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2016 hunting- vacation related

IowaBowHunter1983

IowaBowHunter1983

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I will hunt every afternoon when it is right regardless, but for vacation purposes for morning and all day hunts I have to consider EITHER

Oct 31-Nov 11 OR Nov 7-18. Considering all things equal (weather) I am torn on which. I’ve seen better buck movement the last two years at the end of October and early November than later so I am inclined to pick the earlier two week period although I think* the latter two weeks should* be better.

Nov 5-6 & Nov 12-13 are weekends so those are morning and/or all day hunts regardless.

What ya think?
 
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I have all the weekends you've stated and weeks down for vacation but the last two weekends have been best for me.
 
Hard call. I had great mature buck movement on my trail cams on the first of November last year. But, I saw a lot more rutting action around the 14th when I was filling doe tags. I think a lot more guys go early, because they're itching to get in the woods. I don't think you can go wrong either way. Glad I have 3 weeks set aside this year. Good weather conditions permitting, I'll be out Oct. 31 till I fill my tag.
 
I would go the later dates if it was up to me. But each area is different so that may nit be the best decision for your area. As far as sitting all day vs. just mornings and evenings. If you don't have obligations and can sit all day, why not?
 
Year in and year out I would chose Oct 25th thru Nov 10th. If I only had one window it would be then.
 
Some guys on here graphed this a few years back to see when most of the bucks were shot. And it was pretty amazing. If I remember correct it was like 70% of the bucks shot were in the date range of Nov 2-10
 
LYON said:
I would go the later dates if it was up to me. But each area is different so that may nit be the best decision for your area. As far as sitting all day vs. just mornings and evenings. If you don't have obligations and can sit all day, why not?
Click to expand...

That's really just a spot specific and wind direction thing. I certainly like to sit all day when the spot is conducive to doing so and the wind stays the same all day. That isn't always the case.

One of my favorite times is 10 am to 2pm ESPECIALLY when it is brutally cold. it seems that is the hottest action when it gets real cold
 
I've tried starting my two week vacation on or around the 1st a few times. Mainly because of other guys seeing great bucks all day.
What I have found for my specific area is that this particular action doesn't really intensify until about the 10th. My best bet for my area is to start my two weeks of vacation about the 6-8th if if possible.
Plus it seems that the weather is always warm until the second week in Nov. Then the big cold front moves in.
 
I'm with Knuckle. I hunt in extreme Northern MO and used to love late October to about the 10th of November. I still LOVE late October during a cold front but for better rutting action I now start around the 5th-6th of November and hunt until MO gun season.
 
Considering Nov 12-13 are weekend, that means the first slot would get you Oct 31-Nov 13...I don't think it gets any better than that.
 
For the previous 3 seasons, Nov 6th has been the day that the light switched got flipped, for me. First 5 days of Nov had been much slower.
 
Dunno answer to exact ? IMO- best time period for mature bucks is nov 5-24 I don't like early Nov for some odd reason. I do like late October better than early nov. early nov seems to have a "calm before the storm" for mature bucks. See mainly 2-3 yr olds early nov. nov 6 is latest I start hitting hard and I plan on going to 25th with little or no break. Later is slower but mature buck cruisers r very real. Less bucks but older. Early November is more bucks but younger IMO.
 
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