Slow year

Bowsnbucks

5 year old buck +
Well - another archery season is done for me. Monday Nov. 12th is the last day in Pa. for statewide archery hunting, but the way our rut has been, I'm calling it done. My bow hunting buddies at camp and I haven't seen or heard any chasing, cruising, or "dogging" of does the last 2 weeks.

One member got a doe around Oct. 18th and she was in estrus. He spine-shot her and she couldn't move her back legs, but as she lay there on the ground, the buck that had been dogging her came in and tried to mount her. She couldn't move or get up, and he just got more agitated. The buck kept sticking his nose in her rump and jabbing her with his antlers. Pushing her around in the oak leaves, he couldn't get her to respond. He kept this up for over 5 minutes ( my buddy videoed the whole scene.) The buck jumped on her head and eventually left.

I've read the Wensels' books and they say the oldest does come into estrus in October and that sets the timing for the eventual peak of the rut in November. I guess we missed the good action this year, but everything here has been running late this fall. Leaves changing color / dropping, first frost, etc.

Rifle season up next.
 
Hey I'm in the thick of the Midwest. What rut? We've seen some bumping by little bucks followed by some by bigger bucks, followed by big bucks feeding? Deer are moving "all" the time which is odd to me. But thier not acting goofy.

Brother smacked a toad today following a doe and fawns. Not chasing just shadowing.

I swear the crazy all out running chasing rut is not the norm. It's actually the odd year. We just think it should be the norm.
 
I hunted Nov 3-8 in northern MN. It was the best rut action I have ever personally witnessed other than maybe in 2010. However I think the MN numbers are way off again. Some horrendous reports from friends in N MN. Zone one up there was down 22% from last year I think. Deer numbers are still hurting pretty bad in some of the areas north and east of me and our lame as DNR fails to acknowledge it. Our number are OK where I hunt, and we are on the verge of a bump in the size class of bucks for my area. Finally recovering form 2013 and 2014 brutal winters and the deer are finally getting a little age on them. I am worried that we have a really hard winter on tap again with a large winterkill. Some smaller lakes are ice fishable already up there.
 
I hunted Nov 3-8 in northern MN. It was the best rut action I have ever personally witnessed other than maybe in 2010. However I think the MN numbers are way off again. Some horrendous reports from friends in N MN. Zone one up there was down 22% from last year I think. Deer numbers are still hurting pretty bad in some of the areas north and east of me and our lame as DNR fails to acknowledge it. Our number are OK where I hunt, and we are on the verge of a bump in the size class of bucks for my area. Finally recovering form 2013 and 2014 brutal winters and the deer are finally getting a little age on them. I am worried that we have a really hard winter on tap again with a large winterkill. Some smaller lakes are ice fishable already up there.

Fascinating to me what some miles between hunting land can show.
 
We are still in pre-rut up here in NW Mass. I watched a nice buck work a scrape Saturday night. The does seem uninterested and largely unmolested. This week's coming cold spell should kick things into action. Prior to this though, yes, been slow. October was quiet. We've got two more weeks of bow season.
 
Natty - It was pretty quiet here as well. Deer eating in plots before and after dark like it was August yet. No sign of does being nervous or on the "lookout". Typically, I'll hear several deer trotting or running as I sit in my tree stands each year. None this year. And we had a bunch of good bucks on cams this summer and early fall, too. I know some dispersed and are roaming, but it's just too quiet. Good luck with the last 2 weeks up there. I wish we had another 2 weeks here - I think it'll get better in the next week or 2.

Where I hunt in N.C. Pa. we usually get a bunch of "cruisers" ( like last year ) that are seen mainly from mid-October onward into November. We don't get race-track chasing as a general rule either - but we do see bucks dogging after does at a trot or fast walk. I've only ever seen all-out chasing a few times here, and once when I did, I was in wide open hardwoods about 30 yds. from the doe and buck. He didn't care if I was there with a brass band playing. He ran her past me 3 times before they left my area. Too fast for a bow shot attempt.

Good luck to all you guys with bow season remaining.
 
Natty - It was pretty quiet here as well. Deer eating in plots before and after dark like it was August yet. No sign of does being nervous or on the "lookout". Typically, I'll hear several deer trotting or running as I sit in my tree stands each year. None this year. And we had a bunch of good bucks on cams this summer and early fall, too. I know some dispersed and are roaming, but it's just too quiet. Good luck with the last 2 weeks up there. I wish we had another 2 weeks here - I think it'll get better in the next week or 2.

Hey Bowsnbucks....had a great morning. Caught an 8 pointer cruising through the timber around 8:30.

http://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/2018-veterans-day-buck.10170/
 
Hey I'm in the thick of the Midwest. What rut? We've seen some bumping by little bucks followed by some by bigger bucks, followed by big bucks feeding? Deer are moving "all" the time which is odd to me. But thier not acting goofy.

Brother smacked a toad today following a doe and fawns. Not chasing just shadowing.

I swear the crazy all out running chasing rut is not the norm. It's actually the odd year. We just think it should be the norm.

Agreed! The magazines have us thinking bucks should be running all out for 2 weeks straight. In my opinion if you get 2 good days of cruising
per rut you are doing good. Nov 6th and 7th were great this year just west of you, the 8th and 9th sucked.
 
For us November 2nd was great. Tons of deer sighted as well as mature bucks chasing. My cousin shot an old buck. It appears to be the monster 10 pt that got away from me two years ago but the injury caused his rack to go down and throw some junk.
 
Rut is finished where I am. Going out tomorrow to stillhunt a mountain ridge into the wind. Hoping to sit a couple hours in some oaks on a steep slope where I saw a big stag recently.
 
Rut is finished where I am. Going out tomorrow to stillhunt a mountain ridge into the wind. Hoping to sit a couple hours in some oaks on a steep slope where I saw a big stag recently.


Mountain tops? Steep Ridges? You wouldnt believe how flat it is where I hunt. In the back of our 40 there is a hill that maybe goes up 20 feet over 150 yards. Thats about the best we can do in the area for most of it. Big flat bogs and the Mud/Goose WMA is about as flat as can possibly be for about 25,000 acres I think. Then over towards Leech lake it is just one featureless bog. East towards Duluth can be some dreadfully boring country. Highway 2 crosses mile after mile of swampy bog/ saturated forest. Dont get much help from topography to steer these big woods deer. I really love knowing they can come out of any direction at any time for any reason. Sounds like I am headed back up Thursday night for the final three days.
 
Bows, sorry to hear the action has been slow so far down your way. It started out slow up this way too, but in the last few days it's really picked up a lot. The bucks are running everywhere and acting down right stupid. Gun season opens Saturday here in NY, so the timing could not be better. Based on what we're seeing a bit north of you, you might not want to put your bow away quite yet. Good luck.
 
Mountain tops? Steep Ridges? You wouldnt believe how flat it is where I hunt. In the back of our 40 there is a hill that maybe goes up 20 feet over 150 yards. Thats about the best we can do in the area for most of it. Big flat bogs and the Mud/Goose WMA is about as flat as can possibly be for about 25,000 acres I think. Then over towards Leech lake it is just one featureless bog. East towards Duluth can be some dreadfully boring country. Highway 2 crosses mile after mile of swampy bog/ saturated forest. Dont get much help from topography to steer these big woods deer. I really love knowing they can come out of any direction at any time for any reason. Sounds like I am headed back up Thursday night for the final three days.

Sounds like you're on the Laurentian Plateau. I hunt the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario. A world of difference.

Here in Norway the geology is similar to where you are. Impermeable rock, lots of bogs and spruce forest. But the topography here is dramatic, and the deer love to hide in the gnarliest terrain.
 

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Natty - Great job !!! Where I hunt, he's a shooter - especially with a bow. I'd have taken a shot at him. That's a good bow buck in our part of the country any day. Nice pix and story. It's great the kids got to be a part of tracking it too. IMO ……. nothing quite like a bow kill on a good buck.

Your pix of the woods in the background look much like many ridge tops in the part of Pa. that I hunt in. Birch, maple, and maybe beech trees I see there ?? White pine and hemlock too ??
 
Apple Junkie - Archery season is over at my camp (statewide areas), but where I live, (special regs.) you can still archery hunt for another couple weeks. The problem here is, it's mostly all private land with extremely limited access. If weather isn't too severe after Christmas, our late archery season comes in and our food plots at camp may be a good draw. We'll see.

It just wasn't a "typical" rut around camp this year.
 
I hunt in N MN and the rut hasn't started yet in our area. Only one scrape that appeared mid week. Now hope it will be during muzzleloader season.
 
I wish you the best Bows. Some years are diamonds and some are stones. I hope the rest of the season is good to you.
 
Thanks Native. ^^^ No worries on my part. I passed up a crappy shot (azz) on a nice buck last rifle season as he lay waiting for a doe to get up from her bed. He's probably one of the ones we saw this summer and early fall in our plots. I'm happier with that result than having a wounded deer die somewhere I couldn't get him, like on neighboring property. Rifle season still holds promise - and thanks for the good wishes for the remainder of our season.

Any season spent in the woods doing what I love is never a stone !!! A nice buck is the icing on the cake. :emoji_relaxed:
 
Your pix of the woods in the background look much like many ridge tops in the part of Pa. that I hunt in. Birch, maple, and maybe beech trees I see there ?? White pine and hemlock too ??

Yup, you got it. Tons of yellow birch, red maple, and beech. Spruce and hemlock scattered here and there. The spot where he died is about a 20 year old clear cut. I was a bit more in the timber where I shot him...more mature sugar maple, yellow birch, red maple, black cherry.

Thanks Bowsnbucks!
 
Slow and boring season up in 3D this year (at least for me). I never regret spending time in the woods but I saw very little rut activity compared to other years, definitely wasn't as much chasing as I've seen before and I didn't hear a single buck grunt.....

Good luck w the rifle season.
 
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