00:00:01 Speaker 1: What is going on? Welcome to another week of Rut Fresh. This is Jake Hofer. And this is the week. This is the week we've all been waiting for. This is probably the week you're burning vacation days or calling in sick from work. And so we have a wide variety of reports coming in from Indiana, Arkansas, the Ozarks of Missouri and Eastern Tennessee. And there's some great advice here. And I think I'm just going to say this. This is the week we've been waiting for. This is the weather's not perfect. Things aren't exactly how we imagined. But This is the time of year where every single season, the biggest deer make the biggest mistakes and you have to be out there in order to have a chance. So without further ado, we're going to jump into our first guest with Wes Delks of Indiana, who just tagged his target buck over the weekend. As always, Rough Fresh is brought to you by Moultrie. Here we go. All right, kicking things off, we have Wes Delks, who recently... Shot a giant buck. Congratulations. How does it feel? 00:01:02 Speaker 2: Thanks, brother. 00:01:03 Speaker 3: If I'm honest, those emotions are more like relief, gratitude, and thankfulness more than excitement. The last few bucks haven't really been buck fever, like no shakes before or after. 00:01:21 Speaker 2: It's just gratitude. Gratitude. 00:01:24 Speaker 3: And thankfulness. The night afterwards, didn't sleep a wink, not a wink. And then the next night, sleep like a rock. But yeah, very grateful, very thankful, very humble. 00:01:42 Speaker 1: That's super awesome. And what we've all been planning and imagining in our own heads for it to come together is always a powerful thing. And you design properties for a living too. So I'm curious, kind of the quick story of, of how this came together to close out October. And then we're going to dive into what, what to do in November if you still have a tag in your pocket. 00:02:02 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:02:02 Speaker 2: So, uh, it was a permission piece. 00:02:05 Speaker 3: Um, and so it's always different on a permission piece than a home farm, but I'm very grateful to get to do a lot of things on this permission piece. I've been given a lot of opportunities here to, to make some changes. And, um, This was a buck that I found a shed antler last year. I was kind of putting a game plan together for him for this upcoming year. Got into the summer and got a few pictures of him. Actually, just one series of pictures of him this summer and saw that he was a good one. But at that time, I had a different buck. that I wanted to chase for this season. And then when we got into early fall, that bigger buck, he broke a significant portion of his rack. And then this deer, the buck that I called G4, he immediately became the target. And he got the name G4 as his. 00:03:06 Speaker 2: G4s were his longest tines. That's interesting. 00:03:10 Speaker 3: Yeah, which, I mean, I've gotten pictures of a lot of bucks, and I've never had a buck that their G4s were their longest tying, thus the name. And in previous years, he would rut on this farm. And last year, he showed up on October. I hope I'm saying these dates right. He showed up on October 23rd and stayed around for the rut. And so going into this year, I kind of thought that, hey, this is probably going to happen very similar to last year. However, started getting his picture quite a bit at the end of September. And pretty regularly getting some daylight pictures. And not one to miss an opportunity. Our season opens October 1st. And on October 2nd, I had the right conditions. 00:04:06 Speaker 2: Where I wanted to honey map. 00:04:08 Speaker 3: Went in and he got downwind of me, went directly downwind of me about 75 yards, puts his nose up in the air, hops back into the cover. And then he went MIA for like three weeks. And I mean, so that whole time I'm beating myself up as, Hey, did I just ruin my chances? 00:04:32 Speaker 2: Is this story over? 00:04:34 Speaker 3: And same time, same place, 364 days later, he shows up on October 22nd from the previous rut, or when he came for his rut range the past time. And on October 22nd, the chase was back on. And I had prepped, uh, 14 different stand locations. And when I say prepped, what I was doing on this particular property is I would have either, uh, screw in steps or sticks on a tree, cut the shooting lanes. And then I would pack in the Novix on my back. So every single hunt was a hanging hunt, but the trees were already prepped. And so I had these 14 different trees prepped and, uh, On October 22nd, when he shows back up, I mean, the chase was back on, had a few hunts for him, and didn't see him. But then on October 30th, that evening, we had a northeast wind, which four out of my last five bucks happened to be on northeast winds. 00:05:45 Speaker 2: That's probably an entirely different conversation. But with that. 00:05:49 Speaker 3: Northeast wind, I was going through that list of stands in my head, and and just really didn't have a good feeling about any of them based on what he'd been doing the past few days. And, uh, so I went to a different tree that was kind of a oddball, uh, location, a very conservative location that I hadn't prepped anything there. And, um, I take my sticks, my stand. And as I'm climbing the tree, I literally pray to God and, and say, God, if it happens tonight, it is totally going to be a God thing because deer just don't come within bow range of that tree. It's just a, it's wide open and they just don't come within bow range of that spot. 00:06:39 Speaker 2: And, um, uh, as luck would have it. 00:06:42 Speaker 3: Um, As the evening wanes, prime time gets here, there's two bucks chasing a doe, G4 being one of them. And there's a county road, and I've got a lot of what I call deer gawkers, where people just drive in roads looking for deer. 00:07:00 Speaker 2: And that just makes you nervous as a hunter. And one of those vehicles stops to watch these two bucks chasing this doe. G4 locks up. 00:07:13 Speaker 3: Looks at that vehicle, makes a 90 degree turn and trots toward my tree to the base of my tree. 00:07:23 Speaker 2: And shot him at four yards. 00:07:25 Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. 00:07:26 Speaker 5: Yeah. 00:07:27 Speaker 3: I mean, as much as you complain about the deer gawkers in your head while you're sitting there, that he, he was going to be 80 yards away from me until that scenario played out. So I'd rather be lucky than good. uh definitely what i call some divine orchestration on how that played out but extremely grateful uh yeah luck absolutely came into. 00:07:54 Speaker 1: Play oh my gosh that is that is well that's that's this time of year i mean there's a lot of unpredictable things that happen and sometimes you get a lucky bounce but you have to be out there and hunting smart to have you know to get the lucky bounce and so Congratulations. That's, that's really cool. That's a, that's an incredible story. 00:08:12 Speaker 3: The luckier you get and you got it, at least put yourself in that position. 00:08:17 Speaker 2: You got to put yourself in his range. 00:08:20 Speaker 3: Um, but then, yeah, I mean, as far as getting within bow range of them, um, it's November, it's sweet November. 00:08:27 Speaker 2: You just never know. 00:08:29 Speaker 1: Yeah. And so for, for everyone listening to this right now, um, what is your, what's your playbook for the fourth through the 11th? If I had to venture and bet this is when most people take their vacation. This is when most people are logging hours in the tree. What is the quick game plan, a handful of rules to keep in mind as we go through one of the most exciting weeks of the year for deer activity? 00:08:53 Speaker 5: Yeah. 00:08:54 Speaker 3: Yeah, you basically hit the nail on the head. It comes down to seat time. I mean, most people know that there are more Boone and Crockett bucks shot on November 7th and November 8th then the other dates on the calendar. 00:09:10 Speaker 2: And if you go a few. 00:09:11 Speaker 3: Days either way and look at the fifth to the 12th, that's the time to be in the woods. 00:09:18 Speaker 2: That's the time to log the hours. 00:09:20 Speaker 3: With that said, when you're chasing a specific buck, I think that with experience and time that you gain a gut feeling on the when you're chasing a specific deer, of whether you need to be calculated and precise as, okay, I need to wait for certain conditions, maybe some neighboring pressure and an east wind and a cold front to hunt this spot and kill him on this day. Or sometimes you just need to pound and you just need to sit every morning and every evening down that comes with experience that comes with time. There is a time with certain bucks when you just need to put in the seat time. And there is a time with other bucks where we need to be very precise and very calculated and, um, be very dialed in our tactics for chasing a specific deer. And that just comes with, uh, experience. And, um, people that have been listening to this podcast are probably a lot of them are chasing, been mature bucks for years and they've got that gut feeling. 00:10:34 Speaker 1: I think that's very important of following your gut this time of year. Cause, um, there's a lot of second guessing, uh, to, to your point of like the deer gawkers, like there's so much randomness that happens this time of year too, you know, so-and-so, you know, wounded a deer and they need a track. There's a lot of, potential hurdles, you're going to have to be mentally tough and stick to your plan. And do you think you need to be adaptive still throughout this time? Or is it simply, you know, Hey, this is, uh, this is my spot. This is, you know, they didn't prep 14 stands. They prep four and these are my four stands. I'm going to keep rotating them. 00:11:05 Speaker 2: We've always got to be adaptive. 00:11:07 Speaker 3: Um, yeah, your buck might get shot and you got to go chase a different deer. Um, the neighbors start hunting more along a property line. Um, there's a hundred factors that you've got to be able to read the situation and adapt. Um, but yeah, it's, it's about being flexible and just making the next right decision. It is just make the next right decision. 00:11:34 Speaker 1: I think that's great advice. So we've had unseasonably warm temperatures throughout October looking into. 00:11:39 Speaker 2: You know, all of October. 00:11:42 Speaker 1: Now, now what we plan for, you know, looking into the first part of November and, and really, uh, you know, through these next seven days, you know, there's a little bit of a front that comes in. But still, you know, where I'm at in Illinois, we still haven't had a hard frost yet, which is very, very unseasonable. So how much does that factor into a game plan, knowing we're eventually going to get a hard frost? We're eventually going to get a real wicked cold front at some point in November. Are you still full court press for these next seven days, knowing the dates of the calendar may trump the weather to some degree? Or, you know, like that's a debate that's happening in every deer camp. 00:12:16 Speaker 4: Right now. 00:12:18 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:12:19 Speaker 3: So in early season, September, October, absolutely. 00:12:24 Speaker 2: I mean, we're on cold fronts. 00:12:27 Speaker 3: I mean, even if it's a small cold front, because we really had one major cold front the entire month. But for me, when the calendar turns, literally when the calendar turns, like November 1, I'm probably going to, just start putting in the seat time. Like I said, there's certain bucks where you pound, there's certain bucks where you wait for certain conditions. But once the calendar turns, I'm going to be putting in the seat time. Obviously, when it's warm, I mean, things are going to happen right close to first light or last light. 00:13:05 Speaker 2: So my encouragement to the guys is, do short. 00:13:09 Speaker 3: Hunts is just a, just a short hunt in the morning and a short hunt, uh, in the evening. But if it's warm, don't mentally burn your, I mean, it's such a mental game. Don't mentally burn yourself out. This first five, six days in November, put it in all day sits when it's warm is stay mentally sharp and, uh, doing short sets. 00:13:34 Speaker 2: Morning and evening can be a great way to keep that mental edge. 00:13:38 Speaker 1: I like it. And then if you had to illustrate with a pen and a paper, draw, draw us an ideal setup for, let's say, you know, like there's usually a best day of any seven day period. So like a picture, someone's going to, you know, have either historical data. They're going to look at the weather. They're going to have the wind. Are you setting up downwind of doe bedding? Are you, uh, in transition to food? Like if you had to think of even some of the last bucks you've shot throughout this period of time, what did those setups look like? 00:14:06 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:14:07 Speaker 3: Um, October, I mean, early season and late season, I'm hunting close to food. But in November, I want to be on the downwind side of cover. I mean, I want to be close to bedding. And what that looks like for me is riding an e-bike across an open field, going to a tree that I have pre-prepped, hiding my e-bike in a place that I have created to intentionally stash that bike. That might be a couple of round bales, some farm junk or farm equipment, some brush hiding that e-bike going directly up the tree. And I'm looking at a trail that's on the downwind side of cover just inside the woods edge. It's 20 yards away. I've either got a natural scrape or a mock scrape 20 yards away from me, and I'm expecting them to work the downwind side of a thicket. 00:15:05 Speaker 2: Just inside the woods cover i. 00:15:08 Speaker 1: Love it that's the playbook well wes congratulations oh go ahead. 00:15:13 Speaker 3: Yeah and then obviously natural funnels to that point as well or creating them to make them come within bow range manipulating traffic to that point um yeah that's that's what i'm looking for that's where i'll be sitting i love. 00:15:27 Speaker 1: It well congratulations once again last question here scale one to ten ten being the best week of the year one being one of the worst weeks of the year looking at the calendar, looking at the weather, looking at all conditions, scale 1 to 10, where do you think the 4th to the 11th is going to fall for buck activity? 9. 00:15:43 Speaker 3: As far as the weather goes, the weather doesn't look completely ideal, but as far as just big bucks hitting the ground, the 5th to the 12th is when they hit the ground. That's not going to To be honest, that's not going to change from year to year, even if it's 80 degrees and the rut is big bucks are going to die in that timeframe. So it is the time to spend the time in the seat and get out there and anything can happen in November. 00:16:18 Speaker 2: It's sweet November, baby. 00:16:19 Speaker 1: I love it. Well, congratulations once again. If people want to follow along with you and what you have going on, or maybe they're hearing how meticulous and how you set these things up, maybe they want to have you out at the farm. What is the best way to get ahold of you? 00:16:31 Speaker 2: Yeah, you can reach out to me on social media. My email is west at realworldwildlifeproducts.com. Wesley Delks, if you're following me on social media, check out the Chasing Giants podcast with Don Higgins and Terry Peer. Higgins Outdoors and Chasing Giants would be the places to look on social media for their content. I'm a part of the Higgins Outdoors and Chasing Giants team, so follow them, give them a like, and reach. 00:17:02 Speaker 3: Out to us through one of those platforms. Would love to have a conversation with you. 00:17:07 Speaker 4: Awesome. 00:17:07 Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Thanks, Jake. All right, next up we have Sam, who already shot a buck in Missouri. He's headed to Arkansas. I was just telling you, this is the Super Bowl week. of rut fresh. This is the week that everyone's been waiting for. And, um, you know, you've already tagged your buck in Missouri, so you've been able to scout and kind of have the luxury of, of just scouting and learning and preparing for a future for, for next season. 00:17:32 Speaker 6: But Sam, how's it been? How's it been going? Dude, it's been awesome. It's been, it's been a great season. Uh, despite the, the weather we've had up in this part of Missouri, I'm in the Southwest corner of Missouri, the Ozarks kind of real close to the Arkansas line. And it has just been very unseasonably warm all throughout bow season, but, uh, bucks. 00:17:54 Speaker 1: Are still doing their thing. 00:17:55 Speaker 6: You know, um, I was fortunate enough to kill a buck the first week of our season, September 21st. And, uh, because of that, I've really just had the luxury of like, we were talking about a lot of. 00:18:07 Speaker 1: In season scouting. 00:18:08 Speaker 6: I've got to take a couple other guys out and watch them kill bucks and film them kill bucks. So that was, that's been pretty cool, but yeah, kind of just gearing up for, my next tag, which is going to be Arkansas starting the 2nd of November. So tomorrow. 00:18:21 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:18:22 Speaker 1: Okay. So I'm curious here, what have you been seeing in terms of buck activity in the Ozarks, you know, like over this last weekend and what do you anticipate, you know, over, you know, historical information, gut instinct, like what can people expect in the Ozark region from the 4th to the 10th of November? 00:18:42 Speaker 6: Yeah, so honestly, what I've been seeing just kind of in my little corner of Missouri is there's a lot of buck movement, especially these last kind of five to seven days. I've been getting a lot of pictures of daylighting bucks that, you know, most of October had been nocturnal. I think they're on their feet a lot more during the day. I've seen, I've got, I think, three or four videos on my Moultrie of a couple different bucks, dog and does already. 00:19:10 Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 00:19:11 Speaker 6: I watched yesterday, I went out and did some scouting and I watched a buck just kind of stand over a bed of dough and kind of do circles around her for a little while. And she got up and he kind of dogged her. So they're definitely, I'd say, quite a bit more on their feet than I would normally anticipate for these last couple of days. But I think gearing up towards this first week in November, basically from now until the 10th, I think it's going to be we're getting a cold front. Well, first of all, so that's going to be like the icing on the cake. So it's one of those where I'm going to be all day sitting as much as i can you know packing for that and preparing for that so it's definitely a time that regardless if it's not as cold as i want it's a time that i'm going to want to be in the tree. 00:19:59 Speaker 1: All day really yeah no this is this is a you know myself like kind of hunting with kid gloves and like tippy-toeing around. It's about time to really sit out there and enjoy it and make some aggressive plays. Hopefully, that front's going to be a little gasoline to the fire, we're hoping. Here's a question for you. All day sit. When you say all day sit, is that one tree, one spot all day, or are you moving around a little bit from a morning spot and repositioning to more of an evening transition area? What does that look like? Because Um, I think a lot of people, when we say all day sit in my head, I picture sitting in a tree all day, but yeah, I don't know if that's always the most productive. What's your take? 00:20:46 Speaker 6: So I've actually got two scenarios that I kind of, uh, toss back and forth depending on where I am. If I'm hunting big woods, you know, Ozark mountains on public, and I haven't really gotten to scout a lot other than, you know, historic scouting or e-scouting, I might break down around that late afternoon and kind of speed scout to another spot if the action hadn't been quite what I wanted or, you know, I'm not quite in the ballgame, you know, a couple hundred yards off the ballgame. But so, yeah, I might move a little bit in an unfamiliar situation like that. But in spots that I'm familiar with, I've got, you know, a lot of historic data from a lot of previous buck sightings, like spots I know and I'm comfortable with. And I know how the deer work on the property. Yeah, I will sit sun up to sun down. I'll pack lunch. I usually try and bring a book because staring at your phone all day, man, you know how that goes. It's just like it wears on you. And your phone dies most of the time. So, yeah, I'll try and bring a book. But, I mean, honestly, if the action is good and you're in the ballgame, those all-day sits, they go by pretty quick if you're seeing deer. 00:22:01 Speaker 4: You know. 00:22:02 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:22:02 Speaker 1: Yeah, the day can go really fast if you're in it and you're seeing deer and their activity. But, man, when you start just hearing birds, you're listening to birds intently all day. It does drag on a little bit. An hour feels like four hours, you know. I think the book idea is not a bad idea because ultimately, you know, you're still there. You still have your ears. You're still getting up and glancing around. And I think that, you know, do you feel for the next week as time and stand kills big deer? Is it that simple? 00:22:45 Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I really do because regardless of the heat, you know, deer are going to be doing deer things. Bucks are going to be doing their thing. I think that, yeah, scouting is... in season is good. It's speed scouting while you're there is good. But if you are finding, what I'd be looking for is probably going to be good doe bedding, kind of in like a pinch almost between bedding and food probably is what I'll be looking for. 00:23:13 Speaker 4: Especially where I'm going. 00:23:14 Speaker 6: If you can find like a good bench kind of on the leeward side of a saddle and it's got, you know, acorns that are producing, I think that's where I I'm going to want to be, especially if I know that does are nearby and though bedding is nearby, really anywhere, super thick where they're going to be bedding. I think that's where I'm going to want to put my butt and not move from there. 00:23:38 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:23:38 Speaker 1: I think that's, uh, I think that's good advice. If, if, um, and so that's going to be in Arkansas. Is that similar type of terrain to what you're used to in Missouri and the Ozarks? 00:23:49 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:23:50 Speaker 6: Um, it's going to be just a, probably a little steeper than where I'm at now, but, but, pretty similar i mean my tactics are going to be the same for the most part especially on on public now i've got some some permission pieces from door knocking around here that are a little less aggressive when it comes to the terrain so i might hunt those just slightly different but for the most part yeah that's that's my game plan across the board for this time of year anyway. 00:24:19 Speaker 1: When people ask you, hey, what's your favorite day of the year? Does it fall within these next seven days, the 4th to the 11th? You know, I used to say my favorite day of the year was Halloween. And I've killed some good deer on Halloween. Actually, I killed my biggest buck on Halloween. 00:24:37 Speaker 6: But these last, I'd say, probably five years of my hunting career, my true, if I had to pick one singular day that was my favorite day, it would be November 8th. Because it seems to be, like, obviously the first week of November is great. 00:24:52 Speaker 4: And I know it's magical. 00:24:54 Speaker 6: But to me, it's like the 8th through the 15th is really kind of my bread and butter these days if I had. 00:25:01 Speaker 1: To pick a true, like, one week to hunt. And so, you know, with the 8th being, you know, one of your favorite days, is it you're on a leeward side of a hill on a bench hunting? where there's some acorns. I mean, that's, that's pretty much the game plan that's worked in the past for you on that date. 00:25:20 Speaker 5: Yeah. 00:25:21 Speaker 1: Um, yeah, pretty much. 00:25:23 Speaker 6: I mean, if I, if I know there's does in the area, a lot of time with these bucks around here is they, they move so much in these, in these hills down here that it's, it's, it can be hard to find them. So if I can find a pocket of deer where there's does and there's food and there's good bedding, then yeah, I'm, I'm banking on, good buck cruising through there checking the area you know and most of the time that has happened i've had great success these last probably three years with that game plan right. 00:25:54 Speaker 1: There what do you do if um you know you feel like you're in the right spot let's say it's because these days go by so fast and this is why i'm asking this because it's like when you when you burn an all-day sit and you're like dang i really didn't have much activity do i go back there again tomorrow or do i try somewhere else. You know, this is, this is the debate that everyone has when they, when they're laying in bed, then they wake up, they still don't know where they're going. They're driving and they still don't know exactly where they're going to go. And it's just like this mental warfare internally of like, where do you go and where do I burn November 8th, for example, and am I going to pick the right spot? 00:26:29 Speaker 6: How do you, how do you navigate that? So, yeah, that's a, that's a great question. And I've, I mean, my whole hunting career, that's been me. I'm driving there and I'm like, okay, do I want this ridge or this saddle? I think for me, especially these last couple of years as my confidence has gotten a lot higher in my game plan, I know that if I'm picking this spot for a reason and this spot has been on my brain and I'm familiar with it or at least familiar with the type of spot, I'm probably going to just bank on, listen, if that wasn't today, then I have confidence confidence that it's going to be maybe tomorrow or maybe the next day. Now I'll caveat that with saying a shorter trip, like this one I'm taking, I've only got four days to hunt in Arkansas. Um, I'm probably going to be a little more aggressive just because I don't get down there as much, um, as say my Missouri spots that are, that are close, you know, I'm not driving the two, three hours as often to scout those spots. So if I feel like I'm pretty far out of the game, yeah, I'll probably move, but I, I'll stay in that general area most of the time because I, I've picked that area for a reason. 00:27:41 Speaker 1: I like any, any other last pieces of last pieces of advice as we march into one of the most anticipated weeks of the year as a Y200. Yeah. 00:27:53 Speaker 6: Um, I would say something I've learned really, I guess the hard way over the last couple of years is just and I know this is probably going to sound cliche, but patience is huge. Not only just patience sitting in the woods, but mental patience because I anticipate I'm going to be seeing a lot of deer hit the dirt next week. I know that comparison can rush you to want to do other things or change your game plan or make a quick boneheaded decision in trying. 00:28:27 Speaker 1: To catch up with other people killing bucks. 00:28:30 Speaker 6: But if you can just, you know, outlast that and outlast the, the kind of boredom sometimes of staying in one area and just trust your gut, trust your scouting and, you know, trust your game plan. I think, I think just waiting it out really is going to be super beneficial. 00:28:47 Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. Well, Sam, where can people follow along with what you have going on and good luck in Arkansas? Thanks, man. Yeah. 00:28:55 Speaker 6: So my Instagram handle is Sam underscore H A L. And that's where I do most of my posting. I just started a YouTube channel not too long ago. It's called Ozark Sam. So I'm putting some videos up periodically through there. 00:29:08 Speaker 4: So yeah, you want to check it out. That's where I'm at. 00:29:11 Speaker 1: Cool, Sam. Well, good luck. And thank you so much for hopping here on Rut Fresh. 00:29:15 Speaker 3: Yep. 00:29:15 Speaker 1: Thanks, man. Thanks for having me. All right. We have Ricky in Tennessee. How's it going? 00:29:21 Speaker 4: It's going good, Jake. Thanks for having me on. 00:29:23 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. So This is the week a lot of people have been waiting for here. It's November 4th. We're getting through a lot of people's favorite days. We've been waiting for this for a long time. How are you feeling going into a highly anticipated week? on the Whitetail calendar? 00:29:42 Speaker 4: You know, I'm feeling pretty pumped. 00:29:44 Speaker 5: I tend towards the optimistic side, which may not be super common for a mostly public land hunter. But man, it's like some people like to put it. You usually got one guy. who's super optimistic and thinks public land is great, and the other guy that hates public land, and they usually live next. 00:30:04 Speaker 4: To each other. 00:30:05 Speaker 5: So I'm that guy that's more on the optimistic side. I think that as the rut gets ever closer and being in the pre-rut here in Tennessee, your greatest chances at seeing a buck is now. 00:30:18 Speaker 4: Whether it's something you've patterned or whether. 00:30:20 Speaker 5: It's one that you're just hoping to sit in a good spot and have one show up now is the time to be in the woods. 00:30:28 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're exactly right. A lot of favors can follow your direction this time of year. When you get out, what's your game plan? What kind of terrain are you hunting? What are you paying attention to? Maybe any scouting clues that feel like you have the cards stacked in your favor as we go into the fourth. What does that look like? 00:30:53 Speaker 5: For me particularly, I would say one of my favorite features is, is terrain. I hunt terrain a lot. I use that a lot to help me locate bucks. Um, and, uh, you know, here in East Tennessee, we got a lot of terrain, so I'm paying attention heavily to wind and thermals and access more than anything. And in particular on this buck that I'm on, on public land, I think what's given me an edge is I haven't added extra element that people usually consider to be a bad thing. 00:31:23 Speaker 4: And that being public land pressure. 00:31:26 Speaker 5: Um, So in my particular spot that I'm in, I have access through the backside via creek bottom. And I like to walk up that creek bottom and set up just inside some heavily pressured public land. I mean, it's a walk-in area where everybody and their mother is going to park every Saturday morning. But being that I can access where other people do not, and I kind of know this buck's travel route between the thickets and the ag and the heavily pressured public land, if I get there super early in the evening or super early in the morning, even if I do got a bunch of people come in on me, I can count on that people pressure to push that buck my direction, hopefully. 00:32:05 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:32:06 Speaker 1: That's one thing that does go along with this time of year is more pressure across the board. Uh, if, if you're a red blooded American and you like to whitetail hunt, you're probably going to be in a tree, uh, this week. And so a lot of added pressure across the country. What, um, You mentioned being an optimist. I feel like this next week is one of you need to be an optimist because you can get down to the dumps real quick because this week is going to go by so fast and we'll be wishing it was the 4th through the 11th again as soon as it's over. So for people that maybe need to hear how to capitalize from just a positivity standpoint, what do you say to them? 00:32:46 Speaker 5: You know, I would say that right now your big bucks are as killable as they're ever going to be. And that being for one reason, personally, I may get a lot of shade for this. 00:32:56 Speaker 4: But I don't like the rut all that much. 00:32:59 Speaker 5: I prefer pre-rut and post-rut when deer are patternable. 00:33:05 Speaker 4: You know, I used to think people were crazy whenever I heard that. 00:33:08 Speaker 5: And now that I've learned to strategize, I think that that helps me out a lot is knowing that if you have a buck patterned or you've got somewhere you feel like a buck is going to show up, right now, this window, these two weeks before, here in Tennessee, peak of the rut or real big rut activities, roughly the 12th through the 19th in our area, give or take, based on when the fawns are dropping. And so, you know, right now is whenever he's on his feet, he's moving a lot in daylight, but still very active. 00:33:44 Speaker 4: Patternable before. 00:33:46 Speaker 5: Everything hits the fan and everything goes to total random chance. Also, one thing you got really to look forward to is rifle season doesn't open up until around Thanksgiving here, and muzzleloader season doesn't open up to the 7th. So if you're an archery deer hunter in East Tennessee, in my area at this time, right now is absolute money to go kill a buck before all the muzzleloaders hit the woods. And I feel like most people who started the bow season have either already burned out a little bit or are just saying, you know what, it's close enough to a muzzleloader rifle. I'm going to throw it in for now. So if you can stick it out and you can go in the woods right now, you can really capitalize on some of that pre-road activity. 00:34:28 Speaker 1: For someone that doesn't have their spot picked out like you do, what would you say to them if they're going to a new spot, they're hopping in their truck, they're listening to this as they're traveling to a new state, they're starting over? or starting from scratch, what would you tell them, you know, the first step or second step to try to get on some of this excitement, this rut excitement? 00:34:50 Speaker 4: Terrain funnels. 00:34:52 Speaker 5: I feel like if you got Onyx, if you got Spartan Forge, if you got, pick your favorite mapping app, get on there and look at the terrain. Be looking for saddles, be looking for that upper third portion of the backside of a hill. Look at the things that are going to be funneling their movement on the way to food sources from the cover. Because the deal is the does are coming in and the does are going to be looking where to eat at. And the bucks are going to be out seeking. They're going to be out chasing. They're going to be looking for it. And so what do you do? You get on those travel corridors. You get in between that real thick, nasty stuff that nobody wants to be in. But you don't quite get in the field edges and stuff yet. You get on those terrain funnels, saddles, benches, et cetera, that's going to cause the bucks to go a certain way because that's most likely the way that the does went, or at least that's how I hunt them anyway when I'm picking a new spot. 00:35:52 Speaker 1: I feel this time of year, someone could say, hey, you could just throw a dart and get lucky. Do you think that's accurate, or do you think what you just said in terms of paying attention to terrain and funnels and trying to get to a spot where you feel good, is the better approach, or do you think there's just some blind luck that's going to happen here, and you've got to hope for blind luck? 00:36:13 Speaker 5: I would say personally that they're right in about a week or two. 00:36:17 Speaker 4: Yet, no, not so much. 00:36:19 Speaker 5: During the rut right now, no, I wouldn't say that they go in. 00:36:24 Speaker 4: You can just throw a dart. I think you've still got to figure it out a little bit. I think that. 00:36:31 Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, guarantee it, in a week or two, you can go sit down and shut up about anywhere in the woods, and you're going to see a buck come through. But right now, if you look at those terrain funnels and whatnot, and trust your gut, man. Like, I really don't believe a whole lot of luck, per se, but I do believe in gut feelings a whole lot. And so, if you spend any time in the deer woods chasing these wonderful things we call whitetails, you get to those spots that just feel deery. 00:36:59 Speaker 4: You might not be able. 00:37:00 Speaker 5: To explain it, but it's like, I feel like this is a good spot. This is the spot. 00:37:06 Speaker 4: And stick it out. 00:37:08 Speaker 5: And also keep in mind that just because the does or the buck might not be there today, don't bounce around too much. 00:37:15 Speaker 4: I mean, it's good to be mobile. I hunt from a saddle, so I can be mobile. But stick it out. 00:37:21 Speaker 5: Give it three or four sits because a buck or a doe is not going to do the same thing every day, every time, like cock works. but that one time that they do, you need to be there and you need to be in position. 00:37:33 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:37:34 Speaker 1: Any, any tips for, uh, staying sharp on stand? Uh, cause people are going to be logging a lot of hours, a lot of hours. If, uh, you know, people are, this is, if I had to guess, this is when people burn the most vacation across the Midwest. Uh, any, any tips on staying sharp in stand when you start logging a lot of, a lot of time? 00:37:54 Speaker 5: You know, um, A couple of things that I would say, take breaks when they're needed. I mean, a lot of people think, you know, you just got to be a grinder, grind it out, stay in the stand all day, be vigilant. 00:38:05 Speaker 4: Man, that's hard. 00:38:07 Speaker 5: I would say take breaks as needed. Get down, take a nap, stretch your legs, whatever the case. And remember that even if he does happen to walk by when you're taking a nap or something like that, there's going to be more deer hunting days to come, hopefully. 00:38:22 Speaker 4: But I would say take breaks. I would say. 00:38:25 Speaker 5: I'm a wildlife nerd because I'm a wildlife student at UT in my senior year. And so I love apps like Merlin and other apps like Picture This for just, man, IDing trees, IDing birds. Anything that you can do to distract your mind a little bit. I would highly, highly recommend that. And then as far as just staying sharp goes, it's also a great time for personal reflection and prayer if you're into that. You know, just sit there and And don't worry about the minutes clicking by and just remember that this is a wonderful thing that we do, but we're not going to do it forever. And so when you just start thinking about that, man, it really helps you to stay present. And sometimes you can be off in your head and you hear that twig snap. 00:39:13 Speaker 1: And there it is. 00:39:15 Speaker 5: Or maybe there's a doe coming and you can be like, oh man, I know what's behind her. 00:39:21 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I love it. Well, Ricky, scale one to 10. Where do you put the next week in Eastern Tennessee? 00:39:28 Speaker 4: In East Tennessee for the next week. week, I would give it, I'd give it probably about a 8.5. I like it. I know that's, uh, that's steep. 00:39:40 Speaker 5: It's not quite a 10 out of 10 old deer movement in my opinion yet. 00:39:44 Speaker 4: But I would say a. 00:39:45 Speaker 5: Good solid 8.5 just because we're getting there. 00:39:48 Speaker 4: It's ramping up. They're ready. And I'm an optimist. 00:39:52 Speaker 5: I feel like if you can get in the woods and hunt as much as you can, mind your access, give the deer a little. Don't focus too much on having a bulletproof setup, entry, exit, or whatever. Matter of fact, personally, I like to give so much to the deer in terms of wind and angle that if I don't get him for a certain point, I'm done. 00:40:14 Speaker 4: It's over. 00:40:15 Speaker 5: But I feel like the more, if you think about it like a pie chart, the more that you put in his favor, the better chances you got of getting healed. 00:40:25 Speaker 4: Because if it's. 00:40:26 Speaker 5: More in your favor, well, the deer's not going to do really what's making Hillfield in a dangerous spot. So if you remember to give a little of the buck, appreciate what you got going on here and the fact that we are in the pre-rut, baby. The most exciting part of Deer Ramp It Up in East Tennessee. That makes it a date 0.5, man. 00:40:47 Speaker 4: Get in the woods. Now's the time to kill a good deer. 00:40:50 Speaker 1: I love it. Well, Ricky, good luck this week. I appreciate you hopping here on Rough Rush. 00:40:55 Speaker 4: Dude, I appreciate you having me on. It's a huge honor. 00:40:58 Speaker 5: Love everything that all of you guys put out from the back 40, the wire to hunt, meat eater, the whole nine, man. It's the reason why guys like me can do what we do. I look at the stuff that you guys are putting out and things and say, you know, why can't I do that? 00:41:14 Speaker 4: And the truth is I can't. So thank y'all. 00:41:17 Speaker 5: Thank y'all for everything you do for constantly being an inspiration. Good luck out there this season. 00:41:21 Speaker 1: All right, there you guys have it. I hope you guys have a awesome week out in the deer woods. Enjoy the moment. And if you'd like to be on Rut Fresh next week, feel free to shoot me a message at Jake Hofer on Instagram. We will see you. Good luck.