2008.10.28
As October lull comes to an end, excitement begins
As usual for the second half of October, the number of deer pictures and hunting reports coming my way has slowed to a trickle.
A combination of factors is responsible. This weather doesn't help. Yes, it's cool. But the wind is brutal and it doesn't look to get any better until maybe tomorrow afternoon. As a buddy just wrote in an e-mail, "Yikes! It's nasty out there!"
But even when the weather is good, hunting pressure is always lighter now than it is earlier in the month, when eager bow and crossbow hunters flood the woods for their first chance to hunt in about nine months. Deer are are also fairly easy to pattern early in the month as they are keying on relatively easy-to-identify food sources such as acorns.
Now, hunting is harder as deer deplete acorn crops and as mature bucks get skittish because of the recent activity in the woods. With the hunting harder, and with many of us saving our days for early muzzleloader season when the rutting action really gets going, hunting pressure also always drops off for a few weeks.
If this weather stays fairly cool, the first week of muzzleloader season could be off the charts. Anyone who has reports of rutting activity please post them so we can all kind of track things as the next few weeks unfold.
I did get out for a quick hunt Saturday afternoon with my buddy Bobby Hogan, who was running the video camera.
Having spent the better part of the two previous days dealing with the hunting with hounds issue, it seemed fitting that dogs again buggered up the hunt.
Just when the sun was dropping we heard barking. Eventually we saw a big doe dash by about 40 yards away, with a beagle and another mutt not far behind. They came from the area where deer usually approach the stand so I wasn't surprised that we had no more action after that.
I actually had to get out of the same stand a couple of weeks ago and chase away a beagle, that was howling its fool head off as it was following some rabbit scent. But I got that done early enough that deer still came in to the white oak later in the evening.
As I wrote to someone who sent me an e-mail on the dog issue, I have been on both sides of it. I've spent days trying to find lost dogs and appreciated the flexibility of the right to retrieve law. But I can see exasperating it would be bowhunting (or even hunting from a stand with a gun) only to have a guy exploiting the law come through following his dogs as the dogs pushed deer to an adjoining property where the standers waited.
Has anybody been hunting? Anything to report? Let me know.
yes mark there is some activity out there i went saturday after the rain i was in my stand 1 hour and shot 6 pointer when i got up to him i could smell his torselglands and they had turnend bark brown some horning and some scrapes are out there and i would say early muzzleloading should be great so good luck to all hunters remember saftey first seya in the woods wag
Comment by wag — October 28, 2008 @ 11:13 am
Mark,
My assessment so far. Deer are staying close to food sources and usually find them in late ,late evening or early am right before daylight. And then there is the wind, not good for bow hunting and trying to control your scent. Also I noticed deer are starting to change their patterns earlier this year, I don't know if it's due to pressure from hunters or weather changes. I hunt in areas that are not pressured much, after the first week of archery but did they change patterns. Scrape lines and rubs are being worked at night. Bucks are chasing or following does but not at a high level.
I think ML season will be better if we can get the wind to stop. plus the moon is in our favor until the 12th Nov.
John
Comment by John — October 28, 2008 @ 12:02 pm
Scouted a field on Natn'l Forest in Blacksburg Sunday evening...Had an 8 point follow behind 4 does and 2 fawns as they entered the field around sundown. He stood along the edge of the woods for about 20 minutes and finally joined the does and fawns in the field and ate with them for the remaining 10 minutes of daylight. I will have to say that I was a little surprised that the buck allowed the fawns to continue to hang around their mothers because I've heard they will typically run the fawns off so the mothers will come into heat. Any ideas as to how the buck's behavior relates to the rut?
Comment by Matt — October 28, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
Congrats on the buck, WAG! And thanks for the information.
Good report, John. I actually think the wind is great for controlling your scent -- you just have to make sure the deer stay upwind!
I think you're right about deer changing their patterns earlier, but I don't think it is as much about pressure as it is about the weather. Not that it's been frigid, but I think it's been cooler than it has this time the past few years and I think that has the deer moving more during daylight than we've seen the past few years.
I just got off the phone with deer biologist Matt Knox and he said he also thinks deer movement has been heavy lately. He said he had to stop for deer four times the other day while driving around the state on business.
I was out on Sunday checking some stands at my Botetourt spot and found a fair number of scrapes and some good rubs. As long as it doesn't get too warm over the next two weeks, it's going to be awesome.
Oh, Knox also said there have already been more than 13,000 deer checked in by phone or the Internet. That's about half of the total kill by archers and crossbow hunters last year.
I expect that the bow/crossbow kill will probably fall, though, due to the early muzzleloader season opening a week earlier in west of the Blue Ridge. That's typically been a big bowhunting week in the west.
Keep the reports coming. And someone send me a deer picture! How about it, WAG? Let's see that six!
mt
Comment by marktaylor — October 28, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
Matt,
Sorry I didn't respond to your comment. It came in while I was writing the above response.
Thanks for the report. I have never heard that bucks will chase off fawns, and never seen it, either. When the couples pair up I suspect fawns stick pretty close because I've seen plenty of adult doe/fawn groups later in the season after the rut.
By the way, for anyone who didn't catch the rut tracker link to Mike Hanback's blog Matt provided in an earlier comment (obviously, I don't mind plugging another blog, especially one as good as Hanback's)here it is: http://www.mikehanback.com/rutReport/index.cfm?region=south
mt
Comment by marktaylor — October 28, 2008 @ 2:43 pm
Hey guys,
Huntin down here in Huddleston and there is absolutely not much going on at all. Bucks that I have on film from August are no where to be seen and only found a few rubs on smaller trees around the farm. Doe are every where and shot at one last Friday morning,but landed the arrow about 9 inches high [sight had moved on me]. Deer are down here,just gettin the right wind and close shot is my problem. Not to mention,me not checking my bow more often than I do. Won't happen again, you best believe that!!!Good luck to all the Muzzle Loaders this weekend....I'll stick with the stick and string.
Comment by JR Mitchell — October 28, 2008 @ 8:34 pm