ideal rut temps/midwest

[bigeight]

Getting that time of year when people are putting in for time off, or already have it scheduled to hunt the rut.
Starting the first week of November in the midwest, what do you find is the best temps for good movement, and what is the top end where it darn near shuts it off....even in November?

The first week of November where I'm hunting is low 60's (not cold/not hot) with the second week looking more like low 50's. Obviously the low 50's will be better, but do you feel like certain temps crush deer movement? What's that number for you ?

Thanks

 

[Plottin'booners]

Cold is better...but I hate calm frosty mornings, you are better of waiting for sun to come up and quite things down. The people that wait for November to take time off miss the boat. Highest odds on bucks you know you have are around the 25th of October give or take a couple days. The bucks are still bedding and moving at predictable times just on there feet a little earlier in the afternoon and a little dumber to scent and calls. Just my observation for Wisconsin.

 

[Tree Spud]

Sat Fri & Sat and it was in the lower 60s. Movement yesterday did not start until last 25 minuets before closing. Normally Halloween weekend has much more big buck movement early afternoon as they are looking for hot does.

I like temps around at or below the freezing mark.

 

[gwm]

We're looking at temps around 10° warmer than average this coming week and I think that will hinder some movement. Yes some deer will be seen and some deer will be killed but I think overall daylight movement will be spotty at best.

I have this week and next week off to hunt. I've had prior commitments that will keep me from hunting the mornings this weekend thru Tuesday this week but with the temps I'm OK with it.

Like others, I like the temps to be just below normal which for me is upper 40's for highs and upper 20's low 30's for the lows this time of year. Next week temps look to fall in that range, at least now they do.

 

[Tap]

I like when lows are below freezing, but I'm satisfied with temps around the average for the date...that's what deer have evolved with.
PA Game Commission has a blog and in it they claim that warm temps have no adverse effects.
Although I don't enjoy hunting in the rain, I see more buck activity during a drizzle. And since I found Luminol, I'm a lot less nervous about bloodtrailing if it's raining.

 

[bigeight]

For the first time I actually have dates SET ahead of time with an out of state hunt. Usually I just take off when the temps are right for my "rut hunt", but for reservations, travel, etc. we had to set dates ahead of time. Totally against everything I usually do because I put so much stock in temps (right or wrong).

I start a 10 day trip to Southern Iowa on the 3rd, which looks to have temps in the mid 60's for the first 4 or 5 days, before dipping down to the upper/mid 50's the last 5 days.

Being that South Iowa is quit a bit west and south of where I usually hunt in Michigan, how do these temps sound for mid day movement ? I am usually a sit all day until I get it done type of guy. Just curios on opinions on what peoples opinions are on temps like this are in that area of the mid west? Obviously not ideal, but hoping it doesn't shut it down mid day totally. :)

Thanks

 

[Tap]

For the first time I actually have dates SET ahead of time with an out of state hunt. Usually I just take off when the temps are right for my "rut hunt", but for reservations, travel, etc. we had to set dates ahead of time. Totally against everything I usually do because I put so much stock in temps (right or wrong).

I start a 10 day trip to Southern Iowa on the 3rd, which looks to have temps in the mid 60's for the first 4 or 5 days, before dipping down to the upper/mid 50's the last 5 days.

Being that South Iowa is quit a bit west and south of where I usually hunt in Michigan, how do these temps sound for mid day movement ? I am usually a sit all day until I get it done type of guy. Just curios on opinions on what peoples opinions are on temps like this are in that area of the mid west? Obviously not ideal, but hoping it doesn't shut it down mid day totally. :)

Thanks

We had some high temps near 80 during our 2 SW Iowa hunts (Nov 1st thru the 10th) and I don't think it helped the hunting, that's for sure. But when a front did move in things got pretty good. That's the main reason why a 10 day hunt is so valuable. On a 5 or 6 day hunt, if the weather sucks, then the hunt can be a bust. 10 days gives you a little cushion against hot weather.
And what we would consider windy here in Pa, didn't seem to have much effect in Iowa. I guess their deer are used to higher average wind speeds.
As far as mid day movement, hey, you're in Iowa. Hunt! What else are you gonna do during mid day? I spent every daylight minute in the stand, or scouting new properties. 2 of the other guys we go out there with return to the lodge, mid morning, EVERY DAY, and TAKE NAPS!! Then they go back out around 3pm. A guy spends $3 grand every 3 years when you can get drawn for Iowa, and you take naps? What are ya, NUTS?
Good luck Mark. Shoot a big one!

 

[bigeight]

Oh yeah, I'm with you. Zero chance I leave the stand during daylight the whole trip.

 

[bigeight]

Was asking more about mid day rutting activity when it's hot out. I am sure the next 10 days Wil be the best for the "rut" . Hoping more of it happens during daylight than middle of the night.
I'm seeing good deer so far. Lots of 3 yr olds and one 4 yr old. All an hour after first light and hour before dark. Today will be my first all day sit.

 

[Tap]

Was asking more about mid day rutting activity when it's hot out. I am sure the next 10 days Wil be the best for the "rut" . Hoping more of it happens during daylight than middle of the night.
I'm seeing good deer so far. Lots of 3 yr olds and one 4 yr old. All an hour after first light and hour before dark. Today will be my first all day sit.

I think hot weather slows down MID DAY activity. Bucks are not machines and heat probably causes them to take more rest periods during the heat of the day.
If they could run 24 hours a day, they would, but they do have to take some breaks.
No matter how good or bad mid day rut movement is, IMO, it'll be better if temps are average or below.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Steve Bartylla]

Temps may have nothing at all to do with when does come into estrus or if a buck will try to tend her if he smells her, but they do definitely have an impact on how much bucks move during daylight to find them.

Think of it this way. Would you want to run around all day in high 70ies, while wearing a parka, ski mask, warm gloves, snow pants and moon boots? When temps are unseasonably high, AM hunts are gold, as that's the coolest part of the day. The rest of the day, the only way I can find anything that resembled consistent/somewhat close to normal action is hunting fairly close to his daytime core area. For me, if I don't take high temps into account when hunting the rut, my action is low and far between....GL!

 

[bigeight]

Yes I would run around in that outfit in 70° weather for some tail :D
Point taken though :)

 

[Steve Bartylla]

Yes I would run around in that outfit in 70° weather for some tail :D
Point taken though :)

And I would have too, when I was young and stupid (talking me here, not you). Immature bucks do the same. Mature bucks are far more like that old bull in the joke about the young bull telling the old one that he's going to run down the hill and breed a cow. The old one replies that he's going to walk down and breed them all. A mature buck is likely to lose 25-30% body weight as is during the rut. He can't afford to waste a lot of extra energies or his odds of surviving winter drop like a rock off a cliff. For Midwestern and northern deer, running around all day in their winter coats is the definition of wasting extra energies.

All that said, to this day one of the best hunts I ever had was in IL, mid Nov with temps in the 80s. I was setup right in an overlap between core areas of several mature bucks and a doe bedding area. Get close to where they're bedding and it can be a blast. Setup a couple hundred yards further away on a food source and that same day you'll be lucky to see a squirrel.

Flip side, just spent the week in IL with temps in the high 60s-70s. Passed a broken up 4.5 and a bunch of younger bucks in the AM in 2 AM sits (had projects that stripped me of the rest of the AM sits). Too high of impact to get closer to the core areas of any of the 3 bucks I wanted for PM hunts. So, I hunted lower impact tagging plots around them. Never saw a buck over 1.5 in the PMs, despite being able to hunt every PM.

Had a couple management buck hunters with me and set them up on food sources close to the bucks they were hunting. At least 1 of the 2 hunters saw 3.5+ bucks each PM. Unfortunately, they either weren't management bucks (such as the 5.5 that worked the scrape tree 3 times and walked less than 5 yards past his blind) or the management bucks were heading their way, only to get distracted by a girl.

Take it for what it's worth, but that's how I try to beat the heat and how it played out last week.

P.S. In woods water sources somewhat close to daylight ore areas can be solid choices, too....Even in states like IA, MO & IL, where they generally are duds (unlike WI, MN, MI, PA and other northern states, where water holes can be fantastic all season long). Stupid high temps are the difference makers for water holes in those states where they typically don't produce much action.