What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

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wkpjs
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What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby wkpjs » Tue Oct 17, 2017 2:35 am

Keeping the upcoming weather pattern in mind, what is your time-tested go-to tactic for the upcoming final days in Oct. I understand that weather is a key but for this discussion, let's assume that you have a 10 MPH SW wind and 60 degrees for a high.


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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:13 am

I firmly believe the only thing predictable is that deer are unpredictable...

I find the under 3 age class gets a little frisky and start wandering a bit more. Doe's are feeding & feed is in the midst of changing as well.

Food is still dominant, IMO, for the most part, in the North East.

It's a fun time of the year, but the 3rd week of November is the killing period for rut over here...
Expect the Unexpected when you least Expect it...
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:13 am

I firmly believe the only thing predictable is that deer are unpredictable...

I find the under 3 age class gets a little frisky and start wandering a bit more. Doe's are feeding & feed is in the midst of changing as well.

Food is still dominant, IMO, for the most part, in the North East.

It's a fun time of the year, but the 3rd week of November is the killing period for rut over here...
Expect the Unexpected when you least Expect it...
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby headgear » Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:19 am

Hunting buck beds or other large bedding areas were both bucks and does bed.
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:43 am

Not sure where your hunting but I know my best and most mature buck kills and sightings on their feet are at this time. I see pre rut to rut activity and big boys are patrolling moving farther away from bedding and hanging closer to doe bedding or at a distance where they can intercept or scent check.
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby Killtree » Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:54 am

Oct 20 I will still be focused on buck beds.
By Oct 30 I will be focusing more on funnels and Doe bedding areas unless I have a buck that I know is older than 4 1/2.
Buck that old I will still be focusing on his beds.
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby magicman54494 » Tue Oct 17, 2017 5:05 am

in northern wis I see an explosion of scrapes open up on the 26th - 27th of oct. I see this year after year. that is when I would move from bedding to rut circuits.
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Tue Oct 17, 2017 5:25 am

I'm a month behind yalls not much activity unless I get a hard frost. Tail end of Nov things start cranking up for me.
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby Redman232 » Tue Oct 17, 2017 5:43 am

I'll still be hunting buck bedding, but focus on properties where I know there are old does and I've seen good action in the past.
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby JoeRE » Tue Oct 17, 2017 5:51 am

Last 10 days of October are my bread and butter for bow hunting. Bucks are beginning to lurk in the background of doe groups. That means rut bedding is starting to get regular use. Thermal hubs are getting regular use. Rut travel routes are starting to get used between those doe groups, marked by this sign annually.

These travel routes from buck bedding toward doe bedding, thermal hubs, primary scrapes etc can be very consistent on an annual basis. They may not be showing up at these "destinations" in daylight but you should capitalize on bedding, the known direction of travel based on sign (hot sign as well as past years), and the odds are a buck will be a bit more daylight active with each passing day. Activity is still pretty concentrated at first and last light but those buck bedding areas that are fairly close to where does bed can be awesome in that time period. Provided you didn't stink them up with hunts early in the year when maybe they were not being used as frequently....which I think is a very common mistake. I suspect a lot of bedding we find gets hunted at the wrong time (namely hunting rut bedding too early), just something I have started to pay attention to the last couple seasons.

In addition to that right at the end of October is a great time to find an early doe in estrus. Look around the biggest concentrations of does, and where you might have seen an early doe last year. An unusually big spike in pre-rut activity, scrapes getting torn up, seems like an indicator that a nearby doe is close to estrus. Just something I have noticed. Its basically rut hunting a week or two early but be very strategic about it, I'm not saying just start burning your rut stands, that just digs yourself a hole.
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby <DK> » Tue Oct 17, 2017 6:31 am

JoeRE wrote:Last 10 days of October are my bread and butter for bow hunting. Bucks are beginning to lurk in the background of doe groups. That means rut bedding is starting to get regular use. Thermal hubs are getting regular use. Rut travel routes are starting to get used between those doe groups, marked by this sign annually.

These travel routes from buck bedding toward doe bedding, thermal hubs, primary scrapes etc can be very consistent on an annual basis. They may not be showing up at these "destinations" in daylight but you should capitalize on bedding, the known direction of travel based on sign (hot sign as well as past years), and the odds are a buck will be a bit more daylight active with each passing day. Activity is still pretty concentrated at first and last light but those buck bedding areas that are fairly close to where does bed can be awesome in that time period. Provided you didn't stink them up with hunts early in the year when maybe they were not being used as frequently....which I think is a very common mistake. I suspect a lot of bedding we find gets hunted at the wrong time (namely hunting rut bedding too early), just something I have started to pay attention to the last couple seasons.

In addition to that right at the end of October is a great time to find an early doe in estrus. Look around the biggest concentrations of does, and where you might have seen an early doe last year. An unusually big spike in pre-rut activity, scrapes getting torn up, seems like an indicator that a nearby doe is close to estrus. Just something I have noticed. Its basically rut hunting a week or two early but be very strategic about it, I'm not saying just start burning your rut stands, that just digs yourself a hole.


Chick boom! :clap: Great stuff Joe. Im glad you mentioned the doe bedding bc weve talked about that before. One thing ill add to that is my observations is the obvious that is mature does getting checked. One of my exp she still had young ones w her, no spots though. Also, now is a great time to consider morning bed hunts. The scenarios iv witnessed the big ones are still grey light, w a few cases of later timing.
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby vtbuck » Tue Oct 17, 2017 6:55 am

I've got 2 good doe bedding areas on one of the properties I hunt and @ October 25th buck activity definitely picks up. My cameras in these locations get more mature buck pics from this date until gun opener than the rest of the year combined.
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Tue Oct 17, 2017 7:05 am

JoeRE wrote:Last 10 days of October are my bread and butter for bow hunting. Bucks are beginning to lurk in the background of doe groups. That means rut bedding is starting to get regular use. Thermal hubs are getting regular use. Rut travel routes are starting to get used between those doe groups, marked by this sign annually.

These travel routes from buck bedding toward doe bedding, thermal hubs, primary scrapes etc can be very consistent on an annual basis. They may not be showing up at these "destinations" in daylight but you should capitalize on bedding, the known direction of travel based on sign (hot sign as well as past years), and the odds are a buck will be a bit more daylight active with each passing day. Activity is still pretty concentrated at first and last light but those buck bedding areas that are fairly close to where does bed can be awesome in that time period. Provided you didn't stink them up with hunts early in the year when maybe they were not being used as frequently....which I think is a very common mistake. I suspect a lot of bedding we find gets hunted at the wrong time (namely hunting rut bedding too early), just something I have started to pay attention to the last couple seasons.

In addition to that right at the end of October is a great time to find an early doe in estrus. Look around the biggest concentrations of does, and where you might have seen an early doe last year. An unusually big spike in pre-rut activity, scrapes getting torn up, seems like an indicator that a nearby doe is close to estrus. Just something I have noticed. Its basically rut hunting a week or two early but be very strategic about it, I'm not saying just start burning your rut stands, that just digs yourself a hole.



The better more expansive explanation of what I'm saying precisely.
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:39 am

whitetailassasin wrote:
JoeRE wrote:Last 10 days of October are my bread and butter for bow hunting. Bucks are beginning to lurk in the background of doe groups. That means rut bedding is starting to get regular use. Thermal hubs are getting regular use. Rut travel routes are starting to get used between those doe groups, marked by this sign annually.

These travel routes from buck bedding toward doe bedding, thermal hubs, primary scrapes etc can be very consistent on an annual basis. They may not be showing up at these "destinations" in daylight but you should capitalize on bedding, the known direction of travel based on sign (hot sign as well as past years), and the odds are a buck will be a bit more daylight active with each passing day. Activity is still pretty concentrated at first and last light but those buck bedding areas that are fairly close to where does bed can be awesome in that time period. Provided you didn't stink them up with hunts early in the year when maybe they were not being used as frequently....which I think is a very common mistake. I suspect a lot of bedding we find gets hunted at the wrong time (namely hunting rut bedding too early), just something I have started to pay attention to the last couple seasons.

In addition to that right at the end of October is a great time to find an early doe in estrus. Look around the biggest concentrations of does, and where you might have seen an early doe last year. An unusually big spike in pre-rut activity, scrapes getting torn up, seems like an indicator that a nearby doe is close to estrus. Just something I have noticed. Its basically rut hunting a week or two early but be very strategic about it, I'm not saying just start burning your rut stands, that just digs yourself a hole.



The better more expansive explanation of what I'm saying precisely.


I am watching these trends right now with scouting and cameras. Trying to see if which scrapes will be active or less active with little to no hunting pressure. Honestly, most of us here in the Northeast struggle big time 3 and 4th week. In the last 7yrs, 4 of them I have had an open tag for my best areas. 1 of these years was very good, the others, very uneventful. My very best times have been 1st 2 weeks of October.

So really with no tags, I will be scouting areas trying to get a better understanding of these areas for 2018. 2016 started to see certain areas I totally missed when they turned on. Those areas have cams in them now ...just wanting to see if there is an annual pattern that I can capitalize on. I watched the first 2 week of oct with small bucks hitting a certain scrape in daylight. By the third week, 3.5+ bucks were showing in daylight on the scrape. This year, there are very few acorns in that area...so will be interesting to see how much that influences this year over last.

Learning how to hunt Sept and Oct is really key to extending your seasons and putting more big bucks on the ground. It really is what pushed me to start chasing 3.5+ bucks here instead of waiting for the midwest rut to put a good buck on the ground. The rut is such a short part of the season.
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Re: What is your best tactics for Oct 20th thru Oct 31st

Unread postby Berserker » Tue Oct 17, 2017 2:02 pm

Edcyclopedia wrote:INorth East.

It's a fun time of the year, but the 3rd week of November is the killing period for rut over here...

Many areas around here they are migrating south. Funny how the area effects this so much, so the point, not really worth discussin on internet.


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