Halloween has passed and things are about to get interesting in the deer woods. The smaller bucks have been pushing each other around and pestering the does. The bigger bucks that were only making night time appearances are moving during daylight hours now.
More road kill deer will start showing up which is a sure sign that the rut is starting to kick in. I watched a couple of does trying to run their last year fawns off which is something else I look for. Fresh scrapes have been appearing underneath overhanging limbs and I have a couple trail camera pictures of two nice bucks working them. I put a 15-foot tower blind in a powerline right-a-way a couple of months ago that I’m really looking forward to climbing into. Being elevated will allow me to see the entire right-a-way including the bottom of two hollows that I couldn’t see out of a ground blind that I’d been hunting out of in previous years. I’ll be comfortably waiting for a nice buck to cruise by in the weeks ahead.
I really like hunting out of blinds as you’re out of the elements and your scent is contained. Deer get use to non-moving objects and after a while they get familiar with them being in the same position and eventually don’t pay any attention to them. As long as you aren’t getting busted on the way in and out you can get away with hunting out of the same blind throughout the season.
There are some red and black oak acorns this year but the white oak acorns are lacking. There’s a good stand of white oak near the tower blind I just put up but there are hardly any acorns under them. The deer around here have still been hanging in the fields.
The first two weeks of November would be an excellent time to spend as much time in the woods as you can. The bucks will be on the move looking for the hot does. A big buck can be here one day and a couple miles away the next until he finds a doe in estrus.
The key is being patient and ready as the action can happen fast. There’s nothing that gets the heart pumping more than hearing the rustling of leaves and watching a good chase. Those bucks will run hard and give it all they have running after the does.
A little bit of doe in heat urine would be a good tactic to deploy real soon. Throw in a doe bleat or two followed by a few grunts and get ready. November is the month to deer hunt. There’s still 2 ½ weeks to bow hunt before the rifles start cracking. There was a 4-day doe season at the end of October that had the deer on edge but they’ve seemed to have calmed back down. Do whatever you can to get in the woods the next few weeks especially if you’re looking for a nice buck. Good luck and be safe.
