MountainHunter

Great post, as usual, Greg.

Question: The rut seemed to come in late where I hunt in the mountains. Saw almost no scrapes or rubs at all until the second week of November (usually about 3 or 4 weeks earlier for that same activity). Last weekend a friend rattled in and shot a nice 8 pointer. It looks like I won’t be able to hunt until the weekend of 12/8. And the mast crop is pretty slim where I hunt this year, with little or no crops in the fields, and where they are, is not adjacent to my property or National Forest, so food sources are problematic. Would you use estrous doe pee at that point, if the rut is on its way out?

GregH

!

MountainHunter

Thanks, Greg. I don't use the bombs, just the doe estrous pee on a wick, but what you said probably holds for that, aswell. I actually have had great success the few times I've put out doe estrous pee on a wick inthe evening (doen't seemto work in the morning). I've drawn in bucks almost every time with doe estrous pee wicks, and have seen more bucks when I've done that than all the other time I've spent in the woods combined, but it's always been in full rut. And I do think that non-estrous does do avoid the estrous ones (or their smell, which the pee emits). But I have also heard that the large bucks tend to breed late, so I'm really torn.

Thanks for sharing your expertise. You and other experts like you are the main reason whyI come here!

bhunter50

i agree greg, in that, at least in my neck o' the woods, that deer will more stray away from scents as most of the does have been bred. i had a couple does come in last night early and they winded the scent bombs with estrus in themand got nervous and left, potentially spoiling the rest of the evening seeing how i didn't see another deer. i think i will remove scent from my pack or use it sparingly until second rut starts to kick in.

thanks for the advice! i think i will let that stand site rest for a while.

GMMAT

Posts like this make me wish I had the opportunity to hunt like you guys do. I have no crops to hunt near.......and I have no bedding areas on the properties I hunt. I hunt very near to some bedding areas.....but there are non on the properties I hunt.

Interesting stuff, Greg. Thanks for sharing.

Finch

Good post Greg!

I'm a call freak. I blind call a lot and have had much success. I won't be as agressive with my calling but I will still blind call a little. I'm going to set up over an oak flat in the morning and hope I see the "one."

This time of year can get discouraging but posts such as this gets my blood back to pumping.

HammytheHunter

Don't worry Jeff, I'm in the same boat (well woods ). The primary food source in the woods I primarily hunt are acorns. We had a good acorn harvest this year, so they are pretty prevalent throughout. I've found deer browsing by both of my lock-ons, but its not like having a nice open field crop or something similar. Same goes for the beds. I've tried over and over again to figure out where the does are bedding in these woods, but still haven't pinpointed it. I guess sometimes its just a little tougher depending on the geography of where we hunt.

Regardless of that though.. this is a very good and informative post from one of the elite members of the board. Good write Greg!