Midwest Rut Report, Week 6: Bucks are Cranking In Some Places, Locked Down In Others

In last week’s report, I predicted that mature Wisconsin bucks would be locking down with does by Nov. 10. According to my trail cameras and hunting intel, it happened around Nov. 7. Up until then, I was getting new bucks, including some fairly mature ones, on my cameras daily. I even observed a really nice 10-pointer — one I’m hoping will make it one more year — chasing does on my bean field on Nov. 5. He did the same on Nov. 6. On Nov. 7, the buck appearances shut right off, and my cameras began picking up only small doe and fawn groups and the occasional 1 1/2-year-old buck.

I also spent a few days trudging around the big woods on public land in an area where a family member has captured trail camera images of some tremendous bucks. I hunted on foot, moving about and rattling. The only buck I saw was a 2-year-old, and he was bedded with two does half an hour after daylight. I noticed that about one-third of the scrapes I observed in my miles of hiking were worked, the rest being dormant. I anticipate that the mature bucks will be on the loose in full force again when this is published.

Bryan Dawes of Brushy Fork Outfitters in Ohio reported that shot opportunities have been second to none for the last week. “The rut is officially wide open,” he says. “They are full-on chasing and seeking, so it’s prime time here in Ohio. Our clients are seeing multiple bucks running does daily. There has been somewhat of a lull in movement on the warmer days. But, I’m urging my clients to make it nothing but mandatory to sit all day because shot opportunities are absolutely possible between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. In fact, a client just shot one with a recurve 15 minutes ago at 10:45 a.m.”

Don’t Miss: The Best Shot Placement on Deer

My sister, Clair, recently had some success in South Dakota. She hunted an area where she had seen a small buck bumping does where her trail camera had captured images of bucks sparring. “They are working scrapes a lot right now,” she says. “My husband saw a fresh rub the other day. Last Thursday, I hunted over a buck decoy. I spotted a mature buck a ways off and rattled at him. He came running in and was approaching my decoy when I shot him.”

Melissa Bachman of Winchester Deadly Passion said that rainy conditions sapped the rutting activity for the first week of November down in Kansas. “It was very slow for everyone in camp,” she says, “which had to do with lots of rain for several consecutive days. On Nov. 5, does and fawns were still together. Only young bucks were cruising. On Nov. 6, we saw multiple fawns that seemed lonely and confused all by themselves. On the 7th, everything exploded around 9 a.m. I decoyed in the big buck I was after and killed him at about 9:30. Four other hunters in camp also killed bucks that day. Our cameras in Kansas and Illinois had numerous new bucks cruising during daylight on the 7th and 8th.”

Whitetail Fit’s Joel Burham checked in from Nebraska, saying he recently scored in Missouri. “I killed a gnarly buck in Missouri by rattling last week,” Burham says. “I called in three other mature deer during my time there. The last few days in Nebraska have shown similar activity. The evenings are fairly slow with the warmer temps, but the morning movement has been exceptional. The bucks are chasing and responding to calls very, very well. Daylight scrape activity has been good as well.”