WEEK 2 RECAP
Last week, I was patient and I hope you were too. Early on the week, when you stepped outside it felt like stepping out into a July day. Temperatures crept into the 80s accompanied by high winds; if you were in a treestand you were either out of your mind, or just had to get out of the house to enjoy some quiet time as you felt the sweat drip down your face while not seeing any deer. If you were patient, and waited for the last few days of the week though, you were most likely rewarded with a lot of deer movement, and maybe you were lucky enough to tighten that string as the buck you’ve been watching all summer finally showed himself in daylight as the cold front moved in.
The theme of last week for not only myself, but several others I talked to was “close, but no cigar.” A lot of people I had conversations with saw a lot of good bucks last week, but they were unable to close the deal. For myself, I was able to hunt Friday morning, Friday night, Saturday Night, and Sunday Morning. Friday was uneventful; the winds were still very high, rain was on and off all day, and the pressure system never got over 29.5; consequently, that led to zero deer movement where I was at. However, there was one highlight to my Friday evening hunt; my girlfriend was able to join me in the blind for her first hunting experience. It was a bummer we didn't see any deer, but she still enjoyed it enough to want to come out again with me in the near future. Success.
My girlfriend Kaely and I on her first hunting experience. She looks like a natural!
Saturday night was a totally different story; Saturday nights hunt was the first hunt of the year that my adrenaline skyrocketed to levels it only gets to when I see a buck that I want to put an arrow in. Overall, I saw four different bucks on Saturday night; only one mature buck, but it was a fun night in the stand as I was able to observe a lot of cool buck behavior. I watched two young bucks hit the same scrape, then proceeded to lock antlers a few minutes later. Then around 6:45pm, as the temperature dove into the low 40s and the pressure system rose above 30, one of the bucks I have multiple pictures of over the summer showed himself in the standing bean field I was watching that night. He ended up taking a path about 55 yards away from my stand, which was too far for me to even think about letting a carbon express fly, but it was reassuring to see him and to know he is bedding on my property. The following morning was a perfect morning to be in the stand as well. The temperature was close to freezing, which is a bowhunters dream in mid-October. To go along with that, the barometric pressure was above 30, winds were low, and there was barely a crescent moon; the perfect recipe for a good morning in the stand, and a good morning it was. My cousin Joe tagged along to film me, and from first light until about 9 am we had steady deer movement around us. The first deer was a young 8 point buck that walked right underneath us a couple different times before camera light, and that was the only buck we saw that morning. The rest of the morning we had multiple does running around the timber making their way back to the bedding area from the bean fields that surround the property we were hunting. Overall, a very successful weekend in the Michigan woods even though no meat made it to the freezer. I plan on that changing very soon.
WEEK 3 FORECAST
Last week I thought I was excited about the upcoming week, but this week is a whole new story. I’m personally not a huge believer in the “October lull,” I believe it is very weather dependent and hunting pressure dependent on whether or not the deer are moving in the daylight hours during the middle weeks of October before the chasing period begins. Looking at weather this week though, I’ll be surprised if we see a decline in deer movement. As of right now, Friday seems like the only day I would be wary of being in a stand because of the high winds out of the east, and the barometric pressure drops off quite a bit from Thursday. Speaking of Thursday, be in the stand that evening if you can. The wind looks primarily out of the Northwest, and the pressure is measuring around 30.5, which is going to be the highest it has been all season. If there’s one day you hunt this week, make it Thursday. This weekend isn't looking too bad either, the pressure is measuring steadily above 30 and temps will be in the 40s all weekend. The wind speed does look like it could be a little high, and also could be swirling, so be wary of that when trying to choose where to hunt this weekend. If it’s swirling, I stay out of the stand, but if its a strong wind that is constant out of one direction that might give you an opportunity to squeeze in tight to a bedding area and shoot that big guy as he hangs out in a staging area before making his way to a food source. Lastly, ACORNS. If you have a stand near some white oaks make sure you are sitting in it this week. The deer will be on the feed with these cooler temps, and acorns are their favorite food source this time of year.
GOOD LUCK THIS WEEK! AS ALWAYS, SEND US SUCCESS PHOTOS!