is super
effective and super fun. Actually have a bunch of those
videos on our channel or a few of them. Yeah,
if you're interested in watching.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Speaking of our channel, if you are interested in some
deer hunting, we just put out a video that I
would love to have you go watch. It's a it's
a video where I shot a really great Texas buck
during the Texas Rutt.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Tyler Jones himself rattled this deer in for me. It
was awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I shot it with a thirty thirty that my granddad
bought for my dad's like eleventh birthday or something like that.
It was, And it's just like a really cool legacy hunt.
A lot of things really come together. It is a
beautiful thing. So we'll link that in description below. But
I think that that whole thing kind of goes to
show that man, just because November is done does not
(03:14):
mean that the deer action is done.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Well, that's right, you killed that deer on what the twelfth, twelfth?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, and I realized we were in Texas in the south,
but we were pretty far north in Texas. Honestly, Like,
if you look at some if you were to draw
a line straight east, we probably would be hitting Missouri
at some point in time on that latitudinal line.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
So it's definitely not over.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
And there's some second rut stuff that maybe out there
that we'll ask some guys about a little bit today,
because you know, we're kind of all interested in that, everybody,
you know, just like the deer, we don't want to
miss out on the good opportunities to be able to
still get a big buck on the.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Ground, and there is a lot of them out there
right now.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Tyler, Yes, just because you do, you know your way
around a white tailed deer. How are you say you're
a Midwest hunter right now? Are you swapping over to
food yet? Are you still thinking about like buck stuff?
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I hunt food a lot man, so I wouldn't be
afraid to to hunt food or deer moving to food,
I wouldn't necessarily be on a field edge right now.
I think if I was on private, I could be
for sure. But I think if I was on public,
i'd probably be. I would be sitting a closer to
(04:37):
I'd be sitting closer to dough betting probably and and
or buck betting. If I knew where bucks were betting,
But I think that I would be hunting deer knowing
that the main, the main angle for that deer that
day is to go find food and then he's going
(04:58):
to harass stoves while he's there or whatever, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So yeah, yeah, that sounds like a pretty good plan, man.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And also like, because we had kind of warmer temperatures
around the country, it would seem for the month of November.
I know, I saw Mark post about it and how
it's been a tough November for him, and I'm sorry,
and I feel like there's some people out there that
had tough Novembers. You and I particularly had great Novembers,
and it kind of might just be kind of to
(05:26):
lean towards the kind of the areas that we hunt
and the deer that we hunt or whatever.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
But it was great for us.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
But the cold temperatures that December usually brings, it's almost
guaranteed that we'll have some cold mixed with you know,
the food sources that you're talking about is a recipe
for success for sure, because those deer get on their feet,
and deer a lot like humans. It seems like to
me they acclimate a little bit so like if it's
the first really good cold snap of the first you know,
(05:54):
temperatures you're going to see in the teens, even if
it's later in the year, then normal those deer really
going to react to that. So it's a great, great
time to make sure you can get out in the woods.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I agree, I think that. I think you know.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
One thing to think about here is I don't know,
I haven't kept too big of a pulse on what's
been going on outside of this ret fresh stuff as
far as like nationwide and what people have been doing.
But if you've had if a lot of people you know,
you know in your area have had a rough November
because it was hot, then December could be the new
(06:27):
thing to do right now, like get you know, if
if November was tough, and then that means there's potentially
a lot of stillure mature bucks still on the landscape, right.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
And then also you pair that with the fact that
a lot of people have taken vacation time to go
do their hunts already, So you're hunting public land or a.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Piece of private that you don't have exclusive access to.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
You could have the woods potentially to yourself and there'd
be a plethora of target animals.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Still lands to.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Do, for sure, those deer if you've got say you're
hunting a place like we do. We have leases here
in Texas, a lot of lease. It's kind of a
cultural thing. And you'll lease it with mostly guys, you know.
Sometimes you'll lease it with people you don't know. But
even if you got like, you know, six or seven
guys on a place that you know, those deer in
December can the big bucks can still be killed on
(07:15):
that lease if they haven't been killed. And a lot
of times they're going to be in the place that
like you have to open the most gates to get there,
you know, or the place that's the furthest back from
the from the ranch house or the or camp or
whatever you're staying, you know. So like think about especially
as we gets later in the year, people get a
little bit lazier. Sometimes the tiredness of the season starts
(07:38):
to set in. And and if you work hard in December,
especially after a warm November, I think it can be
a recipe for good stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, absolutely, man.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
And speaking of laziness, the guys that we have on
the rough fresh today are not that they're.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
The guys that are still out there getting after it. Tyler,
Who do we have on the go today?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Man, We've got uh, you know, one of our former
own Michael Stole up in Ohio. He's uh, you know,
I thought he's gonna retire once he retired from the Element,
but he has been doing some deer hunting up there
in Ohio, which is a good place. I think a
lot of people kill eate season deer up there too,
because they allow corn and things like that. Uh, And
(08:22):
there's just so many deer right up there. So we've
got him. We've got Justin Henry. If you go way
down south from there, from Ohio to the East coast
and south, what's gonna see, You're gonna see Florida And
Justin Henry's comments there and he's he's always out doing
something down there in that nasty deer hunting country of Florida.
(08:44):
And then uh, you know Michael Huntsucker, who usually we
see him once or twice a year on retfresh. He's
in Missouri, which is a place that you know, is
just right in the mix of great deer hunting, has
a great heritage there. And then another place where there's
a lot of deer hunters, and a guy that's very
familiar to a lot of people be cuz Strickland. Ronnie
(09:06):
cuz Strickland been in Mississippi and he's been having some
success with his grandchildren. So we'll get all those guys
on the podcast this week.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
On the phone, I've got Element correspondents from Ohio. Michael Stole.
He's been doing some hunting up there. Man, what are
you seeing in the woods, Jim Christmas.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
I'm seeing a whole bunch of public land.
Speaker 6 (09:26):
Tiny's that's what are you? I sure? Am? Why didn't
you never thought?
Speaker 5 (09:32):
I never thought i'd be the person to say I'm
passing deer, But I've been passing some deer, have you?
But I think I think you guys, I think you
guys would agree on these passes.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Okay, I'm trying to give you art of a time.
Good job. Just because you miss the spike doesn't mean
you passed him.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
I didn't miss Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 7 (09:53):
True.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, So what I mean it's kind of later right.
Ohio has a very traditional rut. But so what if
you're seeing a bunch of deer, you're still on You're
on something that's going on.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
What are they doing.
Speaker 6 (10:06):
A lot of a movement.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
Is it's starting to shift back at least I feel
like to bed to feed. But I've kind of been
hunting it all along, just because I'm hunting like either historical,
like I.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Know there's been a lot of deer in the area.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I'm just trying to.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Find the most like the highest concentration of deer and
then just try not to screw the area up pretty much.
I'm just trying to get a cruising buck to come
through checking dose and.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
Hoping not to blow the entire area up. It's so
much I've done to a couple of places.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
As access kind of the big thing then, I mean,
that's probably got to be a big deal for public
land in general, right.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Access is it's kind of something that I'm I've I
think I've kind of figured something out. And the bigger
terrain stuff, which I've been using a lot of creek access,
which has.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
Been helping a whole bunch.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
I feel like, I don't know if I was crossing
a bunch of trails and some of the other big.
Speaker 6 (11:05):
Timber stuff is still kind of.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Foreign to me, so I don't know exactly how the
deer moving and the creek kind of lets me, you know,
scout my way in still hunt. Really all the above,
so water access has been kind of big for me.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Are you doing that when you say creek? First of all,
why aren't you saying creek? And second of.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
All, is that something that has a lot of water
in it or is that like just like a drainage
When you.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
Say that, I'm saying like you need knee highs.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
To go in? Gotcha? Okay? Cool?
Speaker 5 (11:40):
So not nothing like too crazy, but just enough, you know,
water to wash away my scent pretty much. And I
can really, I can really just walk kind of carefree
through it as long as I'm staying quiet.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Got you. But you're saying exactly so, uh, do you
feel like mornings and evenings are still effective?
Speaker 5 (12:07):
I've shockingly enough seen I feel like usually my brain's
working more in an evening type of thing, but I've
been having a lot more encounters in the morning for
whatever reason. I think it has something to do with
the main area I've been focused on. I think it's
just it kind of is harder to hunt in the
(12:29):
evening just because it's further away from AG so in
the morning it kind of gives them a second to
come back into it, and I'm not, you know, walking
in while they're in there.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
So if you're you're worried about blowing this place out,
at what point do you get aggressive and just do
what you need to do to get work.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
We're getting there, I mean we're I'm tonight, I'm going
in for a more aggressive sit that could possibly blow
it up. And that's the only reason I'm really getting
more aggressive now is because I've gotten some trail camera
pictures up a deer that I would one.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
Shoot, and he is.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
He's been decently consistent, not saying he's he's gonna get
shot tonight.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
But I feel pretty.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Good about getting more aggressive now that I know there's
for sure a shooter in the area.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Gotcha.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
So as you get more aggressive, is that because things
are changing on the deer's end, or just that you're
getting to the point where something needs to happen.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
I feel like the clock is ticking, not.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
You know, on Deer season as a whole, you can
shoot deer in the in the later seasons, but I
just feel like as November is winding down, it's just
it's time to get you know, start throwing some hail.
Mary's out and if I I burn the spot, go
find a different spot that's on a more traditional bed
to feed type pattern.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
So you're saying that deer deer is still on their
feet really well right now, and that it's it's going
to start winding down here and being a lot more.
They're gonna be a little more reclusive in December.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Yeah, that's how I feel They're just gonna keep I
feel like as December goes on, I feel like they're
just gonna keep getting closer and closer in on food.
And then that makes your access even even more to
some of these areas well.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
If it makes you feeling better your frid your Saturdays
are going to clear up some with.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Another you're definitely gonna have to worry about watching. Yeah,
that's right. Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So uh seriously, though, as we look forward to the
next week, you know, you definitely have a pulse on
it because you you feel like there's like a chicken
time bomb here. What are you going to give buck
movement on a scale of one to ten for the
next week in Ohio?
Speaker 5 (14:42):
If I was to say ten is the best day ever,
probably six point five.
Speaker 6 (14:49):
Yeah, man, I gave it a six.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
That's it's just well you just being more precise, kind
of like the age. We call them six, but they're
actually six and a half. Yeah, I hope that's what
you kill out there. Man, appreciate the report for Ohio.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
Yes, sir, all right.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
We've got our Florida correspondent justin Henry here, and he's
been hunting there in Florida where it's the wild East Man,
and there's all kinds of different ruts and all kinds
of different habitats and all that kind of stuff and
weather patterns and everything. Justin tell us a little bit
about what's been going on in your neck of the
woods in Florida and what the deer been doing.
Speaker 7 (15:30):
I think they've actually been on the freaking out a
little bit. We've gotten some cold weather, though we don't
normally get this early in the year. Usually it's about
January before it breaks forty degrees. And we've had a
couple or high thirty low forty degree tempts back to back.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
So man, it's been interesting, so interesting, And has that
done good things to the deer movement or bad?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
You know?
Speaker 7 (15:56):
I think it's a fifty to fifty truthfully, especially down
here in this South. I mean, uh, I think the
first day or two of the cold front, I think
it kind of freaks them out a little bit. Maybe
on that third day, once the temperatures are a little
more Uh, I don't know, maybe predictable, I guess, you know,
because it warms up pretty good in the afternoon still,
I mean it's sixty five seventy degrees, mornings are in
(16:18):
the forties.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
So so what uh, what would the what would be
the biggest change when that stuff happens, in your opinion,
into your movement.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
I just think back to food. I mean, I don't
think there's any different than out in the Midwest. You know,
they get a little cold, they get hungry, you know,
and our rut, as you said before, rut balances back
and forth in between. I mean, the best is still
to come up in the Panhandle of Florida. You know,
they still got another couple of weeks and it'll fire
up from them. But where I'm at, where pretty much
we're over it, back to that bed to food pattern
for the most part.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
So are you hunting mostly evenings? Then are you hunting
some mornings too?
Speaker 7 (16:54):
Or is this kind of depend on what you got
on depending on schedule.
Speaker 8 (16:58):
Really, I mean, mornings are always good.
Speaker 7 (17:00):
I don't ever steer away from mornings, even in any
part of the year. I don't steer away from mornings,
especially down here on public land, big woods.
Speaker 8 (17:07):
You know, it's not that big of a deal.
Speaker 7 (17:09):
Maybe on some more managed area properties it might make
a bigger difference, but I don't see a difference in
the mornings.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Do you have to adjust for hunting pressure on that
public stuff down there?
Speaker 7 (17:21):
Yeah, especially since gun season rolled in. The Orange Armies
out in full, so it's it's definitely the pressure's in there.
So just you know, I mean the sign is still
there a little bit off and on. I mean you
can still see, you know, more just left over acorns
are starting to hit. Cameras are fired up on some
of those old acorns that are still on the ground. So,
(17:44):
like I said, food bed getting there tight to them
and catch them in between.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
How much in season scouting are you having to do
right now to to find deer.
Speaker 8 (17:58):
I'd say not that much. I'm at least recently.
Speaker 7 (18:02):
I mean I do think, I mean, I know, I said,
with the colder temps that kind of freaks them out.
But I do believe that with just the coolish temps,
it does keep them on their feet a little bit earlier,
or getting on their feet a little bit earlier in
the evenings.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
What what other food sources besides acrens, anything that you've seen.
Speaker 7 (18:22):
Uh, there's I don't know the name of this, these bushes,
but I can't I need to figure it out. There's
a bush that I've noticed quite a few deer chewing on.
It's more like it's almost like a vine, uh, single leaf,
single leaf vine on the ground around the pine trees
I've been noticing. Uh, I probably ought to do some
research and figure out what that is. But just browse
does it have thorns? It does have thorns, which is shocking. Okay, Okay,
(18:47):
that may surprise me. Yeah, that may give give somebody a.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Yea, yeah cool. So in the next week, do you
expect anything to change? What's the weather?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
You know, you have an idea what the weather is
going to look like, and if that's an effect dear
movement in your area.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
Yeah, I mean we got another big cold front pushing in.
I think I want to say Tuesday, Tuesday ish, So.
Speaker 8 (19:11):
Just cold weather. I don't know if it's really going
to change much of anything.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Okay, So in the next week or so, if you
had to rank buck movement on a scale of one
to ten, what would.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
You put it at?
Speaker 8 (19:24):
Probably go with a solid four and a half.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Okay, okay, not bad. It's worth being out there then.
Speaker 8 (19:29):
You think absolutely anytimes it's a good time.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Okay, Well, justin thanks so much for the report. I
look forward to maybe hearing from you from a different
state in the southeast at some point before the year's
over with.
Speaker 8 (19:40):
Sounds good, Thank you, gentlemen.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Now on the phone, I've got Mike Hunt Sucker and
I can call him Mike this time around because I
heard his voicemail and he introduced himself as Mike on
his voicemail this a second ago. So really, yeah, yeah.
So he's from Hartland bow Hunter and he's been up
in Missouri. Tell us how the deer movement is looking
at Missouri there, Mike, Man.
Speaker 9 (20:35):
It's been pretty good this last week. Seems like a
lot of deer. It seems like, at least, you know,
the places I've been hunting. The rut was a little
bit later, and so it seems like they're coming off
a lockdown this past week and still see some running
activity for sure, but definitely seeing a transition to food
sources as well.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
So when you say the food source transition, you would
be including like mature but in that.
Speaker 9 (21:01):
Yeah, absolutely, especially mature bucks that are that are run
down and have been just just abusing their bodies the past,
you know, six weeks.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
So what kind of food sources are doing best right now?
Speaker 9 (21:14):
You know, I tell everybody that corn is no matter
what time of the year, Like in Missouri, we can
manipulate a crop. So we leave standing corn, we can
mow it whenever we want it. Uh and uh, there's
just not a single thing that competes with it. But
that said, standing beans are great right now. We just
got about three inches of snow today here in Missouri,
and so having that food above the above the snow
(21:35):
is crucial as well. So I really like grains late
season obviously, you know, we do a lot of eagle
seed fall plots as well. It's been it's been an
interesting year, several years, I should say, for the fall plots.
You know, just we've had just terrible late summer droughts
and so our plots have been pretty brutal. But we
got a bunch of rain in October and into November,
(21:58):
and a bunch of my plots have just exploded the
past few weeks, and so excuse me, they're not gonna
have like the you know, the big bulbs, you know,
like like they would have had they matured into proper
time of year. But nonetheless it's some some green tonnage
in the deer being those pretty good too.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
So you're talking about mature bucks who run down their
bodies and then that in turn, you know, makes you
really hunt food sources, which uh kind of sounds a
lot like October type stuff. Do you shift back to
kind of even evenings only at this point in the year.
Speaker 9 (22:35):
Yeah, I mean definitely more key, more on the evenings,
but I do have some spots that are great morning
spots where you can catch them coming back off those
food sources if they are kind of lingering into the
daylight hours, you know, with it's really similar to the October,
like you said to where those mature bucks, you know,
they're starting to care about food, but they still know
that they might catch you know, one of those later
doughs that are that are still an asteris and so
(22:57):
same thing as the pre run you know, early when
they're their number one spot to check is going to
do those those food sources that are holding a bunch
of does. So anytime I've been hunting this past week,
the does, man, they just I feel so bad for them.
They come out, they want to get some food, and
then they just get harassed by every single Buck in
the area. And so we watch Bucks, you know, chase
does in and out, in and out, in and out
(23:17):
of the plots, you know, the past, the past few
hunts for sure.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
So talk about like access and set up and all
that is. I mean, I would assume with the snow,
are these going to be betting closer to those food
sources in all overall? Are they going to still be
uh generally in the areas they've been kind of spending
time in during the early run.
Speaker 9 (23:38):
Yeah, they like to be closer to the food sources.
And obviously we have over the years strategically placed those
food sources you know near you know, known solid betting
area areas that we work in, trying to improve the
habitat and try to make it more attractive as well.
So you know, you want those those high quality betting
sources close to the food if you want to see
good daylight activity, and a lot of them primarily are
(24:01):
set up on the south wind side or of the
south side of that betting area. So you're, you know,
we're we're banking on north wind coldfronts this time of year.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
So are you thinking at all about any type of
rut activity or are you kind of looking forward to
a second rut or what's that look like?
Speaker 9 (24:18):
Yeah, actually, somebody who's asking me about the second rut
just just the other day, and like, you know, I
don't think I've ever like banked on any sort of
second rud activity, Like even on these farms. You know,
there's these farms that we have in Missouri. A lot
of them are higher deer densities to where some of
the does don't get bred for sure, And so I
always see some sort of you know, a buck lockdown
with a dough in December that time of year. But
(24:39):
it's just like you're not banking on it and the majority,
you know, you're focusing your efforts on the majority of
the deer movement. But that being said, sometimes you know,
if you do catch a buck that is locked down
that time of year, it might you know, be a
susceptible window to you know, get aggressive on him and
and you know, do something spot in stock or or
you know, set up you know where he's he's dough
(25:00):
kind of pushed away from the major herd.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
So in the next week or so, do you expect
that like bucks, will you know, the buck movement will
be essentially very similar to what it is in the
last week or is it gonna change much You're still
gonna see that rut in action that's going to be
very similar or is it gonna Is it gonna start
to dwindle?
Speaker 9 (25:22):
No, I think it'll be good. I think it'll stay good.
Especially we got a cold front coming through. We've had
a couple of nice, nice little cold snaps and so
we had a crazy mild fall in the Midwest, and
uh so getting this cold weather now is really really
nice in the deer, Like I said, I've used to
wandering around aimlessly during the daylight. So you'll see that
morning activity die off a little bit, I feel like,
But man, if we get some good cold weather, it
(25:45):
just it's timed perfectly. You're not gonna see like, you know,
the super early like best piration late season movements you
see of like deer that have to feed but like
you know, if you get that cold weather, they still
they still definitely need to feed and and they're working
on building bodies back up like I was saying, So
it can be a great time to capitalize on one
for sure.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
So we do have a little bit of cold weather here,
uh coming up in the in the next week. Uh
So taking that and applying what you just talked about,
what would you rank the Bug movie on a scale
of one to ten for the next week in Missouri?
Speaker 9 (26:21):
Man, I think it's gonna be like a nine.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
It's gonna be Wow.
Speaker 9 (26:24):
It's gonna be as good as I think, as good
as you know Dayanaire, as good as it gets. It's not,
like I said, not that crazy late seasons that, but
I think it's gonna be great. You know, just a
combination of you know, bucks need to need to rebuild
like I was saying, but also a chance of potentially
catching a dough that's still in heat.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Well, I look forward to some slow motion you know,
arrow entering deer during a snowstorm in the next you know,
year or so, So I hope.
Speaker 9 (26:52):
So, Man, I'm heading out. I'm getting ready to head
out now. The snow literally just stopped. And the buck
I've I was hunting that I'm hunting late season is ancient,
just an ancient old buck that I literally have never
laid eyes on ever in my life. But he's like
ten or eleven years old. And I saw him just
two nights ago and had him come in and we
did not have that cold front, you know, we was
(27:13):
just starting to hit and so we had a little
rain come through and he came in and we had
twenty minutes left of legal light, but he was thirty
five yards and just too dark. I just wasn't comfortable shooting.
And he ended up getting to twenty and there was
still like four or five minutes left, and it was
but it was like basically pitch black, and I was like, man,
I'm just there's a bunch of doughs in the plot
and he was moving around bumping them and it just
(27:33):
wasn't wasn't one of those situations. But obviously we had
Thanksgiving and then I went to tick the family to
the Chiefs game yesterday, and I'm just kicking myself, you know.
We had all these plans and like, he daylighted both nights,
but I knew to night was going to be just
just as good, not better with the snow coming in,
so hopefully didn't miss my window of opportunity.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
Well I bet you, I bet you find a way, man,
go get him and have great rest of your season.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Mike.
Speaker 9 (27:57):
Yeah, thanks, thanks, guys, good catching up.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
I'm talking to a very familiar guy for a lot
of you hunters out there, Ronnie Couz Strickland. Ronnie, what's
going on?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Man?
Speaker 10 (28:07):
Well, you know, we got our first official cool snap
down here. And this is of course in Mississippi. We
have two seasons summer in February.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
I'm telling you, hey, we get you on that.
Speaker 10 (28:19):
The low last night was twenty five and oh man,
it's just an awesome and we just got there with
Thanksgiving and after the big spread, my oldest granddaughter, who's
a senior in Mississippi State, that's how old I am,
we went and sat in a ground line that I've
had up for three years on food plot, seeing we
(28:42):
could get her to get her a dough and a
ten point walked out at four point fifteen and I
was in absolute utter shop and she ten ringed it
with a crossbow and then all three grandsons, you know,
blood trailed it and kept loaded up and all. So
I'm doing pretty good.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Yeah, that's good stuff, man.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
I tell you, we're here in kind of northeast Texas
and we have had some decent weather as well, good
cold morning temps and stuff. And I have seen so
many dead deer on the road, and it seems like
it's in the South and the Gulf States. It's starting
to pop off a little bit. How's that cold weather
affecting the deer movement for y'all.
Speaker 10 (29:23):
You know, I got out my little pass this morning
and I got an electric buggy I can ease around on.
I don't have a ton of trail cameras, but I
can get to them all with that buggy, so I
don't have to get out and leave scent and all
that stuff. And I saw eight or ten scrapes. I've
only seen one in the last couple of weeks, So
(29:44):
you're will aware. In Mississippi, depending on where you're at,
the root can be different. Right here on my farm,
I'm kind of a straight north a little bit northeast
of the state, and it's always the same. It's generally
the week before Christmas.
Speaker 8 (30:00):
So the four.
Speaker 10 (30:03):
Biggest deer we've killed on this place since I've had it,
three of them ron Christmas Eve, and uh, these these.
Speaker 8 (30:11):
Bucks are just different.
Speaker 10 (30:12):
And I know everybody says that, but I'm telling you
the terrain, you know, is so thick, the ruts less
defined if you would, and uh so that that December
the fifteenth to the end of the month is uh,
it's when you're gonna probably get some daylight pictures. I saw,
Like I said, I was stunned when that that ten
(30:33):
point walked that the other day. I was like, what
are you kidding? But it's it's just now when you
start seeing scrapes like I saw some this morning, which
fired me up. But it's uh that cold weather I
think helps them, uh and get them up on their
feet a little bit. And it's, uh, it's a different
(30:53):
deal in Mississippi. You know, you see all the pictures
on Instagram and all this or these giants there hitting
the ground and where you go, where are these guys
hunting out?
Speaker 2 (31:03):
So speaking of that cold weather that you're talking about,
you know that twenty five is going to kill a
lot of the native brows and stuff, and those deer
I'd imagine they're going to be really looking for some
of those green food sources. How are the food plots
and how are the deer hitting them right now?
Speaker 10 (31:18):
Well, food plots was just drama for me because we
were in a drought, and you guys in Texas, you
know all about droughts. Anyway, I saw a big rain
event coming in late August, which is really early for
us to plant down here. But I rolled the dice
and I planted all my food plots and got four
(31:39):
inches of rain on them. And they wow, nothing short
of magnificent. And I left to go to North Carolina,
made a little run up there, dropping food and stuff off,
and came back and I checked them before I left,
and when I got back, I checked them thirty four
days later. This would have been I don't know. They
were four or five inches high, absolutely demolished by the
(32:02):
army worms. Everyone up except one. It was nothing but dirt.
But I redrilled. I just drill this time with a
cheaper seed, and they popped right back up and they.
Speaker 8 (32:13):
Look really, really good.
Speaker 10 (32:15):
And I saved managed to save some of the turnips
and stuff. And that's a big deal. You get, you know,
you get turnips and stuff like that when they get
a heavy frost. A couple of days in a row,
they started getting that sugar content up. So I'm getting
at Lancey to see if they're gonna start hitting it.
I'm pretty excited.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
That's awesome, man. So here in the next you know,
a week or so, is it? Do you expect any
any weather or anything to affect the deer movement and
positive trajectory as we get a little bit closer to rut.
I know we're still gonna be early for you if
your Christmas Eve is your kind of your date.
Speaker 10 (32:54):
Yeah, the extended wather for cass has has it cold
the next two days and then I'm sure it'll warm up.
You know where I'm at the same way in Texas,
I mean Christmas Day you can be in shorts and
a T shirt. It may be eighty so you never know.
And these deer, yeah, I don't know. If you're ever
hunted in Alabama and what they call the Black Belt,
(33:14):
those are the most weather fickled deer on the planet.
You just absolutely will not see really any buck movement
until it starts getting down low. And these are about
as bad. You know, my farm isn't gigantic, so I
don't put a lot of pressure on it, and I
wait for the exact right wind. And I don't have
(33:35):
a ton of cameras out, so I missed some of it.
But I can tell you if we get any cold
weather and I hadn't looked at the past ten days,
they're extremely affected by that word down here, they will move.
And I've got my calendar wide open. I ain't going
anywhere between now January the first.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Okay, So if we're looking at the next week here,
with all that in mind, if you had to rank
buck movement on a scale of one to ten, what
would you call.
Speaker 10 (34:06):
It this coming week? Yes, sir, on my farm, I
on a scale of one to ten, I put it
at about a six or seven.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
That's pretty good.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
Sounds like it's getting close.
Speaker 10 (34:18):
And my little place doesn't get a lot of pressure,
so they keep I keep plenty of dose around. That's
a whole nother you know podcast saying about you know,
get getting your buck to dough ratio down. I believe
in keeping everything here, farm sanctuary, food, water cover, and
(34:39):
plenty of doors so they don't have to go far.
So the dose come to the food plot. So I'd
say I'm getting close to that seven mark.
Speaker 8 (34:49):
Next week.
Speaker 10 (34:49):
I'm I'm I may be a little apprehensive, but I'm
I'm telling you about to get there, all.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Right, man, Well cause I appreciate it. Sounds like you
got it going on, dude, and I appreciate you coming
on and sharing all that information with the listeners.
Speaker 10 (35:04):
Well, thank you guys, Happy Thanksgiving, task and happy Mary Christmas.
I appreciate you giving me a holler and good luck
on your road trips.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Yes, sir, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Still some pretty encouraging reports from around the country if
you haven't tagged out yet.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Believe me, I know I say this all the time.
There's like two motives for what I do. It's like
deer seasons almost here and then it ain't over.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
You know. There's like this thing that gradiates from the
element that's called optimism, and sometimes it's you know, a
little bit naive, but it's kind of fun being naive from.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Time to sure.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
You know, I've forgotten how much I love Michael stole Man,
funny guy. I feel bad for him with that OSU
loss Man. Do you yeah I had it coming? Do
you think I'm actually really glad that they did? Because
my ponies were at number nine last week? And I'm
interested to see where they end.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Up this week. Well, my eggies didn't even show up
for the biggest game of the decade, so I know
guys were there. Hey it makes all better, thanks Ty,
But I do love those guys too. But yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Anyways, guys, if you do need some inspiration, some optimisim
maybe even some naivety, go check out the links below.
We have got a really awesome hunt from last.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Year that I talked about earlier. It's gonna be linked
in the stuff below.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
And there is an article from Tony on how to
kill a buck from a natural ground blind, which I
think is pretty applicable for a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
You know, if you're running gun hunting.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
One of the things about that needs to be that
you need to be okay with hunting on the ground
too sometimes and oftentimes natural cover is really great.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
So good article. Go check out as well. Did Greg
read that.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Article Maybe not yet, but I'll make sure he gets
the link to the podcast he.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Does, Manny Hunting.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
One this week he showed me, dude, he had like
shooting windows that were the size.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Of great fruits.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Man, I'm like, oh, my goodness, that gives me anxiety,
bad but I bet you Tony gives.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
You a little bit more clue into that kind of stuff. Yeah,
for sure. He's a really knowledgeable guy. For sure.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
It's worth going and checking out, guys. I hope you
guys have a great week. It's a good week to
be in the woods. I think we're all getting a
little bit colder weather and we're gonna have a good
shot at killing deer this week, including k C and myself.
We all remember this is ret fresh, Keep it fresh.
Welcome to Wired to Hunt's rut Fresh Radio, bringing you
the latest reports from the White Tail Woods, presented by
First Light, creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand,
saddle or blind. First Light Go farther, stay longer, and
now your hosts ca C. Smith and Tyler Jones.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
The year's final month is here, But do you have
the information it takes to make it in December?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
To remember this is Retfresh. Let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Howdy everybody, Welcome to Retfresh Radio. Brock you a first
slide year.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I'm your host k C. Smith.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Tyler Jones is riding in the Captain's chair.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Captain Jones, that's him. We are headed out on it
another deer hunt.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
See here's a little little refresh for the ret Fresh.
Texas and the South in general is a wonderful place
to be for many reasons, all right, But one of
the ones in particular we're gonna discuss right now is
that it's December.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
And we're still thinking about rutting deer. It's pretty cool, man,
and I'm wearing shorts.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
You are wearing shorts, which I am surprised because it's
it's not that warm. Honestly, we actually have a really
good cold front that just came through and it's gonna
the cold temps are gonna stick, which is really exciting
for us.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I mean, we're looking at mid fifties in the.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Day and low's around frost, and that's that is some
good hunting weather. And honestly, I'd say anywhere in the
country that's pretty good hunting weather.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
I like it because if your rifle hunting, then it's good.
If you're bow hunting, and you see just this nice, cool,
high pressure days over and over again, a lot of
times you just get them swirly little light and variables, yeah, yeah,
and bow hunting in those conditions tough.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I will say, what about your shotgun hunt, dude, or
straight wall hunting?
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I want a shotgun hunt? How about all these I
want to buck shot some deer that are running, dude.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Baddy, that would be cool. That would be cool. I've
done a little bit of it. It's pretty fun.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
We do, so we do.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
We pig hunt that way a lot. It's just kind
of the way we do it most time. As we'll
drive to find these big brier thickets. And that's what
some people might call pushing pushing, Yeah, pushing pigs and
shooting them with shotguns and buckshot, and it is super
effective and super fun. Actually have a bunch of those
videos on our channel or a few of them. Yeah,
if you're interested in watching.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Speaking of our channel, if you are interested in some
deer hunting, we just put out a video that I
would love to have you go watch. It's a it's
a video where I shot a really great Texas buck
during the Texas Rutt.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Tyler Jones himself rattled this deer in for me. It
was awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I shot it with a thirty thirty that my granddad
bought for my dad's like eleventh birthday or something like that.
It was, And it's just like a really cool legacy hunt.
A lot of things really come together. It is a
beautiful thing. So we'll link that in description below. But
I think that that whole thing kind of goes to
show that man, just because November is done does not
(03:14):
mean that the deer action is done.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Well, that's right, you killed that deer on what the twelfth, twelfth?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, and I realized we were in Texas in the south,
but we were pretty far north in Texas. Honestly, Like,
if you look at some if you were to draw
a line straight east, we probably would be hitting Missouri
at some point in time on that latitudinal line.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
So it's definitely not over.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
And there's some second rut stuff that maybe out there
that we'll ask some guys about a little bit today,
because you know, we're kind of all interested in that, everybody,
you know, just like the deer, we don't want to
miss out on the good opportunities to be able to
still get a big buck on the.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Ground, and there is a lot of them out there
right now.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Tyler, Yes, just because you do, you know your way
around a white tailed deer. How are you say you're
a Midwest hunter right now? Are you swapping over to
food yet? Are you still thinking about like buck stuff?
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I hunt food a lot man, so I wouldn't be
afraid to to hunt food or deer moving to food,
I wouldn't necessarily be on a field edge right now.
I think if I was on private, I could be
for sure. But I think if I was on public,
i'd probably be. I would be sitting a closer to
(04:37):
I'd be sitting closer to dough betting probably and and
or buck betting. If I knew where bucks were betting,
But I think that I would be hunting deer knowing
that the main, the main angle for that deer that
day is to go find food and then he's going
(04:58):
to harass stoves while he's there or whatever, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So yeah, yeah, that sounds like a pretty good plan, man.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And also like, because we had kind of warmer temperatures
around the country, it would seem for the month of November.
I know, I saw Mark post about it and how
it's been a tough November for him, and I'm sorry,
and I feel like there's some people out there that
had tough Novembers. You and I particularly had great Novembers,
and it kind of might just be kind of to
(05:26):
lean towards the kind of the areas that we hunt
and the deer that we hunt or whatever.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
But it was great for us.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
But the cold temperatures that December usually brings, it's almost
guaranteed that we'll have some cold mixed with you know,
the food sources that you're talking about is a recipe
for success for sure, because those deer get on their feet,
and deer a lot like humans. It seems like to
me they acclimate a little bit so like if it's
the first really good cold snap of the first you know,
(05:54):
temperatures you're going to see in the teens, even if
it's later in the year, then normal those deer really
going to react to that. So it's a great, great
time to make sure you can get out in the woods.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I agree, I think that. I think you know.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
One thing to think about here is I don't know,
I haven't kept too big of a pulse on what's
been going on outside of this ret fresh stuff as
far as like nationwide and what people have been doing.
But if you've had if a lot of people you know,
you know in your area have had a rough November
because it was hot, then December could be the new
(06:27):
thing to do right now, like get you know, if
if November was tough, and then that means there's potentially
a lot of stillure mature bucks still on the landscape, right.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
And then also you pair that with the fact that
a lot of people have taken vacation time to go
do their hunts already, So you're hunting public land or a.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Piece of private that you don't have exclusive access to.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
You could have the woods potentially to yourself and there'd
be a plethora of target animals.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Still lands to.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Do, for sure, those deer if you've got say you're
hunting a place like we do. We have leases here
in Texas, a lot of lease. It's kind of a
cultural thing. And you'll lease it with mostly guys, you know.
Sometimes you'll lease it with people you don't know. But
even if you got like, you know, six or seven
guys on a place that you know, those deer in
December can the big bucks can still be killed on
(07:15):
that lease if they haven't been killed. And a lot
of times they're going to be in the place that
like you have to open the most gates to get there,
you know, or the place that's the furthest back from
the from the ranch house or the or camp or
whatever you're staying, you know. So like think about especially
as we gets later in the year, people get a
little bit lazier. Sometimes the tiredness of the season starts
(07:38):
to set in. And and if you work hard in December,
especially after a warm November, I think it can be
a recipe for good stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, absolutely, man.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
And speaking of laziness, the guys that we have on
the rough fresh today are not that they're.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
The guys that are still out there getting after it. Tyler,
Who do we have on the go today?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Man, We've got uh, you know, one of our former
own Michael Stole up in Ohio. He's uh, you know,
I thought he's gonna retire once he retired from the Element,
but he has been doing some deer hunting up there
in Ohio, which is a good place. I think a
lot of people kill eate season deer up there too,
because they allow corn and things like that. Uh, And
(08:22):
there's just so many deer right up there. So we've
got him. We've got Justin Henry. If you go way
down south from there, from Ohio to the East coast
and south, what's gonna see, You're gonna see Florida And
Justin Henry's comments there and he's he's always out doing
something down there in that nasty deer hunting country of Florida.
(08:44):
And then uh, you know Michael Huntsucker, who usually we
see him once or twice a year on retfresh. He's
in Missouri, which is a place that you know, is
just right in the mix of great deer hunting, has
a great heritage there. And then another place where there's
a lot of deer hunters, and a guy that's very
familiar to a lot of people be cuz Strickland. Ronnie
(09:06):
cuz Strickland been in Mississippi and he's been having some
success with his grandchildren. So we'll get all those guys
on the podcast this week.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
On the phone, I've got Element correspondents from Ohio. Michael Stole.
He's been doing some hunting up there. Man, what are
you seeing in the woods, Jim Christmas.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
I'm seeing a whole bunch of public land.
Speaker 6 (09:26):
Tiny's that's what are you? I sure? Am? Why didn't
you never thought?
Speaker 5 (09:32):
I never thought i'd be the person to say I'm
passing deer, But I've been passing some deer, have you?
But I think I think you guys, I think you
guys would agree on these passes.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Okay, I'm trying to give you art of a time.
Good job. Just because you miss the spike doesn't mean
you passed him.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
I didn't miss Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 7 (09:53):
True.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, So what I mean it's kind of later right.
Ohio has a very traditional rut. But so what if
you're seeing a bunch of deer, you're still on You're
on something that's going on.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
What are they doing.
Speaker 6 (10:06):
A lot of a movement.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
Is it's starting to shift back at least I feel
like to bed to feed. But I've kind of been
hunting it all along, just because I'm hunting like either historical,
like I.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Know there's been a lot of deer in the area.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I'm just trying to.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Find the most like the highest concentration of deer and
then just try not to screw the area up pretty much.
I'm just trying to get a cruising buck to come
through checking dose and.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
Hoping not to blow the entire area up. It's so
much I've done to a couple of places.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
As access kind of the big thing then, I mean,
that's probably got to be a big deal for public
land in general, right.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Access is it's kind of something that I'm I've I
think I've kind of figured something out. And the bigger
terrain stuff, which I've been using a lot of creek access,
which has.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
Been helping a whole bunch.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
I feel like, I don't know if I was crossing
a bunch of trails and some of the other big.
Speaker 6 (11:05):
Timber stuff is still kind of.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Foreign to me, so I don't know exactly how the
deer moving and the creek kind of lets me, you know,
scout my way in still hunt. Really all the above,
so water access has been kind of big for me.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Are you doing that when you say creek? First of all,
why aren't you saying creek? And second of.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
All, is that something that has a lot of water
in it or is that like just like a drainage
When you.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
Say that, I'm saying like you need knee highs.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
To go in? Gotcha? Okay? Cool?
Speaker 5 (11:40):
So not nothing like too crazy, but just enough, you know,
water to wash away my scent pretty much. And I
can really, I can really just walk kind of carefree
through it as long as I'm staying quiet.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Got you. But you're saying exactly so, uh, do you
feel like mornings and evenings are still effective?
Speaker 5 (12:07):
I've shockingly enough seen I feel like usually my brain's
working more in an evening type of thing, but I've
been having a lot more encounters in the morning for
whatever reason. I think it has something to do with
the main area I've been focused on. I think it's
just it kind of is harder to hunt in the
(12:29):
evening just because it's further away from AG so in
the morning it kind of gives them a second to
come back into it, and I'm not, you know, walking
in while they're in there.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
So if you're you're worried about blowing this place out,
at what point do you get aggressive and just do
what you need to do to get work.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
We're getting there, I mean we're I'm tonight, I'm going
in for a more aggressive sit that could possibly blow
it up. And that's the only reason I'm really getting
more aggressive now is because I've gotten some trail camera
pictures up a deer that I would one.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
Shoot, and he is.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
He's been decently consistent, not saying he's he's gonna get
shot tonight.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
But I feel pretty.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Good about getting more aggressive now that I know there's
for sure a shooter in the area.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Gotcha.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
So as you get more aggressive, is that because things
are changing on the deer's end, or just that you're
getting to the point where something needs to happen.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
I feel like the clock is ticking, not.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
You know, on Deer season as a whole, you can
shoot deer in the in the later seasons, but I
just feel like as November is winding down, it's just
it's time to get you know, start throwing some hail.
Mary's out and if I I burn the spot, go
find a different spot that's on a more traditional bed
to feed type pattern.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
So you're saying that deer deer is still on their
feet really well right now, and that it's it's going
to start winding down here and being a lot more.
They're gonna be a little more reclusive in December.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Yeah, that's how I feel They're just gonna keep I
feel like as December goes on, I feel like they're
just gonna keep getting closer and closer in on food.
And then that makes your access even even more to
some of these areas well.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
If it makes you feeling better your frid your Saturdays
are going to clear up some with.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Another you're definitely gonna have to worry about watching. Yeah,
that's right. Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So uh seriously, though, as we look forward to the
next week, you know, you definitely have a pulse on
it because you you feel like there's like a chicken
time bomb here. What are you going to give buck
movement on a scale of one to ten for the
next week in Ohio?
Speaker 5 (14:42):
If I was to say ten is the best day ever,
probably six point five.
Speaker 6 (14:49):
Yeah, man, I gave it a six.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
That's it's just well you just being more precise, kind
of like the age. We call them six, but they're
actually six and a half. Yeah, I hope that's what
you kill out there. Man, appreciate the report for Ohio.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
Yes, sir, all right.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
We've got our Florida correspondent justin Henry here, and he's
been hunting there in Florida where it's the wild East Man,
and there's all kinds of different ruts and all kinds
of different habitats and all that kind of stuff and
weather patterns and everything. Justin tell us a little bit
about what's been going on in your neck of the
woods in Florida and what the deer been doing.
Speaker 7 (15:30):
I think they've actually been on the freaking out a
little bit. We've gotten some cold weather, though we don't
normally get this early in the year. Usually it's about
January before it breaks forty degrees. And we've had a
couple or high thirty low forty degree tempts back to back.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
So man, it's been interesting, so interesting, And has that
done good things to the deer movement or bad?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
You know?
Speaker 7 (15:56):
I think it's a fifty to fifty truthfully, especially down
here in this South. I mean, uh, I think the
first day or two of the cold front, I think
it kind of freaks them out a little bit. Maybe
on that third day, once the temperatures are a little
more Uh, I don't know, maybe predictable, I guess, you know,
because it warms up pretty good in the afternoon still,
I mean it's sixty five seventy degrees, mornings are in
(16:18):
the forties.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
So so what uh, what would the what would be
the biggest change when that stuff happens, in your opinion,
into your movement.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
I just think back to food. I mean, I don't
think there's any different than out in the Midwest. You know,
they get a little cold, they get hungry, you know,
and our rut, as you said before, rut balances back
and forth in between. I mean, the best is still
to come up in the Panhandle of Florida. You know,
they still got another couple of weeks and it'll fire
up from them. But where I'm at, where pretty much
we're over it, back to that bed to food pattern
for the most part.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
So are you hunting mostly evenings? Then are you hunting
some mornings too?
Speaker 7 (16:54):
Or is this kind of depend on what you got
on depending on schedule.
Speaker 8 (16:58):
Really, I mean, mornings are always good.
Speaker 7 (17:00):
I don't ever steer away from mornings, even in any
part of the year. I don't steer away from mornings,
especially down here on public land, big woods.
Speaker 8 (17:07):
You know, it's not that big of a deal.
Speaker 7 (17:09):
Maybe on some more managed area properties it might make
a bigger difference, but I don't see a difference in
the mornings.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Do you have to adjust for hunting pressure on that
public stuff down there?
Speaker 7 (17:21):
Yeah, especially since gun season rolled in. The Orange Armies
out in full, so it's it's definitely the pressure's in there.
So just you know, I mean the sign is still
there a little bit off and on. I mean you
can still see, you know, more just left over acorns
are starting to hit. Cameras are fired up on some
of those old acorns that are still on the ground. So,
(17:44):
like I said, food bed getting there tight to them
and catch them in between.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
How much in season scouting are you having to do
right now to to find deer.
Speaker 8 (17:58):
I'd say not that much. I'm at least recently.
Speaker 7 (18:02):
I mean I do think, I mean, I know, I said,
with the colder temps that kind of freaks them out.
But I do believe that with just the coolish temps,
it does keep them on their feet a little bit earlier,
or getting on their feet a little bit earlier in
the evenings.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
What what other food sources besides acrens, anything that you've seen.
Speaker 7 (18:22):
Uh, there's I don't know the name of this, these bushes,
but I can't I need to figure it out. There's
a bush that I've noticed quite a few deer chewing on.
It's more like it's almost like a vine, uh, single leaf,
single leaf vine on the ground around the pine trees
I've been noticing. Uh, I probably ought to do some
research and figure out what that is. But just browse
does it have thorns? It does have thorns, which is shocking. Okay, Okay,
(18:47):
that may surprise me. Yeah, that may give give somebody a.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Yea, yeah cool. So in the next week, do you
expect anything to change? What's the weather?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
You know, you have an idea what the weather is
going to look like, and if that's an effect dear
movement in your area.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
Yeah, I mean we got another big cold front pushing in.
I think I want to say Tuesday, Tuesday ish, So.
Speaker 8 (19:11):
Just cold weather. I don't know if it's really going
to change much of anything.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Okay, So in the next week or so, if you
had to rank buck movement on a scale of one
to ten, what would.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
You put it at?
Speaker 8 (19:24):
Probably go with a solid four and a half.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Okay, okay, not bad. It's worth being out there then.
Speaker 8 (19:29):
You think absolutely anytimes it's a good time.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Okay, Well, justin thanks so much for the report. I
look forward to maybe hearing from you from a different
state in the southeast at some point before the year's
over with.
Speaker 8 (19:40):
Sounds good, Thank you, gentlemen.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Now on the phone, I've got Mike Hunt Sucker and
I can call him Mike this time around because I
heard his voicemail and he introduced himself as Mike on
his voicemail this a second ago. So really, yeah, yeah.
So he's from Hartland bow Hunter and he's been up
in Missouri. Tell us how the deer movement is looking
at Missouri there, Mike, Man.
Speaker 9 (20:35):
It's been pretty good this last week. Seems like a
lot of deer. It seems like, at least, you know,
the places I've been hunting. The rut was a little
bit later, and so it seems like they're coming off
a lockdown this past week and still see some running
activity for sure, but definitely seeing a transition to food
sources as well.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
So when you say the food source transition, you would
be including like mature but in that.
Speaker 9 (21:01):
Yeah, absolutely, especially mature bucks that are that are run
down and have been just just abusing their bodies the past,
you know, six weeks.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
So what kind of food sources are doing best right now?
Speaker 9 (21:14):
You know, I tell everybody that corn is no matter
what time of the year, Like in Missouri, we can
manipulate a crop. So we leave standing corn, we can
mow it whenever we want it. Uh and uh, there's
just not a single thing that competes with it. But
that said, standing beans are great right now. We just
got about three inches of snow today here in Missouri,
and so having that food above the above the snow
(21:35):
is crucial as well. So I really like grains late
season obviously, you know, we do a lot of eagle
seed fall plots as well. It's been it's been an
interesting year, several years, I should say, for the fall plots.
You know, just we've had just terrible late summer droughts
and so our plots have been pretty brutal. But we
got a bunch of rain in October and into November,
(21:58):
and a bunch of my plots have just exploded the
past few weeks, and so excuse me, they're not gonna
have like the you know, the big bulbs, you know,
like like they would have had they matured into proper
time of year. But nonetheless it's some some green tonnage
in the deer being those pretty good too.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
So you're talking about mature bucks who run down their
bodies and then that in turn, you know, makes you
really hunt food sources, which uh kind of sounds a
lot like October type stuff. Do you shift back to
kind of even evenings only at this point in the year.
Speaker 9 (22:35):
Yeah, I mean definitely more key, more on the evenings,
but I do have some spots that are great morning
spots where you can catch them coming back off those
food sources if they are kind of lingering into the
daylight hours, you know, with it's really similar to the October,
like you said to where those mature bucks, you know,
they're starting to care about food, but they still know
that they might catch you know, one of those later
doughs that are that are still an asteris and so
(22:57):
same thing as the pre run you know, early when
they're their number one spot to check is going to
do those those food sources that are holding a bunch
of does. So anytime I've been hunting this past week,
the does, man, they just I feel so bad for them.
They come out, they want to get some food, and
then they just get harassed by every single Buck in
the area. And so we watch Bucks, you know, chase
does in and out, in and out, in and out
(23:17):
of the plots, you know, the past, the past few
hunts for sure.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
So talk about like access and set up and all
that is. I mean, I would assume with the snow,
are these going to be betting closer to those food
sources in all overall? Are they going to still be
uh generally in the areas they've been kind of spending
time in during the early run.
Speaker 9 (23:38):
Yeah, they like to be closer to the food sources.
And obviously we have over the years strategically placed those
food sources you know near you know, known solid betting
area areas that we work in, trying to improve the
habitat and try to make it more attractive as well.
So you know, you want those those high quality betting
sources close to the food if you want to see
good daylight activity, and a lot of them primarily are
(24:01):
set up on the south wind side or of the
south side of that betting area. So you're, you know,
we're we're banking on north wind coldfronts this time of year.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
So are you thinking at all about any type of
rut activity or are you kind of looking forward to
a second rut or what's that look like?
Speaker 9 (24:18):
Yeah, actually, somebody who's asking me about the second rut
just just the other day, and like, you know, I
don't think I've ever like banked on any sort of
second rud activity, Like even on these farms. You know,
there's these farms that we have in Missouri. A lot
of them are higher deer densities to where some of
the does don't get bred for sure, And so I
always see some sort of you know, a buck lockdown
with a dough in December that time of year. But
(24:39):
it's just like you're not banking on it and the majority,
you know, you're focusing your efforts on the majority of
the deer movement. But that being said, sometimes you know,
if you do catch a buck that is locked down
that time of year, it might you know, be a
susceptible window to you know, get aggressive on him and
and you know, do something spot in stock or or
you know, set up you know where he's he's dough
(25:00):
kind of pushed away from the major herd.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
So in the next week or so, do you expect
that like bucks, will you know, the buck movement will
be essentially very similar to what it is in the
last week or is it gonna change much You're still
gonna see that rut in action that's going to be
very similar or is it gonna Is it gonna start
to dwindle?
Speaker 9 (25:22):
No, I think it'll be good. I think it'll stay good.
Especially we got a cold front coming through. We've had
a couple of nice, nice little cold snaps and so
we had a crazy mild fall in the Midwest, and
uh so getting this cold weather now is really really
nice in the deer, Like I said, I've used to
wandering around aimlessly during the daylight. So you'll see that
morning activity die off a little bit, I feel like,
But man, if we get some good cold weather, it
(25:45):
just it's timed perfectly. You're not gonna see like, you know,
the super early like best piration late season movements you
see of like deer that have to feed but like
you know, if you get that cold weather, they still
they still definitely need to feed and and they're working
on building bodies back up like I was saying, So
it can be a great time to capitalize on one
for sure.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
So we do have a little bit of cold weather here,
uh coming up in the in the next week. Uh
So taking that and applying what you just talked about,
what would you rank the Bug movie on a scale
of one to ten for the next week in Missouri?
Speaker 9 (26:21):
Man, I think it's gonna be like a nine.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
It's gonna be Wow.
Speaker 9 (26:24):
It's gonna be as good as I think, as good
as you know Dayanaire, as good as it gets. It's not,
like I said, not that crazy late seasons that, but
I think it's gonna be great. You know, just a
combination of you know, bucks need to need to rebuild
like I was saying, but also a chance of potentially
catching a dough that's still in heat.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Well, I look forward to some slow motion you know,
arrow entering deer during a snowstorm in the next you know,
year or so, So I hope.
Speaker 9 (26:52):
So, Man, I'm heading out. I'm getting ready to head
out now. The snow literally just stopped. And the buck
I've I was hunting that I'm hunting late season is ancient,
just an ancient old buck that I literally have never
laid eyes on ever in my life. But he's like
ten or eleven years old. And I saw him just
two nights ago and had him come in and we
did not have that cold front, you know, we was
(27:13):
just starting to hit and so we had a little
rain come through and he came in and we had
twenty minutes left of legal light, but he was thirty
five yards and just too dark. I just wasn't comfortable shooting.
And he ended up getting to twenty and there was
still like four or five minutes left, and it was
but it was like basically pitch black, and I was like, man,
I'm just there's a bunch of doughs in the plot
and he was moving around bumping them and it just
(27:33):
wasn't wasn't one of those situations. But obviously we had
Thanksgiving and then I went to tick the family to
the Chiefs game yesterday, and I'm just kicking myself, you know.
We had all these plans and like, he daylighted both nights,
but I knew to night was going to be just
just as good, not better with the snow coming in,
so hopefully didn't miss my window of opportunity.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
Well I bet you, I bet you find a way, man,
go get him and have great rest of your season.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Mike.
Speaker 9 (27:57):
Yeah, thanks, thanks, guys, good catching up.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
I'm talking to a very familiar guy for a lot
of you hunters out there, Ronnie Couz Strickland. Ronnie, what's
going on?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Man?
Speaker 10 (28:07):
Well, you know, we got our first official cool snap
down here. And this is of course in Mississippi. We
have two seasons summer in February.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
I'm telling you, hey, we get you on that.
Speaker 10 (28:19):
The low last night was twenty five and oh man,
it's just an awesome and we just got there with
Thanksgiving and after the big spread, my oldest granddaughter, who's
a senior in Mississippi State, that's how old I am,
we went and sat in a ground line that I've
had up for three years on food plot, seeing we
(28:42):
could get her to get her a dough and a
ten point walked out at four point fifteen and I
was in absolute utter shop and she ten ringed it
with a crossbow and then all three grandsons, you know,
blood trailed it and kept loaded up and all. So
I'm doing pretty good.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Yeah, that's good stuff, man.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
I tell you, we're here in kind of northeast Texas
and we have had some decent weather as well, good
cold morning temps and stuff. And I have seen so
many dead deer on the road, and it seems like
it's in the South and the Gulf States. It's starting
to pop off a little bit. How's that cold weather
affecting the deer movement for y'all.
Speaker 10 (29:23):
You know, I got out my little pass this morning
and I got an electric buggy I can ease around on.
I don't have a ton of trail cameras, but I
can get to them all with that buggy, so I
don't have to get out and leave scent and all
that stuff. And I saw eight or ten scrapes. I've
only seen one in the last couple of weeks, So
(29:44):
you're will aware. In Mississippi, depending on where you're at,
the root can be different. Right here on my farm,
I'm kind of a straight north a little bit northeast
of the state, and it's always the same. It's generally
the week before Christmas.
Speaker 8 (30:00):
So the four.
Speaker 10 (30:03):
Biggest deer we've killed on this place since I've had it,
three of them ron Christmas Eve, and uh, these these.
Speaker 8 (30:11):
Bucks are just different.
Speaker 10 (30:12):
And I know everybody says that, but I'm telling you
the terrain, you know, is so thick, the ruts less
defined if you would, and uh so that that December
the fifteenth to the end of the month is uh,
it's when you're gonna probably get some daylight pictures. I saw,
Like I said, I was stunned when that that ten
(30:33):
point walked that the other day. I was like, what
are you kidding? But it's it's just now when you
start seeing scrapes like I saw some this morning, which
fired me up. But it's uh that cold weather I
think helps them, uh and get them up on their
feet a little bit. And it's, uh, it's a different
(30:53):
deal in Mississippi. You know, you see all the pictures
on Instagram and all this or these giants there hitting
the ground and where you go, where are these guys
hunting out?
Speaker 2 (31:03):
So speaking of that cold weather that you're talking about,
you know that twenty five is going to kill a
lot of the native brows and stuff, and those deer
I'd imagine they're going to be really looking for some
of those green food sources. How are the food plots
and how are the deer hitting them right now?
Speaker 10 (31:18):
Well, food plots was just drama for me because we
were in a drought, and you guys in Texas, you
know all about droughts. Anyway, I saw a big rain
event coming in late August, which is really early for
us to plant down here. But I rolled the dice
and I planted all my food plots and got four
(31:39):
inches of rain on them. And they wow, nothing short
of magnificent. And I left to go to North Carolina,
made a little run up there, dropping food and stuff off,
and came back and I checked them before I left,
and when I got back, I checked them thirty four
days later. This would have been I don't know. They
were four or five inches high, absolutely demolished by the
(32:02):
army worms. Everyone up except one. It was nothing but dirt.
But I redrilled. I just drill this time with a
cheaper seed, and they popped right back up and they.
Speaker 8 (32:13):
Look really, really good.
Speaker 10 (32:15):
And I saved managed to save some of the turnips
and stuff. And that's a big deal. You get, you know,
you get turnips and stuff like that when they get
a heavy frost. A couple of days in a row,
they started getting that sugar content up. So I'm getting
at Lancey to see if they're gonna start hitting it.
I'm pretty excited.
Speaker 4 (32:36):
That's awesome, man. So here in the next you know,
a week or so, is it? Do you expect any
any weather or anything to affect the deer movement and
positive trajectory as we get a little bit closer to rut.
I know we're still gonna be early for you if
your Christmas Eve is your kind of your date.
Speaker 10 (32:54):
Yeah, the extended wather for cass has has it cold
the next two days and then I'm sure it'll warm up.
You know where I'm at the same way in Texas,
I mean Christmas Day you can be in shorts and
a T shirt. It may be eighty so you never know.
And these deer, yeah, I don't know. If you're ever
hunted in Alabama and what they call the Black Belt,
(33:14):
those are the most weather fickled deer on the planet.
You just absolutely will not see really any buck movement
until it starts getting down low. And these are about
as bad. You know, my farm isn't gigantic, so I
don't put a lot of pressure on it, and I
wait for the exact right wind. And I don't have
(33:35):
a ton of cameras out, so I missed some of it.
But I can tell you if we get any cold
weather and I hadn't looked at the past ten days,
they're extremely affected by that word down here, they will move.
And I've got my calendar wide open. I ain't going
anywhere between now January the first.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Okay, So if we're looking at the next week here,
with all that in mind, if you had to rank
buck movement on a scale of one to ten, what
would you call.
Speaker 10 (34:06):
It this coming week? Yes, sir, on my farm, I
on a scale of one to ten, I put it
at about a six or seven.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
That's pretty good.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
Sounds like it's getting close.
Speaker 10 (34:18):
And my little place doesn't get a lot of pressure,
so they keep I keep plenty of dose around. That's
a whole nother you know podcast saying about you know,
get getting your buck to dough ratio down. I believe
in keeping everything here, farm sanctuary, food, water cover, and
(34:39):
plenty of doors so they don't have to go far.
So the dose come to the food plot. So I'd
say I'm getting close to that seven mark.
Speaker 8 (34:49):
Next week.
Speaker 10 (34:49):
I'm I'm I may be a little apprehensive, but I'm
I'm telling you about to get there, all.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Right, man, Well cause I appreciate it. Sounds like you
got it going on, dude, and I appreciate you coming
on and sharing all that information with the listeners.
Speaker 10 (35:04):
Well, thank you guys, Happy Thanksgiving, task and happy Mary Christmas.
I appreciate you giving me a holler and good luck
on your road trips.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Yes, sir, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Still some pretty encouraging reports from around the country if
you haven't tagged out yet.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Believe me, I know I say this all the time.
There's like two motives for what I do. It's like
deer seasons almost here and then it ain't over.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
You know. There's like this thing that gradiates from the
element that's called optimism, and sometimes it's you know, a
little bit naive, but it's kind of fun being naive from.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Time to sure.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
You know, I've forgotten how much I love Michael stole Man,
funny guy. I feel bad for him with that OSU
loss Man. Do you yeah I had it coming? Do
you think I'm actually really glad that they did? Because
my ponies were at number nine last week? And I'm
interested to see where they end.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Up this week. Well, my eggies didn't even show up
for the biggest game of the decade, so I know
guys were there. Hey it makes all better, thanks Ty,
But I do love those guys too. But yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Anyways, guys, if you do need some inspiration, some optimisim
maybe even some naivety, go check out the links below.
We have got a really awesome hunt from last.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Year that I talked about earlier. It's gonna be linked
in the stuff below.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
And there is an article from Tony on how to
kill a buck from a natural ground blind, which I
think is pretty applicable for a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
You know, if you're running gun hunting.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
One of the things about that needs to be that
you need to be okay with hunting on the ground
too sometimes and oftentimes natural cover is really great.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
So good article. Go check out as well. Did Greg
read that.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Article Maybe not yet, but I'll make sure he gets
the link to the podcast he.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Does, Manny Hunting.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
One this week he showed me, dude, he had like
shooting windows that were the size.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Of great fruits.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Man, I'm like, oh, my goodness, that gives me anxiety,
bad but I bet you Tony gives.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
You a little bit more clue into that kind of stuff. Yeah,
for sure. He's a really knowledgeable guy. For sure.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
It's worth going and checking out, guys. I hope you
guys have a great week. It's a good week to
be in the woods. I think we're all getting a
little bit colder weather and we're gonna have a good
shot at killing deer this week, including k C and myself.
We all remember this is ret fresh, Keep it fresh.
Host
Mark Kenyon
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