Southern Indiana Whitetail: October 26th Hunt Report, Rut Report

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

October 26th Hunt Report, Rut Report

Hunt Report
I got the opportunity to hunt "the sanctuary" this morning. It was a good example of one of those days where you force yourself to get into the woods. The wind was blowing at 15 mph at daylight. There is a huge line of storms blowing in this afternoon, so I was still hopeful that I may intercept some deer movement as they headed for cover from the storms.

I decided to hunt from the ground for a couple of reasons. First, I was considering still-hunting, which I eventually did. Windy days are a good opportunity for that. Second, there was no way I was going to mess up a good stand location while hunting on a windy, 70 degree day.

I did see two does and a nice buck. Whether or not he was a shooter is a borderline call.

Rut Report
I said last week that last night's full moon had the potential to provide some early rut action if the weather cooperated. Well, with 70 degrees and wind gusts close to 20 mph, it's safe to say that didn't happen.

However, the good buck I saw this morning was very intentionally trailing two does. And I also heard another report over the weekend of a buck that was following some does very closely. The rut is getting ready to happen. Lows are supposed to be close to freezing this weekend which could trigger the first wave. But I suspect any rut action will be very sporadic up until mid to late November.

Some good trail pictures are coming later!

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Properties

My only property in the Cincinnati area right now is a 50 acre tract on the Great Miami River that I call "The Sanctuary". 50 acres does not sound like much, but the setting of this property is what makes it great. Sitting adjacent to a park, it is protected from hunting pressure and receives deer traffic from the vast amoun of wildlife habitat in the park. The 50 acres is about 1/3 native grass field and 2/3 wooded area and thick burr patch. My first year hunting this property was 2008. Though I filled my tag on Thanksgiving morning on a different property, I saw a good amount of mature buck activity on this property that fall. Having worked hard all summer to get ready for the 2009 season, I was able to arrow a mature buck on Halloween.

The Dream 80 is an 80 acre tract in southern Orange county that is surrounded mostly by Hoosier National Forestry. We started our lease at the beginning of December, 2010. Dad had lusted after this property for many years, so it is now called The Dream 80 and referred to as TD-80. At this point (12/12/2010) we are just beginning to make plans for TD-80. We are beginning to map out sanctuaries and food plots that we will break ground on early in the spring (map seen here http://siwhitetail.blogspot.com/2010/12/preliminary-plans-for-td-80.html). The innitial goal for this property is to make it home to two mature bucks a year. That seems like a realistic goal that will push us to want more out of the property. If this property produces one mature buck (four of us will hunt it with bow only) per year, I will consider it a major success.