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November 26, 2025 39 mins

This week on Rut Fresh, Jake is joined by KC Smith of The Element with fresh updates out of Kansas and Iowa, Clint Campbell from Truth From The Stand reporting from Pennsylvania, and Christopher Leppert of the Mobile Hunting Expo in Ohio. Tune in to hear what’s top of mind for deer hunters across the Midwest and beyond.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, folks, welcome back to the last edition of
Refresh for the month of November. I'm Jake Coper and
we have a handful of different updates here across the
country like Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, and Pennsylvania. So I hope
you guys enjoy a little check in and some strategy
that might help you over the next seven days. As

(00:23):
you know, Roughresh is brought to you by land dot Com,
the leading online real estate marketplace to find your perfect rural, recreational,
agricultural hunting properties here in the US. I feel like
we're entering a little bit of an awkward time of
the year. Depending on what state you're in, depending on
where the gun seasons are placed, you might have you

(00:45):
might be dealing with a new hand now then even
just a couple of weeks ago, and we're going to
give you some intel, some insight on how to roll
with the punches move forward. And that is my challenge
for you guys this week. Just keep keep moving forward,
go out and scout thanks to restrategize, brainstorm. That's all
you can do. So without further too, let's kick things

(01:07):
off with Casey Smith from the Element. Here we go,
all right. First up, we have Casey Smith from The
Element who just shot his personal best buck in Kansas.
You're sitting in Iowa and you're a guy I gotta
talk to because you're you were like in the cut

(01:30):
man you have flying around.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
It's a weird feeling when you have like a big tag,
like an Iowa tag is you kind of know right
like you I want to sit there and like absorb
the feeling of shooting a giant buck, my biggest buck ever,
and then it's like I actually I got to spend
about twelve hours taking daddy in and it's time to

(01:53):
roll on because I need to do this tag justice.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
So it's it's a strange feeling, but you know, first
world problems.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
As they say, super blast to be able to hunt
multiple states.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah man, so yeah, congratulations, incredible gear. We've stayed in
touch here throughout the season, and what have you been
seeing as far as activity here? You know, in the
last couple of days here Illinois, this was our first
we just wrapped up the first little leg of our
gun season. There was there was some riding activity and
then some like man, I can't wait for a foot

(02:23):
of snow activity too. So what have you been seeing.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
So Kansas and I are a lot different. Do you
want both or do you want yeah? I would yeah, okay,
So in Kansas it was very much locked down. The
only bucks you saw on their feet were the dinkers,
you know, they were running around two year olds and
under were were roman. I saw in general less bucks

(02:51):
this year. I think that we had some EHD after
talking to farmers and stuff, and some of the crop
rotation wasn't favorable for us, So not as many bucks
as I'm used to, you know. But if you were
in an open area and you could find a buck
on lockdown, you could get on them. Because I love

(03:12):
lockdown whenever I can see the bucks. Now, when if
you're in the timber country and you can't see the bucks,
or you're in you know, my by mile crop country
and they're all on the fence rows.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
It's difficult, right, I mean, you know this very well.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
But if you're out in you know, say grassland habitat
and you can see bucks and glass a long ways
like the lockdown's awesome because you just bet them and
go after them.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
And I kind of like jason them down, you know.
So that was fun. But I would say it was difficult.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Of course, I think the nation understands that the temperatures
have not been favorable for most of the month. So
with that comes some early, you know, even nighttime deer
movement getting back to their betting areas as opposed to
you know, if it was thirty five at nine am,
there'd still be deer very.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
Much on their feet in crop fields and this and that.
I just wasn't seeing that.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
And you combine that with the warmer temperatures also have
made for some foggy mornings I feel like, you know,
because there's more humidity than what there normally would be
when the cold you know, the cold fronts knocks.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
That out of the air.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
So it made really difficult conditions for glassing as well.
And I've had that in both places, Iowa and Kansas.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, now you juxpose that to Iowa. Iowa really seems.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Like lockdown is over for the most part. I mean,
I'm sure there's still our bucks lockeddown. I'm having a
hard time seeing my shooters on the hoof. However, I'm rattling,
especially in the evenings, and I'm having multiple deer every
rattling sequence come in to that ratling sea when this evening.
In fact, I've had a really like a heart wrening

(04:48):
pass on one upper one forties twelve point that was
three years old, and I normally would really like if
I was in forty eight other states, I would probably
be ripping that, you know, out of respect to the
landowner and just also you know, wanting to hunt anspture deer.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
I gave him the past.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
So when you're rid on in the evening specifically and
even thinking here for the next seven days, are you waiting?
I mean, are you riding on at three o'clock, four
o'clock on the hour? Are you waiting right towards that
golden hour, you know, thirty forty minutes before sunset? What's
kind of what? Are you busting them out?

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Pretty much as soon as I get in the tree,
I mean crazy enough. On the walk in this evening
in Iowa, we came across a little rut fest not
where I was trying to go.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
It was. Let me explain the property a little bit.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
There's a bean field on top, and then there's a
lot of CRP buffers around the bean like it sits
up really well right as far as like deer.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Habitat goes hard to hunt because of access. And then
in the middle of crp fields are fingers of timber
through the draws, you know, kind of classic Midwest Iowa
looking stuff, right.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
And these deer we're all down on the adjacent property.
There's a pond, probably about a one acre pond, and
it has a real marshy area at the head of that,
and that hits the fence, and there were five or
six bucks right there at the head of that, just
in there.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Sparring, posturing up at one another, and there was one
four year old in the group.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
He's all busted up, kind of a thin antler deer,
a deer I knew, and he kind of postured through
and then left, and that made me kind of decide
that there wasn't a more mature deer in there.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
I think it was just one of those things.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Where it's kind of the late rut situation where all
those bucks are kind of getting back together, especially the
young ones, and they're kind of doing their re establishing
who's the boss.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
That kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
So that's kind of the unique thing that I saw there.
But that leads back to your question. They were sparring,
and that kind of very much gives me confidence to
know that that works now. It is a start contrast
to morning versus evening. I have not rattled in a
deer in the morning yet. I don't and I don't

(07:04):
really know why that.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Is the case. But in the evenings it's working really,
really well.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
I mean, I got to the stand late because we
ran across that little you know, buckfest down there. But
I rattled the first time, I think at three point forty,
and had a two year old and a decent buck
come running in.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
They never got in range, but they they ran up.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
And I think they got actually cut off by some doze.
But then the second time I rattled was about four
to ten, and that's when that future stud just ran
to the base.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
Of the tree.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
He just came up over the hill through the RP,
just straight in, you know, just kind of what you
dream of. But yeah, yeah, and then again later I
rattled in another three year old eight point so strock
and rolling.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah. Yeah, that's that's a really good fresh piece of
advice for the time of year. And I always find
it interesting too. I feel like you can pick up
a lot just from social media. In the last couple
of days, I've seen the big bucks biding to the
death for the first time, you know, like, and it
seems like that's this happened here in the last couple
of days. So I feel like that probably adds a

(08:11):
little bit more context to do your's success too. In fact,
I just picked up I mean, you and I talked
about this previously, but I picked up one of my shooters, Daylight,
for the first time, and I think like thirty five days,
and he'd broken off a time, and he didn't really
seem like much of a fodder.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
I didn't think.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
So I think that they are very much kind of
duking it out for the last good smells.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah. Yeah, So as far as so right on in
the evenings you're finding success, is there anything else words
of Encouragement's Thanksgiving week? You probably have family stuff. You've
probably been hunting like an animal the whole bomb, and
now you got to go back and say, hey, I
still need to go out and hunt, And how are
you gonna Are you gonna position this for success for
anyone that's gonna try to sneak out here in the

(08:59):
next seven days?

Speaker 2 (09:00):
For sure, I would say that now I'm kind of weird, right,
I just told everybody. I like hunting lock down, and
nobody really likes hunting locked down. You know, in specific situations,
it's good. The same thing goes for the heat of
the rut if you have target bucks. I found that,
like the heat of the rut is difficult because you
don't know where they're going to be.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
And I think we're starting to see.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Those target bucks actually kind of go back to using
their core areas a lot more, and.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
So trail cameras for sure.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Like if you pick up a deer on shil camera,
then you can have a lot more confidence I think
over the next week of that deer being in that area,
whereas you know, ten five days ago, even if you
picked up a buck on shil camera, it's almost like, Okay,
let me go way away from that because that's where
he's actually going to be tomorrow, you know. So I
think that it's a great time of year to catch

(09:50):
bucks you are still feeling ruddy, but also not roaming
near as far as they were.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, I think that's that's really good advice. As far
as one to ten next next seven days, ten being
the best week of the year, one being one of
the worst weeks of the year, you're in Iowa, you
have a tag in your pocket. How much conviction do
you have in the next seven days.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
I would say it's really good because we are looking
at the best weather front that we've had so far
this year. I know the dates aren't good, and I
know the science tells you that the rut is always
determined by you know, or dironal length right or length
of day. However, cold weather will get the deer on

(10:33):
their feet and get them moving.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Whether it is going to increase.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Any rut action, I think it just increases visible rut action,
you know.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
So I would say that in the next week, we're looking.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
At seven I feel like especially in Iowa.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
I think, I mean, Kansas is different.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
I wouldn't go that higher, but for Iowa, for the Midwest,
especially since it's been so hot, I think that it's
gonna be a great week.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Mm hmm. I love it. That's that's the positivity we
need right now.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
So I like the positivity.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Man. Sure. One question I think would probably be in
the back of a lot of people's minds, so as
far as hunting food sources in the evenings for this
next seven days, is that something that you're going to
try to target corn beans or are you still going
to be kind of set up in some sort of
transitional area or in the woods or timber or just
inn I was specifically, and you know people can extrapolate

(11:28):
that for the Midwest.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, so I think that in Iwa, I know of
an eighth of an acre of standing beans here on
this property. And the other day we showed up and
it was that rainy day where it was pretty cold,
and those deer were hammered that little tiny eighth of
an acre because temperature is somewhat relative, right, Like it
was a shock. It was a twenty degree drop even
though it's only forty five when it has been being

(11:50):
sixty five or seventy. They're like, oh, I gotta go
hit the feed. And so I think absolutely that that
anywhere you can find good food is it's going to
be awesome.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
But I still think that like on mornings, being tucked
back up in the stuff is a great move.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
But if it's the evening, I think you really have
a hard time hunting, like out in the open, But
like if you can find yourself at the head of
a draw that leads to good food, you know, a
staging area, you know a place you can let the
dose get by you and not smell you or see
you and be there for the last thirty minutes. That's

(12:27):
a really good opportunity to see a mature buck on
his feet.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Well, good luck and Iowa congratulations on all the success
this year.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
Thank you, brother, thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
And as far as these hunts this year, will they
be on the element next year or when is that
when those will drop?

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Probably I shot my biggest public land buck ever this
year a few weeks ago. That hunt will drop on
Monday the twenty third or fourth or something like that.
So by the time this goes out, it's already is out.
And that actually is an exhilarating on.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
I mean, the craziest.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
I rattled this deary and he just rips through a
bunch of cattails and frag and all kinds of stuff
to get to us, and you know, stand off at
fifteen yards, so pretty sick.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
I'd appreciate and thank you for bringing that up. That'll
be out. As far as my the biggest book.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
Ever that just happened, that will likely be a twenty
sixth release.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
Okay, I'm sure you know we're picking up pieces right now.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Well, that's people can go watch a HELMP from this
year on the element, So I encourage him to go
do that. And congratulations again on awesome year and good
luck and Iowa thank you, Jake, really appreciate it all right.
Next up is Clint Campbell with Truth from the stand
back in Pennsylvania. He spent a long time in Kansas.
And uh, we're getting to the point where now is

(13:49):
it's the bottom of the ninth of November. Man, Like,
there's no way to sugarcoat this. We're there. And before
we get into what you've been seeing and what you're
looking forward to over the next week, how many public
land acres are in the state of Pennsylvania and the
answers in millions?

Speaker 4 (14:07):
Yeah, yeah, it's three and a half million.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
My little book says five point eight.

Speaker 4 (14:13):
I'm gonna say five. I was trying to remember.

Speaker 5 (14:16):
It's funny because I had looked at it probably like
three months ago, so I don't even remember why I
looked at it. I was just probably out of curiosity.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
Dang.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
I knew it was millions. I knew it was millions,
but I was between three and five.

Speaker 4 (14:28):
So man, you got.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Pretty pretty dark close. Yeah, that's that's pretty dark close.
So what have you been seeing here in the last
you know, a couple of days. And I know, I
know you just got back from a really long extended trip,
so I understand if you haven't been back out in Pennsylvania,
but kind of what have you been seeing from cameras activity? Friends? Yeah,
and what's been going on? Or is there still some
running activity going on? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (14:48):
There is.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
You know, I was out, I was out in the
planes and the faucet kind of turned off out there
as the weather as the weather hit or got warm,
and then it was going to rain.

Speaker 4 (14:58):
But I was starting before I left.

Speaker 5 (14:59):
I was already to see Bucks start to kind of
cruise again, you know, and we're coming out of lockdown
and stuff like that, you know, and so whether it
just kind of turns I.

Speaker 4 (15:08):
Ended up coming back coming back to PA.

Speaker 5 (15:10):
I haven't been able to get out like like you'd mentioned,
but I've just been kind of monitoring cameras and the
bummer was there's real good. There's an area that I
like to hunt that usually historically, like the eighteenth and
nineteenth have always been really really good, like twentieth you know,
twenty first, and I just couldn't get out of work
early enough to get there. And sure enough, like I
don't have a cell camera in that spot because I've

(15:32):
had it stolen there multiple times, so I put it.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
I put a junker in there.

Speaker 5 (15:37):
And but where I have some cell cameras, like all
of a sudden, like one of the better bucks that
I've actually had on camera all year showed up on
the nineteenth and so hitting a scrape right and bought
it work at the licking branch, you know, urinated in it,
doing all the things right. And so I'm starting to
see that, you know, as you mentioned, we're in the

(15:58):
bottom of the ninth, starting to see that like bottom
of the ninth activity kind of happened where you know,
it's gonna be probably dead as a doornail most places, right,
you know, comparatively speaking.

Speaker 4 (16:09):
Right to what we experience November November.

Speaker 5 (16:12):
Yeah, yeah, but if you're in the right spot, there's
still magic to be made, right, And so that's that's
kind of what I'm seeing from my cameras. I'm still seeing,
you know, what i'll call satellite bucks still doing a
lot of like moving like they're they seem to be
really visible. But it seems like, you know, the big
boys of course, might be hanging a little tighter to

(16:34):
the cover.

Speaker 4 (16:34):
They're still covering ground.

Speaker 5 (16:37):
It's it's now it seems like it's more the twilight,
so gray light on both ends of the day. Right,
it's no longer like mid day cruising hanging out like
I'm really seeing it close to like bedding cover. And
they're getting back just a little late in the morning
or getting out just a little earlier in the in
the afternoon or evening, if you will, right, And so

(16:58):
that's kind of what the cameras are telling me now.
So I'm kind of chomping out the bit to get
back out because I know, you know, got one more
swing at it, and it's not a bad swing if
you know where to be. And I've got a couple
of spots that I think are that are primed, so you.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Mentioned, you know, if you're in the right spot, you
still might be seeing some activity, and it sounds like
you need to be a little bit tighter to cover
more than likely for someone listening that says, yeah, where
I hunted the majority of November, it was on fire.
Now I've hunted it a couple of times, and you know,
you see a spike and a dough family group that's
back together, and like, dude, I'm not in the right spot,
and I know the clock's ticking. So what would you

(17:32):
tell that person to at least try to try to
find here and also remain somewhat calm too, And maybe
you don't want to be cool, maybe you want to
be sporadic and crazy.

Speaker 4 (17:42):
Yeah, I'm not going to be calm. You know, I'm
going to be pretty.

Speaker 5 (17:48):
And when I say that, like, I'm just going to
be really mobile, like I'm not gonna soak spots necessarily,
Like this isn't the rut where I'm going to put
you know, I'm just like some people will still kind
of do this where it's like time in seat and
I'm just going to ride out all they sit. It's
like I'll do that whenever I'm in that kind of
time frame where it's like, man, magic can happen at
any moment. You know, you can have a giant or
your target deer walk through because they're moving all day

(18:09):
in daylight, anding through a caution to the wind. To me,
when we get to this timeframe, I probably start to
hunt it more like I hunt like that mid to
later October timeframe where I'm trying to constantly find where
I'm going to be in the game at right and
if it's if I don't have a good feeling about
the spot I'm in, whether the trail cameras have been
dead in that area, or if the sign has kind
of told me that they're not in the area.

Speaker 4 (18:29):
That's the other hard part, Like they're not.

Speaker 5 (18:30):
Really laying down stuff like you had seen previously, so
you're probably really relying more on trying to cut a track,
you know, trying to get a visual on something like
a little further away if you can, you know, if
you're in an area that you can see or whatever
the case is.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
But I'm definitely not staying calm.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
I'm probably going back to more of my kind of
like pre rut kind of like approach to things. I'm
going to stick closer to betting cover. I'm probably going
to play the odds of like trying to if I
know there's a good betting area that's going to hold
like a decent buck or two, typically, I'm probably going
to play that and kind of bank on maybe catching
them coming back late or leaving a little bit early

(19:08):
to kind of.

Speaker 4 (19:09):
Make their rounds, so to speak.

Speaker 5 (19:12):
The dough situation, I feel is almost kind of like
off the table to a degree, like the dough family groups,
because you're really kind of like if they've been bred
or they're not in, then you're kind of like just
outside the game, like you got no shot at that point,
right unless I start to see, like if I'm in
an area that I know there's like a dough family
and I see a and I see a straggler, like,

(19:32):
then then maybe, right, But if I'm seeing them grouped
up and stuff like that, like I'm not I'm not
spending time in those areas. And that was honestly kind
of my similar strategy when rubs in the planes, like
I would look for dough family groups, and once they
broke up, I knew it was game on. And then
soon they got back together, I knew that place was
that place was cool.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
I had I had a this week. Actually, its pretty funny,
A hundred. It the evening before seven bucks, like, oh
my gosh, you know, and I'm honey a specific deer,
and then I went and hunted to the next morning
and then here comes the dough two yearly and I
don't know if it's the same dough. And I was like, oh,
party's over.

Speaker 4 (20:17):
That was exactly what happened.

Speaker 5 (20:18):
That's exactly what happened to me in that cold snap
that we had that came across the Midwest there like
the middle ish early part of November, and that was
when I saw all my had all my encounters, and
it was like, same as you.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
I saw seven bucks.

Speaker 5 (20:32):
I forget I think it was the ninth or tenth,
and then it was.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
Just like someone turned the fossil off.

Speaker 5 (20:36):
Like I came back the next day it was the
same thing where I was like, hey, there's seven doughs altogether.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
I was like it was a bad sign.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, But you know, I think, you know, there's a
lot of people to preach, you know, the magic of
Thanksgiving week and and those bucks desperately searching and last
like five out of six years, I've already killed a buck.
So honestly, typically I have a hundred. This this time
period is hard, and I will be because I'm still
afterwood and so I'm taking all this advice to heart here.

(21:04):
But I think for someone that has an extended time,
maybe they have more time this weekend because you know,
Thanksgiving they're going to go eat some turkey and then sorry,
I'm gonna go hunt this upcoming weekend. I mean, your
your strategy here is just go in there and try
to find something for a reason to be there or
whether it's intel camera data and and just ultimately everyone

(21:25):
hats to admit it hope to get a little lucky.

Speaker 4 (21:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (21:28):
Yeah, And I think part of it too is like
is you know a little bit where you hunt to
a degree for me hunting like the public that I
hunt and things of that and things of that nature.
You know, it's been pounded all season, right, so I
got to really kind of go in and qualify. Right.
But I think if you're in a situation where you
have like lease ground or your own ground or whatever

(21:48):
and that you're managing and stuff like that, and you
kind of know what deer in the area, you can
I think then you can maybe ride things out a
little bit more.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
Right.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
For me, it's more of a I have to go
back prospect again to a degree, right, you know, which
means I'm going to be a little bit more mobile.
I'm not going to pull a whole lot of time
because I when I think of that, the person I
think of, and you probably would agree that when I
think of that time frame, like the week before and
after Thanksgiving, like that two week kind of period, the

(22:20):
person who comes to my mind is Don Higgins, like
because that is the person that, like, you know, years ago,
when I had him on the show, we were talking,
and that was he was the first one that kind of.

Speaker 4 (22:28):
Told me about that week being so good.

Speaker 5 (22:31):
And so when I think of that week, I think
of him a lot of times because that's where I
picked it up at. And but I also kind of
recognize that some of this too is you know, yes,
it can be good, but it's like you've got to
be in the game. And if you have a property
that's that's in the game, then awesome. If you don't,
you probably need to qualify and prospect and figure out,
you know, if where you're intending to hunt is putting

(22:54):
you in the game or not, And if not, then
you don't want to be spending time there because it's
going to feel like you're hunting the last week of January,
you know what I mean, or like whatever the whatever
your late season is with no destination food source, you
know what I mean, because like that's what you get.

Speaker 4 (23:07):
You either get, you either get.

Speaker 5 (23:08):
Yeah, this feels like pre ready because I'm in a
I'm in the game right and I've got the things
I need to have, right or I feel like I'm
hunting like the last.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
Week of late season with no destination food right where
it's just the ghost town.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Right, perfect, perfect way to describe it. And then I think,
what about hunting public Land in Pennsylvania to everyone's been
out hunting really hard, and so like how much does
human pressure come into your weekend game plan for Thanksgiving weekend?
You're like, Okay, if I'm gonna be away from the family,
I'm gonna be hunting. I need to try to make
good use of my time. I also know, based off

(23:40):
camera inventory or maybe historically, you know, one area gets
you know, hunted really hard. I mean, is that going
pretty heavy into your decision making process?

Speaker 4 (23:49):
One hundred percent?

Speaker 5 (23:50):
Yeah, because most of the places that I would hunt,
you know in that you know, Octobers November, like just
during the season in general, Like I won't go to
this during this time, right because it's it's going to
have been hunted pretty hard at this point. And it's
also places where people are going to be preparing for
gun seasons, so they're going to be out this weekend

(24:11):
putting up their stands, like doing their last minute stuff, right,
because I've literally hunted a couple of these places like
this week in particular, and had people walk in on
me where I hadn't seen a soul in there the
rest of the year, right, And so I'm more so
looking for places that are totally out of the way,
and it might even be places where I look at
and go it's probably not that great, but there's not
going to be people, right, And so my first kind

(24:32):
of criteria is just don't be near people and then
figure out what the deer situation is is from there,
because otherwise, you know, I'm going to have no deer
end people, which is just a recipe for you know, frustration,
a terrible weekend.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, yeah, a lot of frustration. So looking here at
the advanced weather forecast, you know, looking for this upcoming
week scale one to ten, ten being best week of
the year. There was we had some ten and I'll
be curious if we have more tents we have throughout
the remainder of the season. Refresh, But one to ten,
where do you put the next week at and I'll

(25:07):
give you a second look at the weather. Here we
do here, NOLLOI. We actually we do have some some
we have a good front rolling in. Yeah, the day
this this goes live. So I'm sure you guys gonna
be a day probably a day after that.

Speaker 5 (25:19):
Man, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say it's probably like
a A seven, Okay, a seven.

Speaker 4 (25:32):
I'll say that's optimistic seven or six. Yeah. The only
reason being is that we have some days.

Speaker 5 (25:37):
It looks looks like we're going to have some highs
where it's not going to get out of the forties.
But we do have some stuff like going into next
week where it is going to get like touch sixties.

Speaker 4 (25:46):
That's not great. But if I look at the very last.

Speaker 5 (25:49):
Day of the ten day forecast, it's a forty one
and twenty eight for high and low with a chance
of some snow, right, and so so we're gonna have
some decent days in there mixed with some like not
great days. So that's why I'm giving it kind of
like a six seven. I think the decent days could
be good. The days that aren't going to be great
aren't going to be good. You know, so kind of
balance this out, which was like ten, but but but

(26:11):
we're gonna go six or seven.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
We got to be realistic too. But I think that
gives everyone a game plan on what you're doing. And
I think there's some really good tangible pieces of of
a vice for the approach. And is there one last
thing that you would tell someone It could be It
could be anything, and we'll leave them with that.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (26:27):
I mean, I think you know, this time of year,
if you don't feel like you're you're if you feel
like you're not in them, You're not alone. There's a
lot of people who ain't in them, you know. So
that's the one thing. And then don't throw the season
away necessarily, but you know, start thinking about things for
next year. Also, like even if you like say like

(26:48):
for me, for example, I have a lot of pressure
in my state gun seasons getting ready to open, you know,
So I'm gonna go hunt a spot that admittedly I
had an opportunity to shoot her in October, so I'm
going to kind of go back there, but I haven't
been able to hunt this spot a.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
Whole lot just historically.

Speaker 5 (27:02):
It was kind of a newer spot to me, so
part of it is like, yeah, I think it's a
good opportunity I can get away from people. But also
it's like, man, I can grab some intel, right, I
can kind of figure out how it hunts. I can
kind of figure out what the wind is going to
do with the thermals are.

Speaker 4 (27:13):
Going to do that.

Speaker 5 (27:14):
Way, when I go to hunt it next year, I
have a little bit more data, right, So I try
to use some of these hunts where where the season
gets tough and have the silver lining be Man, It's
just part of the learning process and I'm either going
to fill a tag or I'm going to learn something today,
and that's kind of my approach.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
I love it, well, Clint, I appreciate it. Everyone go
fallow along with the remainder of your season over at
truth from the stand. Appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (27:36):
Appreciate it, buddy.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
All right, we have Christopher with mobile Hunter. How are
we doing pretty good?

Speaker 4 (27:42):
How about yourself?

Speaker 1 (27:44):
We're doing great. It's we're on the bottom of the
ninth year in November, and there's a lot of guys
that probably are a little nervous, a little anxious with
maybe how their season has gone up to this point.
Maybe they had an opportunity that didn't go together, or
maybe they're still chasing a ghost or what seems like
a ghost. How how has the activity been here in

(28:05):
the last seven days for you, whether it's from camera
scouting or anything else.

Speaker 4 (28:09):
It's been pretty good.

Speaker 6 (28:10):
Cameras have been fairly good about seven days ago or so,
and in the last few they've kind of cut, you know,
trickled down a little bit. But I am seeing more
scraping happening now, so we're we're starting to trickle back
to that.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
Mm hmm. Yeah, that's it's the chaos is over and
now it's uh, you know, maybe just getting a little
bit more into maybe more controlled environment, maybe not, but
you know, I guess that's that's up for debate. But
as far as kind of looking here in the next
seven days, will you like you'll be hunting in Ohio?

(28:51):
And does when does your guys firearm season start?

Speaker 6 (28:54):
Firearms season starts here in Ohio, Uh, not tomorrow, but
the next Monday, December one through seventh, and so I'll
actually be hunting here in Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
I still have my tag.

Speaker 4 (29:07):
There as well.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Okay, so opening day in Ohio December first, what's your
tentative strategy right now, Like, do you have a tentative
game plan?

Speaker 6 (29:19):
Opening Day is going to be kind of tricky because
they're calling for rain Monday and Tuesday and into Wednesday.
So opening day might be out if it's a wash,
but if it's if it's just going to be light,
I'm going to be sitting where I've got one headed

(29:39):
up out of a drainage back to bed on private,
so I'll be looking to cut him off with a gun,
of course, so I get to it's gonna be a
little easier to play that win.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah, that's that's that's certainly one of the benefits of
having firearm season year. Yes, a lot more forgiving of
a situation and set up than you don't have to
be right on top of them. As far as looking,
let's say for the back part of that that you know,
a couple of days of that first season opening, a
couple of days obviously, as soon as those guns go off,

(30:11):
it seems like things are constantly changing. There's a lot
of unknown pressure. I mean, there's just a lot of
chaos in the woods. With that being said, are you
just still trying to hunt traditional deer movement for the
most part, or are you trying to factor in pressure
that maybe hadn't been there, you know, this week for example.

Speaker 6 (30:29):
Yeah, I mean after opening day of GUN, I'm pretty
much gonna be relying on heavy cover. I still think
that there's plenty of good movement that we don't see
from the bigger deer this upcoming week of Thanksgiving and
then into Gun and so you know, I really think

(30:49):
that you've got to be where they're gonna be though,
like always right, and that's going to be in the thickest,
nastiest stuff because they're going to be looking to get
away from body.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
Yeah. I think that's really good advice from the perspective
of go where there's not pressure and good cover or
less pressure and good cover is kind of what your
strategy is. As far as for Kentucky for example, if
you buzz down in Kentucky, we're on the We're I always,
I always feel hesitant to categorize you know, the rut

(31:23):
in general, but you can call it post r you
call it the back end of the bell curve for sure.
But going to Kentucky for example, what would be you know,
top of mind for trying to get set up on
a target deer with a lot of like it's this,
We're in an awkward transition of the season, is how
I look at it.

Speaker 6 (31:38):
It is very awkward, and it is very difficult in
Kentucky because literally minutes ago, well I guess I shouldn't
speak in time, but Kentucky rifle season has ended. So
now we're looking at a bunch of highly pressured deer.
But today I had a gorgeous mid forties ten point

(32:02):
at two forty five pm cruising around in a hub
like they're they're still doing it man. And so for me,
I'm going to be set up fairly close to that
hub scrape where I can get into cover because that's
probably where he's gonna ultimately be, and I'll be playing

(32:23):
the leeward side of a hill more than likely, where
he can cruise within cover and do his thing without
you know, worry of getting killed. Hopefully I can change that.
And then of course, you know, looking for ladies.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah. Well, and when you say hubs, just for people
that maybe are super familiar with that with that terminology.
When I picture a hub, I picture a hub like
towards the bottom or sense pulling down into Is that okay?
Is that kind of how that setup is.

Speaker 6 (32:50):
Yeah, yeah, and that's so not to go too nerdy
on you, but that's only going to play out if
I have a lighter wind. If we've got high wins,
they will suck and blow into every part of that hub.
Then you can imagine and you're just gonna blow everything
out of it. So I'm looking for, like, you know,

(33:11):
no higher than a seven or eight mile an hour
wind during the day, and then I'm looking forward to
drop off the table that last ninety minutes a lighter
so that way they're playing the thermal game the whole
way through.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
What's your you know, I feel like it's always that
it's interesting because the October, you know, hunting mornings in
October hot hot button debate by many folks, and I
feel like we're probably creeping into maybe not quite yet,
but we're getting closer to the debate of hunting in
the mornings in December for example, or the very back
part of November. Where do you stand on that?

Speaker 6 (33:47):
So with a gun, it's a no brainer to me,
because you got to have time in the stand. If
you can cover ground, do it with a bow. I
think it's very situational. But at the end of the day.
Let's say you've got a you know, a west facing hillside,
west facing.

Speaker 4 (34:03):
Hub something like that.

Speaker 6 (34:05):
You're you're talking about a completely different uh, you know,
thermal game on that side of the mountain than you
are on the eastern side where the sun's coming up,
so the deer might favor that side. The other thing
to take into account here is once you get a
week or two past gun season. You know, while this
is a very awkward time, there's a couple of really

(34:27):
good things that are going on here. One, all the
babies are going to go home and they're gonna quit,
so you're gonna have way less people in the woods after,
you know, the next week or so two weeks, depending
on what state I'm in Kentucky, I'll probably not see
a human being unless it's muzzleloader season, right. So the

(34:49):
other cool thing that's going to happen is we're going
to have some of those late dropping reds, you know,
throwing acorns, and you're gonna be talking about a southern
aisle feed tree situation going on.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
Hmm, that's an awesome point. What about for someone that's
struggling and maybe maybe there's season because a lot of
a lot of the Midwest states. Their firearm seasons have
already been in effect here, and you know, obviously the
deer have been pressured, and you don't want to be
pressuring deer as well. But do you want to get
permission people permission to go and do some scouting and

(35:23):
try to find the spot where they need to be
or are you.

Speaker 6 (35:27):
Okay, yeah, you have I shouldn't say you have to scout.
You know, there's no blanket statement that really I could
lay down for anything, But I just feel like scouting
is so important and going in there and finding whether
it be feed sign or you know, right now we're
going to be headed back to food to bed and

(35:50):
you're going to find a lot of deer sign that
won't be rut based, but it'll be super super important.
And the best thing you could find, especially this time
year with all the moisture on the ground, is a
big track. You go cut a big track. That's enough.
If you can glass or something from there.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
Do that.

Speaker 6 (36:10):
It's okay to play it a little safe, but don't
just stay out. In my opinion, just because I feel
like scouting is always going to be king and I'd
rather go out swinging and blow him out and let
him come back, because at the end of the day,
we know that if a buck is in a certain area,
he's there because it works, and he's probably there this

(36:31):
time of year every single year, and he's doing that
because it works. So I'm gonna go in there one time.
I might hang cameras, I might not, but we're gonna
go in there, find the food, maybe try to cut
a big track, some big scat or something. And you know,
if we're lucky enough to find a good scrape or
any kind of buck sign, great, But the best thing

(36:54):
you could do is cut a big track and then
you know, find him in a CRP fee standing beanfield,
cornfit whatever wherever the food is, or on a ridge
and glass him up and you have everything you could
ever want.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, I love that, all right. So next seven days,
Thanksgiving week, we flip the calendar into December on a
scale one to ten, ten being the best week of
the year, one being one of the worst weeks of
the year. What do you think the deer potential activity,
whatever you want to say, will be from one to ten,
ten being the best.

Speaker 6 (37:28):
And we're talking about the week after Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
We're talking November twenty fourth or fifth to or excuse me,
the twenty sixth to December third.

Speaker 4 (37:40):
For big deer.

Speaker 6 (37:42):
I'm going to go at least.

Speaker 4 (37:45):
I'm going to go in eight point five. Man, some of.

Speaker 6 (37:49):
The biggest deer get killed, you know, right right in
the week of Thanksgiving, the first few days a gun
week here in Ohio.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
So I'm going to say in eight point five.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
All right, I like it. Well, good luck to you
Christopher in Ohio and Kentucky, and hopefully conditions cooperate for
the Buckeye State. If people want to follow along with
what you have going on, where's the best place to
do that?

Speaker 6 (38:15):
You can just check out the man, there's like a
million different platforms.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
Now.

Speaker 6 (38:20):
We've got the Mobile Hunter podcast and the Mobile Hunters
x BO. Those are the two best places to follow
along with what we got going on. And as always, man,
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (38:31):
Brother.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
All right, thank you so much, good luck, thank you
all right everyone there, you guys have it. I hope
you guys have an awesome Thanksgiving. Get to enjoy it
with family and friends. Maybe you get to go outside,
do a little scouting, do some readjustments, maybe do some hunting.
But I hope you have an awesome, awesome Thanksgiving and
a safe firearm season. If you're going to be listening

(38:54):
to this for the Ohio Opener, that is it. We
will see you next week and the calendar will be
December zem
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Host

Mark Kenyon

Mark Kenyon

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