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Dead mornings

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,915
274
Appalachia
Seen 2 dinks this morning. Hunting property#6 tonight. Its a good east wind spot, in fact my only east wind spot. Wind is swirly tho. Doubt I see squat .

I hate easterly winds!!!

My mornings were slow that's for sure. Even my buck didn't act like he was completely ready for the rut. All his movements were fairly casual. He was simply out working his loop trying to find that first hot doe...
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,899
260
SW Ohio
Ron's been hunting hard the last two days and has had great rutting activity both mornings. Grunting and chasing and had 2 decent 18" wide 8 points come within bow range each day. Both spots are well over a mile away from each other. He's headed to another spot 20 miles away hoping a shooter is in the mix. We'll see...
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,840
247
I expect to see more deer in the morning. I've been having pretty fair morning sits, one slow day just means tomorrow will be better!
 

huntn2

Senior Member
6,090
157
Hudson, OH
Absolutely dead for me...was really excited thinking it could be a great morning with a temp of 27 when I left my truck but 0 movement for me.
 

Carpn

*Supporting Member*
2,234
87
Wooster
I saw 4 bucks and 5 does. One buck was ok, not big tho. A little grunting and doe bumping . Nothing crazy tho. Gonna get down at 11 and go to a buddies . He saw a 140ish ten point
 

Quantum673

Black Hat Cajun
Supporting Member
Seen a lot of does in the fields this morning feeding on my way to work. About 7:30 or so. Only saw one that was alone. The rest were with 3-4 others in each field.
 

epe

Senior Member
6,113
93
Lancaster
Wow, I can't believe these updates. WTF is going on??? Every year we blame the hot weather. This year is absolutely perfect weather wise. There should be cruising and chasing going on like crazy right now.

Sorry I can't help you today, but the difference between yesterday and the day before was like night and day.. 3 the day before, 14 yesterday with chasing and seeking, nose to the ground...Dad is going out tomorrow and I will let you know...
 

cotty16

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
Sorry I can't help you today, but the difference between yesterday and the day before was like night and day.. 3 the day before, 14 yesterday with chasing and seeking, nose to the ground...Dad is going out tomorrow and I will let you know...

Well, I'll be out all day the next 2 days. Hopefully the next 4 with the weekend coming. I guess I will see for myself. I hope the action picks up!
 

ImpalaSSpeed96

Junior Member
561
60
NJ
My buddy is seeing about zero chasing/searching. Actually, he's seen zero chasing, minimal seeking. The neighboring property is shut off from other hunters this year though, so he's thinking that may have to do with the lack of deer. I shot mine on what appeared to be cruising, but the 4 that was behind me was feeding actively....
 

Outdoorsfellar

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
Finally, I had a live morning.... at least compared to my other dead mronings. At 0815, the buck I originally saw a few weeks ago... a 120 perhaps, came downwind, across the slope below me. He was by himself & did not pay attention to my doe bleats or grunts. I decided to move my climber down towards that direction, since I had seen a doe down in the bottom last Saturday. Once decided on a tree, I realized that if I DO shoot a deer, it'll go downward & I'd never get him back up, or he'd go backwards onto another property, which I might be screwed. So I decided just to walk to the north & look around. I ended up coming across two small bucks chasing a doe. Right when I found a new tree, they came back. The doe squated & pee'd about 30 yards from me. I about pee'd myself in joy thinking a bigger buck would come along over the rise ... which didn't happen. The smaller of the two bucks stayed at the pee spot while the other grunted & chased the doe pass me. The buck at the pee ended up seeing me move my head. Since I was still on the ground, I figured I was screwed. He came directly downwind of me, not very alarmed & still trying to see me. While he was coming around, I got my EverCalm out & extended to make it a wick. Being smoked down & the EverCalm, he never became alarmed. He did leave & you'd swear that you could see him realize there was another deer ...whatever it was, he kept his snout shut. Nothing else after that, but I'm excited to try this spot out again tomorrow morning.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,859
260
Wow, I can't believe these updates. WTF is going on??? Every year we blame the hot weather. This year is absolutely perfect weather wise. There should be cruising and chasing going on like crazy right now.

Every year is the same on forums, my observation over the past seven years is this. Guys will see bucks out seeking just looking around or pushing a doe around just harassing her and they think the rut is here. Then all of a sudden a light switch flips and everything goes dead for 3-4 days. Most of the time they mistake this and think its lockdown. At the end of that three or four days all hell breaks loose. Personally what I think happens is all the small bucks get out cruising and harassing the does but the big boys aren't in the game yet. The does get tired of being harassed when they're not ready yet so they go and hide. Those little scrub bucks end up running into other bigger bucks and tone down their game. They start being a lot more sneaky so they don't get their butt whipped.

The point is there is always about a three to four day lull before all hell breaks loose. Despite the hot weather coming I think it's going to bust loose either tomorrow or Friday. I don't think the hot weather is going to have any effect on movement due to the little moonlight available and tomorrows low is 29. if you are thinking about staying home this weekend due to the warm temperatures I'm telling you go hunt I don't think you will be disappointed.

tripleA88 was out driving around at about 11 o'clock and saw about a 160 class and a doe next to some lady's house with another scrub buck.

I hunted a small woodblock this morning and check the camera when I left at 11. I had one Ten point about 140 and about six scrub bucks on cam since Sunday. In about 45 minutes at around 930 I saw every one of those scrub bucks from my stand. I let one of the scrub bucks get about 300 yards across the field and grunted at him. He came running back like I yelled free Obama phone in Cleveland. He hung around for about 30 minutes until another scrub buck started to come in. Then he literally ran up the hill towards the sound of crunching leaves the other buck was making. It freaked out the other buck and he hauled ass not knowing it was a deer. The last I saw of them two they were in the top field playing stiff leg I'm a badass.
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,840
247
I agree, Joe. It's about to roll. I saw a new buck this morning, and a dandy at that. New bucks show up on the farm every year when it's about to happen. I've seen good chasing and searching up until yesterday, and like you I've noticed the "lull" in years past. It's usually when I kill something...boredom makes me rattle, rattling makes 'em show up. Most of my good bucks have been killed between nov 6 and the 10th...its time.