October "Lull"

[Buckshot20]

I guess my thoughts area little different on this topic. While I agree that pressure makes an impact on daytime movement, I think it has a lot to do with deer growing their heavier cold-season coats of fur and being less comfortable on their feet moving around under the sunlight in 60-70 degree temperatures, much the same you wouldn't wear a winter coat to the beach. The cool nighttime lows make for a far more comfortable environment for the deer to move than during October's mildly warm sunny days.

Now, in September those deer have thin coats; their hair is less than a half-inch long. These thin coats last into the end of September before the blotchy "Joe Dirt" looking coats start to fill in and by the end of the first week of October (and not all deer are on the same schedule, of course), many of the deer have a thicker coat with longer warmer hair.

I have ran cameras on low pressure areas that see the same patterns of deer movement, so there must be more to the story than pressure.

I agree with this. I believe deer don't shed regularly like your dog, or a horse. They do one big coat shed and go from red to grey. Thin to heavy. So I think temps are one factor. The other factor is food. Like said before, if they don't have to move far for acorns why would they? Put both of those factors together and it makes sense why they hold tight to bedding.

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[kurt]

I personally see less of a lull to nonexistent in bad acorn years and more of a lull in good acorn years. I'm not saying deer are completely less active in Oct but there is a good chance there bedding area's have acorns in them or right next to them. So if you not close enough your out of the game. Pressure may play a role but I'm with Sam on the heavy coat being a bigger deal especially for a big heavy buck. Fat guys like myself don't move around very far if it's hot and we have a heavy coat on. A nice cold front can change that.Some of The best days in Oct. are cold fronts.

My summary of thoughts are pressure relocates not necessarily is a October lull factor.
Acorns can dramatically halt length of movement. Heavy winter coats are no fun to walk in when it's hot. I used to believe more in the pressure factor but since I've changed my hunting style to fit october better I don't think it's nearly a factor as before

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[Motivated]

I only referenced the lull in the Live From the Field thread because so many guys knocked one down in the first half of October. I think that it is possible to get the job done no matter what time of the season.

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[Jrichard]

I just want to throw it out there that the reason that we are pounding this area is because my buddy showed this spot a while back to one of his old friends. It was a secret spot so to speak. my friend is the only one who has permission to hunt that spot. But his friend stabbed him in the back shortly after and my buddy never took him back. So the guy went and got permission to hunt the land next to this spot. And he puts up ladder stands illegally in this spot. The good thing is he only hunts muzzle loader and shotgun. So we decided to just burn the spot out because in a couple weeks hes going to be up there trying to kill the deer.

I was just looking to see if anyone has any advice as to how to adjust to something like this. It seems like the deer have moved to secondary routes. where should I look for these? I figured that they moved out because of us. And I know they do what ever they can to bed in this swamp. So I know its a primary bedding area. But i do know too that if we hit it too hard that they will abandon it. Just want to make it hard on this guy to have any success. I cant stand people who hunt illegally especially when you gotta throw hay and do favors and work your off to get access to isolated areas and some joe shmoe just pulls a favor and walks an extra half mile and gets the same perks. IDK something irritates me about it.

I know letting it rest for a couple weeks may work. I just dont have much time. Muzzle loader starts here November 5th. So any alternate ideas would be helpful as well. THANKS EVERYONE!


Btw the information in this thread is getting juicy lol.

[Buckshot20]

Don't worry about that guy. Sure it can you off but if you focus on ruining his hunt you hurt yourself in the process. By burning that spot out you may have stacked what he has permission on. Something to think about.

This is a perfect time to go in blind somewhere and learn it a little at a time.

Lesson learned, loose lips sink ships.

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[Horizontal Hunter]

Why don't you just report the illegal hunting?

Bob

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[mainebowhunter]

I personally see less of a lull to nonexistent in bad acorn years and more of a lull in good acorn years. I'm not saying deer are completely less active in Oct but there is a good chance there bedding area's have acorns in them or right next to them. So if you not close enough your out of the game. Pressure may play a role but I'm with Sam on the heavy coat being a bigger deal especially for a big heavy buck. Fat guys like myself don't move around very far if it's hot and we have a heavy coat on. A nice cold front can change that.Some of The best days in Oct. are cold fronts.

My summary of thoughts are pressure relocates not necessarily is a October lull factor.
Acorns can dramatically halt length of movement. Heavy winter coats are no fun to walk in when it's hot. I used to believe more in the pressure factor but since I've changed my hunting style to fit october better I don't think it's nearly a factor as before

[ Post made via Android ]

We call it the acorn lull. Deer movement is greatly influenced by an over abundance of food. Here this year, more acorns than I have ever seen in my life. Deer are really spread out. Only way to really get on them is to be right on top of their beds. Bedding habits are constantly moving around.

I will say, the 3rd week here is slowest deer movement I see in the whole of October. Cameras really are slow the 3rd week. First 2 weeks are typically pretty good. Ground scrapes are wide open. More are opening. After the 10th, ground scrapes seemed to slow up. Last week can be good. But your talking to a guy from the Northeast where deer hunting can be slow smack dab in the best time of the year.

Really, as always, you just need to be in the right spot.

[JoeRE]

I personally see less of a lull to nonexistent in bad acorn years and more of a lull in good acorn years. I'm not saying deer are completely less active in Oct but there is a good chance there bedding area's have acorns in them or right next to them. So if you not close enough your out of the game. Pressure may play a role but I'm with Sam on the heavy coat being a bigger deal especially for a big heavy buck. Fat guys like myself don't move around very far if it's hot and we have a heavy coat on. A nice cold front can change that.Some of The best days in Oct. are cold fronts.

My summary of thoughts are pressure relocates not necessarily is a October lull factor.
Acorns can dramatically halt length of movement. Heavy winter coats are no fun to walk in when it's hot. I used to believe more in the pressure factor but since I've changed my hunting style to fit october better I don't think it's nearly a factor as before

[ Post made via Android ]

[glow=red]We call it the acorn lull.[/glow]Deer movement is greatly influenced by an over abundance of food. Here this year, more acorns than I have ever seen in my life. Deer are really spread out. Only way to really get on them is to be right on top of their beds. Bedding habits are constantly moving around.

I will say, the 3rd week here is slowest deer movement I see in the whole of October. Cameras really are slow the 3rd week. First 2 weeks are typically pretty good. Ground scrapes are wide open. More are opening. After the 10th, ground scrapes seemed to slow up. Last week can be good. But your talking to a guy from the Northeast where deer hunting can be slow smack dab in the best time of the year.

Really, as always, you just need to be in the right spot.

I completely agree there is such a thing as an acorn lull! That's been the point I try to make in these conversations....writing off lack of deer sightings just as October Lull does a hunter no good. You learn absolutely nothing by thinking that. There's always a "why" - and often more than just one - and I guarantee it's not because deer can read a calendar.

The whole month of October is "slow" around here if we are comparing it to peak rutting activity.

[mainebowhunter]

When I said be in the right spot? Yeah. I was RIGHT. Crazy. Just pulled camera where I hunted Saturday night and bucks were fighting. Went to pull camera today. SICK. When I was hunting an area 20 miles away, big bucks, mature bucks that I know where all over my a ground scrape in broad daylight. This scrape started out slow with small bucks and as oct. has progressed, bucks have got continually bigger. 1.5 old bucks to 4.5yr old bucks in daylight.

So in one area, ground scrapes were slow, another area? Big buck may have hit the dirt if I had hunted it last week. Its a new area. Really just found it this year.

Really, even in the 3rd week, I just chose the wrong spot. In fact, big buck was on his feet at noon today when I pulled a camera. Only hunted area couple times. As month progresses, buck activity keeps increasing.

So tomorrow I am telling my boss...I quit LOL

[mheichelbech]

I think particularly this year, in my region at least we had rain throughout the summer, not really too hot or dry and as such, lots of acorns and plenty of woodland browse still green and growing through October. Therefor deer don't have a need to travel far to eat enough. Combine that with a very warm October and the deer getting their winter coats on, they just aren't going to move as much or as far in daylight. I think as previously noted, makes all the more important to be near bedding.
It's the first time in a while that I've seen more movement in October morningns than evenings. The deer seems to be staying out a bit later in the mornings but also moving later in the evenings.

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[nor' easter]

One of the eberhart books mentioned the "lull" being a combo of food sources changing and summer foliage dropping causing deer to start hugging tight to thicker cover, not a drop in activity. I have noticed in my area that the does moved bedding from one transition (hardwood to alder) to a further transition (alder to cattail) causing them to reach the fields a half hour later and sometimes after dark. For what it's worth

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[Hatchetman]

All of the reasons stated above have an impact to some degree.


IMO #1 reason:
Leaf drop.


I look at it this way.
In Wi., the deer have just enjoyed from about the beginning of Dec thru the end of September. or, roughly 10 months of walking around quietly.
Now, by usually mid October, and sometimes in only a day or two with some stronger winds, a good portion of the leaves drop and every step (if its dry) makes them sound like train. I think deer just hate making noise that much that it slows their travel tremendously. Give it another 2 weeks and the rut kicks in and their need to be so super stealthy gets alot less important.

Watch the fox squirrels sometimes when its super dry and crunchy, they can be quite comical with some of their acrobatic leaps from one base of a tree to the next to avoid the crunchy leaves, they don't like it either!

Main reason a hunt just after a rain quits this time of year is golden in my book.

[isitseasonyet?]

All of the reasons stated above have an impact to some degree.


IMO #1 reason:
Leaf drop.


I look at it this way.
In Wi., the deer have just enjoyed from about the beginning of Dec thru the end of September. or, roughly 10 months of walking around quietly.
Now, by usually mid October, and sometimes in only a day or two with some stronger winds, a good portion of the leaves drop and every step (if its dry) makes them sound like train. I think deer just hate making noise that much that it slows their travel tremendously. Give it another 2 weeks and the rut kicks in and their need to be so super stealthy gets alot less important.

Watch the fox squirrels sometimes when its super dry and crunchy, they can be quite comical with some of their acrobatic leaps from one base of a tree to the next to avoid the crunchy leaves, they don't like it either!

Main reason a hunt just after a rain quits this time of year is golden in my book.

You're squirrels must have learned different from mine. They like to throw them around. Play in them. Jump from trees into piles of them. It never ceases to amaze me how such a small animal can make such a racket haha! That is an interesting point though. And I could see that making a difference in deer behavior. I never thought the crunchy leaves would bother them..

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[VA5326]

"October Lull" is a complete fallacy.

[blueKYstream]

I think the October "lull" is true and false. It's false, because telemetry studies show they move as much or ever so slightly more. However, I personally believe that it's true because deer patterns shift. If you're hunting a farm or location that the movement shifts to than you don't see a lull. If you hunt a spot that used to hold deer, it can definitely appear to be a lull.

I hunt 2 farms that but up to each other in the shape of an hour glass. One the west side, there is a lot of summer activity. It's 250 acres of mixed hardwoods, CRP, and food plots. I've seen mature deer up until September. I hadn't even hunted the farm this year (or last year at this time for that matter), but the deer have vanished. I have 8 years worth of camera pictures to look through with the same pattern. I put 11 cameras on this farm, just because I wanted to test my theory. There wasn't a deer over a 4-pointer over the last 3 weeks. I am convinced that deer are not often using this farm at this point in time.

Contrast that with the east farm. The hardwoods are a bit more mature. It's a cattle farm. Deer shifted their patterns a bit, but I have located about 75% of the deer I was seeing before. This past weekend as in the mid-80s. Deer were moving in the hay fields right at dusk despite a bumper acorn crop and unseasonably warm temperatures. There is no "lull" on this farm.

My theory is that it has to do with a shift in the food, foliage, and bachelor groups (particularly concerning older bucks).