Unseasonably warm describes the first part of October in Wisconsin and nearby states. But that didn’t stop hunters from finding success. Some outstanding bucks have already fallen this month. I attribute that largely to the MoonGuide’s red moon days — peak gravitational periods when overhead or underfoot moon positions coincide with early morning or late-evening feeding times — which extended through Oct. 3.

Trail cameras on my Wisconsin property had shown mostly does and young bucks before the red moon, but during it, a few nicer new bucks showed up — some during daylight. I wasn’t hunting, however, because I have two specific bucks in mind for my bow tag. After the red moon days, the nicer bucks that appeared on my food plots faded away. I expect they’ll be back any day with the current red moon days and decreased daytime highs.

Justin Zarr of the Bowhunt or Die YouTube show provided promising feedback in Illinois. “Despite the warm temperatures,” he said, “there seems to be a good amount of daytime buck activity right now. Both in-person sightings and trail camera activity have confirmed that evenings are a great time to harvest a buck if you can get close to a bedding area. Scraping activity has started to pick up, too. With the pending cold front this weekend, I expect that we’ll see our first influx of good buck activity and filled tags.”

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In Ohio, Bryan Dawes of Brushy Fork Outfitters said that scrapes are opening up and that acorns are king. “We just targeted and harvested a 200-inch buck a couple of days ago,” he said. “We have been gearing up for the pre-rut and rut by hanging fresh sets on very obvious sign. The bucks are giving themselves away at this point. We have moved cameras to community scrapes to pull a solid inventory and started attacking the woods. Recent high winds knocked down a lot of acorns. Feeding patterns have transitioned from plots to mast crops. We are anticipating an awesome pre-rut hunt on fresh new sign.”

Joe Conyers of Conyers Outdoors in Cuba, Kansas, reported similar observations. “The last cool front kind of kicked off the pre-rut activity,” he said. “Then it warmed up, and things went dead. The Oct. 13 cool front put things back into motion. The scraping activity has picked back up, and I expect new scrapes and rubs to continue popping up. Things are pretty typical for Kansas; hot weather impedes movement, and cooler temps get the bucks moving. I’ve seen bucks sparring at one out of 10 feed sites per day. They’re not fighting aggressively yet; just checking each other.”

Meanwhile, EHD has devastated whitetails in North Dakota’s western half, according to input from several folks, including Jeremy Doan of Rolling Plains Adventures. “It’s taken down so many deer that I don’t know how the season will play out,” he said. “The weather has been really warm, so the daylight movement has been minimal. That being said, we’re seeing some scrapes, and the bucks are starting to not like each other. We’re seeing enough bucks on the cameras that I’m hopeful EHD hasn’t hit our area too badly. With the cooler weather coming this weekend, scraping activity should increase and get the bucks even more against each other.”

For the coming week, in areas with mast crops, be sure to take advantage of the cold front and buckle down over some acorns, especially if fresh buck sign is present. In general, feeding areas close to bedding areas will be the best bet for catching a buck on its feet in daylight.