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Hunt report / Rut report

LYON

PMA Member
I thought I'd get a thread rolling for everyone to chime in on with how their hunts are going. What they are seeing for movement and rutting activity. Feel free to post some pics from your stand setup, what deer you are seeing, etc. etc. Just another place to chime in on and say hey I had a great/lousy hunt tonight!

I took my 8 year old daughter out last night and knew where I wanted to sit, but the hang on I have in a tree there is extremely difficult to get into and it's not a good tree to add another hang on. So we did a hang and hunt with a ladder stand.....Not the greatest idea ever, but we did it anyway. I had high anticipations for the evening, and it went decent. Saw 10 does and this young stud who was trotting around grunting up a storm!
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Not sure how that full moon on November 4 is going to come into play? Either way, I'll be out.
 
Had a nice 12, 160s, past weekend dogging a doe, grunted at him a couple of times just to stop him. I snort wheezed at him and got him to come in to 40 yards but then he winded me and it was over. He was not happy when I snort wheezed at him. at least i got to pull back my bow;)
 
I was surprised how many mature bucks moved over the weekend. This week, with cold weather, if I could, I'd be in stand any cold day possible. Forecast has some low temps coming if it ends up being correct. Love those big temp drops.
 
Movement has picked up & have seen a few bucks that are clinging to the does. No chasing yet but it's coming soon.
 
my #1 made a shooting light appearance on the 17th in the morning (on camera). Surprised the heck out of me. Previous pictures were all 10 pm-5 am. It's getting close.
 
Little bucks bumping does and grunting a little. That's about it. It's not to far away. Got my Nov1-Nov7th off. So this should be a good time.
 
I'm driving over from Illinois Thursday to be there for the cold front Friday morning. Bringing 4 weeks of backlogged data entry computer work so I can hunt the whole month of November, and do computer entry bad weather days. Really disgusted our politicians brought crossguns to our entire rut this year so I intend to drag out my Iowa hunt plenty long. Don't let politicians sell out your deer herd.
 
Sat in horrid wind storm tonight, got slammed with rain for about 30 mins. Saw a 4 year old and a 3 year old. Just for fun, I grunted at that 4 year old..... Game on, aggressive as heck! Came right in to beat the crap out of something. COLD - once again, I'd hunt any day I could right now. If it's lower pressure land and can do it without screwing stuff up bad. In those situations, absolutely mature bucks moving. Buddy came with & had a legit 6, maybe 7 year old come out around 30 mins before dark making scrapes. Too far. Still sticking firm if weather irrelevent... Nov 5-22. But, any time up until then, get COLD weather, I'd go, no question, if you can do it & have plenty of stands & spots to rotate & make mindful entrances & exits.
 
Extended forecast is showing highs in the mid 30s starting November 5th. If that holds true it may be the best rut in years.
 
I hunted Saturday morning and saw this nice 8 that lives on this particular farm. He was on the wrong trail and got about 60 yards at his closest. I went back out on Sunday morning with the ghillie suit to a spot where I would be about 30-40 yards from where he was the day before and sure enough, he didn't show. I did however have a couple of young bucks sparring within about 20 yards of me, which is really cool when hunting from the ground. I went back out for a quick hunt this morning, same spot on the ground and he didn't show again. It was windy, but the spot I was in really wasn't bad. Saw a few does and a couple of yearlings. Had an old mature doe walk up to within 5 yards of me trying to figure me out and one of the yearlings walked by no further than 7 feet away. Both directly down wind. Talk about cool! Some of the hunts I've had with a ghillie suit on have been incredible! If you haven't tried it, I can't recommend it enough. I don't hunt with it terribly often, but it's nice knowing I can set up almost anywhere I want and not have to worry about a stand.

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Tuesday October 24th
NW wind 20 mph

Good movement, saw 6 slick heads and 2 good bucks moving early. Probably 3.5 year olds, but they were off a ways. Gotta love a front.
 
Was hopeful tonight with the dropping temps. Got skunked however. Did see deer on their feet on the drive home however. 1 doe still with 2 fawns, lone doe, and young buck.
 
October 24th PM hunt

Had deer around me all evening. Saw 4 bucks (three that were probably 2.5 and one that looked real old but had small headgear) and 3 does. Two of the younger bucks were checking a few of the does but no chasing. I sat in a creek bottom to try and be out of the wind. The wind wasn't terrible down there but it did swirl. However, I used nose jammer and any deer that did get a smell of me/the nose jammer knew something wasn't quite right but they never spooked. Not at all pushing a product just an observation from the sit.

Also, I had to pee before climbing into my stand so I found an overhanging branch, made a mock scrape under it and then peed it in. Three out of the 4 bucks visited that mock scrape within two hours of me making it.
 
Bowtech 84 I don't know where you are seeing highs in the upper 30's for Nov 5th and on. I'm seeing predicted forecast (even though we are a little far out) to be in the upper 40's to 50's for Nov 5th and on. I hope you are right that would have bucks cruising all day.
 
Weather.com in my area shows a high of 37 on Friday, 42 saturday and 51 sunday. Then mid-upper 40's the rest of the week.
 
Bowtech 84 I don't know where you are seeing highs in the upper 30's for Nov 5th and on. I'm seeing predicted forecast (even though we are a little far out) to be in the upper 40's to 50's for Nov 5th and on. I hope you are right that would have bucks cruising all day.

They bumped it up a little but I'll take it. This is western Iowa

 
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