I guess the October Lull is real. Anyone else noticing a drastic reduction in mature buck activity on cam? And this is on 4 different farms, not just one tract. Very little to no hunting pressure around these farms this early. No land use changes other than some crop harvesting here and there. I guess they laying low due to heat or under an oak tree? No idea. But i hope it changes. Even less doe movement than normal.
Unusually slow….
- Thread starter redblood
- Start date
Same on my place. Very slow so far.
Shed Hunter
Well-Known Member
I was going through a slow spell here in Ohio but it picked up like crazy a few days ago
Lots of things changing in the deer woods. Even crops that aren't picked yet are turning brown. Native greens are brown or stemmy. Nuts and fruits of all sorts are dropping. And bucks have hard horns and can now bed in and navigate thick stuff again. They're somewhere. If you got them you got them all. If you don't you really don't. But wait a week or two and they'll be scattering out.
Second and third week of October is when things get real interesting up there. Im planning on being up there mid week. First cold front of the season.
BSK
Well-Known Member
I'm definitely hearing this across the board. However, my place has really been picking up now that acorns are falling, the nearby corn has all been harvested, and the soybeans are drying up.
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DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Our camera results have also been unusually slow and I've contributed that in part to the gasline crew going through the farm. Major activity most days. Tons of traffic and equipment in and out of the property daily. But I'm told in the next 1-2 weeks the pipe will be buried and they will be wrapping up in our area.
Also, while on the property yesterday I noticed the neighbors were wrapping up combining the corn. So most of the corn in the area has been picked. Allot of activity in recent weeks in a normally very quiet area. But hopfully things will settle down soon and return to normal.
Also, while on the property yesterday I noticed the neighbors were wrapping up combining the corn. So most of the corn in the area has been picked. Allot of activity in recent weeks in a normally very quiet area. But hopfully things will settle down soon and return to normal.
Shed Hunter
Well-Known Member
BSK
Well-Known Member
We're just beginning the big "ramp up" to the rut. Below is a graph of the average number of older buck (2 1/2+) camera events each day since I started running all of my cameras in video mode (2019). This data is only from good acorn years like this year because poor acorns years show a different pattern. Notice how activity starts out slow in early October and then steadily climbs to the double peaks in early and mid-November. Why the two peaks? I believe the valley in between the two peaks is the "lock down" phase when most bucks are holding tight with does in heavy cover. The two peaks are when bucks are seriously searching for receptive does.
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JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
SUPER slow right now. Cameras and sightings. I saw 1 doe on 3 hunts this weekend. And I was after them 
. Late Sept-mid-Oct is pretty much dead every year on our place. Unless there's no acorns and we have green foodplots. Now, twenty couple days into Oct, a complete 180 and the deer (bucks) are everywhere.
. Late Sept-mid-Oct is pretty much dead every year on our place. Unless there's no acorns and we have green foodplots. Now, twenty couple days into Oct, a complete 180 and the deer (bucks) are everywhere.
swampbadger
Well-Known Member
One things for skippy, No one is posting big buck kill pics with bows laying across their belly's. Mid west hunters don't clamor to come hunt TN public land. Most of the hunters here know how tough it is so they take bow hunting trips this time of year.
I am parking in empty parking lots and have entire tracts of public land to myself that no one is messing with yet. And for good reason, there's no bucks on it yet.
Zero scrapes, zero rubs so far and I have made it through miles of good spots that I have historically killed in during ML season.
I see does but it's really hard to get within bow range in these swamps with swirly wind and to have deer within bow range and not have deer alerted.
I am parking in empty parking lots and have entire tracts of public land to myself that no one is messing with yet. And for good reason, there's no bucks on it yet.
Zero scrapes, zero rubs so far and I have made it through miles of good spots that I have historically killed in during ML season.
I see does but it's really hard to get within bow range in these swamps with swirly wind and to have deer within bow range and not have deer alerted.
BSK
Well-Known Member
I strongly believe that lull is the peak of the "lock-down phase" of breeding. Not only do our sightings of older bucks decline at that time, but mature bucks just vanish off cameras as well. Both the Halloween peak and the Nov 17-18 are loaded with bucks chasing does and mature bucks moving and scraping. But during that lull, both of those drop off. That lull is also when our scrapes go dead, which is almost a sure sign of peak breeding.
So odd how hers differ from area to area. i watch bill winke ( chasing november and now dream farm) and he always says that if he could hunt one day a yr it would be November 7th. my best movement on cam seems to be Nov 10- nov 17
BSK
Well-Known Member
Every property is unique. I think the guys that hunt cathole, which is just over a mile as the crow flies from my place would give you a different set of peak dates. My cousins' property is about 6 miles south of mine and their peak dates are closer to Thanksgiving.
I'm getting good sightings of mature deer but between 10 and 1 for the past 2 weeks
BSK
Well-Known Member
Bucks on camera are definitely heavily nocturnal right now.
Maybe for you, they are heavy on acorns on the plateau. I think if some aren't seeing them is because they are hung up on a hot tree somewhere your not aware of. That tree could change daily or weekly. It's just a matter of playing hopscotch. To call them strictly/mostly nocturnal right now I don't think is accurate, not like rifle just opened last week.
Camera sightings are not a tell all, I encourage anyone don't solely base things off your camera. Seen a guy last year on here going nuts thought he lost his buck just to shoot him behind the camera
Camera sightings are not a tell all, I encourage anyone don't solely base things off your camera. Seen a guy last year on here going nuts thought he lost his buck just to shoot him behind the camera
Maybe for you, they are heavy on acorns on the plateau. I think if some aren't seeing them is because they are hung up on a hot tree somewhere your not aware of. That tree could change daily or weekly. It's just a matter of playing hopscotch. To call them strictly/mostly nocturnal right now I don't think is accurate, not like rifle just opened last week.
Camera sightings are not a tell all, I encourage anyone don't solely base things off your camera. Seen a guy last year on here going nuts thought he lost his buck just to shoot him behind the camera
Camera sightings are not a tell all, I encourage anyone don't solely base things off your camera. Seen a guy last year on here going nuts thought he lost his buck just to shoot him behind the camera
BSK
Well-Known Member
Curious, how would you know what percentage of buck movements are at night if you're not running cameras? Are you hunting at night?
I like a lot of what you say and pay attention to your posts, but I never said I'm not running cameras. Absolutely I would never hunt at night. I say what I see and have over 30 years of hunting. Your also from what I read hunting one property, I'm hunting several on the plateau and one off it. They're are plenty of bucks moving during daylight.
Hate to do this but ski seems close to you and posted more daylight movement than you this year. How many guys in your life you heard say in October they moved a dozen times before they got him. They are on their feet but travel paths shift a lot because of what tree they like to eat at that day.
I think sometimes you should stay off the graphs and stick to basics and keep it simple.
No hard feelings I just disagree and I do appreciate your experience, wisdom, and posts.
Go to the cams and pics page and look at the daylight pics being shared, that alone you tell me
Dead on our little farm, no bucks at all on last card pulls. Beans starting to come out around us now though, so maybe things will start picking up.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Yes, I personally hunt one property now, but I grew up hunting many properties. And I certainly run cameras all over TN and across the country. I didn't say I wasn't getting daylight pictures. I've got plenty. But the percentage that are at night are quite high right now. Not so a few weeks ago, but quite high now. That will be changing in the near future as the rut approaches.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Really strange... nothing has changed on my farms since the velvet has come off... they are still on their summer patterns of feed to bed. 75% are still with other bucks. I have had a couple that disappeared, and a couple new mature bucks that showed up this week at night only, so SOME of the mature bucks are behaving normally... but most of my mature bucks are actually quite killable right now in daylight.. which almost never happens.
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BigAl
Well-Known Member
Last week my buck activity actually increased drastically. However, this week I have the cams at home charging batteries. Will put back out this weekend.
@fulldraw
Well-Known Member
Not everyone post pics. I know of two bucks over 150" killed Saturday evening on public. Heck of a memory for those two guys.
swampbadger
Well-Known Member
absolutely!
