As bow hunters we wait for this time all year long. As I write this it is still the final three days of October, sweet November is upon us and that magical time in the Iowa hardwoods is finally here. Anything can happen while on stand during the whitetail rut, if you can sit all day as day time movement is drastically increased. With the crops coming out when things are dry, the deer will be moving!
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Calling-
Grunting, bleating, roaring/growling, and rattling can produce tremendous results. Don’t call too much, but if you see a distant buck try calling to him and guage his mood based on his reaction. If he wants more, give him more, if he ignores you, don’t continue to call. Blind calling and rattling can be very productive also, but make sure you have fully surveyed your surroundings and know that deer are not so close that your calling sequence will spook nearby deer.
“Paint” an audio picture. Create a situation that is believable to a deer that is not far from your set up. Begin with some doe bleats, and keep it just with the doe tihng for a few minutes before mixing in a grunt or two. Throw in some tending grunts and heat things up. Mix in a few more grunts and finish off the calling sequence with a snort-wheeze. Now is the time to clash those antlers together, bang them until you smell the antler burning. Keep it brief, say 30-60 seconds max, and if you are not interupted by a buck charging into your set up, hang the horns up, grab your bow and be ready.
Sit all day-
As often as you can, plan on spending the entire day in the stand. As the November wains on, the more likely big bucks will be on their feet during midday. You shouldn’t plan on seeing large numbers of deer during the middle of the day, but the deer you do see will most likely be quality!
Sitting all day can be difficult so take provisions to make the task easier to handle. Pack a mild lunch including some vegetables, stay away from high-fat and high sugar foods as they promote a crash and you do not want that while doing an all-dayer. Drink plenty of water as that keeps fresh oxygen in your blood stream which helps keep you warm and alert. I like to take a book or crossword or something to help keep me busy when in the midst of down times, but don’t become so fully engrossed in what you are reading that you do not notice an approaching deer. I speak from experience on this topic.
I do occasionally recommend taking an empty bottle to “fill-up” during your elevated stay. Some prefer this method to freely depositing off the edge of your stand. Which ever works best for you!
Most of all, enjoy your time in the November Iowa woods, there is no better time and place for the seriously “ill” whitetail archery hunter. This is our favorite time of year and for good reason.
Our teams are still hard at it across Iowa, here is what they have to say:
Tyler Halverson:
On the 15th I shot a doe, I film it myself (cameraman had to work his real job) and got the kill shot, I’m sending that to Jason. I think Jason can pause that tape and get a pic of the harvest photo. I have an early muzzy tag in my pocket, that has been pretty slow due to a lot of rain and still a lot of corn in the fields. Last Sunday, the second time all season without a cameraman, I had a shot at a buck I call Baby 4, I took him off of my hitlist because I only got pics of him in july and wasn’t fully developed yet and seem to be a young deer. The buck stood up from his bed out of switchgrass infront of me at about 50 to 60yds. I got the camera on him and started to get my Omega ready for a shot but the buck switched course and started to walk a cross the switchgrass field. I had a tough time getting him to stop due to the high windy conditions.
I finally got him to stop at 175 yds and turn broadside. With the Omega against the tree trying to get a steady shot, I aimed a little high and hit a little high. The buck didn’t even react to the shot. As he stood there I reloaded my gun and all I had to do was change primers. For somereason the fired primers were sticking in the gun, I broke 3 fingernails and even took a tree peg out of the tree to try to free it so I could get a new one in there. After a few minutes of trying without getting it out, I figured it just wasn’t going to happen. So I put the gun away and film this great buck for another 5 to 10 minutes as he made his way toward my stand before entering the woods in front of me at fifty yds. I was very heart broken and upset, know that I could have easy made a second shot on him. But that’s hunting and it wouldn’t be this fun if you got everything you wanted. I hunted that same patch of switchgrass for the next three nights not to see him again. I have 2 nights left to try to tag out.
Travis Patton-
Unfortunately there isn’t much to update you guys on with us…..We hunted Friday morning & evening, Saturday morning & evening, and Sunday evening….5 total sits. Mornings were generally 615 or 630 to 9 or 930, no deer seen on either morning sit. We sat on an inside corner of timber that is surrounded by corn….I hope they are just bedded in the corn and when it comes out the #’s will increase.
The 3 evening sits consisted of seeing a solo doe and fawn on Saturday and Sunday while we were skunked on Friday night, very slow down here or at least in our hunting spots.
This upcoming weekend should be an extended weekend for both of us other than a Wedding Saturday afternoon/night.
George Dean
Week of the 25th
Rain, Rain go away! All the rain the last couple of weeks has caused real bad flooding problems along the small rivers and creeks where most of my heavy rut action takes place this time of year. Now I am pulling a few sets that are underwater and moving them to higher ground. The deer do seem to be on there feet in the mornings but are not really responding to calling yet. The small bucks seem to be way more interested in the does then the does would like them to be. I am hoping this dry spell and cooler night tempertures flip the switch for us here in north central Iowa. So unless your a duck or fish things are not the greatest right now.
Brandon LaFever here. Heres whats been going on in my woods. I have stayed out since last sunday evening in which I didnt see anything that night. I slipped back in there Friday mourning the 30th and set up in a known bedding area, low and behold at 7:30 in came a giant 10 pointer, he came right by at 10 yards and when he got in my shooting lane I nerped him to stop him and he came apart at the seams! I have never had a deer spook from that before. So needless to say I didnt shoot. About an hour after that I had a doe come running through like she was being chased and she was by a little 8 pointer. I went back into the same area this mourning Saturday the 31st and didnt see a deer. There is a ton of corn and beans in all around my timber and im shure a lot of deer are using it for security cover. The sign and tracks are in my woods just not the deer right now.
Jerod Schenimann and Brandon Weaver
Brandon and I got out twice on saturday and twice on sunday. Saturday’s hunts were ok. We saw some doe’s and small bucks in the morning and the same that afternoon. We did have a neat encounter with a 130″ buck coming into the decoy saturday night! Now if we can just get a big one to do that! Sundays morning hunt revealed the first big buck sighting of the rut. We dont know much about the deer, just that he was big. He passed through an opening in the timber and was gone. Barely long enough for me to get the words big buck out of my mouth and surely not long enough to get the camera on him. Sunday night was slow with it being so warm. We’ve got some vacation time starting this friday so we’re going to be praying for a cold front for this weekend and next week! Hope some of the other pro staffers put some big ones down this weekend!!!!!
More updates to come!