October Lull Question

[nolanls43]

Myth or not, I remember in past years reaching a point in October where my deer number sightings go down. Does anyone have any tips to hunting this lull? hardwoods? Field Edges? Morning or evenings? etc...

help, please before it gets here

 

[TNGunsmoke]

My October starts that way, lol.

 

[scn]

I think BSK may have some data that supports the theory of a slowing down of activity in early-mid-October.

The other thing that definately does go on is a major change in a lot of places on the food sources that they are using. They morph over from using the summertime agricultural foods that they are often still on when the season opens to hard and soft mast as it falls. Part of the "lull" phenomena is hunters being slow to adjust stand sites when that transition takes place.

The best tip I have is to spend some time scouting and find the freshest feeding sign and set up with it in mind. If you have been in the same stands since the first of the season, you are also likely seeing diminishing returns from the pressure on those sites.

 

[woodsman87]

I have a few theories about the October lull. I believe it is fake for the most part.
I believe that not all, but many hunters only hunt in fields or food plots. During October acorns are the best to hunt, funnels leading to acorns. These hunters complain because they see no deer in the fields and plots that they have been seeing them in for the month of August and September. Most likely they have just changed foor sources.
I also think that this is the first time deer start encountering hunting pressure, so it may cause them to move differently.
My last theory is that the warm weather we have during October. Deer already have their winter coats on, but October isn't always that cold. This week in my area it has been in the mid 80s. I am sure deer have moved best at night.

I am not a biologist nor expert deer hunter. These are just my thoughts on the "October Lull." I believe that if hunters would use acorns into their strategy during October they would be more sucessful.

 

[catman529]

I didn't see a single deer this morning in a wooded creek bottom where I usually see em every time. Maybe it's a nearby corn field (can't hunt it) or I'm not sure what it is. Deer are still in there, it's where I killed the young one on monday, but not as many and the deer sign is not as heavy as usual. My season has started out pretty slow so far, with only 1 deer seen from stand on opening day and the one I killed was bedded down when I walked up on it. I'm about to head back out to public land for an evening hunt near the edge of a bean field where I found a good deer trail with both old and fresh droppings.

 

[TheLBLman]

They morph over from using the summertime . . . . foods that they are often still on when the season opens to hard and soft mast as it falls. Part of the "lull" phenomena is hunters being slow to adjust stand sites when that transition takes place.

The best tip I have is to spend some time scouting and find the freshest feeding sign and set up with it in mind. If you have been in the same stands since the first of the season, you are also likely seeing diminishing returns from the pressure on those sites.

Basically it.
Sudden change in food sources, and sudden influx of hunting pressure altering the deer movement as well.

My take is (most years) the deer progressively move around more with each day (on average) we move into October. The appearance of a "lull" in deer movement is largely due to hunters' not adapting as fast as the deer, but also due to the places the deer tend to go (thicker cover, farther away form the easier hunter access locations) which prevents hunters from being as successful in getting on stand without alerting deer to their presence.

But that said, while there may be no "lull" in deer movement, there usually is an October "lull" in hunters' sightings of deer. And sometimes, such as in the case of a massive acorn drop following poor late summer food resources, there is a real "lull" in deer movement. But deer being "browsers", I think the extent of a real lull is often overstated because we hunters may not be as skillful as we want to think of ourselves. Seems every year I'm reminded more just how little I can predict the deer movement. I just tell myself some days are better than others.

 

[StalkingWolf]

In my experience, deer sightings go up and down all through season. I think weather is the main factor. Lots of variables involved with deer sightings.

 

[BSK]

What scn said.

I find it interesting that the strongest "October lulls" occur in years with a big acorn crop. In acorn failure years, few report an October lull. That's because deer stay in the food plot/agriculture travel pattern in acorn failure years, while they transition to widely dispersed acorns in a good acorn crop year, right about mid-October, which creates a reduction in deer sightings for hunters.

 

[TheLBLman]

What scn said.

I find it interesting that the strongest "October lulls" occur in years with a big acorn crop.

And this can be especially the case if summer is a little dryer (and/or hotter) than normal.

Not sure just how the acorn crop is playing out yet, but I've never seen such an abundance of late summer deer food, including lush clover available the entire summer. And some areas which were clear-cut in February 2013 now look like 2-yr-old clear-cuts, experiencing rapid new plant growth like I've never seen in any prior year.

 

[knightrider]

no such thing they are just switching over from one food source to another and moving from summer patterns to their fall patterns and the sudden impact of human pressure moves em as well, as scn stated its just hunters slow to switch and find them!

 

[Bone Collector]

Most years I hunt acorns and the deer sightings never stop, but others have hit the nail on the head. People hunting food plots and hunter pressure are why deer sightings go down.

 

[BSK]

And some areas which were clear-cut in February 2013 now look like 2-yr-old clear-cuts, experiencing rapid new plant growth like I've never seen in any prior year.

I swear Wes, we got two summer's worth of growth in one year! Just goes to show what a wet summer can do.

 

[TLRanger]

Some years it seems like the "October lull" begins in Sept and last thru Jan. :D