Ep. 969: How the Experts Kill Mature Bucks in November

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your guide to
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 host Mark Kenyon.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
This week on the show, we're conducting a comprehensive review
of the tactics for hunting mature bucks during the month
of November and the many different ways experts have shared
how to do that over the course of Wired to
Hunt's seventeen year history.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
A really all right.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Welcome back to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to
you by First Light, and today we are looking forward
into the month of November and we're going to do
something very similar to what I did almost exactly one
month ago when I conducted my first major review of
a month. I talked about this being like a meta
analysis or a literature review, as some kind of call

(01:02):
it in other worlds. But basically the idea here is
to review the many different approaches or the many different
examples or ideas around one particular topic and really try
to give a thorough kind of kind of many different
perspective provided type analysis of the topic at hand, and

(01:25):
the topic at hand today is the month of November.
How to hunt white tails in November, specifically, how to
hunt mature bucks. It's the rut. You know, when people
think November, they think the rut. This is the most
exciting time of year. This is what we've all been
looking forward to all you know, the previous ten to
eleven months up to this point.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
It has been for this moment. It's here. So what
I want to.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Do is review this wide swath of different ideas, the
core pillars of rut hunting, and then some specific ideas
from different individuals from different angles of how to approach
this kind of thing. So I'm going to share with
you kind of my synthesis of this, so like my
summary of the major things that you need to know

(02:06):
about hunting during this month, and then I'm going to
read some excerpts from different books from expert whitetail hunters.
And then I'm also going to play for you excerpts
from some of our older podcasts. So those things that
you know we're aired on here years and years and
years ago, that probably a lot of you missed, we
are going to cut up and feature a few short excerpts.
So you're going to get examples from people like Andy May.

(02:28):
Five minutes from Andy May, five minutes from Aaron Warburton,
a couple of minutes from Will Primost. We've got excerpts
and perspectives here from Jared Mills and John Dudley and
many other experienced, well rounded successful deer hunters. They're going
to be able to provide you, hopefully by the end
of this episode, a very very far reaching, well rounded

(02:52):
set of ideas for how to have success over the
next few weeks. So, without any further ado, we should
just get right into it. Let's start talking about the
month of November, and when you think about the month
of November, you are thinking about the rut. Last week
on the podcast, if you didn't listen to this one,
go back and listen to last week's episode, because we

(03:13):
clearly define some very important parameters around the timing of
the rut. There's a lot of theories around, you know,
can the moon impact the timing of the rut?

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Or you know, if your.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Cousin doesn't like you know, such and such class and
the sun shines you know, for two minutes longer on
a given day, and you happen to roll Triple Seven's
will that impact the timing of the rut? Or a
world coal front impact the timing of the rut? YadA, YadA, YadA.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
None of it.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
The science has shown impacts the timing of breeding for
whitetail deer across the vast majority of the nation. So
right out the gate, we need to make sure that
everybody's clear on that. For much of the country, the
white tail rut is defined by when does you know breed?
When conception dates are, And there's a whole slew of

(04:00):
different studies that can actually back that can actually measure
a fetus, so measure a baby deer and be able
to backdate to determine exactly when that deer was conceived,
and so they can then map exactly when all those
conception dates were, and year after year, if you look
at any given region, the basic spread of those conception

(04:22):
dates is always the same. For my part of the
country here around Michigan, it's almost always the peak of
that breeding is right around the middle of November, and
then it looks like a belk or if you were
to chart all this on a graph, you would see
that breeding begins sometime in October. Most of the time
it rises up and then really escalates into November. The

(04:45):
peak of that breeding typically happens November thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth,
somewhere around there, and then it slowly tails off on
the other end. So any theory that tries to tell
you that breeding dates will change, you know, from year
to year, is not backed up by science. So that's
the first thing we need to think about now. All
that said, the activity that we see as hunters that

(05:08):
can be different, that can be influenced by many different factors.
It seems like the actual running activity, the peak of
running activity, the things that we dream about, the chasing,
the seeking, the fighting, all that kind of stuff, you
know that's on this huge scale. You know, that kind
of thing could happen in October. That thing could happen
in late October, late November, anywhere in between, but the

(05:28):
month of November typically is that time of year we're
expecting it to happen. I want to read for you
a little bit about some confusion about this. There's a
lot of labels around different stages of the RUP, about
definitions of how the rut is supposed to progress and
what you should expect in each different phase as you
go through November. And I thought there was a really

(05:51):
great excerpt here from this book White Tails from Ground
to Gun by Kneel and Craig Doherty that I think
explains this and sets the stage very well for how
we should think about the month and in the whitetail rut.
And then I'm going to read to you a little
bit more about how they define the difference between the
hunter's rut and the biological rut, and that difference is

(06:13):
very important as we go forward here, all right, So,
numerous outdoor writers and white tail deer authorities have advanced
the notion of stages of the rut. According to the models,
the rut progresses through a series of three to five
or six phases or stages, which unfold in a more
or less orderly fashion over a two month period of time.
These models tend to label the stages with one word

(06:36):
descriptors of behavior, which are easily grasped by the hunting public.
The models have been widely accepted by the outdoor community
as they provide a useful construct for understanding rut related behavior.
Depending on who you read, all kinds of labels are
attached to the phages the phases such as trolling, scraping, chasing, courting,
pre rut, pre be reading, breeding, sparring, peak, etc.

Speaker 5 (06:58):
Etc.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Fortunately, most models have become oversimplified with time and are
often misunderstood by the hunting public. Most hunters believe the
rut progresses through a series of preordained, well ordered, and
discrete behavioral stages. As one stage ends, the next one begins.
They tend to interpret the models literally and wind up

(07:20):
believing buck behavior progresses in a lockstep manner through the
various stages of the rut. To hear some hunters talk,
every buck is chasing during the chase phase, and every
buck is trolling during the trolling phase. Every buck is
right there breeding when the breeding phase arrives. Even though
most rut models discuss how the phases overlap and how
individual deer exhibit unique characteristics, many hunters still view the

(07:43):
rut as a series of stages which are being played
out among all white tails in a given location at
the same time. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
So key takeaway there is that while many people, communications, writers, podcasters,
video TV hosts have tried to break down the rut

(08:04):
into easily understood. You know, sections or periods or phases.
Nothing is simple on the rut, and there's going to
be stuff happening at you know, all sorts of different times.
You're gonna see chasing in early November, and then you
might see it again in late November, and then you
might see in the middle of November, where you might
see none of it at all. Breeding, like I just
told you, typically for most parts of the country peaks

(08:26):
in the middle of November, but it doesn't always happen then. Like,
there's also going to be breeding happening in late October
and ever once in a while, right, there's a low
part of that bell curve, maybe even early October or
late November or early December. So don't get too hung
up on how things are supposed to be or you know,
like they said that, you know, seeking has to happen

(08:47):
in early November. This this thing is fluid. You need
to be able to adapt and adjust based on that.
Excuse me, now, the next thing that's very important is
to remember this difference between the peak of the rut.
You'll hear that phrase used a lot and what that
actually means and kneel and Craig break it down, is
to the hunter's rut, which is the peak of rutting activity.

(09:10):
That's what a lot of hunters think about when we
think about the peak of the rut. And then there's
the peak of the rut from a biological standpoint, which
is when actually the most doze are being bred. And
that's a whole other thing entirely, and you're going to
have different behaviors and different sets of hunting ideas even
for both of those. So I want to read you
what they say about that as well. So the hunter's

(09:31):
rut rut behavior at this time is at a fever
pitch just prior to the breeding as buck testosterone peaks
and most doughs are still unreceptive. Bucks cover greater distances
and recklessly chased dos. Dos avoid food plots and social
gathering areas. Family units break up due to buck harassment
of dos. Receptive or near receptive dos attracts multiple bucks

(09:54):
and bucks battle for breeding privileges. This is what is
happening leading up to the actual peak of breeding. So
for me and Michigan and most folks across the Midwest
and the East, and honestly almost all of the country,
with a few exceptions that being in the South. The
South has this unique set of different breeding dates and

(10:15):
they're very localized in certain areas. So unfortunately, I can't
speak to you with those exact dates in mind. Like
I know, in like the Mississippi delta, that's going to be,
you know, past Thanksgiving in early December when this might be.
But for most of us, the very end of October
and then the first two weeks of November is when
we are typically going to be experiencing what the dorties
here are describing as the hunter's rut. This is the

(10:37):
ramp up to peak breeding. But this is peak activity,
all right. So here are some markers what to look
for to help you identify that this is actually happening
at this moment in your area. Mature bucks are necked
out or muscled up and no longer nocturnal doughs, pull
away from food plots, bonds, feeding without does or single doughs,

(10:59):
nervous or scarce, and often seen in strange areas. You'll
be seeing bucks pursuing doughs, buck sightings outnumbering doughs on
deer cameras, and in real life, abnormally high level of
buck activity and a dramatic increase in deer auto collisions
and tarsal glands stained almost black, as well as lower
rear legs. So all of those things might be signs

(11:20):
that this is happening in your neck of the wods.
At this moment, it's for hunting strategy. The hunter's rut
is on, but will only last a couple of days.
This is prime hunting time, as is generally the time
buck activity peaks and one of the few times when
a mature whitetail might actually be vulnerable. It's time to
get in the woods and stay there. Anything can happen,

(11:40):
and often does. Hunt travel areas like ridges, saddles, tween ridges,
and natural neck downs. Food sources are generally less productive
as doughs have been driven from them. Temperatures fifteen degrees
or more above average can suppress dailight activity and hunting success.

Speaker 4 (11:56):
Now they add that.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
As a little qualifier.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
So that's some high level thoughts on the hunter's rut
that first portion of November, and I'm kind of previewing
a lot of what we're going to discuss here in
a little bit that next period. The biological rut, the
true rut. The true peak of breeding, as I mentioned,
is typically more the middle of the month, but there's
a sliding scale there, and here's what the Doerties have

(12:18):
to say about that. The most noteworthy thing about the
biological rut is the marked decline in deer activity. This
is principally caused by a sudden increase in estraus does,
who are now receptive and no longer avoiding bucks. An
abundance of receptive dos means fewer bucks searching and moving
about looking for dos. Bucks locked down with dos in

(12:39):
heavy cover or out of the way places for two
to three days before relocating does move very little Biologically.
This is the peak of the breeding rut, or the
time when most does conceive. This period generally lasts approximately
three weeks. Markers of this would be a marked decrease
in deer sightings, fewer deer on food sources other than fawns,

(13:00):
dominant bucks, tending dos with satellite bucks sometimes present does
being receptive, and buck behavior can vary between really all
the other breeding type behaviors chasing, traveling, relocating, betting, fighting, breeding, etc.
As for hunt strategy, the Doughties say that this is
the period of the rut, when many hunters erroneously.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Call the rut over and pull out of the woods.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
Accustomed to seeing great buck action during the hunter's peak,
they get discouraged with the downtterm and occasional absence of activity.
Successful hunters know that breeding lasts a good two to
three weeks, and they put in their time during the
biological rut. Hunting near or in heavy cover where bucks
and doughs are locked down often pays dividends during this
time period. Neck downs and other funneling travel routes can

(13:45):
also be good or get food sources. They are mainly
mainly occupied by fawns and doughs that have already been bred.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
But whatever you.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
Do, put in the time, and eventually that buck will
show up. All right, So there is a high level
overview of really what the month of November entails.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
It's those two things.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
There's the hunter's rut and the biological rut. If we
had to oversimplify, rather than doing what you know they
mentioned at the beginning, which is, try to break this
thing down to the trolling and the chasing and the
seeking and the breeding and the YadA YadA YadA. Let's
just consider these two kind of overlapping sets of behaviors.
And with that mind, we're going to walk through a

(14:29):
bunch of different ideas about how to hunt during those
periods of time. All right, So the hunter's rut, this
is that time, as I mentioned, where testosterone levels are
basically at the peak for Bucks.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
Bucks are ready to.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
Breed, and now dos are starting to come into heat.
So you're gonna start seeing an increasing number of dos
coming into heat every day, more and more and more
and more as those first two weeks of November progress,
So you're going to get you know, more and more
Buck activity. As those first does start to pop, Bucks
start getting very excited, they start chasing them all around,

(15:04):
and you have a several different sets of behaviors happening,
but everything is revolving around the dose because at this point,
you know, we talked in October, how dear are slaves
to their stomachs, how a Bucks world revolves around going
from bed to feed, bed to feed. That is no
longer the case. You know, when November hits for almost
all Bucks, bed defeed is almost not even on their
mind at all. It is now does does does all

(15:28):
day every day. That's what they're thinking. About and so
as a hunter you have to be thinking about that
as well. So very simply what a buck's life typically
looks like at this time of year.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
We'll start, you know, in the middle of the night.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
In the middle of the night, he's out searching for
does dose are on their feet, off feeding somewhere likely,
so the bucks are going to be.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Where those doughs are. As those doughs.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
Come back to bed in the morning, the bucks are
following them. The bucks are then doing one of two things.
They are either actually on a dough that's ready to
breed or chasing her, or if they don't already have
a dough found, they're going to be searching for a
dough to breed, trying to find a dough that is
coming into heat. So they're going to do that by

(16:10):
hitting dough betting areas. They're going to do this by
crossing trails, scent checking betting areas, you know, doing anything
they can do to cover ground find a dough that
is ready to breed. Very simply, that's what happens from
now through the end of November, with slight tweaks here
and there, based on whether or not you know there

(16:31):
is a dough in heat or there's not, or there's
a ton of dos in heat and everything is ready
to breed, right, that can change things. But at a
high level, that's what the hunter's you know, rut looks like,
is when there's a bunch of does that are getting
to heat, but not so many that all the bucks
are locked down with them. All that said, there are
two three maybe pillars of hunting the rut that I

(16:54):
think come up over and over and over and over again.
I've heard these same basic things from you know, everyone,
from like a Bill Winkie on the kind of your
more conservative approach to to deer hunting on private lands,
to you know, someone like Andre Toquisto who's maybe more
aggressive on public lands too. Then you know someone like

(17:15):
you know, Aaron Warburton, who's going to be aggressive but
on public land in general. They're thinking about things from
a high level in the same kind of way, looking
for the does, looking for where these bucks are finding does,
and then considering two general approaches to how to do that.
One would be keying in on dough betting areas or

(17:35):
other hot spots of dough activity. So those are like
the destinations the bucks are looking for or number two
travel corridors, funnels, pinch points, any area that concentrates deer
movement in a small zone, a small corridor that connects
those destinations that bucks are trying to get to. Because again,

(17:57):
like imagine, oh jeez, I just just imagined like a
bunch of basketballs thrown out across the floor of a
basketball court, and each one of those basketballs is a
dough betting of interest, and then there's going to be
a point that gets you from point A to point B,
to basketball A to basketball B, and basketball B to
basketball seat. Never one of those lines that connects one

(18:19):
of these different balls to the next ball is a
possible deer path. But then along the way, there's also
going to be if you can imagine my basketball court
and analogy is falling apart. Now, there's going to be
certain places where more of those lines connect. And maybe
that's because there's a river that pushes all of these
lines together, these lines of movement, or maybe that's because

(18:41):
there's differences in cover where all of a sudden, there's
fields and a bunch of places that are blocking the easiest,
the shortest distance between one point to the other, and
so to stay in the safety of cover, deer have
to kind of swing down through that funnel or pinch
point that is all over the map. You're going to
have these different paths that are forced into concentrations of

(19:03):
paths because of what is available from cover, from terrain,
whatever it might be. And so those two sets of
ideas are where most deer hunters fall when it comes
to hunting during the run, finding the dough hotspots, finding
the dough betting areas and hunting those, or finding the
funnels and pinch points those travel corridors and hunting those. Finally,

(19:27):
the third thing that's layered over top of all of
that is time spending time in the woods. This is
not necessarily the time to pattern deer. This is not
necessarily the time to, you know, take everything you've learned
during the month of October about you know where this
bucks preferred bedding area is and how he likes to
get from there to his preferred oak feed tree.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
This is the time.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
Of year when a lot of that starts to fall apart,
and instead it's simply bucks are covering a lot of
ground trying to find a dough doing those two things
I said, and you, as a hunter simply need to
be in one of those two spots, spending it a
lot of time until finally that bucks pot path crosses
with yours. So that is an oversimplified quick rundown of

(20:09):
the basis of rut hunting success.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Right.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
What I want to do for you is read to
you a couple different takes on that gets you a
couple different perspectives with specifics on those sets of ideas.
So first let's talk about hunting dough betting areas hunting
dough hotspots, and the first take I want to share
with you is that from Steve Bartilla.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
He's outdoor writer, longtime podcast.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
Guest over the years, and a very successful deer hunter
from He's spent a lot of time in Wisconsin and
Illinois and some of that Upper Midwest. So here's one
of his takes on hunting dough betting areas. My philosophy
on hunting the chase phase, so this is like the
hunter's run. My philosophy on hunting the chase phase consists
of finding the thickest betting cover in the area and

(20:54):
pulling all day sits. And I firmly believe that the
chase phase the week or two before serious breeding activity
occurs is the most productive time of all to sit
the entire day. During the run, a buck searches for
a receptive dough until he finds one. When that happens,
he holds her up for around forty eight hours before
moving on to find the next. In areas with good nutrition,

(21:16):
so many doughs come into heat at once during the
peak breeding phase that finding one isn't nearly as hard
for the buck as it was during.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
The chase phase. Because there were so few doughs in
heat early, the buck had to work much harder to
find one.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
Then, in turn, that resulted in far fewer bucks spending
the mid eight hours betted with their prize. Combine that
with the mature buck's desperation to score early, and you
have the best daylight buck movement of the entire hunting season. Furthermore,
I believe the most productive locations for intercepting that buck
are the thickest, nastiest bedding areas used by family groups

(21:49):
of does and fawns up to this point in the season.
Mature bucks tend not to overly harass does that aren't
ready for breeding, although young bucks might chase does at random.
The big boys ten to give them a quick sniff
and then leave them alone. That changes dramatically during the
chase phase, because so many doughs are on the cusp
of being ready just when bucks tremendous desire to breed

(22:11):
and testosterone levels are peaking, Even mature bucks get whipped
up into a frenzy. The result is a mad chasing
of almost every female deer. While this is going on

(22:31):
with the bucks, the majority of the doughs still aren't
quite ready. In a handful of days, many will gladly
accept the advances of bucks, but not yet. In an
attempt to avoid their suitors, the does typically head for
the thickest bedding cover they can and lie low. When
the bucks come crashing in, the does lead them in
zigzag circles, doing their best to lose them. If and

(22:51):
when a dough is finally driven out, the bucks often
make a mad dash to the next thicket and repeat
the process. On the other hand, the bucks are chasing
them until they're finally are thrown off the trail or
come to the realization that it isn't happening yet. When
that occurs, they simply pack up shop and move to
the next bedding area, hoping for better luck.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
So what Steve was describing.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
There is is really what you could expect in those
early stages of the hunter's rut, as he's described at
the chase phase earlier in November. But as you edge
towards mid November, we are edging towards breeding, where there's
peak breeding, and once breeding is actually occurring, his thoughts
change a little bit. So Steve goes on to say,
as opposed to the fashion which many mature bucks plunge

(23:34):
headfirst into sanctuaries during the chase phase during breeding, most
now skirt the downwind edges. For all that's written about
rut crazed bucks, I believe they now employ a more sensible,
safety oriented approach than is the case during the chase phase.
The way I see it, the chase phase's relative lack
of hot dose, combined with an instinctive knowledge of the

(23:55):
approaching feast, creates an almost uncontrollable frenzy in a buck's brain. However,
much like the seasoned veteran pitcher during the World Series,
the mature buck knows when it's crunch time during the rut,
an older buck understands that skirting the downwind side of
a family group betting area allows him to scent check
every occupant in almost no time, allowing him to continue

(24:18):
on if none is ready to breed. Therefore, it only
stands to reason that betting areas inhabited by family groups
of does and fawns are good locations in which to
ambush mature rutting bucks. When selecting these stand sites for
the rut, I focus on covering the most heavily used
trails on the downwind side of the family group betting
area to narrow it down even farther. The best placement

(24:41):
is typically about twenty yards from the edge. Doing this
allows for catching bucks scent checking from as much as
fifty yards downwind of the dos, along with the possibility
of a buck using the cover trail alone or having
a dough lead him to it. This same systematic approach
to finding receptive does applies to cruising food, soorce by
doing nothing more than circling the food source, a buck

(25:03):
can sent check every dough that is visited as much
as forty eight hours prior. When the buck stumbles across
the track of a dough that's ready, all he must
do is follow her scent. This is perhaps the most
effective way for a buck to check the largest number
of doughs in the least amount of time. Keep in
mind that although running bucks sometimes seem to have lost
all regard for personal safety, that isn't entirely true. To

(25:26):
help conceal themselves, they rarely make this loop through the
open crop field. Instead, they must often skirt it five
to forty yards inside the woods. Staying close retains the
concentration of dough activity that the source provides and allows
them to visually check for both does and danger while
remaining hidden. To fully capitalize on this, stands should be

(25:48):
placed fifteen to twenty yards inside the woods.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
Not only does this.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
Provide shot opportunities of bucks that are skirting the food source,
it also affords a view of the field as muck.
As much as most bucks cherish safety, weird things do
happen during the rut. If a monarch saunters across the
middle of the field, this stand placement will allow the
hunter to see him. If the hunter's using a firearm,
the deer might already be within range. If the hunter's

(26:12):
using a bow, he might be able to give a
sexy enough dough call to lure the buck close taking
stand placement a bit further, it's a good idea to
also cover a heavily used family group trail. As with
the betting air setup, this allows for intercepting bucks that
are using the trail alone as well as those that
might be following a dough to the food. Luckily, for us,

(26:34):
the best trails often are on inside corners of a field,
providing the further benefit of funneling traveling bucks that aren't
checking the field. Bucks wanting to get from one side
of the field to the other without going through the
open food source will cut the corners. When all of
these factors are combined, this setup takes a lot of
the blind luck out of harvesting a running buck. There's

(26:55):
a lot there when it comes to Steve's approach to
hunting running bucks in and around betting years or other
dough hot spots like feeding ears as he discussed just
there now. I also want to share with you another
take on this from Andy May. Andy is one of
the best DIY deer hunters I know, a good friend

(27:17):
and someone who's joined me in the podcast many times
over the years as well. We did one a couple
of years ago where he answered fourteen different different listener
questions about the rut, and one of those we tackled,
you know, how he would specifically set up on or
around a doe betting ear.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
So let's listen to that here.

Speaker 6 (27:33):
Now. Yeah, that's a that's a tough one because it
you know, it could vary, you know, location, a location.

Speaker 4 (27:43):
You know, I.

Speaker 6 (27:44):
Picture like like a creek bottom that has you know,
redbrush and kind of marsh marshy habitat like on each
side of the creek, and you know, essentially the whole
creek serves as you know, like really good dough betting,
you know, on all the creek bends and and all
the little thickets and stuff. And I will I'll get

(28:07):
on the interior of that, I'll find obviously, I'll find
a good treat. And I try to get where I
can kind of shoot into where I think a lot
of the travel is.

Speaker 4 (28:16):
Going to be.

Speaker 6 (28:17):
But I don't want I don't want my wind necessarily
blowing out a lot of travel opportunities behind me. It's
not like dough betting isn't always like a like a
hard edge, you know what I mean. It's a lot
of times you just know you're you're kind of working
in there, and things get a little thicker, and there
might be a pocket of doze here, and then some

(28:38):
more you know, one hundred yards back or so. It's
not as always like as a well defined abrupt edge
as it might sound like when we say that. So
a lot of it is a feel thing, but I
try to I try to get where I can cover.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
Travel, and a.

Speaker 6 (28:59):
Lot of times, a lot of times there will be
you know, some sort of sign or some sort of you.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Know, perpendicular trail.

Speaker 6 (29:06):
It may not be beat to the ground, it may
not be it may be be able to pick up
on it, and sometimes you can't because it's just used
a few times a year, you know, during that short window.
But I don't like to give up too much travel
behind me, if that makes sense. So I will get
into usually where it starts to kind of thicken up,

(29:27):
you know. I feel like I'm getting into that interior,
and if I start getting into any further, I'm gonna
start bumping deer around.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
That usually tells me to hold up.

Speaker 6 (29:35):
And kind of get get right on there, right on
that edge. Sometimes it's a feel thing, sometimes it's a
visual thing, but that that kind of I let my
instincts gauge a little bit there if there's not like
a clear indication of sign that tells me, you know,
this is probably where I need to be.

Speaker 4 (29:54):
But one thing I'll mention real quick.

Speaker 6 (29:57):
The downwind side of doll betting is an area that
Bucks will gravitate to during the run, no doubt about it.
But I've seen more and more over the years that
the side where does tend to travel from food to
bed there's you know a lot of times if there's

(30:18):
a distinct you know, food source and the general travels
from here to through the bedding, that spot, that edge
there where they travel in and out where a lot
of those trails might be coming in from, you know,
various spots, various uh directions. That spot gets a lot more,

(30:39):
It gets a lot of activity from Bucks, maybe even
more so than.

Speaker 4 (30:42):
The down wind side.

Speaker 6 (30:44):
They can they can take a one trail perpendicular and
they can cover you know, two, three, six, twelve different
entrance trails and know exactly what's in that do betting,
and they can do the same thing traveling from down wind.
But I've seen it more and more over the years.
I'm almost change my opinion a little bit that that
might even be the better spot, the spot where they

(31:05):
can go perpendicular and cover a lot of trails. So
if you have a good betting area and a good
food source over here, and in that betting area, maybe
it's one hundred yard two hundred yard stretch and there
are multiple trails kind of going in.

Speaker 4 (31:21):
You see. You know, this one's well beat down.

Speaker 6 (31:23):
This one's a little more faint, another beatdown one there
another one in the corner that inside that timber, you know,
or inside that cover there there there's going to be
a some sort of route perpendicular trail. You may it
may be visible, it may not be, But that spot
right there is a great spot to be.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
That.

Speaker 6 (31:42):
I've seen that over and over the last few years.
I've really started to key in more on that than
necessarily the down one side.

Speaker 4 (31:49):
All right.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
So those are a couple different takes on the betting
side of this equation. Now there's of course the connections.
So how do you get between point A and point B.
How do they get from dough hot spot to dough
hot spot. That's where we get into funnels. I want
to read to you two different takes on funnels. There's
many different forms funnels can can come in. You can

(32:12):
have a cover funnel where you know security cover, so trees, vegetation, grass,
that kind of stuff is pinched down between two open areas.
Anytime you find that deer are going to want to
stay in that security cover. That can be a great
place to hunt during the rut. And there's also terrain funnels.
You know, anywhere where topography you know high points and

(32:33):
low points and changes in that forces deer through an
area or makes it more convenient for deer to travel
through an area. So those can be saddles in a
ridge that can be you know, a hub where a
bunch of different points all come together. Anything that's going
to have a higher concentration of deer activity because of that.
Terrain is the kind of pinch point funnel or aggregator

(32:56):
of deer travel that can be worth hitting during the rut.
So well back to Steve Bartilla here, he's got a
quick take that I want to share with you on
hunting funnels. Assuming bucks aren't already with does it's no
great secret that the majority of bucks greatly expand their
home range and travel more in daylight during the rut
as much as they focus their efforts on locating receptive doughs.

(33:18):
Putting on miles is usually still a pre wreck. Their
travels take them from one dough group to the next,
pushing on until they run out of gas or find
what they seek. Obviously, hunting funnels can be highly productive
during this phase of the season. By nature, funnels are
nothing more than habitat man made.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
Or topographical features.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
The focused deer activity through a relatively narrow passageway, a
finger of wood that connects two woodlots, a brush choked
stream meandering through an open pasture, a brushy fence rope
separating two fields, an inside corner of a field are
all examples of habitat funnels. A man made funnel might
be where a road pinches the woods closer to a lake,

(33:57):
a low spot in an otherwise well maintained fence, or
mature slice of woods left between two clear cuts. Some
common examples of topographic funnels are a low spot in
a ridge, a flat section that runs along the midpoint
of a steep side hill on a bench or ridge,
the upper and lower ends of steep cuts that slice
up the side of a ridge, a strip of dry

(34:19):
land separating two wetlands, or a relatively flat spot in
an otherwise steep riverbank.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
The lay of the.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
Land makes each of these funnels the path of least
resistance for traveling deer. In most cases, these funnels can
be avoided if a deer wishes to do so. However,
the cost is that the deer must expend more energy
and or expose itself to greater danger to avoid the area.
Because bucks have no desire to waste energy or expose

(34:45):
themselves to unneeded dangers, the funnels are their best option.
Superior rut funnels are those that separate areas used by
two or more clans of does and fawns. So put
in another way, if you can find a funnel between.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Dough hotspots, that's the best of the best.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
You find two great dough betting areas, or multiple different
dough betting airs that are all connected by one travel quarter,
that's going to be the best possible funnel. I'll also
say if you can combine these two things, So if
you can have a spot where you can be hunting
and you are downwind of a dough betting era while
also being at a funneling location, that is even better.

(35:25):
That's the sweet spot that we're always looking to find
if you can layer over top all these things and
then add on top of that situation where your wind
is not going to be picked up by deer, that's ideal.
I mean a scenario this might be. Let's imagine you've
got a great, big block of dough betting here, and
then you've got a little corridor. This is a very

(35:46):
simple example, but imagine then there's like a thin strip
of timber that is running alongside of a lake. And
so north of that thin strip of timber and lake
is a big old open field. On the other side
of that lake is another block of thick, nasty, brushy marshland.
Let's say if you could hunt that strip of timber
that runs along the edge of the lake, you've got

(36:07):
the one area of cover that deer can travel to
get from this marsh to this other piece of dough betting.
So you have a dough betting era. If you put
your stand right there at the bottom of that right
where that funnel where that strip comes in, you now
have a funnel that's leading into a dough betting air.
And then oh, by the way, you have a lake
behind you, or a pond behind you, or whatever that
you can blow your wind into. That is like the mecca.

(36:30):
That's what we're all dreaming of finding somehow, someway. Here's
one more perspective on funnels I want to read to you,
and excerpt from John Eberhart in his book Precision Bow
Hunting and his take on hunting funnels. Funnels between betting
areas thick cover that allows bucks security of movement during

(36:50):
daylight are super spots to hunt during the pre rut
and rut, but sure bucks almost always take the route
with the most cover in the daytime. These travel routes
are used extensively in a bucks scent checking routine, often
during the middle of the day. Your setup should be
in a position in the funnel from which you can
shoot the funnel's entire width. This is not possible. Choose

(37:11):
a spot that provides the most shot opportunities to the
best sign. Bucks passing through such funnels have a destination
in mind and are usually moving quite expediently. If the
funnel is too wide to cover, tighten it by stacking brush,
which deer will rarely walk through. When your primary scrape
and rut staging areas begin to heat up, it's time
to include funnels between betting areas in your hunting rotation.

(37:33):
These funnels are also great all day spots, which brings
us to the third of the major considerations when hunting
during the rut, which is putting in time. Time on
stand is simply the most important thing, maybe of all,
for this time of season, and there are many different

(37:54):
perspectives on why and how and when to do that,
but at the highest of levels, the more time available
at this time of year, the more time you have
a chance of taking advantage of the somewhat more random,
somewhat more unpredictable nature of this increased buck movement. During
the month of November, Eberhart goes on to tell us

(38:14):
a little bit more about his take on all day
sits and spending time, especially in that late morning to
mid day time period. And I think he's got a
good suggestion here about what to do even if you
don't have time to do an entire day or the
interest in doing an entire day.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
So here's what he has to say.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
There, stick to your best spots if the activity warrants it,
and spend as much time on stand as you can.
All day hunting is advised whenever possible during the rut phases.
The more time you spend in the woods, the better
your chances will be, as long as you avoid spooking
the deer and practice diligence sund control during the rut.
A mature bucks natural routine, when not with an estrastough,

(38:56):
likely has him scent checking during midday between ten am
and two If you cannot hunt all day. A possibility
during the rut is what we call second shift hunting.
Heading to your stand at about nine am. Hunting this
timeframe allows you to get extra sleep and still puts
you in position to take advantage of that midday mature
buck activity. Remain on stand until dark whenever possible, so

(39:21):
I think that's an interesting thing to consider. There you'd
miss the first hour or two of daylight, but maybe
there's places where that's for the best. You're not spooking
deer out of open fields when you go in, but
then you hunt that late morning right on through to
the end of the day. Another person who we've already
heard from once but who has oftentimes talked about the
importance of getting your tree or getting your butt in

(39:44):
the tree and spending a lot of time is Andy
May and Andy, as we alluded to earlier, he's a
DIY guy. He's not somebody who does this for his living.
He has limited time to actually hunt, so in the
days he can hunt, he really wants to maximize that time,
especially during the rut. So I asked Andy about, you know,
his take on hunting all day, and then also if

(40:05):
and how you should relocate your positions during the rut
throughout the day, So like, should you hunt one kind
of spot in the morning and then change for the afternoon,
or what kinds of spots are best to hunt all
day during the rut. All of that is covered in
this excerpt with Andy. Next, I think it depends on
the location. If you're sitting, you know, if you're if

(40:30):
you're kind of targeting, say like.

Speaker 6 (40:33):
A betting area, I think that it can be good.

Speaker 4 (40:36):
Most of the day. Say you're say you're.

Speaker 6 (40:39):
Trying to get in tight to a dull betting area.
You're getting into that interior a little bit with the
wind advantage, and you're like, you know, this is a
really sensitive spot. I'm going to get in real early
before light, you know, an hour and a half before light.
I'm gonna get settled and let all these deer filter
back in, and it's very common behavior for mature box
to let the does filter back into their bedding area

(41:04):
and then they'll they'll kind of stay low key, stay bedded,
and then they'll get up late morning, mid to late morning,
and then they'll make the rounds and they'll be cross
sectioning those trails going in and out of bedding. They'll
be going working the downwind sides. They'll be checking like
you know, thermal hubs where a lot of a lot
of scent pools and comes together. So it's very common

(41:29):
for the bigger, older mature bucks to move later in
that morning.

Speaker 4 (41:33):
So a spot like that I think can be good most.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
Of the day.

Speaker 6 (41:38):
Yeah, So when you're in a spot like that, you know,
if first light comes, there's not a whole lot going on.
But what you're trying to do is catch all those
does kind of slowly filtering back into the bedding area
and then catch that buck movement, you know, those bucks
checking those areas kind of late morning and you're in there.
You know, you're not trying to sneak in in the
afternoon and you're bumping dose around.

Speaker 4 (41:59):
You're in there before light, you're in there before the.

Speaker 6 (42:01):
Deer theoretically should be back in and you can catch
some great you know morning, late morning, and midday movement
in there where. I think those areas tend to to
kind of taper off as in those evening sits, yeah,
or are those that evening timeframe.

Speaker 4 (42:19):
I think that dose start to kind.

Speaker 6 (42:20):
Of work their way out the bucks know that the
bucks are going to be relating to where they're traveling
and where they're heading to. So that's one of those
spots where I will probably sit it out unless I
have like a quick exit where I can go maybe
capitalize a little bit closer to a food source or
on a travel you know, between like.

Speaker 4 (42:41):
Bed and food something like that.

Speaker 6 (42:44):
I like, uh, you know, funnels between bedding areas. I
really like those spots for all day and again, you know,
I think they they tend to they tend to be
the best. Like if I had to pick a window,
I would say like nine am to like three pm

(43:08):
is like when it's optimal. It doesn't mean you couldn't
have a buck strolling through, because I mean bucks are
on the move. It's not like they're all bedded in
the morning, but some are some aren't. You know, some
are at the food sources, some are following those back in.

Speaker 4 (43:21):
I mean, there's there's.

Speaker 6 (43:22):
Lots of activity going on, but that's probably your optimal window.
But I have had some great sits and some kills
first thing in the morning and even last thing at night.
I don't I don't know. I don't move stands a
whole lot unless I really think that the evening portion

(43:44):
is going to be dead.

Speaker 4 (43:46):
If I think the evening portion is going to be.

Speaker 6 (43:48):
Dead, then yes, I will relocate. When you ask about
a time to do that, I would say maybe two
o'clock because I've had so many really good encounters, kills,
sightings in that eleven to two time frame. Another thing

(44:11):
that you want to keep in mind during the run
is most guys don't have the mental capacity, the strength,
and the endurance to sit dark to dark. So ninety
five percent of your hunters out there are going to
be coming in at nine, ten or eleven.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
It seems like, you know those time strips, guys have
it in.

Speaker 6 (44:31):
Their head, I'm gonna sit till nine, I'm gonna sit
till ten, I'm gonna sit till eleven, and then all
these guys come in. You know, there's never been more
people in the woods other than.

Speaker 4 (44:39):
Opening day a gun. It's November, it's the rut.

Speaker 6 (44:41):
Everybody's leaving their stands and they're bumping deer around. They
get deer up, stirred up. But those are running that
gets bucks on their feet. So you can capitalize on
just the pressure of people moving around at those those
time frames just by planting your butt in the stand.
But there's there's no way I would leave at like

(45:02):
eleven or twelve. I think your chances of seeing deer
and bulk activity go down as you get to that
eleven twelve one, but your chances of seeing mature bucks
actually increase when you hit that kind of like nine
thirty ten, eleven twelve, you know, one two. Now, that time,

(45:25):
that window right there has been very good to me,
and I've i comparatively, I haven't hunted it a whole
lot compared to morning and evening.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Okay, one more set of ideas that I want you
to consider as we go into this next phase of
the rut. If we're considering the hunter's rut and really
what can take place over the course of the entire
month of November. As we just discussed, there's this one
main way, which is betting areas and funnels. But there

(46:04):
is another approach, and that is more of the go
and find it approach that is epitomized by the guys
with the hunting public. We've got a great expert here
from Aaron Warburton from a podcast I did with him
several years ago about the THHP aggressive take on hunting
the rut. Let's get to their unique view on how

(46:26):
to do this. Ways to go and find deer during
the rut that are different than the usual.

Speaker 7 (46:32):
I think there's kind of two different tactics that work
extremely well in the rut. One is sitting long hours
in a specific spot you know, a funnel or a
transition whatever, and basically waiting for a buck to walk by.
That is proven over time to be extremely effective. If

(46:53):
you have the time and you can spend it as
many full days in the woods as possible, you can
killed bucks doing that. But what we've done more of
in the last probably six seven years is we've actually
started to move to find the action in the rut,
literally walking or driving until we either see or spook

(47:19):
run into whatever the action. What I mean by the
action is a hot dough, a group of bucks in
a certain location, because that's what I believe is going
on a lot of the time. Most of the bucks
are in one specific location for most of the rut,
or well, sorry, I.

Speaker 4 (47:39):
Should back up.

Speaker 7 (47:40):
Most of the bucks on a given day are in
a spot on a property wherever that dough is at
that is coming into heat, most of the bucks in
that area are going to be right there. And obviously
we know that all that can get flipped upside down
and can change in a matter of seconds if they
push you out of there or whatever. But I feel

(48:00):
like that's something that has worked tremendously well for us.

Speaker 4 (48:03):
Is just is being especially on limited time.

Speaker 7 (48:09):
And I should preface by saying that if you don't
have a lot of time in the run, if you
don't have the luxury of sitting in a funnel area
all day long, or day after day after day after day,
I would recommend trying to literally walk around until you
run into the deer, even if that means spooking the deer,

(48:30):
because if a doe is in heat and there's multiple
bucks in that area, more times than not we don't
see them react the same way to pressure as we
would other times of the year because their main focus is,
you know, obviously breeding during that time. And I feel
like if you just have a weekend, for example, or
maybe you just have a couple days of vacation and

(48:50):
you're not in that action. Maybe you're sitting in a
pile of sign, you're sitting in an excellent funnel area.
But if the hot dough is on the other side
of the property, for that two or three days, you're
probably gonna, you know, watch a lot of squirrels and
leaves blown. But if you get down and you actually
go and find the deer, you can have success a
lot faster in the rut.

Speaker 4 (49:11):
Does that make sense, Yeah, it does.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
How do you know when you found it? Though?

Speaker 3 (49:16):
I mean, I I realized there's a few obvious things,
but I gotta believe there's a little bit of it.
Probably has taken some experience to figure out the nu
once of oh this is it, I need to stop
right now, versus Okay, I just bumped a deer, but.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
You know, maybe I should keep going.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
How do you know when you're in the spot where Okay,
we're here, it's time.

Speaker 4 (49:38):
A variety of different things.

Speaker 7 (49:40):
It's all situational, but I'll give you a couple of examples.

Speaker 4 (49:46):
One is scrapes. And I know you've.

Speaker 7 (49:50):
Heard it over and over again, don't pay attention to
scrapes during the rut. But a lot of times scrapes
are positioned in locations where numerous trails intersect, or even
on the edges of betting areas, or in transitions in
between betting areas.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
So if and I'll just bring up.

Speaker 7 (50:07):
A specific example, because that's the best way I can
explain this.

Speaker 4 (50:10):
We were headed in on November ninth.

Speaker 7 (50:12):
A couple of years ago, into a big block of woods,
and we covered probably three quarters of a mile down
this ridge. There's lots of rubs in there, a decent
amount of sign but nothing like super super fresh. We
dove off of a point of the ridge, got on
a long secondary ridge that fall off into a creek
bottom that's pretty thick, and as we got down there,
we started noticing like, here's a really really fresh scrape that.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
Was just worked.

Speaker 7 (50:37):
And then boom, here's another really really fresh scrape that
was just where I mean I'm talking in the last
twenty four hours. So we popped up in a tree,
set up over it, and as we were hanging the
stand a mature buck pushed a dough by us at
ten yards and we weren't ever able to kill it
because we had the camera and the bow at the
bottom of the tree and whatever.

Speaker 4 (50:56):
But what ensued after that was.

Speaker 7 (51:00):
I think there was four or five different bucks on
that ridge and in that immediate area, all vying for
that dough, and a lot of those satellite bucks, you know,
the younger bucks that didn't have the dough. They were rubbing, scraping, sparring,
doing all sorts of aggressive behavior in and around where
that buck had the dough. And I think that's where

(51:22):
a lot of that is that fresh scraping activity had
come from. But that's the sign that we set up
on in that particular instance to get on that that scenario.
We've also just been gombing through the woods and literally
just ran into a dough in a buck and jumped
them and literally had the buck that was with the

(51:45):
dough at like separate him. The buck that was with
the dough come back through there within fifteen minutes looking
for her blowing. I mean, he was alert, he knew
we were in there, but he lost her when we
bumped into him, and he was bound and determined to
find her again next day in that same spot, just
a little bit deeper. It was just total chaos because

(52:05):
you know, we bumped them and she went probably two
three hundred yards stopped, settled down and didn't leave the
area completely.

Speaker 4 (52:11):
And that's not always the case. I mean, it can
it can change, like I said, very very quickly.

Speaker 7 (52:18):
But if you're just moving around with your eyes up
and you're looking for that out in front of you
and then reacting to it as you as you run into.

Speaker 4 (52:29):
Deer like that, like heading in.

Speaker 7 (52:30):
Deeper after them, I think you're going to get onto
more action, especially in short timeframe.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
Okay, so hunting funnels, hunting dough betting areas, maybe getting
out there and aggressively trying to find where that little
pocket of running activity is. Right now, three different considerations,
all useful, all something you can put into play during
the hunter's rut during that first part of November, and honestly,

(52:56):
and something you want to point out as we go
on here, all of this stuff can work all throughout
the month of November. There's just a few maybe specific
differences that we will address here in a little bit,
but everything we've talked about that you know, we're really
focusing it on those first two weeks of the month.
Still apply the third week and the fourth week. All
that said, the same is true for the next two

(53:17):
things I want to mention, which are kind of the
audibles you can call this time of year the little flyers.
The bonus type of tactics that work better now than
any other time, and that's calling and decoy. This is
when bucks are the most call happy, as they're going
to find them.

Speaker 2 (53:38):
They are more willing to come.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
In and check something out, try to find where that
running activity is trying to, you know, push off that
approaching buck who maybe is getting in on his game
whatever it is he's doing. So in the October episode,
I reviewed my kind of ladder of calling throughout the month.
I'll review for you my basic take, which is not

(54:00):
too different now, but in November it starts higher on
that ladder. So if I see a buck out of range,
I'm going to try to get his attention with a
louder establishing kind of contact drum, just a good ra
and then if that doesn't get his attention, I'll try
a louder bra and then again if I need to
go farther or louder.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
It's just gonna make a buck roar that it bra
same thing goes.

Speaker 3 (54:24):
If I get that buck's attention, he stops and looks
at me and acts curious, maybe takes a step forward,
and then you know, maybe starts making the scrape or
rubbing a tree. He doesn't leave, he doesn't get skittish,
but he's not committed to me yet. That's when I
will start to get more aggressive, so I'll take the
next step up the ladder, which at this point, if
it's not the buck roar that I just described, it

(54:45):
would be the snort wheeze, which is a sound that's
the punching a guy at the bar type of attack
on that deer. Verbally, that's what I'm doing. If a
buck is showing me that you know, he wasn't bothered
my first call, but he's not ready to come in yet.
You try that and it doesn't work, that means he's

(55:06):
like getting you know, concern, he's getting spooky. He turns around,
starts walking the other way. That's when you lay it
off and say, all right, you know it's done. On
the flip side. If that buck then like gets even
more excited and pins back his ears and starts slowly
coming your way. Again, that's when you stop calling and
just let that scenario play out.

Speaker 2 (55:26):
That is my high level general take on calling during
the run.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
I personally don't like the blind call, which would be,
you know, calling without seeing a deer at all and
just hoping something's going to come in, because that can
lead to you know, unexpected deer showing up down wind
a view that can lead to bad things. So I
like to wait until I see a buck and then
call to him. I will occasionally blind rattle, not often,

(55:51):
but occasionally. The targeted rattling I will do is if
I see a mature buck way out of grunting range
where he won't hear me, but I need to get
get his attention and try to pull them in, that's
when I might try rattling. All that said, I might
be a little bit on the conservative side. I do
a lot of my hunting in Michigan, where there's not
as many mature bucks and there's a lot of hunting

(56:12):
pressure when compared to some of the other Midwestern states
like Iowa or Kansas or whatever. In those states, more
aggressive calling can work really well, and I want to
share with you a perspective from Jared Mills, longtime contributor
to Midwest Whitetail and now is on YouTube channel, well
known whitetail expert, and he has a more aggressive approach

(56:36):
to calling running white tails. Let's hear it what he
has to say here.

Speaker 8 (56:41):
You usually don't like to call the deer when I
can see them and go based off of how they react,
or I will blind call if I have a really
good way of vantage, like a creek or river behind me.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
Okay, So walk me through then what the calling or
rattling sequence would be. Let's say you spot a big
buck somewhere. Do you always grunt first? Do you always
rattle first? Do you does something help you determine what
you're going to use? Kind of walk me through your
whole thought price when it comes to choosing what you're
gonna do, and then what you actually do in that scenario.

Speaker 5 (57:16):
Yep.

Speaker 8 (57:18):
Typically the conditions dictate that, and usually that's based on
wind speed. So if it's really windy and I don't
think he'll hear they grunt or snort waves, I will
rattle at the deer. Typically, though, if I know what
deer can hear me, I will start out with just

(57:39):
a grunt. I think that's the least intrusive sound or
least challenging sound to a bus. I wanted to see
how he'll react to that. You don't typically or I
haven't typically seen deer really negatively react to a grunt call.
It's just something that I think they hear more often,

(58:00):
and they snort, weeze or two bucks fighting. So I'll
start with that if I know a buck can hear
the grunt call, and then if he doesn't respond to that,
I will snort weez.

Speaker 4 (58:11):
I love the start wee call.

Speaker 8 (58:13):
Especially i'mture deer I don't have I should say I
don't have too many that just completely ignore it or
get spooped by it. They usually will somehow react to it.
Whether they come all the way in or not, that's
a different question, but usually they that call means something

(58:36):
to them, So I use snort we've a lot. Rattling
is kind of a third option. If if the deer
doesn't respond to either one of those, I will rattle
or I will start off rattling if it's really windy.

Speaker 3 (58:50):
Like I said, how what's the rattle sequence?

Speaker 4 (58:54):
Like? Is it long?

Speaker 3 (58:56):
Do you just do fifteen twenty seconds and stop. What's
your rattling sequence? Typically live, like, if.

Speaker 8 (59:03):
I can see the deer and see his reaction, I'll
just I'll rattle and'll make sure that I'm hidden. Whether
it's I'm rattling on the backside of free or something
like that, I will just watch his reaction. I will
keep rattling until he makes a move, whether that's going
away from me or coming towards to me. I need
him to be convinced that it is a really good fight,

(59:25):
like an actual brawl, that he needs to come in
and check out. Once he starts coming, I'll put him
away and get ready, or if he obviously goes away,
I'll put him away.

Speaker 5 (59:36):
Too, just because obviously they don't like it.

Speaker 8 (59:38):
But sometimes you'll see a deer go away and he'll
come back around and check it out later, so you're
not always completely out of the game. If I'm blind calling,
it's probably I would say thirty seconds of a pretty
hard hitting I have seen a couple of really good fights,

(01:00:00):
and it's hard to rattle as loud as two mature
bucks are fighting, so I like to hit them almost
as hard as I can. For a good toy to
thirty seconds obviously, just making sure your eyes are peeled
and your head's on a swivel, because you don't want
to be hitting those things when the deer's thirty yards

(01:00:22):
away and clearly see you know what's going on to you.
Just have the constantly be looking around. But that's one
thing I'll tell guys is not to be afraid to
hit them really hard. Most most often, I think guys
aren't rattling loud enough.

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
All right, now, that's calling my ideas on that that
I've kind of accumulated over the years from everybody, And
Jared's Another kind of aggressive move you can try at
this time of year is using a decoy. And the
best explanation I have heard from someone on how to
use a buck decoy or really any kind of decoy
when hunting during the rut is from John Dudley. John Dudley,

(01:01:01):
you know, has done amazing work across many different platforms,
well known, does great work when it comes to archery,
but also incredibly successful whitetail hunter and a big proponent
of using decoys.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
Here is what he says. This is his.

Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
Strategy for using a decoy during the rut, and basically
the same way that I have approached using a decoy
is is just like what he describes here.

Speaker 5 (01:01:26):
What I really look for is I look for an
area that allows me to be in cover and also
allows the decoy to be in a high visibility area
that is also a high traffic area during the rut.

(01:01:47):
Like for example, one one situation that I'm thinking of
is I've actually got this food plot that is, you know,
it's just a regular food plot. It's kind of a
rectangular shape, two acres on the one long end, and

(01:02:07):
I actually have a decoy set up for both ends
of this field. So what I'll wait for is a
wind that would put the wind directly into my face,
which for this particular field, and east wind, which is
fairly uncommon.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
But.

Speaker 5 (01:02:25):
For this particular if I do have an east wind
when the timing's right, this has been notoriously my best
spot because this food plot is built up on a crown,
and there's on one side of the crown there's a
deep draw that goes into a big ceedar thicket, and
then on the other side of the crown there's also

(01:02:47):
another draw that feeds all the way through like a
timber system that runs way off through my neighbors and
everything like that. So really what's happening is these bucks
when they start cuting ground, they're coming up out of
these draws and they're just like they just kind of
appear into a food plot. They look around a lot

(01:03:08):
of times. They're not eating, you know, they're not eating.
They're just they'll crossover and they'll go into the next theory.
You know, you have those spots where you always see
bucks just crossing. They're never staying there, but they're crossing.
These are really good areas for decoys because you know
that there's going to be traffic and you know you
have the ability to put it in an area where

(01:03:28):
you're able to see or you know, the deer able
to see. And from there, what I do is I
really focus on putting the decoys about thirty yards in
front of me with their wind blowing directly towards me,
and I'll face them facing directly towards me and my tree.

(01:03:52):
So what that does is when these bucks will come
up and they'll pop into these these open pocket, it's
they'll see that deer and then what they'll do is
they're going to try to get downwind of that decoy.
I mean, they're always going to try to get down
wind first, and they also really like to approach a

(01:04:14):
decoy at the direction that they're facing. So a lot
of times when they come up and they'll see that
decoy and it'll be like kind of facing you know,
it'll be like looking directly under my stand into the
timber line or the field that's behind me. A lot
of times the deer just going to assume that that

(01:04:35):
decoy has the attention of maybe a betted dough or
something in that fence line, or maybe even a dough
that's betted in you know, the field behind me. And
what they'll do is the bucks just always just go
right to the edge of the food plot and they'll
follow that hall or grass along the edge of the
food plot, and then they'll button hook right around and

(01:04:58):
they'll really utilize the edge of that cover and try
to split the difference kind of between me and the
tree and that decoy. They'll kind of come in right
on the outer edge of that that cover. They feel safe,
like they can jump in there and be gone if
they don't like something about it. And as they button

(01:05:22):
hook around you the entire time they're going to be
looking right at that decoy. They're looking at it, and
until they hit the wind of that decoy, you have
a great opportunity to be able to to make a
shot as long as you know that that wind is
blowing directly to you, So as long as that that

(01:05:43):
buck is button hooking around, you've pretty much got until
that that deer gets directly downwind of your decoy for
you to make your shot. And it's it's worked incredible.
You know, I really like to focus on the time
times of year when the like when the first part

(01:06:03):
of the rut gets going, like where you have one,
maybe one or two does that have come into heat,
and you know it seems like, you know, you maybe
see that first dough get red and every buck in
the country's honor. Normally, right after that things kind of
break loose and these bucks are really going to be
looking for does. And you also find out that during

(01:06:29):
that first part of the rut, most food plots are
like vacant, like dose aren't going to come out and
show themselves because they know they're going to get harassed.
So when a buck comes out and sees a dough
and it's standing there, they're going to do that same thing.
So during the first part of the rut, I'll decoy

(01:06:51):
with the dough. But then once you get into the
middle of the rut, or then towards the tail end
of the rut, I really like having a buck decoy,
or I like having a buck decoy during the pre rut.
You know, there's a time where that velvet comes off,
and right before the screep start getting made, a lot
of you know, a lot of bucks will start to

(01:07:14):
kind of they'll start to fight a little bit, and
you know, you might be in the woods and start
to hear your hearst fight of the of the of
the year, and that's a good time to try a
buck decoy as well. But really the recipe is always
get it about thirty yards in front of you, with

(01:07:34):
it facing you, wind blowing right directly towards you. You
want to be in some cover, you know, it's nice
to have. You know, a lot of times I like
to be towards one end of a food plot or another.
That way, if deer come in the food plot, you
know they can even if that thing's down there on
the end. A lot of times if it's facing out

(01:07:57):
of the food plot, the other animals won't get all
freaked out by it. If it's just staying there, you know,
they don't pay attention. Now, if it's if you're facing
away from you and it's looking in the middle of
the food plot and stuff comes out, well, everything's just
going to start looking right at it, and when it
doesn't move, they're going to have a problem with it.
So that's kind of why I like to keep it

(01:08:20):
off to the side. And you know, it might not
be as noticeable, but if you have a grunt tube,
you can always seem to at least get something to
look that way, and and and then once they're looking
that way, they're gonna they're gonna take notice.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
All right.

Speaker 3 (01:08:45):
So those are kind of the wild cards for this
time of year. Grunting, rattling, decoying, all of these things
we've talked about, like I said, have been kind of
focused on the first two weeks of November, the peak
of running activity. Let's briefly talk about what happens next,
which is the peak of breeding activity. That is, when

(01:09:07):
the highest number of doughs are receptive to being bred.
This is what many people call the lockdown face. So
what happens here is when a dough is ready to breed,
that buck locks on her. They typically stay together for
twenty four to forty eight hours, give or take. Sometimes
a little bit longer, and they will stay close together.

(01:09:29):
They generally don't move a whole lot. What I have
seen in my experience, and what I've heard from many
other hunters on the show, is that when a buck
gets paired up with a dough, he pushes her into
some kind of like off the wall place and tries
to keep her there for as much time as possible,
basically to maximize his time with that dough to breed

(01:09:49):
and to keep away any competition. So my angle has
always been that if you see a buck locked down
a dough like that, you know that this small area
maybe a couple acres or ten acres or whatever the
cover is around there, that's going to be a place
to focus for the next day or two. Especially Now
that said, if you're hunting and you can't find that,

(01:10:09):
if you're not seeing a buck locked on doughs, you
might see what Neil and Craig Doherty explained earlier, which
is a decline in overall activity because you have, you know,
so many of those pairs locked down somewhere. But a
key thing to remember this time of year is that
there's never going to be a period of time when
everyone is locked down at the same time. Right There's
always still going to be some buck that's coming off

(01:10:30):
of a dough and searching for another dough, and then
you know, as soon as that buck locks up on
someone else, well then there's probably another buck that's coming
off and searching again. So for that reason, generally, even
during the breeding phase, even during the middle of November,
you still want to take the same approach. You still
want to do the same stuff you were doing earlier
in the month. Just do it knowing that you're probably

(01:10:51):
not going to see as much of that crazy chasing
and seeking. You'll see some of it. It's still going
to happen, but it's a smaller number of bucks doing
it at any one given time. So this is when
just having faith and believing in your approach and waiting
out those long days is worth it. Or on the
flip side, this is when the what Aaron described the

(01:11:11):
TCHP approach maybe is the way to go, because this
is when you just got to go out there and
find it. You got to go find out where that
hot dough is and those those four bucks are all
circling around or where they're locked down. You might just
need to get out there and search to find these
hot spots because a very common thing I've experienced during
the rut, and so many other people have as well.

(01:11:32):
And Andrea to Cuisto was talking to us about this
during a podcast. There's going to be places whereas you know,
absolutely on fire, and then the next ridge over, or
the next basin over, the next farm field over, the
next swamp over, it will be a complete ghost town.
It's like all here and not there at all. And
so you need to either be determined to stay in

(01:11:53):
the spot you believe in until it becomes the right spot,
or go find where those hot spots are and constantly
adjust based on what you're seeing. Here is another example,
though on some thoughts of how to consider this. This
is from an excerpt from a book by Tom Indribou,
who is an outfitter in the Bluff Country of Wisconsin.

(01:12:13):
He's one of the ogs of growing and hunting mature
white tails, and in his book, which is called Growing
and Hunting Quality Bucks, he writes about this. When an
estrous dough is finally ready to breed, she stops fleeing.
The bucks advances and stands still for him. That's why
when widespread breeding starts occurring, it's almost as if a

(01:12:34):
sense of calm has returned to the deer woods. In fact,
if one dough is tying up her main suitor and
two or three spectators, and you're sitting somewhere other than
where she led her group, the woods do seem more calm.
They appear dead, but don't despair. One good thing about
the breeding period is that you can go from boredom
to a full fledged adrenaline overload with one turn of

(01:12:56):
your head. Once breeding has been underway for a few days,
a different pattern emerges among the bucks as they finish
up with one dough and start searching for their next opportunity.
A mature buck starts looking for his new mate by
checking food sources in the woods, agricultural fields, and anywhere
else he can find family groups that might include an
estrous dough. For whatever reason, these bucks are now more

(01:13:18):
deliberate in their search, backing off a bit from their
fast paced, relentless romps of ten days before. Maybe they're
wearing down a bit physically or maybe they've just learned
to work more efficiently. But more than ever, their focus
is the dough herself, not signposts created mostly with other bucks.
Bucks might still follow one of their favorite routes or

(01:13:38):
swing through a heavily signposted hotspot, but those are often
coincidental or short lived visits. Some bowhunters also think bucks
return to their home bedding area to rest up for
a day or so before taking off again. Either way,
those sites aren't good bets for bow hunting during the
breeding phase. After leaving the dough he has been with
for a couple days, the buck is more interested in

(01:14:00):
target rich hangouts. That's why he cruises the edges of
good food sources often at about eight or nine am.
The buck doesn't expect to find does and fawns feeding
in the fields, but he knows the family groups were
probably there the previous night and left only a short
time before his arrival. The buck moves along that field boundary,
sniffing the tracks of every dough that left the field

(01:14:21):
earlier that morning. He doesn't need to sniff individual rumps
to know which dough to follow. Her tracks leave all
the clues he requires, Nor does a buck have to
run up and down the length of each trail entering
or leaving the field, before making a decision on a
doe's status. An experienced buck crosses and sent checks every
trail intersecting that field, requiring only one quick pass around

(01:14:44):
his perimeter. If he finds a dough that interests him,
he doesn't hesitate to jump into the woods and get
after her. Any sense of physical fatigue or burnout evaporates
once a buck's nose pinpoints a dough that's getting ready
to breed. However, if the buck completes his perimeter inspection
and finds nothing hot, he moves along to the next
field and makes another circuit of the perimeter. He performs

(01:15:06):
this task not only around fields, but across ridge lines,
oak flats, and other sites where dough family groups congregame. However, briefly,
if his search takes him through primary scrape areas, he
merely checks them from downwind and blows on through. There's
little wasted effort in the buck's tasks. He hits as
many edge lines as possible, going from one hot spot

(01:15:27):
to the next, his eyes forever on the prize. His
steady gate covers ground quickly, and within an hour of sunrise,
he can be three ridges over from where he was
at dawn. As a buck moves between potential hotspots to
inspect family groups, he uses his nose and eyes to
locate his next mate.

Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
I will point out.

Speaker 3 (01:15:46):
Another thing that Tom references here in his book and
that many others have picked up on since, has been
the effectiveness of hunting water holes or ponds in the
woods during the rut. What his take is that these bucks,
you know, they'll ignore food for days and days on
end during the rut, but they can't ignore water.

Speaker 2 (01:16:08):
They have to get that.

Speaker 3 (01:16:10):
And after they've been chasing and searching and cruising hour
after hour after hour after hour, anytime that they can
pass by and hit a little water source, they're going
to do so. So I actually got to hunt Tom
and Jerbo's farm for a project I worked on called
Deer Country.

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
I got to see this.

Speaker 3 (01:16:26):
And what he's done is back in doe betting areas,
back on any of these like ridges or saddles where
they connect into other dough betting areas. He has created
these back in the timber ponds that are tucked by betting,
so he can be hunting a dough hot spot and
have a water source right back there in cover so
you can catch that late morning or midday movement that

(01:16:46):
we've talked about. And then he has this little focus point,
this little watering area that brings that buck into shooting
range and gets them to stop in place. So a
really interesting idea there to add to your mix as
you're considering where and how to set up over the
coming weeks. So lockdown can be slower, but don't sleep
on it. It can certainly still have those moments and

(01:17:08):
those flurries of great activity. Another thing to be thinking
about though, in mid November and as the month progresses,
is the fact that across many states, gun seasons open,
and when gun season opens, all of your typical rut
behavior starts to go out the window. Things change, All
of that hunting pressure comes in and just flips the
flips the game table upside down. Someone again who we've

(01:17:32):
heard from several times today and has a lot of
thoughts on this, as John Eberhart. I want to read
one last quick excerpt from him on how they think
about gun season and its impact on the rut and
hunting the month of November in Michigan. What we have
is a November fifteenth opener, so it's smack dab right
at peak breeding is when the gun season opens and

(01:17:56):
everything changes. In pressured areas, gun season has a huge
impact on deer movement and the herd itself. In states
like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York, to name a few,
with well over half a million gun hunters, the gun
opener changes the hunting dramatically In a single day. In
some areas of pressured states, up to eighty percent of
the annual buck harvest is taken. Most parts of these

(01:18:18):
pressured states have more than twenty hunters per square mile.

Speaker 2 (01:18:22):
YadA YadA, YadA, YadA, yadda.

Speaker 3 (01:18:24):
The top it off gun season takes place during the
middle of the rut. With most of the bucks gone,
the few survivors have more does to breed, some of
which will not be bred during their first extra cycle,
contributing to a more intense second rut than in non
pressured areas. Daytime running activity, though seemingly disappears, with almost
all chasing taking place well after dark. If there's one

(01:18:46):
single event that causes most deer to become nocturnal, its
opening day of gun season.

Speaker 2 (01:18:50):
Bow hunting.

Speaker 3 (01:18:51):
After this point can be very frustrating with planning. There
are ways you can react successfully if you're hunting during
the gun season opener or I think afterwards as well.
Look for escape routes. The tighter the better. In pressured
areas on opening morning, normal deer movement can be forgotten.
The deer are just looking to get out of harm's way.

(01:19:12):
A thick funnel leading to the thickest bedding area available
should be your stand side of choice. Remaining on stand
the entire day is recommended. A high percentage of mature
box are taken in midday during gun season. This is
really a big part of what Andy was talking about
too earlier when he was mentioning that you know, late
morning midday hunting pressure impact on deer activity as all

(01:19:34):
the hunters leave the woods, that shakes things up again. Well,
that is doubly more true when it comes to gun season.
So if you can avoid the typical coming in for
lunch and missing that window, maybe stay a little bit
later and just wait for everybody else to go in
and at least see what happens and then go, Because
if you're going to be hunting at this time of

(01:19:54):
the year, there's going to be less of the typical
rutting daylight activity when it's just flooded with other hunters
and things have been reshuffled so much so getting that
hunting pressure boost from the spooks and the pushes that
can actually be something to keona. On the flip side,
the other approach is to do the exact opposite, which
is go to the place where it's just so hard

(01:20:16):
for anybody else to go and for somebody else to impact.
So this is where the thickest, nastiest, most out of
the way hell hole is where some of these bucks
will be turning up and where they'll be hanging out
during the daylight. And still like the rut is still happening, right,
so opening to have gun season happened on November fifteenth,
there's certainly still going to be chasing and seeking and

(01:20:38):
breeding and all of that stuff still happening. It's just
going to be happening after dark and or in these
places that the deer still feels safe where they can
still get away from people. So if you can find
that away spot, if you can keep your property a
sanctuary and not have a bunch of pressure all around it,
they'll still feel safe there and you'll still get to
see that great running activity. Key thing, though, is like

(01:21:00):
that pressure just makes this massive, this massive shift to
deer behavior, and so you need to be able to
count for that. And so now much more of the
hunting strategy has to be about how do I adjust
to pressure just as the deer have, and less so
about you know, what's this bucking to do when he
moves from point A to point B. Because this is

(01:21:21):
the best dough betting area and that's the next best
dough betting era. Youve got to consider this new implication
as we continue that really maintains truth all through the
month of November. One other consideration to think about, as
I mentioned earlier, the breeding dates.

Speaker 2 (01:21:38):
It looks like a bell curve.

Speaker 3 (01:21:39):
So again, like low on the graph, you've got October,
more and more does come into heat as you go
into mid November. You know, November fifteenth, give or take,
is where the most does are ready to breed. And
then that continues down. So there's still breeding dos in
the third week of November, and they're still breeding doughs
in the last week of November, but there's fewer and

(01:22:00):
were and fewer that said bucks still want to breed
and what some people have seen and something that I
picked up on from Don Higgins. What some folks have
shown is that those oldest, biggest bucks tend to be
the ones that still have the stick toativeness and the
persistence to keep on searching for those last couple doughs.

(01:22:21):
I want to read to you an excerpt from Don's
book Real World Whitetails as he explains this very thing.
As November winds down, the whitetail rut does as well.
By the last week of November, there will not be
nearly as many receptive doughs for the mature bucks to
hook up with. Around Thanksgiving, mature bucks will be on
the move looking for hot doughs, which they are now
finding harder to come by. I firmly believe that the

(01:22:44):
very best time to catch the biggest bucks on the
move is the one week period beginning around Thanksgiving Day.
Earlier in the month, a hunter is likely to see
more bucks, but for the true monsters, I'll put my
money on Thanksgiving weekend. Every year, this period doesn't last long,
and when it's over, the toughest period to kill mature
buck follows hunting these late November monsters means going right

(01:23:06):
back to the same stands that you had success from
in early November. Bucks will be back searching for does,
and the stand located in near betting areas in the
morning or feeding areas in the evening are good bat
This is not a time to get discouraged, but a
time to be determined. Stay in your stands as long
as possible each day, but sure bucks on the prowl
are likely to show up at any time. If you

(01:23:28):
were lucky enough to figure out where a good buck
was staying right before the rut really heated up, there's
a good chance that he'll be back in the same location.
Remember what you saw earlier, and be there to cash
in when it happens. Now key point here Don is
speaking about, you know, hunting in places that are not
as pressured and and don't have the great big gun
season like we do in Michigan. You know, he's hunting

(01:23:50):
in Illinois, and I do think there is a short
weekend gun hunt in late November in Illinois, but it's
not like the two weeks of non stop gun hunting
that we have here in Michigan or Pennsylvania or other places.
So just think about that, but if you have a
place where the pressure is relatively low still in late November, this,
you know, last couple days of November can be a

(01:24:12):
sweet spot worth King and on. I mentioned this a
couple of weeks ago when we had Don on the podcast,
but I read this from him, and then I went
out and started hunting that time period more often and
actually saw, you know, one time in Ohio the big
five year old buckouse chasing cruising in the very middle
of the day on November twenty fifth or twenty sixth,
something like that, just after I read this. So that

(01:24:34):
was a great reminder that there's truth to this, and
I've gone on to have some some pretty strong success
in that late November or first couple days of December
time period. As those bucks are still trying to find
that last dough. You can keep him feeling safe, you
can take advantage of that. So that's November. If you're
thinking about the month, it is in some ways wildly

(01:24:58):
different week after week after week, but in some ways
exactly the same.

Speaker 2 (01:25:02):
The name of the game.

Speaker 3 (01:25:03):
Is focus on the dose, focus on the places and
ways the bucks get between dos, and then just spend
a lot of time. That's all easier said than done, though,
and I think maybe that's the most important thing to
remember is that all of this is simple in theory

(01:25:25):
but difficult in execution, because being out there day after day,
hour after hour, is physically exhausting, It is mentally draining.
You know, there can be incredible moments of excitement out there,
but if we're being honest with ourselves, it's typically, you know,
hours and hours and hours of monotony punctuated by just

(01:25:48):
a couple brief highs of excitement. And so maybe more
than anything, more important than having good funnels to hunt,
more important than knowing how to set up on a
dome area, more important than having a lot of vacation time,
more important than having a good decoy or strong calling
strategy or anything like that. The most important thing for

(01:26:10):
hunting the month of November might simply be your mind,
your mindset, your sense of belief and optimism, confidence, grit,
just being able to stick it out there, stay positive,
stay focused. That is so critical to filling a tag

(01:26:34):
at this time of the year. On the flip side, though,
that stuff can sometimes push you to go too far,
and this is something that you know, everyone has different
goals I'll just share with you that for me, for
a long period of time, I used to approach the
month of November like a military campaign, as if the
only thing that mattered that life or death would be

(01:26:55):
determined by whether or not I kill the mature buck.
And so because of that, I would start November first,
and every single possible day that I had available, I
would be up at three in the morning. I'd be
out to my tree stand an hour and a half
before daylight and set up and quiet. I would sit
there for fourteen straight hours. I'd come in after dark.
Sometimes you have to wait, you know, thirty minutes after

(01:27:15):
dark because there's deer in the area or whatever. I
hike out it, get to the house or the camp.

Speaker 2 (01:27:19):
Or wherever I was. I'd get a little.

Speaker 3 (01:27:21):
Work done and go to sleep and wake up four
hours later and do the whole thing over again. And
there were some years I did that fourteen straight days
or twenty straight days. You know, I'm very unique and
lucky that I had that time. But I know lots
of people that'll take a week of vacation and do
two weekends. So there's you know, you know, ten to
eleven days straight of that kind of thing and that

(01:27:44):
can burn you out in a way that can suck
the fun out of hunting. Sometimes in a way that
at least for me, I think I found maybe isn't
worth it, because yeah, I want to fill a tag,
I want to kill a deer in November, but I
also want to really enjoy the experience along the way.
And so what I try to do now is try

(01:28:05):
to balance that, try to balance the need to put
in the time and the hard work and the grit
balance with also the fact that this hunting thing, and
that especially the month of November, just as much as
it's about, you know, chasing deer, it's also about the
people that you're chasing deer with, and the deer camps
that you share, and the meals that you get afterwards,
or the cutting out early on a hunt to go

(01:28:26):
help your buddy track a deer and then celebrate with him,
or taking your kids out and hunting you know, with
you too. All that stuff matters just as much, if
not more so than actually you know.

Speaker 2 (01:28:37):
How to execute a terrific deer hunt.

Speaker 3 (01:28:40):
So, for whatever it's worth, just my two cents, make
sure that you're considering that kind of older side to
November because this whole thing we obsess over, we get
excited about it, we celebrate it. November is here, like.

Speaker 2 (01:28:54):
This is it. We should enjoy it.

Speaker 3 (01:28:57):
We should we should like suck marrow out of the
bone of November. And that doesn't just mean killing a
bunch of deer. That also means good stories, good laughs,
good times, and having fun. So I think that's where
I want to leave it for you here with this
decoding November, this review of how the experts and how

(01:29:20):
folks of all types hunt the white tail rut, how
folks hunt November.

Speaker 2 (01:29:24):
I hope this has been useful.

Speaker 3 (01:29:25):
I hope this has you a little bit more geared
up and ready for the coming weeks. And I'm wishing
you all the best of luck, have an amazing November,
have a safe November. Thanks for tuning in, and until
next time, stay wired to Hunt.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Host

Mark Kenyon

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Ruthie's Table 4

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 969: How the Experts Kill Mature Bucks in November