November 10 

Rut Report

The final days of my "Rutcation" are approaching.  Unfortunately at the time of posting, I have yet to fill a tag.  Hopefully with cooler temperatures predicted this weekend that will change.  Here is a quick summary of my daily hunts.

Hunt #10 November 5 Location Minnesota

Temp 58F Wind SE 3 mph Barometric Pressure 30.28 (steady) Moon Waxing Crescent

I donned the blaze orange and sat for opening day of the Minnesota firearm season.  Action started quickly with a doe and fawn walking by my stand at first light.  Things were looking promising.  Unfortunately those were the only deer I saw the entire day.  Another hunter on the same farm did harvest an 8 pt buck on opening day.

Hunt #11 November 6 Location Iowa

Temp 54F Wind SSE 6 mph Barometric Pressure 30.28 (steady) Moon Waxing Crescent

A funnel between two small wood lots was the location for my morning hunt.  At first light I had a 2.5 year old 8 pt walk past my stand.  Not the caliber of buck I am looking for, especially on my first sit in Iowa during the rut.  A couple of hours later a 1.5 year old buck made his way out of the standing corn and also passed my stand.  An overall slow hunt.  Mid-day I hung a new stand on the new property which I obtained permission to hunt.  While hanging the stand an 8 pt buck came within 5 yards of me, and a nice 10 pt walked right under my freshly hung stand (my bow was in the truck.....).  My evening hunt took place over my corn food plot on a different farm.  Action started quick with 2 small bucks working their way passed my stand.  Several antlerless deer fed in the corn plot and commercial bean field the rest of the evening.  I was surprised that no other bucks came out to the plot to check the half-dozen antlerless deer.


Hunt #12 November 7 Location Iowa

Temp 51F Wind S 9 mph Barometric Pressure 30.20 (steady) Moon First Quarter

I sat in the new stand that I hung on the new property.  This stand is on a narrow strip of timber overlooking a large river bottom.  Access to this property is a problem.  I have a 1/2 mile walk to access the property, and to get to the woods I need to walk through a picked corn field.  Not an ideal set up.  I bumped a half-dozen deer that were in the picked corn field on the way to my stand.  The deer slowly returned back to the field to feed, and then worked their way back to the timber to bed down for the day.  I had a doe and fawn bed down 20 yards from my stand for over an hour.  2 small bucks came in and bumped the doe out of her bed.  The action the rest of the day was very slow which made of a long all day sit.  I was encouraged by the number of deer I saw at this new location, but the lack of mature buck sightings is getting frustrating. 

Hunt #13 November 8 Location Iowa/Minnesota

Temp 48F Wind NW 9 mph Barometric Pressure 30.28 (rising) Moon First Quarter

A day to forget.  I was in another funnel between a large section of river bottom public land and a series of narrow wood lots.  This stand does not look like much, but I have had some exciting mature buck encounters here in the past.  Unfortunately the only action was a doe and spike buck.  For the evening hunt I was back to Minnesota with the gun overlooking my brassica food plot in the Oak Flat stand.  Deer movement was terrible with only a button buck and doe coming out at last light.  Another day of slow deer movement.

Hunt #14 November 9 Location Iowa

Temp 57F Wind SW 4 mph Barometric Pressure 30.40 (falling) Moon Waxing Gibbous

I was back in the same location as Hunt #11.  When I arrived to the woods, I found that the farmer had started harvesting the corn that surrounded the woods the day prior.  When I pulled into the driveway, a doe and fawn crossed the road into a strip of corn that was still standing.  I made it into my stand "clean" and got comfortable for another all day sit.  The doe and fawn that I saw earlier entered the woods an bedded down 30 yards down wind of me.  I can attribute using Nose Jammer as the only reason these deer did not wind me.  An hour later, a 2.5 year old 8 pt entered the woods from the corn to check the doe and fawn.  The doe and fawn were pushed from their bed by this buck.  Finally some rutting activity! About 10 minutes later a nice 10 pt buck entered the woods and checked the bed that the doe was sitting in.  He proceeded to then walk run under my stand and stop in a shooting lane giving me a perfect 5 yard broadside shot.  I passed on the opportunity thinking the buck was only a 2.5 year old.  Mid day was slow, but about 2 hours left in the hunt the 10 point buck worked his way back to my stand.  After the slow afternoon and more time to see the deer through my binoculars, I convinced myself that this buck would be worthy of my tag.  Unfortunately he did not provide a shot attempt on his return visit.  An hour late a nice 8 pt came and checked that same doe bed.  He had a couple of sticker points and some unique character on his right G2.  The buck did not provide an opportunity, and I think I would have passed him anyway with my focus shifted to the 10 pointer.  A very exciting hunt! (One I may regret the longer my tag goes unfilled)

Hunt #15 November 10 Location Iowa 

Temp 64F Wind W 10 mph Barometric Pressure 30.00 (falling) Moon Waxing Gibbous

I went back to the same location as the day prior to see if there would be similar action. I only saw one yearling buck.  I figured it was time to regroup and try a different stand.  I went back for an afternoon sit on the new property.  I was hopefully that getting to my stand in the afternoon as opposed to the morning would spook less deer.  This did help, but I did jump a few deer on my way to the stand.  Mid-afternoon action was tremendous.  I saw 3 small bucks on their feet cruising for does.  I saw a HUGE buck down in the river bottom about 75 yards from my stand.  I grunted at him in an attempt to bring him in, and he started to walk down wind and ultimately caught my scent (I had my scent-lok jacket off due to the warm temps and not wanting to wear it on my 1/2 mile walk to the stand.  I ended up seeing 6 different bucks and another half-dozen anterless deer.  Another exciting hunt,  the rut is really heating up now!-KK