Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

MATURE Buck Movement Oct 1 - Dec 1 - YOUR Experience?

Sligh1

Sligh1

Administrator
Staff member
Hey Fellas, wondered what your experience is on mature deer sightings from starter to about the end-ish of rut - before it goes to a food source type hunting/set-up. Want some feedback on MATURE sightings... really, 5.5 or older BUT we could say 4.5's+ in general as it probably makes for the same discussion. From my experience, here's what this deer hunting nerd has seen....
Early October... get some cold days and I've seen some seen some OLD deer mainly on food source areas BUT my sightings then have been pretty low, very much- MORE LUCK than any other time of year. Good time to have an old buck patterned and get lucky. Good & bad- often times they are on Acorns. By mid October, this lazy butt isn't doing much hunting. Earning points with the wife and goofing around. :) I have some buddies that are "KILLERS" in Oct & I still am stuck in my Nov ways.

LATE OCTOBER... This is interesting, something I've talked with a few friends about.... Here's what I've noticed, has ANYONE seen the same as this???.... Late October in EVENINGS I'll see the occasional mature buck, last year I had one come out of bed & I was in a staging area (around Oct 28-29 maybe?) and looked like he may have been headed to check some scrapes, maybe check around for a doe & grab a bite to eat. Not sure. I hit a twig and took the hair off his back. Thankfully my bro got him 3 weeks later. Obviously, late Oct cold weather is a factor as well. I am very curious what your late season Oct strategy is??? I have several buddies that slay em in Oct and I've been talking with them some. Most hunt only at night thru Oct. Oct hunting interests me every year BUT I struggle with balancing the pressure on my "TOP NOTCH" spots- which to this day- I will not go into until Nov 3-4-ish BUT I almost feel guilty pressuring them at all... Don't get me wrong, I'll do it (hunt in SOME way late Oct- still pry stay outta my prime spots) and I want to continue to learn better ways to "do it right" in late Oct.

OK, here's a TRICKY one.... Right after I see 1 or 2 mature ones late Oct, it "SEEMS" like Nov 1-4 we never get anything. For some WEIRD reason it seems like after late Oct it slows for a few days and then a NEW GAME starts and a light switch gets turned Nov 4-ish. yes, I could be imagining this. Maybe your experience is totally different???

Nov 7-15.... I know at SOME point there, things are going to be CRAZY!!! I never know the peak and of course weather and moon play into that (weather more than anything) BUT from year to year - THE PEAK - seems to change from maybe 5-6 days in any direction. I've had it where I had to go home Nov 14 for a while and right when I was leaving things were going INSANE and then I've had it from Nov 8 things were NUTS and by the 15th we were back in a LULL/DEAD! The last THREE to FOUR YEARS, I'll take Nov 7-15 over Nov 1-8 BUT it does seem to shift some each year and other than MOON, ya just don't know what that year will produce for a PEAK. *Yes, my solution is to hunt them all if I can :)

REST OF NOV.... There's ALWAYS a lull for me, might be the 12th, could be the 18th, could be the 22nd, WHO KNOWS, whatever & for whatever reason, there's always a lull or 2, bucks locked down, etc. For the late part of November, I see LESS bucks BUT often times I see mature monsters and sometimes in the middle of the day when things are boring or hunting in general is slower. I will admit, for the last couple years, my Thanksgiving time "secret weapon" has not worked out too well BUT years before that, if I hunted late Nov- I usually could count on seeing some giants (just seems like last 2 or 3 years, late Nov kinda sucked). Granted, I killed a 7.5+ (aged at 7.5 minimum) on Nov 22 at 1:30 last year SO I suppose it wasn't horrible.

I also have the opinion the last TWO ruts have SUCKED!!!!! Whether it's weather, moon, lower #'s, less mature bucks, I DON'T KNOW but the last 2 ruts have sucked for me. Still pounded away and have some successful hunts BUT didn't see the amount of deer and mature bucks like the years it's been on fire in early to mid Nov.

OK, part of this is sharing my story & experience BUT far more... I wanna hear from others and learn what & when you see MATURE movement and how you handle the different time-frames and situations as we all must adapt to different hunting periods through out Oct to end of Nov. Some of this may be thinking too deep BUT I enjoy this, I enjoy looking at each year learning how to improve and understand time-frames, good hunting times and mature buck movement & why. Let's hear from you! Good hunting, hope you get a crack at some OLD bucks. :) Let me know your thoughts!!!...
 
Last edited:
I unfortunately no longer hunt Iowa due to tag pricing. When I lived there growing up and in some of the later years, I found my best archery hunting days were in late October. My theory is the bucks are getting horny and start
looking around...on the prowl. The rut can be successful but my experience is that you get a lot of running deer or ones that already have a group of does locked up. It is fun to be out in the woods then and of course many are successful.
 
it depends on the situation and pressure weather... etc.. but usually we have sightings the first 4-5 days of the season then it slows down until about the 18th-20th of oct and gets progressively better from there provided you have the weather. I will say nov 12-15 and the week of thanksgiving have been the best days for us kill wise
 
Nov 4th is my lucky day. The last 3 bucks I've killed have been on that day. So do you all know where I'll be on the 4th?
 
Great observations Sligh...I think you are spot on.

Early Oct is when I killed my biggest....first time sitting in that spot. I've seen my biggest deer during 1st week of Oct on scrapes and coming/going to and from food. After that is a big lull...20's of October things pick up for me. Late October has been phenomenal for younger (3.5 or less) deer...they can be seen running everywhere.

November is hit or miss for me too. Nov. 6-7 was amazing last year while it slowed big time until Thanksgiving for me...Thanksgiving we had tons of rutting activity again...

Thanks for sharing Skip.... :way:
 
Best luck I had last year with old bucks was later October. Had a huge 10 come to a scrape, but he wouldn't show his face until it was almost dark and you could just make him out. I agree that the rut was weird and all we could get to us were young guys, the big boys you would see run by at a long way, ghosts. Definitely going to hit the last part of October hard this year and then got a four day stretch from Nov 10-13. Hope it pans out. Thanks for the thread Skip!
 
The oldest buck I have shot came on Oct. 27th in 2004. He was out along a rub/scrape line in the evening and I grunted to him and he came right in. The last few years have definately produced some "crazy" hunts with buck activity in late October. Im talking lots of different bucks fighting and running around all over. Not always mature bucks but heavy buck movement none the less. Another time I have seen lots of mature buck movement has been Nov.20-28. In all honesty, I hunt at least 4-6 days hard from Nov.5-15 every year and if I didn't know this is when I should be hunting for big bucks, I wouldn't believe it is any better than a week before or after. I will say though that the greatest mature buck activity I have ever seen was at noon on a sunny day on Nov.7th in 2004. I was going to school at ISU and I parked my truck in the middle of town to watch 3 different mature bucks (huge) running in circles chasing a doe. I always mark that day but have yet to see anything like it since.

From what I have seen first hand and through my immediate hunting buddies, Oct.1-3 can be fantastic. Oct.5-20ish is very tough. Oct. 25-Nov.25 who knows so get out there and try..
 
Good thread Skip, but I can't give you any info for mature 5.5 or older, doubt I've ever seen one while hunting. But, I agree that late Oct. is good and then I've noticed like you said it is slow for a few days before the rut really hits. I've shot my buck on Nov. 7 the past two years.
 
Last year we saw great movement October 28th-30th. The weather was cool and very nice for that time of year. I saw a lot of evening movement. I killed my buck October 30th.

Then it slowed down a bit, but the weather was WINDY the first few days of November. The wind finally died down sometime November 4th-5th and the bucks were up on their feet and moving good. I videoed my hunting partner killing a mature 150s inch 10pt on November 4th and on the following morning of November 5th my friend Brent hit JackHammer but we never recovered him.

After that it was hit or miss but the evening of November 12th was cold, cloudy/overcast, and light rain across southern Iowa. Two of my hunting buddies tagged mature bucks on that evening.

Last season proved to me how much weather is in determining daytime mature buck movement, however, if I only had 3 days to be in a tree all year I would choose November 8th, 9th, and 10th as they seem to be great days each and every year.
 
Last year was kind of scattered for me.. biggest one I saw on stand was the 27th of october following a doe around. I shot mine (3.5 yr old) on halloween morning, had the big one (12pt) on cam again Nov. 5th @ 0830 10yds from another one of my stands and then a perfectly symmetrical 14 on Nov 18 on same cam right at noon... kinda hard for me to decide what days to take off this yr so I scattered them around a bit.. also had a 140's 10 regulary using the area in mid-late november but never got on cam.. I think the oldest deer was the 12 and only 4.5 yr old.. the 14 I think was only 3.5... he is going to be a MONSTER this yr if he made it through shotgun season and the rest of the year
 
I love to hunt food plots anytime a cold front hits the last 2 weeks of Oct. Evenings only! i've seen more mature bucks on these hunts than any other time. It's critical that you have a good exit strategy for these stands though. You don't want to bust deer getting down.

I've also had some incredible hunts during the Nov 20 - 25 period. Seems like I see a higher percentage of mature bucks during this time. I really like sitting all day during this period and have seen many mature bucks in the middle of the day.
 
Last year I shot a nice buck in mid October, but hit him too far forward and did not make a recovery. That was the earliest that I have ever had a chance at a mature buck. I was in a good spot, and had this deer scouted. I caught him moving through the timber, in the morning, on his way back to bed. The rest of October was slow right up to Halloween. I then tagged a nice buck on November 6th.
When I first started bow hunting, I was just like a 3.5 year old buck. I would run into any stand and expect to see a shooter everytime out. I have come to understand that without having a good pattern on a mature deer, and without waiting until the conditions are right to move in on him, hunts are most times better left until late October. I now prefer to use early to mid October hunting as more of an observation period. I like to hunt stands that will not intrude on the "bedroom" of a mature buck. And, I am atleast out there giving it the college try.(I would rather be lucky than good.) Up until last year, I had always had my best luck hunting 5 days either side of Thanksgiving. Deer sightings have always been down dramatically, but mature buck sightings increase. I think the more dominant bucks are ranging out more and looking for late receptiove does.
Good post Skip....I hope others share what they have seen over the years, this is a great opportunity to learn.
 
I'm focused on one deer again this year. The last two years this deer has either crossed to the neighbors land or went completely nocturnal the 3rd week of Oct. The last sighting I've had is that week. My plans this year is to hunt a bit harder in early Oct and hopefully catch up to him before he feels pressure.

I think that happens quiet a bit with pressured deer. I know I've seen it before but was to dumb to figure it out. I guess I'll know in a few weeks if it was a good move or not.
 
Saw 3 mature bucks on Oct 23rd evening, that was the full moon. There was a light rain and they came into beans and chased every doe around. Then I didn't see another mature buck until Nov 11th. It was a real grind this rut, by the time I connected on the 11th I was burned out bad from not seeing anything over 120" for 17 days
 
In the areas I hunt, Nov 5-7 are the best. The first does are coming into estrous and the bucks are in major chase mode. After that most of the bucks I see are with a doe. We continue to hunt hoping to catch a mature one between does.
I use most of October to observe movement and pick up a few does away from our core hunting area.
Probably the most productive over the past years is late season with snow and really cold weather sitting on a food source.
 
Where I hunt I never see a buck over 120 inches during October EXCEPT Halloween. I have killed some nice deer during the evening on Halloween. As for the rut, I am going to have to agree with you. It always seemed like the rut was the first week of November lately I would have to say anytime between the 8th-16th is peak rut in my area. I have killed more deer on November 10th than any other day. For the late season action, I shot one mature deer the day before thanksgiving about 5 years ago.

Last years rut was really whacked. Seemed as if it was every other day you would see the mature deer.
 
Never fails, I always see a really good buck on Oct 1. Open day of bow season. I think the reason for that is there had been now hunting pressure. This has happened for the past three years!

arrow flinger
 
Ive killed the bulk of my bucks on the 30th and 31st of oct. but have killed my bigger bucks the 8th and 9th of Nov.
 
my experience (limited at best) has been in line with yours skip...and a bit like Gladiator's. A few "lucky" sightings of big deer on feeding patterns in early Oct...and I'm really really praying for an encounter on Oct 1st this year. I have never "big buck" hunted the first week of Oct, but have to this year as I have one patterned. I've seen the October lull and hunted it waaay too much when I was younger. Got me burnt out, so I pretty much don't hunt until halloween-ish or in to Nov.

My experience has also been a bit of a slow down between the first good activity in late Oct - Nov 3rd...then it picks up around Nov 8th-10th then it goes almost completely LOCKED DOWN in the middle of Nov, but come Thanksgiving it's on like gang-busters!

My buddy dropped a 190 on Oct 4th last year...I'm hoping to do the same on Oct 1st this year. My buddy's buck was on a casual feeding pattern and I'm hoping the buck I'm after makes the same mistake. Expectations are rather high:way:...if it doesn't work early for me this year, then I'm going after them Nov 4th - Nov 13th...after that my wife is due to have our son and my 2011 bow season will be over.
 
It seems like after reading through the posts that there is quite a bit of consistency. There's really about four time periods during the archery season to really see a mature buck.
1. Right at the beginning of October while they are still on a summer feeding pattern.
2. Late October, probably the first few does coming into estrus, from about the 25th to Halloween the 31st.
3. The peak of the rut, varies where you are, but the key days seem to be the 7-12th of so.
4. Late November around Thanksgiving, probably looking for those last few does coming into estrus.

Then of course there's the late season hunting over a good food source.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom