Planning time off

[Black Titan]

If you were in East TN and able to hunt a good 40 acre parcel of private land, when planning a "Rutcation" for a week, what week would you take off in 2024?

I bow hunt primarily, and looking forward to trying to schedule a week off work this November to try and catch some rut activity, but not sure what week would be good. I know this year things seemed to heat up the last week of October going into November.

BT

 

[PickettSFHunter]

It's all dependent on specifically where in East TN. For me, Thanksgiving is the week if you get one week.

 

[Black Titan]

It's all dependent on specifically where in East TN. For me, Thanksgiving is the week if you get one week.

It's Roane County

BT

 

[JN]

I always shoot for middle of November give or take a few days for my time off. I know not everyone can do this but what I also do is list on my request it will be sometime between 11/1-11/20 that I am going to take off. Then I try to play the cold fronts as they come through especially if it is big one and it is clear and cold the few days after the front.

 

[knightrider]

1st week of December for me

 

[waterman]

It's Roane County

BT

I'm in Roane as well. second week of November is the prime time at my place

 

[redblood]

As mainly a bowhunter, late october is my favorite time. Like the peace snd tranquility and hunting unpressured deer. Enjoy the fall foliage as well

 

[puppy]

Dec 1st +/- 5 days for me, most does have been bred but bucks a cruising looking for no more date. Will vary a little year to year but that 10 day timespan is the ticket.

 

[Ocoee Ridge Runner]

Third week of November in McMinn county.

 

[Snake]

Muzzleloader week , try not pick on a full moon .

 

[Stalkhunter]

What I learned from this season is 2024 I am going home to hunt in NY. Lol

Claiborne County .
No I will take off Thanksgiving week thru the first week of December. Seriously I am going home to hunt too.

 

[huntandfish1]

second week in November

 

[Biggun4214]

Muzzleloader week , try not pick on a full moon .

Especially the first week.

 

[mike243]

It looked to me that it started 2 weeks before muzzleloader this year looking at the road kills, being a bow hunter you wont miss any time, pick a date and pray, for the last 21 years I had to pick my time off in early December for the next year, retired and hunt when I dam please now or when my wife lets me

 

[1jamey]

2nd week of November.

 

[MUP]

I normally try to take off the week of Thanksgiving and the following week. It's been a good average of times for bucks to be moving, but I have seen them cruising earlier, and chasing later too.

 

[Ski]

Hard to say for certain but this is where trail cams shine. Having historical trail cam data will show you a span of time when that specific property has the most daylight activity for bucks. My place in Ohio is last week of October. Here in southern middle TN it's second week of November. And it's a repeating pattern year after year in terms of timeline.

 

[jcbarnard21]

I hunt Roane. I like Nov. 3-11.

 

[Black Titan]

I appreciate the suggestions folks.

Still trying to decide. I know the week of Thanksgiving is out due to my job and how they do PTO. I've got a better chance at getting drawn for an elk tag. The waiting list for Black Friday this year was almost 20 people and they only allow 3 off per day from my business unit. Gotta love Corporate jobs lol.

BT

 

[Black Titan]

Hard to say for certain but this is where trail cams shine. Having historical trail cam data will show you a span of time when that specific property has the most daylight activity for bucks. My place in Ohio is last week of October. Here in southern middle TN it's second week of November. And it's a repeating pattern year after year in terms of timeline.

Hes got cams up but they just went up this year so not alot of data to collect from. I like this idea though.

We've been discussing possibly setting up some food plots or something, but the area is all woods. Lots of work.

BT

 

[Rem7600]

End of September to mid October

 

[DMD]

You will get all kinds of answers. I've been hunting Roane and Morgan County for years. First three weeks of November are good. Weather plays the biggest factor in narrowing it down from there. The last week of November can be really good too. As far as the best week, too many other factors to narrow that down a year ahead, imo. Weather, food sources, hunting pressure, etc all play a factor in determining best week.

 

[BSK]

Hard to say for certain but this is where trail cams shine. Having historical trail cam data will show you a span of time when that specific property has the most daylight activity for bucks. My place in Ohio is last week of October. Here in southern middle TN it's second week of November. And it's a repeating pattern year after year in terms of timeline.

Hes got cams up but they just went up this year so not alot of data to collect from. I like this idea though.

We've been discussing possibly setting up some food plots or something, but the area is all woods. Lots of work.

BT

You're going to love the cam data, if you use it wisely. To say I'm a bit anal about my trail-camera data would be a serious understatement. Below is a graph of all older buck camera events over the last 7 years from a single property, October through December (the red line is total events, the black line just those events that occurred during legal shooting hours ["Daylight"]). Looking at this data makes it clear what are traditionally the best days to be hunting on this property. Every property will be different.

 

[Black Titan]

You're going to love the cam data, if you use it wisely. To say I'm a bit anal about my trail-camera data would be a serious understatement. Below is a graph of all older buck camera events over the last 7 years from a single property, October through December (the red line is total events, the black line just those events that occurred during legal shooting hours ["Daylight"]). Looking at this data makes it clear what are traditionally the best days to be hunting on this property. Every property will be different.

Hmmm....for me to extrapolate the correct data from that chart, I'm going to need the EXACT gps coordinates of those trail cams

We will have to do this going forward. This is his first year on the property and he's got several cams up. Havent seen any monsters but there's some decent 6 points and 2 7 points up there pretty consistently.

We'll have to work on getting a system down. I like what you've done with the charts. Due to work and life, he hasn't been able to be consistent in checking the cards and any kind of data collection. I'll have to see if he will let me dig a little further into it. So far he just sends me screen captures of some of the deer that show up.

BT

 

[Ski]

Due to work and life, he hasn't been able to be consistent in checking the cards and any kind of data collection. I'll have to see if he will let me dig a little further into it. So far he just sends me screen captures of some of the deer that show up.

That's the beauty of it. The info you get this year doesn't matter for this season. You can wait until season closes to check cams. You're only after the big picture, the time frame when the most and biggest bucks are active on the property. It'll repeat next year same time. And with every successive year's data you will begin seeing repeating dates, specific days that are hot. Nothing is guaranteed but it sure increases the odds.

 

[Iglow]

What week do you see the most deer killed on the roads in your area? Here it's the second week/ third week of November, few days either side of November 15th.

 

[BSK]

Hmmm....for me to extrapolate the correct data from that chart, I'm going to need the EXACT gps coordinates of those trail cams

We will have to do this going forward. This is his first year on the property and he's got several cams up. Havent seen any monsters but there's some decent 6 points and 2 7 points up there pretty consistently.

We'll have to work on getting a system down. I like what you've done with the charts. Due to work and life, he hasn't been able to be consistent in checking the cards and any kind of data collection. I'll have to see if he will let me dig a little further into it. So far he just sends me screen captures of some of the deer that show up.

BT

Excel Spreadsheets are your friend! I log every buck picture (or at least, every "event," the time a buck first triggers the camera). I enter the date, time, location, and estimated buck age. That would be a good starting point for analyzing trail-camera data.

 

[CrossVolle]

Black Friday to Friday.

 

[gasman]

Not sure about east Tn, but I've always had good luck the week of Thanksgiving on the West side