The October False Rut - Did it Happen? | Bowhunting Whitetails w/ Bill Winke
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2024
- We hunted pretty hard this past week hoping to take advantage of what some years is a strong false rut in mid October as the first few does come into estrus a month early. It is hard to beat October weather, but we didn't connect on any of our targets. Now is the time to fine-tune strategies and put the final pieces into place for the action that is sure to come in late October. In this episode, we discuss this fine-tuning process while doing a few large scale habitat projects on the farm.
Here's the broadhead I was using: b3archery.com/...
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Good shot on that doe 👍👍
Bill, You have some good looking land. October in the woods there is no place I would rather be.
Agreed. It is gorgeous country. Thanks for the comment. Have a great day.
Happening right now in Western WI
Nice doe Bill, I noticed the smaller bucks beginning to get antsy.
That's a tough shot to pull off. Nice job on the blues guitar intro during the acorn planting. I didn't know you played!
Yes, Tom. I just took it up a couple of weeks ago. I am a quick learner. Have a great week.
Young bucks bumping a few doe in Western Illinois this past weekend.
I seen a 6 pt full mount a doe 3 times Saturday in mid Michigan and chasing all over . It happened m the rain
Those 1.5 and 2.5 year old bucks are always the first ones to get frisky with the does. The week of the 23rd of October is when I start to get serious, that's when the big boys start heading to the party
Despite what others might say about that low scoring mature buck, he would probably make a gnarly looking mount. At the very least he would make a good conversation piece with the broken ear and cataract eye on a wall mount. 😊
Yes, for sure and it if comes to that, I may try to get him. There are two other bucks that are probably equally old that just look better. I will try them first. Good luck.
seen different young bucks every sit so far in the last week
Had a monster my target buck sunday from 620-658 Oct 15 Sunday eve come in to all my mock scrapes under all 3 trees and get on every cam, I was hunting another target deer in another woods and that deer just wasn’t showin up and hasn’t since Sept 13 I wish i would have been on that other spot! Lol I’m setup there now hoping he does it again of a cold morning soon. That Sunday was windy and cool and grey day/. Still had high pressure comin in somehow sparked that big deer to get up and go mark up his area/
Drone down 😆 hope the tree didn’t keep it. Just another great episode Thanks
Wind blew it out and it was totally fine. We use a really small lightweight drone so it kind of just bounces when it hits stuff. Have a great day.
That drone crash hahaha
Last night's sit here in upstate ny I saw a sm spike dogging a doe grunting softly the whole time
Oh, now it's a false rut. The bucks are starting to make scrapes and marking their territories. The mother does are chasing off their buck fawns to not have inbreeding. They also chase each other to prepare for the rut.
Maybe you've discussed it before and if you have I apologize, but how do you personally determine how many does you should take to keep your herd balance in check?
Love the Buck-eye buck. He’s an old scrapper!
Always look forward to the videos Bill. Thanks for the footage.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching. Good luck.
Where do you get bulk acorns?
All I know is something was going on this weekend I killed a Big Ten on Saturday morning and my ten-year-old killed a big 8 Sunday morning and the processors had about eight bucks there every time we pulled up
Bill, how long could I store acorns for before I could plant them?
If you store them cold (upper 30s to lower 40s) and dry, you can probably store them for a couple weeks. Red oaks are less critical since they are spring germinators, but the whites are fall germinators so you need to get them into the ground fairly soon after picking them. Some storage is OK, but just realize you have a ticking clock with those acorns. Good luck.
Only young bucks this past weekend moving down here in Southern Iowa on public. Was a great weekend in the woods but still early for the big guys. Bucks still hanging together and haven’t dispersed yet. Unfortunately, the weather is warming with rain on the way for next week. We will now pay for a brisk October to this point. Let’s hope the non-deer movement weather moving in makes a quick exit and we can all get back to “Chasing November.” 😉. Thanks Bill for the great content as always..
Love the content as always Bill.
Thanks Mitchy. Much appreciated. Have a great week.
Bill I just love getting input from guys like you and Lee Lakosky and some other guys as well I truly appreciate it. I used to just watch because I like seeing big bucks but I never listened to what was being told. So I love getting the knowledge needed to take to the field and experience first hand. I just started a career with Ryder. There's a branch in Waterloo. I have a 5 year plan to transfer there and pursue my dreams. It's the regrettably the first time I've actually set a long term goal for myself and your message at the end of each video of always dream big is one of if not the very thing that sparked the fire 🔥 back in me. So I just want to say thank you very much.
It happened in Maryland. My buddy had a mid 140 in 8 point daylighting on his cell camera all day yesterday. Went in yesterday afternoon and shot him at 4:30 pm.
had a nice 130 inch 10 point walk by Saturday evening he was nudging does and sparring with a smaller buck but I let him go….one more year for him lol
Good encounter. Will be fun to see what he turns into. Good luck.
It happened in South Dakota. I've been talking about this for decades and get the eye rolls. Was a week earlier than most years. Looking like it started closer to the first week.
I had all kinds of daylight pictures around that same time your talking in North Dakota. I’m thinking you and bill are on to something with this
I have experienced the same for decades and every time I told other hunters about it that was not my close friends, they either rolled their eyes or even at times directly told me that I was a liar.
I few of my closest friend were not sure about what to believe either, till I brought one of them to hunt on a lease I had in the second week of October and he shot his biggest buck till then the second evening of our hunt, a few minutes after he had witnessed the buck breed a doe.
@@The_Judge300 EXACTLY! sums it up quite well.
I’ll see mature bucks cruising & checking does around the 27-31 of October then it’ll flip off like a light switch, the mature bucks disappear for 5-7 days & then by Nov 7th the older bucks start back up & by the 10th-13th they’re up & at it more than any other time of the rut. I believe they’re finding those older does that they know come into estrous earlier than most, late October, locking down with them for 3-5 days & then getting back after it once they’ve bred that first available doe. Just what I’ve seen on my two farms in the last 16 years, I could be wrong, just an educated guess based on history & observation over those years.
Sounds about right. I see the same timing, but I am not sure if they are actually finding receptive does or not in October, but that does make sense. Good luck.
I was able to video two 1.5 yr olds fighting in my micro plot last night. Things are starting to 🔥 up in Ohio
Interesting theory on the false rut. I've had some great hunts from October 10th-17th and I always assumed it was just the mature bucks getting established in their fall ranges and re-adjusting to crops being harvested. Good luck this season Bill and Crew!
I have spoken with several biologists who all have said that a few does come into estrus a month early, but the cycle only lasts a couple of days. Good luck.
I’ve seen it a couple seasons in a row in TN now. Both times it happened on the first real cold front in mid October. Big mature bucks out in the middle of fields with does with two hours of daylight left. I think the boys are just anxious for the honeymoon.
Me and the kids gathered about three bushel of acorns on the farm. We planted them on a half acre spot. We also put a 50# wheat and 50# rye cover crop over them
Should be a really fun experiment. You will need to do some spraying late next spring when the weeds start to take over. When the time comes, check with me and I can recommend options. Good luck.
They are definitely stirring here in Arkansas, saw the #1 and #2 on our hit list at our 200 acre farm yesterday.
Bill I've had a good run of successfully seeing rutting action roughly the 13-17th of October most years since I stated taking notes. Somewhere in those dates every year I see bucks dogging does and yesterday (17th) with that in mind I went to my best stand and arrowed my target buck, he died within 20 seconds as I double lung-ed him. You are the only industry leader who I've seen make the claim of the mid October mini rut and I've always made that claim to my hunting pals but , that they didn't believe me but more like they just don't prioritize that time frame like I do. Anyway, it's paid off! Thanks for all you do!
Had lots of activity on Saturday morning. Good bucks were chasing before shooting light through.
Lets go brandon!!
I got a 3 yr old that has been pushing on some does, looks that way on trail camera anyways, I know he's hitting a big community scrap right after dark for the last 11 days, and he usually comes back and hits it 1 or 2 more times well before daylight and he's gone, but he's getting hot but still on a pattern so not quite false rut here yet, ours is usually from like around the 20th up, really good deer hunting then, I seen many big deer pop out of nowhere this time of yr, I'm just glad I got about a dozen happy does and fawns and a handful of smaller bucks for competition, I think this yr is gonna be my yr, been 7 yrs since I drew last blood, I finally got a shooter pattered, fingers 🤞
Good question from Jordan, I’ve seen deer come through a spot say oct 15. The next year within a day or so do the same thing they did prior year. Similar to them going to summer in an area, then this other area for the fall and rut season. Or you have a buck cone around every year in the last week of October. I think this happens often
I had a good weekend too Bill capped off with a definite mature buck coming in around 7pm when it was dark. I couldn't make out a rack but could see a big outline and judging by the grunts and snort wheezes he let rip meant business! Excited to see how the acorn planting goes!!
Good input Alex. We had good seed, got them into the ground ahead of a rain so I am hopeful they will do very well. Good luck.
@@bill-winke regarding acorns, do you think October is the only good time to direct seed them? I tried about ¼acre worth in mid September with some that I had collected and stratified for a suitable time to throw the radicle. Is that a bit early in the year in your opinion?
Where does a fella procure 320k acorns?
I’d name that mature older buck , “Clint Eastwood “ he looks like he’s been through some battles. He would look great on my wall!! I’m on my way. Great stuff guys. Luke 9:62
Gouch, he is an old battler for sure. They say Iowa only produces huge deer - Old Clint is proof that that is not the case!
Great episode, Bill. Congrats on the doe. With all your experience harvesting deer over the years, it might be interesting content to talk about your favorite tips to process the meat, and even share a recipe or two. I know this topic can be intimidating for new hunters and most might end up taking their meat to a professional processor, but that can get expensive!
Best of luck in the coming weeks!
That is a good idea. By far my favorite is jerky that I make on the wood pellet grill. We can eat deer in two weeks when we make it that way. I will film something like this with the next one. I gave the first one away. A friend wanted it. Good luck.
Nice shot Bill, congrats.....grimreaper hybrids are pretty sweet also
I appreciate how genuine you are. That being said, how did the B3 hold up going through that doe's shoulder?
Thanks!
Thanks. I will show that in another episode when I talk about broadheads. I am trying their fixed blade head now. The EXO 3 was fine. None of the blades bent. Have a great day.
northern Iowa it happened, my oldest shot his first deer ever. 130ish 8 pretty exciting. The buck stunk too, must be getting fired up.
I heard the football commentators😅
I was watching on UA-cam tv as well. Unfortunately my team loss this puntfest.
Another great video, thanks.
I have tested putting out blinds and hunted them straight away rather much over all the years I have hunted and my experience is that you can get away with a lot in some situations.
When done as you did, transporting it out in a cornfield that for the most is standing, deer usually do not care at all and continue as usual.
Very often when there is some farming equipment or other things on the field or on the edge of it, you can set up just beside it or close to it and the deer mostly do not care much if at all.
Most likely they just see it as one more of what is already there and since they have never been of danger to them, the new one is not either.
In my experience is it by far the best to set up the same day as the farmer is done harvesting the field or at least the area you want to set up, as I suspect they just see it as something they see a lot where the farmer leave the tractor, harvester or other things on the field.
There has also already been a great change to how the field looks like already and since they have not experienced any dangers related to that in the past years, something left on the field, should be totally safe as well.
And a farmer harvesting a field is often like a food signal to the deer, so hunters should take advantage of that.
Bale blinds can be amazing, and specially if there are bales on the field or on the edge of it already.
On a lease I had, I ( or rather the farmer did it for me ) always moved a trailer blind I had made myself into the same spot as soon the farmer was done there.
The deer never cared and I shot mature bucks or does from that blind almost every first day I hunted from that blind.
And about half of those deer I shot the same evening the blind was moved there.
I also shot deer throughout the season from that blind.
It was by far the best hunting spot I had on that lease during the 12 years I had it.
Ive had several days of disappointing hunts and overall deer movement too for some reason! The weather feels great, but the deer just aren't cooperating!
Excellent footage Bill! Like you my cams are showing the same here in Southern Wisco. Had a couple new bucks show up, and took one off the list. He broke his right beam off fighting just past the brow which I found in one of my plots! I am wondering what camera you are using on the selfie stick for the talks. Hard to find a small cam with decent audio and that seems great or are you guys over laying the sound just wondering thanks!
Hi Bill, thanks for the great video. At what age do you think the bucks start to repeat their travel patterns from year to year?
I thought it happened yesterday for me. I had a group of 5 does pop out and then 2 bucks followed. It may have just been coincidence as they parted ways after going to the plot to eat. It was exciting though. Ended up seeing 12 deer and 4 being bucks. One I have decided is an archery shooter. He is a large bodied 1 horn.
The forecast for Halloween looks amazing for us here in the southeast. Massive cold front pushing 20 degree temps down. Hope the weather man is right on this one. That old buck looks 7 years old or so. Never know , he may make great dinner for someone
I hope I never get to point where taking a deer with the bow doesn't excite me.
Bill, how do you always manage to get the job of tractor driver? Luck of the draw? HA! Great episode as always.
I think you get excited harvesting a doe because it is a great responsibility to take any animals life ethically. I always worry about a bad hit. I sometimes avoid killing doe early because I have gut shot a few and it always affects how much I enjoy the rest of my season.
Have a cabin on 40 acres located into the woods 300 yards past the pond on a mile long dead end road. Only there for Spring Turkey hunting, habitat work after hunting season , food plot work and 7 weeks for the bow season and opening weekend of gun.
I primary heat the cabin with the wood stove but I suspect it alarms deer especially the mature bucks. When I get there this week I will immediately put the truck in the pole shed and go into stealth mode.
Do you think it’s a good idea to use my other heating source?
Mark, I don't think the wood smoke spooks them. It is the human activity that does it. I would not worry about the smoke. Good luck.
Good stuff Bill! I’d let the old buck live. He deserves it😊
I’ve got pictures of two different bucks one mile apart on two different properties I can hunt this weekend. They’re definitely making moves.
Yes, I think it will die down again and then pick back up around October 25 for keeps. Good luck.
I was wondering Bill, if the deer have been eating the apples from your tree that was overwhelmed with apples?
Congratulations Jordan 1:18
3rd place Smokin Fast equal to a Booner 200 incher
Great video, i always enjoy watching you pick apart tactics. I'm just curious if you have any issues with your index vane being down. If your index vane is positioned up or out (left) it might clear your cables and rest better. if there are no issues, then leave it alone. Thanks for the great content. Best of luck to you and your team.
It’s probably a Schaffer rest. It goes down.
I don't know what's going on but in mid September I was finding aggressive rub lines with trees shredded, long scrape lines, and a scrape the size of a full sized pickup bed that over 10 bucks visited in just a week. My cameras caught rub urinating and the mature bucks were doing a lot of digging in the scrapes. There are two Mature bucks whose territories overlap there so I figured that must be it, battle lines being drawn. But then I started hearing about this weird early sign on several channels and from several people in the comments. I know it's something I've never seen before. It was more like the last week of October than the last 2 weeks of September. Now the scrapes are full of leaves but the licking branches are still being checked as usual. I even got a video of a bear standing up to check the licking branch at one scrape while her 3 cubs dug around and sniffed the ground. 😂 That was a cool old warrior you got a picture of there. Good luck the rest of the season!
I don't know if its false rut, but my 1.5 and 2.5 year old bucks are acting like fools right now. Running food plots like they are kings of the world. Chasing every doe that comes out to eat. I had one plot that my camera took 3288 photos in a week, mostly 2 (I assume twins) spike and forkhorn that just camped in my plot. The older bucks have even started avoiding them as they are annoying every deer in the area! I may have to hunt a couple days and spook them off on purpose to keep my doe family groups relaxed and at that wheat plot. As the doe groups come out and only get about 5 minutes before the delinquents come running in, and push them off. I don't think people put enough thought into just how social stress can change deer behavior. Until around Halloween it seems like my better bucks are just not in an aggressive enough mood to run the younger deer off, but come November that always changes.
I’m having the same thing happen right now. Some 2.5 basket rack 6’s and forks have pushed out my nine
Same on my farm also
The older bucks will come back in a week or two when their test increases even more and put the small bucks in their place.
The test spike in young bucks are like when you give a kid a soda pop for the first time with sugar and caffeine in it. It's intense for them. The older deer naturally have a higher test level so it takes them a bit more of a spike before they fall into their rut behavior. Good luck guys!
Literally same
Bill,
When you get strictly night pictures of your target buck... do you ever think they are bedding on neighbor way away from your farm or do you think they just stay put on the ridge they layed on all day and only venture out after dark?
I always over analyze this topic when I feel confident I know a mature buck is bedding on the farm I hunt but I only ever get nighttime pics on my trail cameras. Is he avoiding my cameras during day? Is he bedding on neighbor?
Love to hear your thoughts on the specific bucks you are targeting this year that you said were mostly showing up at night.
Usually, if the pictures are only well after dark the buck is living a ways away or he has a different loop that takes him away from your camera when he gets up. If you have several cameras out and still only get him after dark, he is probably not bedding close by. That is not to say you can't kill him when you get closer to the rut, however. The bucks I am hunting here are very unpredictable. I think they could be bedding deeper int he cover on a secondary ridge and just not getting to my cameras until after dark. Sometime they are right at the edge of legal time and then the next day on the same camera it will be 3 AM. Not 100% sure on these two. They have very big ranges and seem to bed in a variety of places. Good luck.
Bill, you needed to call a lighted nock company, lol! And it is ok to just buy them like the rest of us, I will even buy them for you and send them to you!!!😂 PS….the boys didn’t realize they would become field workers and tree planters when they signed up! Love the content. Jordan, congrats on your PR and now eat some chow so you don’t freeze in the stand. Your dad loves you so much he put a blind in to keep you warm, 😊! Keep it up you two…..
Thanks Robert. You got us pegged. I told those guys the main reason I wanted interns this year was to plant acorns! Jordan did run a big PR in the Des Moines half marathon yesterday too. 1:18. This is a sub six pace for 13+ miles. I am not sure I could do that on a bike. Have a great day.
I believe it did. Seen a crazy amount of deer and even some chasing by little bucks
Thanks for the input Braden and good luck this season.
Curious to why you don't run cell cameras? Alleviates the pain of pulling cards and leaving more of an impact on the land.
Bill, i watch all of your content and really appreciate the updates to follow along with the season. Do you have any experience with a mature buck seeing you in a tree and not alerting just walking off? No blowing, no stomping, didnt run or even raise tail. Will they vacate this area for the rest of the seasons ?
I think I would move the stand to a different tree just to be safe. Can be nearby, but he may remember it and come in next time looking for you. Good luck.
@bill-winke Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Best of luck on all your platforms as well as your hunting seasons.
Dream Big brother 🙏
Saw 3 bucks on a tail tucked doe. They chased her for at least 30 mins. I'd say yes
There are just a very few does that come in a month early, but it can really trigger the action if you are in the right place.
I have seen this happen at least 10 times the last 4 decades, so I know this can happen.
But of course it is not guaranteed that you have doe like that on your property.
Never a given. My main reasons of sitting that day was 1) to see if the rut like activity I have seen in years past on a specific property during a specific time frame was due to an early estrus cycle or if it was boys just being boys. 2) Observation sit on a large open oat/ alfalfa field.
was that an fmj arrow
Yes, that was the T-64 FMJ tapered arrow.
I had two little bucks fighting in my food plot last night. Showing off for a young doe
Fall is the best time for trees, germination, planting, trimming etc... always mess with trees in fall. They can endure a winter better then they can a spring into a summer. I bet these trees do way better then the spring ones you did
I am 56 years old and have shot very many animals and even if I still love to shoot bucks with big antlers, am I much more focused on shooting really mature deer than how large their antlers are.
To me a 8-9 year old buck with small antlers is a better trophy to me than shooting a 4 year old with big antlers.
I do hunt in Africa at times as well and then by spot and stalking with my bows, and often I get the permission to shoot their most mature "trophy animals" on cull prizes and that is very much cheaper than the trophy prizes.
It is a win win for both me and the land owners.
It is much more satisfying to manage to stalk in range and kill an old and cunning male that has been hunted by trophy hunters for years, than shooting a younger one that might have some longer horns that score more.
I have not measured a single trophy I have shot in my life.
I could not care less about how many inches the trophy has or what it will score for some stupid trophy organization.
Us old dudes never get any respect.
I hear you. Like the old football coach used to say to the youngsters where I helped out, "I have been 18, you have never been 75". Good luck.
Bill,I see you hunting in plain clothes and just a jacket over them. Are they washed in scent free detergent or are you just counting on a good breeze to blow your scent away from the deer movement? I know it can be a lengthy discussion I'm just curious bc I see guys wearing normal clothes in the stand killing mature bucks. I assume it's relying on a good stiff wind
It is all about the wind with two guys and all the camera gear. If I was hunting by myself I could go to extremes and hope to beat their noses at least some of the time, but with a cameraman it is basically impossible. Good luck.
@@bill-winke yes sir it is all ab the wind. No matter what scent controlled camo I wear,spray I use or scent free detergent I use nothing helps except the perfect wind. I love bow hunting whitetail and love your stuff. I appreciate it and good luck this year!
You do not need a good stiff wind at all.
You need the thermals in your favor.
A wind can help with this, but thermals can still move in a direction you don't want them.
Learning how thermals act and what affects them and specially how they act and are affected where you hunt and consider to set up stands, can increase your outcome on hunts by extremely much more than any form of expensive products can.
Just moving a stand 10 yards can at times make a huge difference.
I have hunted with bows since 1986 and I have shot more than 300 deer and many of them mature bucks since then.
I have never used any form of scent free products at all.
I have been breeding, training and selling tracking dogs for close to 30 years and tested all these miracle products and not a single of them work apart from some sort of spray/wash you can use on your long rubber boots or waders to avoid leaving scent on the ground where you walk in and out.
I am extremely careful with not leaving my scent on the ground where the deer might travel when hunting from stands or blinds, but I totally rely on thermals to not transport my scent to the deer by air.
If the thermals carry air from you to the deer, the deer will smell you, no matter what expensive miracle product you have wasted your money on.
Do NOT believe all the people that are sponsored to sell you these products.
Most of them would be willing to sell their mother and wife if they got enough money for them.
@@The_Judge300 haha I agree. I bought up the camo when I first started and took all precautions but learned quickly it's more ab thermal/wind direction,stand placement etc as you said. I learn as much as I can and am never too proud to take something new from someone as long as it's positive and helpful so I appreciate your input.
One of the reasons I watched your channel is because you were smart enough not to play ridiculous background music! I see that all changed! See ya!
Good riddance
I get a lot of Young bucks bump in nose around think it'syoung men not knowing what to do with all these hormones that are coming up for the first time
There is no such thing as a false rut. There is only “the rut” it’s all based on photo periodism.