Midwest Rut Report, Week 3: Cold Front Sparks Daylight Buck Movement

Last week’s cold snap, which brought frost to the Midwest Region’s northern reaches, put bucks on their feet in the daylight. My social media news feeds showed hunters killing some unbelievable bucks, including a handful over 200 inches.

In central Wisconsin, while watching a soybean field on October 16, the deer were in full-on feeding mode. My sightings on prior evenings had been minimal, but on that night, there were more than 15 deer out, and two were respectable bucks. They postured and walked towards one another, but they didn’t fight. A few younger bucks, however, did some sparring. Despite all of the does in the field, I observed zero chasing or nudging.

Now that things have warmed back up, I notice movement mostly at last light and after dark. I haven’t been out in the mornings, so I can’t comment on that, but I assume that most movements are during the first hour of daylight and in the timber near bedding areas. This warm-up will keep things condensed to the first and last hour of daylight, but I expect that the nighttime rutting activity will increase daily and give way to more daytime movements either when we get another cold snap or by Halloween.

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Justin Zarr of the YouTube show Bowhunt or Die reported from his neck of the northern Illinois woods. “The rut is right where you would expect it to be for mid-October,” he says. “Scraping activity is really starting to pick up, although most of the mature buck activity is still at night. I’m seeing a lot of younger bucks out bumping does on ag fields in the evenings and heading towards their bedding areas in the mornings. The mature deer are on their feet in daylight but don’t seem to be covering a significant amount of ground until sundown.”

While checking back in with Dale Techel of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, who we heard from two weeks ago, he explained that last week’s cold spell brought 20- and 30-degree temps. “Hunters reported an upswing in mature buck movement during hunting hours and at night,” he says. “Now is a great time to be on stand while bucks begin shifting their focus from feeding to covering more ground as they look for does. New bucks are liable to show up on trail cams and while on stand.

“Many hunters are reporting that they’re seeing smaller bucks chasing does,” he continues, “and more scrapes and rubs are appearing.” Meanwhile, Upper Peninsula hunters are reporting very low deer numbers, a problem the U.P. has been dealing with in recent years. Techel feels that the key to being successful in the next week leading up to the peak rut is adapting. Deer are adapting, and you need to as well.

Ray Howell, the founding father of Kicking Bear Ministry, also checked in from Minnesota’s Driftless Area. “With the recent cold front, buck activity has increased,” he says. “Scrapes and rubs are showing up everywhere. It is an exciting time to be in the woods. However, not all of the giants are moving in daylight hours yet. Soon!”

Finally, Tevis McCauley of Whitetail Heaven Outfitters said that things are beginning to get really exciting in Indiana. “The bucks are working scrapes heavily right now, so focus on any scrape lines while hunting. We’ve noticed lots of displays of dominance as bucks stake out their claims. Lots of bucks are bumping and chasing does around, and some are roaring and grunting. We’re seeing lots of scraping, fighting, and chasing. Things are heating up drastically by the day.”

In five to seven days, you can expect movements to extend longer in the mornings and even the midday as bucks begin really cruising and chasing does. I’ll be heading to Kansas to hunt the last few days of October and the first week of November, and I expect rattling will be the key to success there, as it will across most of the Midwest.