Farm rut hunting

[Brad]

We have a great thread going about farm hunting in general, but the rut in farm country is another thing entirely so let's have a thread on that (per several requests from members). I imagine it is going to revolve a lot about doe bedding and feeding areas and how the does relate to farm country. I think this might be a good place for locating parallel trails? What about rut hunting in hilly farm countey.

[ Post made via Android ]

[phade]

The thing to me is being able to sit more than one stand in all-day sits. It's critical if it can be done. Plopping down in a funnel is nice, but I think some of that time of the sit is less likely to have a buck show up.

I understand the value of it and try to make it happen as I strongly prefer the practice. But, some of the small woodlots in ag land make it difficult to transit without doing damage. Especially when you are taling about 10 acres of woods on 100 acres of cropland.

[Brad]

Do you hunt before first light in the mornings or wait until gray light?

The thing to me is being able to sit more than one stand in all-day sits. It's critical if it can be done. Plopping down in a funnel is nice, but I think some of that time of the sit is less likely to have a buck show up.

I understand the value of it and try to make it happen as I strongly prefer the practice. But, some of the small woodlots in ag land make it difficult to transit without doing damage. Especially when you are taling about 10 acres of woods on 100 acres of cropland.

[ Post made via Android ]

[RUTIN]

When it comes to farm land hunting during the rut, I focus ALL my time and energy into hunting creeks and rivers. The deer seem to naturally run these bottoms and/or routes. I've had VERY good success with my trail cameras on small 5 acre woodlots within 500 yards of creeks/rivers. They seem to run these bottoms and get run into a small woodlot and hide out for the day. Now being in that woodlot on the day they show up is a different story. I can say that the deer almost always pop into these small secluded lots around 9-10 o'clock after they've chased each other all morning on the water source to settle down for the day and have a good vantage bc usually crops are off. If you don't have water sources on your farmland then hunting transition points between bedding in fencerows are great spots too. If there's timber on your farmland setting up on fingers between large chunks of timber is usually good for traveling bucks. If they are locked down I tend to get drawn in as close as I can to doe bedding areas and sit it out all day, you never know when they'll stand up to stretch and chase just a little bit.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

Farm Rut hunting comes down to crop rotation in my opinion. Places that are good one year will be dead the next, etc. In different areas of the country deer prefer certain agriculture over others. In my area, deer will walk past the beans to get to the cornfields. The does will literally pour into these cornfields from the low spots in the fields. This allows them to scent check the falling thermals from the lowest spots in the field and they know the field is essentially safe. Several of the buck beds I have found in farm country are setup to keep away from danger, but also to keep track of the does both visually and by scent. I have found them bedding in isolated fingers downwind of where most of the does head to congregate after dark. I think these spots are best hunted the last 7-10 days of October; I believe these bucks are literally waiting for does to come into heat. However, these are most likely your 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 year old bucks in my opinion. I think the 5 1/2 year old and up bucks have to be taken by hunting them at their primary beds. Both age classes of deer can be hunted at their beds and I'm sure some of the bigger bucks bed to keep track of the does as well. It just seems in some of my observations that the older bucks don't get as crazy as the 3-4 year olds.

Really good topic to discuss. Things change a lot in farm country when the Rut starts.

[phade]

I often access prior to light rather than gray light and hunting my way in. I usually try to use drainage or hedgerows that I know don't typically hold a deer to get there, or if corn is up I'll use it as a shield. Problem is most drainange is between the road and the first lot, and not subsequent lots.

[phade]

When it comes to farm land hunting during the rut, I focus ALL my time and energy into hunting creeks and rivers. The deer seem to naturally run these bottoms and/or routes. I've had VERY good success with my trail cameras on small 5 acre woodlots within 500 yards of creeks/rivers. They seem to run these bottoms and get run into a small woodlot and hide out for the day. Now being in that woodlot on the day they show up is a different story. I can say that the deer almost always pop into these small secluded lots around 9-10 o'clock after they've chased each other all morning on the water source to settle down for the day and have a good vantage bc usually crops are off. If you don't have water sources on your farmland then hunting transition points between bedding in fencerows are great spots too. If there's timber on your farmland setting up on fingers between large chunks of timber is usually good for traveling bucks. If they are locked down I tend to get drawn in as close as I can to doe bedding areas and sit it out all day, you never know when they'll stand up to stretch and chase just a little bit.

I see the same.

[Hoyt63]

The road i live on is about a mile long. 2 farms both sides.Mine and the neighbors. Couple houses on the north end. Every Fall without fail when the corn is still standing I have bucks walking the length of the road nose down scent checking in the ditch. First time I saw this I almost crapped my pants. 14 years later and they still do it. I need to put a stand on a telephone pole..lol

[keb]

I stay away from the food, creeks and river drain ages. I look for fingers coming off of them, fence rows, strips of weeds or isolated patches of cover within a reasonable distance. I'm talking ground where other folks are huning, cause that's were the hunters will be and that's we're big daddy will leave all his sign at 3am and I like it because they will keep hunting there.

I actually look for spots that don't even hold deer but are perinal rut travel corridors, I can get in and out, nobody else bothers hunting them. I like to find spots like that that are in the area with prime deer habitat say a managed farm, in the same section or of ground or a giant block of tmber, I don't see many deer but when I do it's usually a big one.

I find theses places in post season, fence rows, hedge rows, low areas, cows pasterues, I find big tracks coming and going, maybe a rub or two ,but it has to be the right set up. I may look at 5000 acres and find 2 of theses spots.

[ Post made via iPad ]

[GRUD]

When rut hits, chasing phase up to breeding, it seems like the bucks vacate the woods and run does out on fence rows to keep them away from other bucks. Also, they tend to travel the downwind side of wood blocks so the can smell the whole woods and see the whole field. This is a time when a field / woods edge can be good.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Sweet Shot 7]

I stay away from the food, creeks and river drain ages. I look for fingers coming off of them, fence rows, strips of weeds or isolated patches of cover within a reasonable distance. I'm talking ground where other folks are huning, cause that's were the hunters will be and that's we're big daddy will leave all his sign at 3am and I like it because they will keep hunting there.

I actually look for spots that don't even hold deer but are perinal rut travel corridors, I can get in and out, nobody else bothers hunting them. I like to find spots like that that are in the area with prime deer habitat say a managed farm, in the same section or of ground or a giant block of tmber, I don't see many deer but when I do it's usually a big one.

I find theses places in post season, fence rows, hedge rows, low areas, cows pasterues, I find big tracks coming and going, maybe a rub or two ,but it has to be the right set up. I may look at 5000 acres and find 2 of theses spots.

[ Post made via iPad ]

Do you have any airel examples you would share?!

[JoeRE]

I actually look for spots that don't even hold deer but are perinal rut travel corridors, I can get in and out, nobody else bothers hunting them. I like to find spots like that that are in the area with prime deer habitat say a managed farm, in the same section or of ground or a giant block of tmber, I don't see many deer but when I do it's usually a big one.

[ Post made via iPad ]

That's what I do in a nutshell for farm country bucks too. The funnels connecting areas of good doe bedding often don't have much sign because bucks are not spending any time there, just travel corridors. Tight inside corners, fencerows, swales, or CRP connecting large chunks of timber, drainage bottlenecks, or small woodlots between larger cover. Farm country rut hunting is finding funnels in their most obvious form to me. These stands are low impact because of less deer are being around (meaning if you are careful you can hunt then several times a year), and basically every good buck will be using them in the heat of the rut. The downside is they are super obvious so in high pressure areas the biggest bucks are more likely to avoid these restrictions but even that can be pattern-able sometimes.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

I stay away from the food, creeks and river drain ages. I look for fingers coming off of them, fence rows, strips of weeds or isolated patches of cover within a reasonable distance. I'm talking ground where other folks are huning, cause that's were the hunters will be and that's we're big daddy will leave all his sign at 3am and I like it because they will keep hunting there.

I actually look for spots that don't even hold deer but are perinal rut travel corridors, I can get in and out, nobody else bothers hunting them. I like to find spots like that that are in the area with prime deer habitat say a managed farm, in the same section or of ground or a giant block of tmber, I don't see many deer but when I do it's usually a big one.

I find theses places in post season, fence rows, hedge rows, low areas, cows pasterues, I find big tracks coming and going, maybe a rub or two ,but it has to be the right set up. I may look at 5000 acres and find 2 of theses spots.

[ Post made via iPad ]

Same cover I find the biggest buck bedding areas in farm country.

[phade]

If I could even look at 5,000 acres in farm country, I'd feel like I won the lottery.

Our ag land is small parcel-multiple owners. Here are the parcel sizes I have dealt with in the past 5 years in acres:

3.6
7
10
19
25
35
40
70
109

[Bucky]

When it comes to farm land hunting during the rut, I focus ALL my time and energy into hunting creeks and rivers. The deer seem to naturally run these bottoms and/or routes. I've had VERY good success with my trail cameras on small 5 acre woodlots within 500 yards of creeks/rivers. They seem to run these bottoms and get run into a small woodlot and hide out for the day. Now being in that woodlot on the day they show up is a different story. I can say that the deer almost always pop into these small secluded lots around 9-10 o'clock after they've chased each other all morning on the water source to settle down for the day and have a good vantage bc usually crops are off. If you don't have water sources on your farmland then hunting transition points between bedding in fencerows are great spots too. If there's timber on your farmland setting up on fingers between large chunks of timber is usually good for traveling bucks. If they are locked down I tend to get drawn in as close as I can to doe bedding areas and sit it out all day, you never know when they'll stand up to stretch and chase just a little bit.

My experience exactly... I look for water