Starvin Larry

Rut activity appears to be slowing down a lot. In most years,in NE Ohio,the peak of the rut falls the second week of November. More deer are bred on or within a day or two of November 15th than at any other time during the rut.

That doesn’t mean the rut is over-far from it-what it means is that the peak has passed. Deer are still being bred,does are still coming into estrous,and bucks are still trying to breed them.

The does that are in estrous are either being “tended” by a buck right now- have a buck following them everywhere,never leaving the doe’s side-or have a buck-or bucks following them. The majority of does who still have not come into estrous are going to do so this week.

Then,starting the first week of December,and peaking the second week of December,all the does who were not bred during the November rut are going to cycle into estrous again. The December rut is nowhere near as intense as the November rut,but it is still well worth your time to hunt if you’re looking to tag a big buck.

Rattling is less effective,but doe bleats and grunt tubes can be very productive-as can the fake scrapes you made back in late Oct.

The snow we have will be gone by Mon,except for a few isolated patches here and there. Mon. is a good day to visit your fake scrapes,clear the debris from them,make some “antler marks” in the dirt with a small rake,or gardening claw type tool. Adding some dominant buck scent,and some estrous doe urine to the scrape is also effective.

I plan on freshening up all my fake scrapes either Sun. afternoon,or Mon late morning/early afternoon.

I’ll decide which stand to hunt just before I go-as wind direction matters-a lot. Just because the bucks are looking for does to breed doesn’t mean they get stupid-they still move carefully,scent checking as they go-that’s how they got to be big bucks-by paying attention to their surroundings.

Since gun season is coming up quick-12/1-12/7-I plan on hunting hard from now until 12/6,and with a little luck-tagging a nice buck before gun season has them all stressed out for a week or ten days.

I’ll still hunt the gun season whether I got a buck or not-you can’t eat antlers-so I use gun season as freezer filling time if I’ve taken a buck already. If I haven’t taken a buck,I’ll still take a doe during gun season if the opportunity presents itself. I plan on taking a doe this week as well,since we can’t use doe tags after 11/30.

Three deer will feed us for a year,add a few rabbits,a few pheasants,the steelhead we’ll start catching soon,and we don’t buy much in the way of meat or fish from the grocery store.

Combined with all the veggies we grow in the gardens,we feed ourselves without going to the grocery store for anything other than coffee,tea,salt,sugar,yeast,flour,condiments,spices,and a few canned goods.

Now,if I could just get the beer and wine production going again-add a few solar panels,a small windmill,build a still,we would be 100% self-sufficient…

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Do More PT !

Do some extra PT !