NE Ohio Rut Report - Deer Action

[MatthewUSMC8791]

[font=tahoma]My take on this year's deer hunting season, is that is very very very slow. I live in NE Ohio and have hunted this area for 20+ years. I typically take all of my vacation time to hunt during the month of November and the entire rut.  To give you a little background on my experience on why I think the way I do and how I've come to think that way, I'll begin with… Gear I bow hunt with is my Horton Hunter XS 200lb draw and 220fps w/2219 and 125gr Thunderheads. the easiest things I've learned is I never wear the same clothes more than 1 day, and only wash them in scent free soap in cold water and dry on low heat. All clothes are store in washed containers with sealed lids and scent wafers inside to add to the outdoor smell. I always use human scent eliminator, that's designed to remove human odor, taking a shower and then using body foam and spray seems to work great once you arrive at your stand. When I'm using my climber I'm at least 30 feet up and if I use my ladder stand I use my 20 footer, and I try to hunt with the correct wind or try to at least.  When I start to use urine based scents I only use buck & rut and doe in heat from deer farms not the scents from the local stores. One reason for that I have no idea how old they are and typically I've never seen black or brown urine. Think about it, when you use the restroom, it's typically clear or a yellowish tint, so why do you think a deer would be any different. If I left out anything, hope you understand my broad strokes of prep work for archery hunting.   [/font]
[font=tahoma] [/font]
[font=tahoma]Now back to the point at hand. The 2009 deer season in North East Ohio has been pretty abnormal to say the least.. I've been hunting since 31October and have seen my fair share of deer (many does and small buck 1-2½ year olds) and lack thereof, but early November there was a lot of grunting and seeking and bumping and bothering the does from the younger bucks, but in the past 10 days it has been a very slow to nonexistent pre rut or rut thus far and it doesn't seem like it will be the typical rut as predicted. Very early in November the temperatures were not that bad and the lows were helping in the AM, but not too much action but there was some.. The temps have risen and have been in the 50+ range and now have been in the 60's.. Heck even in the middle of the night is 52 degrees and the deer are moving very little. That's no good for deer hunting in my opinion… Typically it has snowed a little bit this time of year, but this year there hasn't been anything that has stuck to the ground.. [/font]
[font=tahoma]Today Sunday the 15th I went out at 1300 and bumped one little doe going to my stand and didn't see anything else  till 1600 when two does leaving their bedding areas and heading to the fields. Around 1645 I started to hear movement but didn't see anything and it remained that way till I left the stand at 1715. I did hear a lot of movement and chasing and grunting going one while I picked up my scents and packed up my decoy but it was getting darker and the temps were around 53. It wasn't a lot of action, but they were starting to move and the temps keeps them in the cooler areas and out of the sun with those winter coats on.. I'm hoping that this week's predicted cooler temps will spark things up, if not I think the second rut will be the only hope for any real rut activity. [/font]
[font=tahoma] [/font]
[font=tahoma]That's my input on the 2009 season this far. Where is the damn snow…. Let's get down to the 20's and the deer will be running all day.,..[/font]

[scottflesher]

Matt,
I completely agree. I'm from and hunt in SE Ohio and moved to Jacksonville Florida 4.5 years ago. Over the past 5 seasons, i've tried to time my hunting vacation on predicting the pre rut to early rut and hunt that week. I hunted from Saturday 11/7 to Saturday 11/14 this year and my week began very slow. A few does and small bucks, but they didn't seem to be too interested in rutting. On Thursday 11/12 I began to see some rutting activity, mainly chasing and grunting, but very small bucks and disinterested does. On the last day of my hunt 11/14, my father and I (in stands 400-600 yards away from each other) both saw shooter bucks. The buck my father saw appeared to be searching, and the buck I saw was trailing a doe, but was keeping his distance. She came within 15 yards of my tree, but the buck stayed out about 50 yards. My father also heard the unmistakable sound of antlers being hit together but he didn't think it was a fight and thought it was probably just a small sparing contest We also heard a buck grunting and chasing before daylight when we were entering our property, that same day.
Early, I did see several does that were still with their yearlings and towards the end of my hunt, I began to see yearlings by themselves. Which may indicate rut hadn't begun. I based my hunting week on Charlie's forecast of the rut, per an earlier episode, and while I know that several other variables factor in, my experience is that the rut was just beginning around 11/12. I'm sure the warm weather, windy days, and dry conditions seemed to limit deer activity during the daylight hours.
Hang in there and keep hunting and i'm sure that the activity will increase over the next few days. I wish you much success.
Also, thank you very much for your service and sacrifice so people like me can enjoy the freedoms associated with hunting. Semper Fi
Best of Luck
Scott

[epd68]

i agree with your observations i too take precautions keeping scent free and hunting 25ft up geauga county deer activity is low prior to sunset and seems to increase after 11pm none of the geauga county bowmen i know are seeing any significant activity we may be seeing a predominately nocturnal rut .....toughest patience sapping hunting ive experienced since 1994

[mrbill_01]

Yup, same senario here in SW OH. Looks like it will be another night time only rut. Hoping for a good 2nd rut.

[epd68]

has anyone had a good second rut when the first one is nocturnal i hope its possible but i dont think so in seven days the shooting starts(as all bowhunters cringe)and once the shooting starts everything goes nocturnal due to pressure i need to find a nice spot in ashtabula county to supplement my spots in geauga county ...ashtabula has more crops which may help in january hopefully i tag out before then....when you stop actively cultivating new properties because you assume you will be ok this season you end up regreting it on a rainy 11/23 with no tags filled....will hunt evening on 11/24 good luck to all