Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

This is nuts

B

bpul2113

Member
Ok, this is really bizarre. Most folks are saying "what a great rut we are having." people in gas stations talking about it, guys in line at the hy-vee...never seen anything like it i heard. Even a very good friend who i respect very much told me today that it is the best rut he has seen in a long time. Here on the forum your hearing mostly the same.

I ain't seeing it, in fact, i would say it has been the worst rut i have ever seen. I own my own farm in southern warren county and i swear i havent seen a single deer chasing. I lease some farms in highly managed areas with alot of heavy hitters all around me -wayne + decatur counties and i aint seen it...at all.

I have hunted everyday since oct 30th. I aint seen it, any of it. If someone asked me i would say it hasnt even started. I am not seeing deer on the roads, not a single racked buck has been dead on the roads i travel.

Yet folks i trust and respect are telling me what an incredible rut is taking place.

Your thoughts?
 
I sat from 1:00 pm to dark in western iowa tonight,one of my better spots and only saw a forky and 1.5 year old 6 pt. No does at all. very few last week end also but I will give it all this weekend. We lost a bunch in 2012 and 2013. So I think it is very spotty across the state.
Hang in there this weekend could turn it all around ( I hope).
 
It has been hit and miss- one day I had great rut activity and the next it was like a lockdown. Haven't had multiple good days in a row - ringgold county
 
IMO, I just think that there are still sizable areas in our state where the deer population is so much lower than what it was 5+ years ago that I have no trouble believing what you are saying at all. Some "neighborhoods" are closer to a healthy population level than others and those that are seem to be going pretty decent. I feel fortunate to have had the sightings and success that we have had on our place...but I have also heard the very opposite from others.

I'd say it's a mixed bag out there in terms of population levels and consequently rut activity. Although our specific farm is decent, I still see WAY FEWER deer out and about while traveling to and from my place than I did a few years back. Between EHD and heavy harvest patterns...I think it is going to be a couple of years yet before things are normal...whatever that is.

Shoot, take a look at Bill Winke's running success this season. I think he has 1000 acres and he is hunting hard and not seeing tremendous activity on a place that just a few years ago had several really top end(older) deer on it. Nowadays...not so much. And I don't think you could get into a better area of the state than he is in.
 
Feel your pain.....my best sit (if you wana call it that) yielded a button, a forky, and 3 doe. I have seen chasing while driving for work, not near my property and I have seen bucks locked in picked corn laying with their doe. It's just not happening near my farms for me.
 
Agree with BDhaMS. One day I was seeing mature bucks at 10:00 in the am chasing and snorting and now I get lucky if I see a black blob slowly pass by that could either be a cow or deer. Hell, even the squirrels aren't running around to even fool me. I'm planning on sitting all day Saturday though. Hoping this change in wind direction will also turn my luck.
 
I've seen it, but only 2 days. 2 days ago I had a 140s and a 130s chasing a doe. Then right before dark I had the biggest buck I've ever seen while bow hunting, at 60 yards. Unfortunately he followed a hot doe away from my stand. Of all the days I have hunted I've only seen 2 decent days. The all day sits I have done have been a complete waste of time. I haven't seen one deer after 1030 and none again until 430 in the afternoon.
 
Rural Woodbury Co. the action was great Nov 8 & 9 in my area. Spent the weekend in the stand & only saw 3 does but many bucks at all hours of the day. One big 8 point that I just couldn't get to come to me. All other bucks were little guys. But after the snow on the 10th I haven't seen a single deer, even when driving around. They just vanished. There is a lot of corn still standing but they gotta come out sometime. Hopefully this weekend will be worth the freezin in the tree.
 
I agree with Daver, the population hasn't bounced back in some areas and it's pretty apparent based on the spotty rut activity. Hopefully a couple more years and it will even out.
 
Eastern Jackson County seen a couple decent bucks out in the middle of the day chasing does on the 9th and 10th. Haven't been out since. gonna hit it hard again this weekend.
 
I think 95% of the rutting has taken place under the moon light at night. The guys that are seeing them are sitting on hot doe's. If you have a hot doe come by you will probably see plenty of bucks.............
 
It has been a bad year for me so far for big buck sightings, I have seen smaller bucks chasing but the biggest I have seen is 130-140ish bucks. I cover a large area for work and I'm not seeing the dead deer on the sides of the roads like I am use to seeing. I think the numbers are still down and the standing corn is the problem.
 
I tagged out on a good one on Nov 9th, but besides that day I would have to say this year was very slow rutting activity in the areas I hunt. Clayton, Allamakee, Winneshiek
 
Baby-G said:
I think 95% of the rutting has taken place under the moon light at night. The guys that are seeing them are sitting on hot doe's. If you have a hot doe come by you will probably see plenty of bucks.............
Click to expand...

Ditto - G. During the 2013 season I had the blessing of watching a Doe get chased by multiple bucks in toe. I've never witness that amount of bucks chasing a doe , ever. Also, had another doe, who was "in the mood", walk by my stand ,during the 2013 season, with no mature deer with her. She kept coming up to my decoy and rubbing her head against the ground and eventually walked over to a some young bucks, who acted like they didn't know what to do with it. This same came over other times on stand and I couldn't believe that she didn't bring any other bucks with her and she was the doe who was closest to by stand - go figure.

Daver said it greatly. It's spotty at best. It's a game of musical chairs in being on the right farm, at the right time. Unfortunately, most of us can't be in the stand during the whole time the rut phases take place. So, most what we go off of is from our time on stand and what others are telling us.
 
Just got to be in the right place at the right time. You might be sitting in your tree not seeing nothing and 500 yards away there are 12 bucks holed up with one doe. It can be frustrating but we all live for those few minutes from when you see a big buck until you kill them. It only takes a minute to turn a bad day into a good day. Been there many years.
 
^ Yep, most definitely, Mike! That's why we pack a lunch, get up at the time we do to go to our hunting spot and sit for the amount of time, in all types of weather - to the point where people think we're crazy and say no deer is worth all that.
 
Bucks are back out. Sat till 11 this morning watched bucks flying around chasing does and crashing in to my grunts and horns. Excited for this weekend and the weather.
 
I know there has to be rutting activity around me but I haven't seen much where I have been hunting. I hunted Clarke county this past Saturday and Sunday (all day both days) and saw some rutting activity but not like normal. I also hunt in Marion county and I haven't seen anything here. I have heard grunting twice but haven't seen any chasing.

Are you guys having more luck in the morning or afternoon?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom