Ep. 611: Rut Fresh Radio 12/14/2022 - DOLDRUMS OF DECEMBER

here as well. And we have the one and the only, the distinguished Arkansas and Clayton not Clayton, clay that I always want to call and call you clay because Clayton, because it's my whole life. Casey, I know you asked me to not. My name is just for so now him if if people call them Casey, yeah, Casey yeah actually yeah, but that's all right. Uh Um. It's names are fun, man, because you know, if you take yourself

too seriously, you get mad about stuff like that. But if you don't, then you just we're killing name though you think, Yeah, I think the barbecue, I mean like, I mean nothing against Matt or yeah, the mass of the world. Yea, yeah, I mean, I know you're talking about Josh's killers, but I just don't think the the world right, the marks of the world we gott But yeah, we actually are on a hunt in Arkansas together right now, having a good time being Meat Eater Crew members. Let's

let the cat of the bag here. Uh, Tyler and myself have joined the Meat Eater Crew stuff officially, we've been uh working together for a while. We're gonna keep doing that and uh, but all the Elements stuff that you've seen us do is still gonna be about the same as it always has been. We're gonna keep on chasing deer around and having fun. And so you guys are first of all, that's this is incredible. Um, this is great. But just for everybody out there, like everything's

gonna stay the same, y'all. It's still gonna be pumping stuff on the YouTube channel are still gonna be and White Tails Pigs doing the Element podcast. You're just uh, you're just on the meat of your team now, that's right. That's great. Team Clay, Team Clay. That's right. Hey, I I kind of no one gave me permission to do this, but like I claim, where I live as meat eater south Okay, yeah, but I mean now that you are further south than me, you meet your southwest. Yeah yeah,

I think Yeah. I mean if East Texas is southwest, I don't know southwest where you are. It's all about perspective, And so is the white tail rut. That is that is so across the country, the rut is doing all kinds of stuff. We talked to guys today who have every opinion of the rut and we did something weird

this year. And maybe you have uh insight to this, but it seemed like across the country is about two weeks late, which is a large discrepancy, uh for you know, what's something that's supposed to be controlled by diurnal cycles, right, so or however you say it, you know, the sun and the moon and stuff. So, um, what do you think about that? Well, that would be pretty close to what I experienced, and I would have attributed it to weather.

Like the most intense white tail hunting I did was the first eight day is of November, and typically in the places I'm hunting, that's a really incredible time to hunt, and it really wasn't. And at the time we were like man, it's it's kind of like it's a weak delayed. So that's actually the first time I've heard that. But I feel like as hunters, we always have some anomaly every year that makes it different, and so like, is there really a standard rut? That's kind of my thing

because we're sure hadn't had one anytime. I mean, you see what I'm saying that there's always a reason for something to be squirreling. Absolutely. I feel like, um, I've said this before, but a lot of the white tail hunting information kind of radiates from Iowa out in general. That's where a lot of the stone Co killers of

the past lived and killed. Michigan some yet too, But those northern Midwest latitudes, I think things are still pretty consistent there, but start getting further and further from that nucleus, like things get different. And I understand that the weather cannot have an effect on a dose extra cycle. I get that, um, but it has an effect on perceived movement absolutely, and we've seen that this week. Actually it's real hot. First time first day we got here and

didn't see as much as what we probably did today. So, uh, you know, whether it's almost everything when it comes to why tell hun you know, like it's it's such a I wouldn't say overlooked um detail, but it's it's just so commonplace that we just kind of accepted without really putting emphasis on, like, uh, maybe paying attention to some of the small discrepancies that can make a big difference. I don't know. Wind direction is gonna be a different one.

First to Mara, we've been having a pretty consistent wind, and then now it's going to change in the morning and we have to kind of decide what we're gonna do with that. Well, I think I think any kind of change is gonna be good because up unto this point what's been happening hadn't been working. So somewthing changing is gonna be good. We needed you to show us how to kill deer in Arkansas, man, I might as well be hunting white tail deer in Spain. Like this is.

We are in my home state, which I love, but I've never hunted in the delta. You know, we're in the eastern side of the state, and uh, oh, it's just Arkansas is very much so divided, like almost equally in half from the northeast corner to the southwest corner and then the northwest Big triangle for Arkansas is a square is for the most part mountainous and the the other The other triangle is influenced by the Mississippi River delta,

so just different. You're familiar much more with the mountainous. Absolutely. Do you feel like you've told me before this hunt that you're really excited about it because you always want to get down here? Yes? Um, do you feel like you're more adept at hunting the mountain white tails even though maybe it's a better hunt down here as far as what people can you know? Would consider? Like, are you saying would I would? I know that better if I gave you five days and said hey, Clay and

picked the mountains, you would? Yeah? I just I mean because we've we've struggled down here in big time. I mean, I have just trying to figure out I mean, the things that I have deeply ingrained in me in terms of topography and cover of what these dey are gonna do. These deer don't at all, not even remotely. And so it's kind of like, uh, I tell I texted Brent Reeves and I said, this is like learning a different language.

It's like, does a deer walk through this stuff? Like the deer that I know don't walk through this stuff. They go around it. And it's just it's just you mentioned several times that you wouldn't call something thick if you were back home. Yeah, so it's thicker back home, that's what you're saying. Yeah, I mean, so not to get into the weeds. I guess the pun was, but the everybody said, we gotta find thick stuff down here. And thick is a relative term. I mean, back home,

thick means like you can't walk through briars. Like down here, it's like thick is Donald Trump's hair, Yeah something like, Yeah, that's uh, it's relative. You know. At home for us, we live in fairly similar habitats yours more mountainous, but same kind of right weeds and stuff, right, Like, it's pretty similar. And um like, there's stuff that's so thick that you don't hunt there because it's not great hunting. The deer don't really go up in there very much.

It's kind of a it's a monoculture of sorts, you know. But here it's really gone more than three yards, yes exactly. I don't really have that here you have these little pockets of uh cover uh. And I think that's probably has to do with the you know, open hardwoods, top terrain. That's the that's a hard thing to learn. How to hunt bigwood stuff is tough, and you gotta see deer. Like right now, I'm walking through the woods and I don't have this database in my mind going oh, I've

killed a deer in the spot like this. Yeah, that's so meaningful, so meaningful. And I walked through the woods and I go, I don't know if I should hang in that tree or not. There may not have been a deer walking by this in the last five years. You know. That's the woods are the woods anywhere are difficult for that reason. I feel like, you know, it doesn't matter where you are if you cannot observe deer during your hunts, you're you're learning curve is and we're

and we're not seeing deer while we're even scouting. We're covering big ground that I know of, and and yeah, that's what I'm saying, like, we're not just if you're if you're sitting and seeing you know, three or four deer sightings, you can kind of be like, Okay, and and we've probably had that. But I mean, i've seen one deer during a hunt on this trip i've been. I've seen one deer from a stand. Yeah, so to yesterday from the ground walking in the casey hunted it

from the ground a few times. So I've seen a few here, but it's never it's and I saw two from the stand first evening and they looked they were the color of the woods. I don't know if I've seen dear match as good as he's deer. It's wild, yeah, strange and so um. That kind of adds a whole another complexities to things of like, h just they not stick out very good, you know, and uh, they're smaller

bodied animals and all. This just makes it a little difficult something that deer in the South into Dudes get real gray in December. I feel like we see it in Texas a lot. And um, in this habitat and in Texas and other habitats, December is gray and the habitat is gray. The dirt is gray. The leaves of you know, broken down and they're gray. Like I mean, dude, it's hard to see, dear man, it is. You know how I knew those deer were there. I heard an

acorn crunch. That's how I knew that deer was there. I heard an acorn crunch, and I was like, what was that? Because it's actually was too late for squirrels to be out, so I was like, well, that's not squirrel. I turned around in fifty yards away they were two does. The only way I could I could just see their legs, you know, white leg It's all I could see. Um, So yeah, I had a but though I saw the night was real light colored, and I still struggled to

see her. But I was in a little bit lighter habitat, was in more of a wetland with that yellow grass and stuff. But the only reason I knew she was there is like I thought I heard some footsteps and she was at That happened not exactly where I thought I heard the foots. I heard a little something. I turned around. There was deer tonight. It's like, man, crazy Clay as a native Arkansas, and um, I'm gonna give you the honor of given us a scale of one to ten for Arkansas? Is it honorary? Um? This is

a lot of responsibility. What do you think the buck movement is gonna be going forward, well, I mean back home. I would say it would be very low in the mountains right now, except for you know this quote unquote second rut when some of these funds come back in the mid December, which is real and happens. I see a little spike buck activity this time of year. So it's real, but hard to capitalize on in the in the lower lower regions of Arkansas, the flood prone regions

of Arkansas. This is is the tale, the legitimate tale of the main part of the rut. And uh, I wouldn't know that from experience. That's just what I have been told. We though have seen. The first day I was here, like the first hundred yards that I walked was the was the highlight of my week so far, when I jumped a bucking a dough and then I jumped some other dos and two bucks and so like all of dear I saw had dose that I saw,

I had bucks trailing them. Tonight, coming out of the woods after dark, we saw a big buck and a doubt well you guys did, and um, yeah, sure enough. And uh and so it feels like that we're there is some rut activity down here Eastern part of the state flood prone regions. Yes, it's so. Did you give us the number the whole state? Well, that's what the idea is. We're going to be three because in the Ozarks would basically be one, and here it would be a six, so it would be the average of the

three six. I like it. I like it, so Tyler, Yeah, we're gonna talk to some other people around the country who got a little bit of experience in the woods right now who were talking to Yes, sir, we got a few people lined up. Lucas Psycho, good friend ours. Uh, he's in North Dakota, and the dude kills Big Dear every single year, every multiple sometimes it's it's unbelievable, really, so definitely worth listening to. Nate Crick from Identical Draw.

He hasn't been in Nebraska, give us a report there. They spent a lot of time there. Brian Shirts is a good friend of ours from Texas down local to us. He's he owns on Target Archery, which is our local archery shop, and they take care of us. They're super good people. He's been up in Iowa where he's from, has a lot of experience there over the years and went and did a d pop hunt that like, they

shot all kinds of deer on that hunt. And then uh, lastly, we had Parker McDonald who's been uh in Alabama as he usually is and hunts the many different ruts of Alabama, and one of those I think is coming up here pretty soon. So we can check in with those guys and see what see what those ret movements are. Why across sounds good. Hopefully I can get a little inspiration as to what to do in the morning, because right now I'm at a loss. Let's see if these guys

got some good ideas. On the phone, I've got the one and only Lucas Psicho don't pronounce it keiko. What's up, man? How are you doing? Appreciate that? Hey, man, it's it's going well up here. How you guys doing. We're doing good. We we feel like we're cold, but I'm sure we're not um compared to where you are because you live actually, like on the Arctic Circle. I think it's probably then it comes your way first. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm on the southern edge of the Arctic Circle. Yeah, well you're

in North Dakota. Been doing some hunting up there, man, and it looks like you may have found one. Yeah yeah, yep, yep, bumped into one here this past weekend. Um, I've had the uh, I've had the last nine days off. It's straight to hunt and uh, it's been a while since I got to hunt this later season and uh, you know, lo and behold, the rut actually wrapped up welt the November really it really, I guess it was always going, but daylight activity really rapped up that that latter part

of the rut there. So, um, what a coincidence that you mr uh just knows how to hunt deer happened to take a late you know, vacation to hunt deer in the in the rut ramped up. Did you have any insight as to like that was gonna be the way? Well, so it was. It was actually the muzzleloader tag. I

had a muzzleloader tag. I drew it. Spent thirteen years since I drew it, So it kind of put me in that time frame right there to hunt that that that two weeks anyways, So um, but not knowing knowing what what I went through this now in this last two weeks, it's like I'll definitely push them back a little further because we get a lot of the nighttime activity in the rut here now through like through November, and there was there was obviously them daylight activity you

know here and there, but it wrapped way up. There was way more people talking about bucks running all over the place that that right at the end of November, first week in December up here. Yeah, that man. We saw some similar things really and have talking to people across the country on this thing over the last few weeks about how the rut you know, really was just so different this year than it's ever been. You know,

it seems like it's it's odd. I don't know what the factors are or why that that happens, but how how has the weather been like is it Is it average as far as like your tamps and stuff like that in the last week, Yeah, it's it's been a little on the colder side. Okay, we got we got into the sub subzero temps here in this last last week and a half a couple of times. So does that do you feel like the weather has much effect

on the perceived rut? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, Well what I what I've seen is any time any time that that weather takes a hard dip like that when when generally it's not not to be expected, it locks the deer up a lot. It just it's just there's just not a lot of movement. It's weird. They just it's like they just hunkered down and waited out, you know. So so when I when I've seen it, it was hitting and and deer movement was way low the two days that was sub zero temps out there, and uh so

I stuck it out. I didn't have any choice, you know, I wasn't gonna not hunt. So um, it was brutal. But yeah, it definitely, it definitely puts it puts a damper on it. Yeah, that's interesting that that definitely we saw the same thing. I saw the same thing in Oklahoma during the run as well, or like, we got some pretty cold temps and weren't seeing much movement, which

is interesting for sure. So, uh, you know, I would assume that this time of year, you guys are liable to have a just brutal weather front at any moment um. If that happens in the in the saying the next week or so, how would you how would you go about trying to kill a buck? You have to get super tight to bedding. I guess right, lo and behold, we have a massive front moving in right now. We're we're supposed it like anywhere from six to fifteen inches,

you ever take. Sounds like a good time to have a field tag right right. It just perfect. Anyways, My my, uh, my dad is still after one of the bucks that that I was after, you know, along with this one that I got, and so um he had. He he was just frequent and frequenting the area a little bit as well where where I killed this one. And so he and I were already going over a game plan for hum for tonight, because it's the night before these

fronts move in. It's it's always fire man like up here, if you, if you, and and sometimes the day as it hits, as it's hitting, it's good. But then once it sets in, it's gonna go dead for the time period of it's a will it's here, and then it's gonna be that first sixth eight hours after that snow stops and it calms down a bit, and then them you're gonna be right back up and rolling again. So

it sounds like an exciting week, man. So if you had to rank it, on a scale of one to tea and for buck movement, what would you rank the upcoming week? So I'd say this this day and then so today tomorrow, I'd say ten, ten to ten, because it's it's just everything's gonna be moving today and tomorrow, and then then it's gonna take a massive dip down

to like a two or three for like whatever. However many hours twenty four, thirty six hours, while that thing's here on top of us, it will take a massive dip and then it is gonna fire right back up to that that seven eight nine range, probably right that first day after it. So um and then in general, right now the deer movement is really well because they're they're on that bed, defeed, they're they're trying to regroup, you know, from from running that rut real hard. So

it's pretty good. You know, this is trustworthy information, guys, if you're listening, this guy knows what he's talking about. Man, that is forced you to proof is in the pudding Man Psycho knocked down big ones every year, So du congrats another big buck and congrats on't getting the tag field before the sub zero TIMPs. And uh man, I hope that y'all have any of firewood stocked up? Oh yeah, definitely. Man, definitely appreciate you guys. You know it's always cool. Lucas.

Thanks Man, see you yep. Thanks on the phone. Right now we have got the man, Parker McDonald. He I'll tell you what. I will take a sick Parker over most guys when it comes to the deerwoods and they can find ears. They can find ears, Parker, give us the truth. How are you feeling, I'm not feeling too great. Um. We'll up this morning at two thirty to go out my dad's here. We do a rutcation every single year here in Obamma. And um, we've hunted a couple of

days not seeing a ton. We've seen a little bit, but not a ton. And uh woke up this morning had the first north wind that we've had and probably a week and a half, maybe more than that, it's just been rainy and hot here and so we finally get this north wind and I'm jacked up going into some of these really good spots that I've been waiting for.

And Uh, I got hit with the kidney stones this morning and me and Dad spent from two thirty till about seven with me crying on the floor in the in the living room, and then he took me to the er and I got some pain pain killers. And if I didn't have these pain killers right now, dude, I'd probably be still on the floor crying. It's about the worst. It's about the worst pain you could possibly imagine. I I don't know any way to you'll you'll normally do a buck movement um to the one at ten.

And I was about a fourteen on Yale this morning. But m M, I'm gonna keep grinding, dude. It's it's uh my November rut. I was supposed to be gone to Kentucky and Tennessee for sixteen days and I got kidney stones then as well, and it knocked me down. My my trip ended up being about four days. Mm hmm. These are different than the rolling stones, right, yeah, yeah, these are very much They don't really win any awards.

And well, we'll see what else, Sailly we can get you to say, since you're on some of your pain killers. But uh, let's let's talk about some of the rut movement stuff. You know, Alabama's notorious for a late rut and probably some interesting rut dates around the state. Um, what are you seeing right now? Well, right now, I'm seeing all my Facebook memories pop up of all these books that I've killed from December one ish and uh

and so far it just really hasn't hasn't happened. I killed a buck um on the second of December out here, and he was chasing the dough. But the interesting thing about it was he um his tarcels weren't didn't even look like they were used. The dough that he was chasing was like legitimately trying to get away from him, and she still had a faun um I can. I can tell you I've planted man, probably seventy of the last weeks of the days and yet to see a hot dough. I've seen a lot long does. I've seen

bucks checking scrapes um, smaller deer checking scrapes um. But if I'm being honest, is the biggest This is crazy. The biggest deer I have seen in Alabama this year is a big frame four point that I saw a few days ago. And Man, usually by this time of the time of the year, I've got a couple of bucks around, if not being tagged out. The last probably two or three years I've been I've got all three of my bucks in Alabama by this point. So do

you expect things to change in the next week or so? Here? Man, I hope I've been wrong every single time this year. Um about when the when it's finally gonna kick off. We've had a couple of a little cold ish days. When I say cold in the South, I mean you know, mornings in the forty degree range and then getting up to five or sixty degrees um, And I've thought like, Okay, this is gonna kick it off, This is finally gonna

kick it off. And then we get hit with another four days of muggy, hot weather and rain and it just hasn't happened. But um, start Wednesday Tomorrow is supposed to be about the same. It's supposed to be, you know, fifty degrees and the winds coming out of the north. Wednesday we got a lot of rain coming, but cold weather with that rain, and so um, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then all next week are supposed to be like fairly clear and very cold. So I really do

think that's gonna kick it off. And everybody in the area. I know, you guys have talked to a lot of people and other states that have seen late ruts this year for whatever reason. Um, but you know, typically the w m A and and the public area that I hunt, by this point, it's produced a bunch of really nice here and and you're just not seeing it. There's been a couple here and there, but it's just not it's

not been there. And usually the State of Alabama their Facebook page absolutely promote the crap out of this place. So going forward, like in the next week, are you gonna be are you gonna be just going you know what, it's time, the weather's there, We're gonna focus on rut tactics, hunting, pinches, those kind of things. Absolutely, I'm I am. Uh, I've been doing that. That's the bad thing is I've been

doing that and just not seeing it. So a couple of days ago, got in really really tight to some thick bedding cover, like like really tight, and I've been holding off on getting that tight. And um, when I was walking out, I ended up bumping a buck to

my dad. He couldn't get a shot, but I found I finally found the sign that tells me that it's at least close, like big huge at rubs scrapes every twenty yards you know that hadn't been hit in a minute, um, which to me, I don't know what you guys, how you guys feel about it, But whenever those scrapes are not getting hit as much or as often, to me, it tells me those bucks are are looking for that. I hope that's the case because right now I'm seeing some of that stuff too, and I just feel like

they just don't give a hoot. So I like that there is some optimism in the future here, man. And we know the pain scales of fourteen? Can you tell us what the buck scale is gonna be and the next week on a scale of one to ten? Man, I really think when you get into I think Thursday and Friday are gonna be pretty good. But I think when you get into that, you know, third day of the front and on is gonna be probably the best deer hunting that we're going to get to have the problem.

The problem for me is that we gotta go to Florida for Christmas break. I'm like, I'm gonna be out there in that cold rain. You know, I'm just with kidney stones and all. It's it sucks and it's unfortunate that I gotta deal with it, but um, it's not a good enough excuse for me to stay home. Well, way to be tough, Parker. I can't wait to see what you produce. A lot of times adversity makes some pretty cool stuff happen, man, So get out there and

get after. We appreciate the report, man, Yeah, absolutely, Man, Thank you guys, and good luck to y'all. Also for the rest of the season. On the phone, now, I've got Brian's shirts from on Target Archery, our local archery shop. We love this guy and he shoot some big deer. Brian, you've been up in Iowa recently. It sounds like you had a pretty good hunt. Yeah, it was, it was. It was a great time, he really was. Yeah. So, um, I guess, explain what you're doing. You were shotgun hunting.

I guess. Yeah. It was first shot first gun season, which is shotgun or three fifty or four fifty uh straight cartridge that you can use legally, or a muzzle utter but it has to be a straight wall uh type shell yep. Basically a slug gun. You can't use buckshot. But but it was in southern I where we're at. So you're you're doing drives. I guess yep, we're doing Uh, we'd put people on stand and then people would walk through the we drive hunt to be walker. We call

them walkers. So the standards are actually standing or they on a like a tree stand or a platform or something. Oh no, we just standing. We stand against a tree. Basically you're on You're on the ground the whole time. So how do you how do you decide how to like where the where there is gonna be bucks and and how to push them out and everything. Okay, so basically what you have is you have a lot of agg I mean it's primary agg fields that we're walking

is in. It's like drainage. Dittess that we're walking is heavy timber, really brushy, thick, nasty, crawl on your knees through stuff to get through when you're when you're the when you're there, we're considered the pusher or the walker. And then uh, and then they push those draws and they've done it so many years, I mean twenty plus

years they've done this same. I guess it'd be like almost like six farms that that the landowners want us to reduce the dear population because it's such a detriment to the agg poppet, to the egg that goes on there. That's cool, man, So how do you determine what is a shooter in that? Are you still trying to go and shoot a big buck when that's going on, or y'all just meat hunting? Or what's it looked like? It's

pretty much a meat hunt. Now, we will run across some rather large animals because yeah, a few a few of those there. Uh, you know, it's just it's just one of those things where you're that's so thick, you'll walk right by you know, you know, five or six year old. But because they've done that so many times that they just noticed stay still and guys that know how to push push that push it will get them up.

But like newbies or guys that haven't done it much will walk right by the big bucks because they just don't understand where they've bet down. I know, this whole tight until you walk by. What's the uh the strategy on actually getting a shot off? Are you doing something to make the animal stop or you're running shots or what's that look like? It's a little bit of both. Uh, when you're used to shooting the bowl a lot like myself. Uh, it takes a little while to to get you know,

you try to lead them. You shoot way over and or way under, you know, way under and a way in front of them, because you don't realize the bullets gonna get there faster than what a narrow would. So uh, it takes a little while. But a lot of times they'll actually stop and they'll they'll come into you know, because they'll run into a draw and just kind of stop thinking, oh I'm out of the pressure now, and they'll stop right in front of you. You'll get some

decent shots that way too, got you. Most most of them are there, you know, kind of you know how a deer. You spoke them and they'll kind of look back at you after you do it, and that's when they normally get a good shot. That's where the mess up happens for them for sure. So uh kind of going forward there then, uh, you know, if is that gun season over? Is that still something that's going on

up there right now? They have the first shotgun and then they have a second shotgun, and your second shotgun is going on right now? I just got back from the first one. If you if you weren't trying to do the push thing, and maybe you're a solo guy, what's the uh what's the outlook look like for that? Are you thinking that you know, hunting evenings or or

what what's gonna be kind of the key? Well, I was I was fortunate enough I have some property I can hunt up there, and so we push The first two days I went with them and did the whole drive thing, and then I set on my own property and uh set just like a regular hunter, you know, he just basically setting a setting to stand and just kind of played it. You know, are they gonna come to agg fields or you know, come to eating and stuff like that. But what I've seen was the evenings

were phenomenal. Uh, the mornings weren't so when you set, the mornings weren't that great. I mean there was a little bit of activity, but it was just kind of getting out of the bed and just browsing around the betting areas what they were doing. Yea. But but the evenings, they were definitely coming to agg fields. I mean it was crazy to see how many were in the fields

after the hunt. You know, you drive and you see them out in the middlefield after shooting legal shooting time, and it was just like, oh my god, there's a hundred deer out in the cornfield. Didn't was there any particular aggs or food source that they preferred? Well, uh, a lot of them in the corn fields. Uh, but alfalfa, like inn alfalfa field. That was a good alfalfa. Man. They were like stacked like cordwood and those really yeah, And it was nuts how much how many they were

in there? Uh, in my particular area. I mean, it could be different somewhere else, but it seemed like the agg fields and the corn fields and not much in the beans. If they were standing beans, you might see something, but most of the time the corn that was down. Of course, on the in rows where they knocked down some corn, there's you know, there's corn there. So okay, well that's good information. Man. So if you were gonna be hunt in Iowa, especially southern Iowa, you're at in

the next you know, week or so. On a scale of one to ten, what do you think the buck movement would be? Like? I've talked a lot of my friends up there and relatives and stuff, and uh, what I see is get on the edge of some agg fields and get some funnels. Get those funnels where they're coming out to feed on those indros and things like that, because that's premium. I mean, they're they're definitely off of

off of those. Now I would what I see, uh Now, the bucks and those were out in the field together at night when I was driving around, you could see them. I mean after the season was over. It was over on Wednesday, and I went out, Like any any hunter, if you go out and look and see what's out there, you know, and you're going like, oh my gosh, I should have hunt it over here. You know, what if what if if? Yeah? Yeah, exactly the scale of one to ten, what would you give it for the next week?

Next week, I would say, I would say it's gonna be a good solid seven. That's pretty nice, man, exactly. I think the pressure will come off on those bucks, will come out more because they're I mean, they pushed a lot of places push up there, and so after they get past this last gunning season, I think they're gonna relax and come to feed because they're gonna be they're gonna be held up in the woods. I mean, because there are feeling a lot of pressure right now. Yeah, yeah,

well perfect man. Well, thank you for the report, and that's good helpful information and we'll be talking to you again soon. All right, it sounds good man, good luck. Okay, Here, I've got Nate Crick from Identical Drawl. Nate, you've been in Nebraska lately? Has it been cold up there? It's been pretty cold, but it's also kind of been uh, I mean, I guess i'd say it's been pretty average

for this time of year in December. Nothing uh, nothing frigid, but um yeah, it's been mornings in uh, I mean mid twenties and thirties and then it's actually warmed up to two forties lately. So yeah, kind of kind of average. Yeah, and that's uh, I mean, you guys spend some time there, so you know, that's that's kind of average. And have you had any snow? Um? No snow really yet. We have in the mile back, but I think I'm seeing some on the forecast, but it's been uh yeah, not

a whole lot of pre sip. Yeah, So you know here in this like second wink of December. Um, I mean, what have you been focusing on when you're hunting up there in Nebraska, and what should or you know, what would you have been trying to kill bucks doing? Right? Yeah, So this last weekend I was out Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and I actually saw several pre decent bucks. Um. This

was private land I was hunting. But man, I feel like after November leaves, everybody kind of forgets about um, like kind of the Doe movement and like doesn't really care about that much anymore. Which hey, it's definitely less

than a few weeks prior in November. But man, every single buck that I saw, UM was still with some does I saw Okay, I saw a couple of spikes that were off by themselves, but I saw at least a couple UM I saw at least like an eight point um and then maybe at eight to ten point for they're off and they were actually like falling string of dolls still, So that is something to definitely consider

still this time of the year. UM, and they were actually maybe it was maybe it was kind of dependent on um where I was hunting, but we were hunting pretty close to some bedding cover and I was seeing those bucks still following a couple of dolls. That's cool. So was that mornings or evenings when you saw those bucks with those doughs. I think I saw both in the evenings, still had really solid dough moving in the morning, but I saw both of those bucks moving with probably

within that last hour of the day. Got you. Were they headed to some like agricultural food source or what were they? What were they really doing? Yeah, so they were in this this area in the brass where I was hunting. Is like these bucks, man, all these deer just travel a ton um and the sources actually were

on this property were pretty limited. So yeah, they were actually moving quite a way to get to that food source, which I think was actually helping maybe get them up on their feet a little bit earlier to get to that food source. Uh. But yeah, they were, They were on their way. Every single time I saw them. They were pushing to an act field that was probably half

a mile or so. Got you, So, if you were gonna kind of maybe target Bucks still right now, would you be I guess you're you know you mentioned betting cover. Would you be hugging and talk to that betting cover, especially on the colder days, like you know, because a lot of guys burn vacation and stuff during November, and then if they don't have a buck tag field, they kind of have to pick and choose what days they use.

So how would you navigate that? Yeah, first, man, if I still have a buck tag to feel actually this wintered,

all right, So let me ask you the question personally. Yeah. Yeah, So what I'm gonna be doing is I'm going to keep you waiting for extremely cold tempts um just basically as cool as we can get, and then I'm going to honestly be be working those travelers, like I always say, people during this year, Man, get back to your scouting mentality that you kind of have early season, because they are kind of beginning starting to get predictable again as time you're working the foods worse is a little bit

more betting in certain areas, more kind of settling down from the rut. And so I'm like, man, spend a few days really figuring out where that deer movement is centralized, and then go hunt it tight like I'm gonna I'm gonna get I'm gonna hug that betting cover real tight. I mean, it's an aggressive mentality, but I'm still like, man, if I only got a few weeks in December to kill. To kill a buck, I'm like, I'm gonna I'm gonna scout it hard for a few days. I'm gonna go

in and really try to kill one. So so um, as you look forward for the next week here, I haven't real looked at the forecast for Nebraska, but you, being a current tag holder, I bet you have it on your mind. Do you foresee that cold temperature coming up in the next week, and what do you expect the deer to be doing? Then yeah, it is, Um, We've actually got a real good drop Tuesday to Wednesday.

I think Tuesday's temps are mid fifties and I think Wednesday's got a high in the thirties, uh, bringing some bringing some north winds. So yeah, Wednesday and Thursday are actually looking pretty primo. And then honestly through the weekend, which got of course, I've got a bunch of family events. But but I'm gonna definitely be hunting um some Thursday and Friday, just because I know though, those cold temps

will really get those bucks moving. Um. And like I just said, I'm gonna be really primarily focusing in on where they're getting to that food source from so Okay, So if you had to guess, with that cold weather coming up in the next week, what buck movement would be and make an estimate on a scale of one to ten, what would you rank it? Man, I'm gonna rank it actually pretty high. I'm I'm talking like probably

eight or nine out of ten. Yeah, man, I think it's gonna be real good marking down for eight point five, sir, that's perfect alright. December has been so mild. I'm like, as soon as this big tim drop comes, I think everything that has been chilling out the last few weeks can be moving. So yeah, yeah, they've been getting used to that easy stuff. Man, it's right, fix and get hard. You know. Well, dude, I hope you do well with that tag. It sounds like you have the optimism it takes.

You just gotta go out there and put it into place, and do you know you will? Man? Yep, for sure. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. Thanks guys, all right, dude, thanks, yep. I hope that y'all are still in pursuit of white

tail do because dear season is not over. It's a great time of year to kill a big buck and It's also a great time of year to capitalize on maybe a little less hunting pressure and a little more insulation because it's the holiday season and you get to eat a lot and go hunt and there's nothing better

than that, guys. Uh So, if you want a little extra inspiration or something fun to do, you should go check out uh the newest video on the Element YouTube channel where our very own Greg Latham shoots an awesome Texas hill country buck on his family place. It's really cool hunt self film by him, first self film hunt ever. There's also a good article by Mark Kenyon on corner

cutting winds to kill big Bucks. And then I want to make sure and give my special friend here Clay a little plug for the bear bear Grease I'm sorry Bear Grease podcast. Little podcast out there. Uh Supposedly on the day that this podcast, there's also one of the most compelling and interesting Beargrease podcasts ever produced will be released, So you'll be sure and check that out. I can't tell you anything more about it. That's how truck Clay

treats us. He says you gotta listen, so we'll listen. Um. Remember, guys, this is rough fresh, Keep it fresh.