A stroke of luck?

Do you ever wonder where terms originate from? “A stroke of luck,” for example, is talking about what? Golf? Anyway, my weekend started with a promising look. Going into it, my hunting buddy capitalized on a doe only hunt. Unfortunately for him, however, he had to watch a nice buck bed down by his expired doe. The buck had been chasing her, so we were suspicious of her being close to going into heat. My Grandpa (who I’ll tell you more about soon) would always cut the tarsal glans off a doe's back legs and pin them to his jacket. “The best scent is a natural one,” he would say! I learned much from my Grandpa’s ways, so I tried out this trick and cut the glands off my buddy’s doe and attached them to a bush right in front of my stand. If she had been in heat, I hoped her scent would bring the big boys a runnin'!

Well….not so fast. I did, as you can see from the video, have some smaller bucks come in and smell the glad, but nothing big came. My buddy is studying animal ecology, and I learned from him a reason why. It’s this: Many times shortly before a doe goes into heat she will secrete a smell that will get some of the smaller bucks exited. But the bucks that have been around a while—the big guys—know this and they won’t get active during daylight until the does are in full heat and close to being receptive. There are several different stages to the rut, and this first stage is known as “the chase.” And this is precisely where my luck ran out this weekend. All I saw were small bucks chasing and pestering the does, but there weren’t any big bucks moving—yet!

While this was my story from this past weekend, it will be changing soon. In the next two weeks we will be in the full swing of the rut. With the combination of that and the massive cold front that is supposed to hit the Midwest this weekend, I can anticipate a killer weekend—literally! I’ll be hitting Southern Iowa for the third weekend in a row, and I’m hopeful that I can send an arrow on its way this time! After that I’m headed to Northern Minnesota the first part of November to hunt my Grandpa's farm, but in doing so I’ll miss the peak of Iowa’s rut. It’s for that reason that I’m hoping for my own stroke of luck this weekend—one that means far more to me than any game of golf!

Some video snips from this weekend including a 8 point!

Deer Movement Update: Starting to get some curious little bucks chasing on the cold days.   The rut is a comin' but no big boys out yet.  The little guys are curious but no doe will have any of that yet.  The big boy's know this and won't start bothering them until they are receptive should be somewhere in the next two weeks.  Sat another 15 hours this weekend and saw 7 bucks (all under 120) and 30 does.  All of which were seen from 7-9am and  5-6:30pm.  A couple other buddy's saw some smaller bucks chasing too but not big boys.  It's just gona start picking up from here on out! 

Come this weekend I'll be sitting here waiting on a deer (specifically one of two bucks "monster" or "split G2's").  I'm hitting the woods a little harder this year.  Partially because I will be on a rifle hunt in Minnesota at my Grandpa's farm during the peak of the rut in Iowa and also because I have lots of extra time now that I'm done with school.  So I guess I'm a hypocrite when it comes to my last blog. :)  I just can't resist!  It's for a good cause though as I will be taking my cousin down with me to try and help him get his first Iowa buck. Come Friday at noon I'm off to the woods again!

The camera man doing a little smack talking behind my back... literally.

Here is an in-stand update from last Saturday!

Deer movement update:  After sitting 40+ hours in 4 different locations through Iowa I can conclude that we still need a couple weeks to get the big boys up and moving during daylight.  Lots of does moving even in mid-day but the bucks are only being seen right before and after dusk.  Your best bet it to stay inside and watch football for the next week or so.  Last year I took my bow buck on October 25 and he was the first mature buck I saw during day light that season.   That last week in October seems to start the magic known as the rut!  As soon as we get a cold snap in late October it is time to get in the stand.  When November hits, if you want to get that buck of a lifetime, you better be in the stand those first couple weeks.  As my Grandpa used to say, "You don't catch fish unless your line is in the water", and you won't consistently shoot mature bucks unless you hunt the rut.  So don't burn yourself out, run out of time off work, or over hunt your good spots early in the season.   You can train deer to avoid spots they feel uncomfortable in.  So save your "key play" spots for those cold early November days.