dbltree
Super Moderator
If you spent your high school years wondering, as I did, if you would be drafted and sent to Nam when you graduated, then you might remember when the EDMUND FITZGERALD carrying 26,116 tons of taconite pellets broke up and sank in Lake Superior on Nov. 10th 1975.
Gordon Lightfoot's haunting song about The Wreck Of the Edmund Fitzgerald recounts what it must have been like in the last terrifying moments for the 29 officers and crew.
When the Gales of November come slashin' me in the treestand I often can't help but think of those men and I'm thankful that I can climb down and go have a hot dinner and a warm hug from my wife.
This November, mornings have dawned cold, blustery and sunless more often then not.
Rain and snow have greeted most of us many a morn.
Eventually the sun did manage to wake up the day with it's bright and welcoming warmth.
Early on we had exceptionally warm weather that affected daytime deer movement but colder temps soon kicked them into high gear.
Every day from the 8th on I have seen the typical frenzied chase phase as bucks dogged does like a cuttin' horse works a steer.
Doe patterns began to change to avoid the runways and feeding areas the bucks were checking. Almost comical to see them sneaking down fence lines or crossing mid field ever watchful for a hormone charged buck.
I watched more then one sneak across this switchgrass field...can you pick her out?
Some days I saw nothing but bucks as they hit out across open fields, nose to the ground, traveling at almost a lope.
There are still thousands of acres of standing corn in my area (40% unharvested statewide) and the corn fields make an excellent hiding place for nervous does.
Runways are beaten along the edge of these fields where they not only have cover but plenty of high energy feed as well.
Creek bottoms winding through the standing corn give bucks a focal point to follow as the use their noses to check for hot does that have crossed from using the water back into the corn.
Whitetails breed every year regardless of weather within days of the 15th of November. Of course a few come in heat in October and stragglers way into December but year in and year out...it's the same.
We can't predict the weather but we can predict the rut so regardless if we have a heat wave or the Gales of November, we have to adapt and take advantage of the one month of the year when mature bucks make the mistake of moving in daylight hours.
I prefer to take does anytime but November but...I'm also an "oppurtunistic" predator and when one comes by with no buck in tow......
I have spent many days, all day in the woods and I can tell you that they they move anytime of day in November. Just when I think I will succumb to complete boredom, along comes more deer.
Even with the November winds slashing me, even with bitter rain pelting me...they move.
A buck chasing a doe at 12:30, a doe and fawns at 2:00 but just before dark the big boys come ghosting from the timber, slipping across fields intent on only one thing...
I took time to join my son as he checked his trapline one morning and one can learn a few things doing so. Creek crossings churned up from deer moving where scarcely a track had been a month ago.
My son is more important to me then all the deer in the world and it meant a lot to him that I would ask to go along.
I did object however to the cubby set he placed on a major runway right in front of my trail cam no less...
Finally we got a break and watched the sun set even as the November winds rocked and swayed the tree I was in. It's times like that when my soul is soothed and it feels great just to be alive and able to enjoy the the days end.
There is a whole lot of November left and the best is actually left to come. As bucks run out of hot does in another week or so they will make frantic cross country dashes in search of...one more.
That makes them even more vulnerable then they have been, so don't give up if you haven't connected yet. Don't think it's over, that they are "locked down", that it's too windy, to cold, too warm or to rainy.
I love Jesus, my wife, my son and......
November!!
It's an awesome time be alive and I'm blessed to be able to spend so much time in the stand.
Keep at it, don't give up, change up spots, look for faint runways around edges rather then big timber...you might be surprised and spend a few bucks to join the PMA...it's the only place you'll be able to see the buck I harvested.....
Good luck and dress warm, I doubt that we have seen the last of the Gales of November!
Gordon Lightfoot's haunting song about The Wreck Of the Edmund Fitzgerald recounts what it must have been like in the last terrifying moments for the 29 officers and crew.
When the Gales of November come slashin' me in the treestand I often can't help but think of those men and I'm thankful that I can climb down and go have a hot dinner and a warm hug from my wife.
This November, mornings have dawned cold, blustery and sunless more often then not.
Rain and snow have greeted most of us many a morn.
Eventually the sun did manage to wake up the day with it's bright and welcoming warmth.
Early on we had exceptionally warm weather that affected daytime deer movement but colder temps soon kicked them into high gear.
Every day from the 8th on I have seen the typical frenzied chase phase as bucks dogged does like a cuttin' horse works a steer.
Doe patterns began to change to avoid the runways and feeding areas the bucks were checking. Almost comical to see them sneaking down fence lines or crossing mid field ever watchful for a hormone charged buck.
I watched more then one sneak across this switchgrass field...can you pick her out?
Some days I saw nothing but bucks as they hit out across open fields, nose to the ground, traveling at almost a lope.
There are still thousands of acres of standing corn in my area (40% unharvested statewide) and the corn fields make an excellent hiding place for nervous does.
Runways are beaten along the edge of these fields where they not only have cover but plenty of high energy feed as well.
Creek bottoms winding through the standing corn give bucks a focal point to follow as the use their noses to check for hot does that have crossed from using the water back into the corn.
Whitetails breed every year regardless of weather within days of the 15th of November. Of course a few come in heat in October and stragglers way into December but year in and year out...it's the same.
We can't predict the weather but we can predict the rut so regardless if we have a heat wave or the Gales of November, we have to adapt and take advantage of the one month of the year when mature bucks make the mistake of moving in daylight hours.
I prefer to take does anytime but November but...I'm also an "oppurtunistic" predator and when one comes by with no buck in tow......
I have spent many days, all day in the woods and I can tell you that they they move anytime of day in November. Just when I think I will succumb to complete boredom, along comes more deer.
Even with the November winds slashing me, even with bitter rain pelting me...they move.
A buck chasing a doe at 12:30, a doe and fawns at 2:00 but just before dark the big boys come ghosting from the timber, slipping across fields intent on only one thing...
I took time to join my son as he checked his trapline one morning and one can learn a few things doing so. Creek crossings churned up from deer moving where scarcely a track had been a month ago.
My son is more important to me then all the deer in the world and it meant a lot to him that I would ask to go along.
I did object however to the cubby set he placed on a major runway right in front of my trail cam no less...
Finally we got a break and watched the sun set even as the November winds rocked and swayed the tree I was in. It's times like that when my soul is soothed and it feels great just to be alive and able to enjoy the the days end.
There is a whole lot of November left and the best is actually left to come. As bucks run out of hot does in another week or so they will make frantic cross country dashes in search of...one more.
That makes them even more vulnerable then they have been, so don't give up if you haven't connected yet. Don't think it's over, that they are "locked down", that it's too windy, to cold, too warm or to rainy.
I love Jesus, my wife, my son and......
November!!
It's an awesome time be alive and I'm blessed to be able to spend so much time in the stand.
Keep at it, don't give up, change up spots, look for faint runways around edges rather then big timber...you might be surprised and spend a few bucks to join the PMA...it's the only place you'll be able to see the buck I harvested.....
Good luck and dress warm, I doubt that we have seen the last of the Gales of November!
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