As most of us hunters know, November is the month we live to be in the stand. This summer, I had very promising results on the Moultrie cameras and had a lot of good deer on the farm. As Fall rolled around, Tyler and I watched anxiously as the crops started to dry. We started out on October 1st hunting with the standing corn and knew the chances of seeing a good buck were cut in half with 250 acres of standing corn surrounding us.
Not slowing down, we kept hunting and thinking positive. We knew the farmer wouldn’t be long and the corn would be coming out. The rut would have them running wild everywhere! I kept hunting and only had a few encounters with yearling bucks and a few 2-year-olds; hunting was at a standstill as there just wasn’t much moving.
Now as November is half over already, I still find myself struggling to get in position to see that one big mature deer. We have all 250 acres of standing corn still in our way and things are not looking good for us this year. I have seen some good rut sign, scrapes, rubs and a few 2-year-olds running around. With warm temperatures, is most of the rut activity going on at night?
Last week we had some cold weather coming through so I thought this would be my opportunity. I took some time off work to get out to the stand Tuesday afternoon. I decided to sneak into a stand I hung this summer in a bedding area knowing that the bucks would be coming through scent-checking this area. About 3:30, one of the prettiest coyotes I have seen in a long time came through and got a drink out of the creek. When I drew my bow back, she caught the movement, snuck away to the other side of the creek and sat down behind a little tree where I could not get a shot. The coyote just sat there and looked at me while I was full draw just looking for a spot I could thread an arrow in. I had no luck getting that shot. After the coyote left, the deer really started to move through. There were several encounters with small bucks, but they were doing what I figured they would do, just scent-checking the area. I elected to come back to those stands in the morning. I would probably have more luck catching a hot doe coming in to bed.
Sure enough, shortly after the sun came up, we had a nice-looking 2-year-old chasing a doe he was trying to pin down in this area. It was an action-packed morning, as we saw 7 different bucks and ten does. Also, a big male bobcat came through and made the morning for us. He is only the fifth one in eighteen years of hunting I have seen. Justin and I thought with all the activity we saw that we should get back in that stand for the evening hunt. We headed home for lunch at 11:00 and headed back out at 1:00. We got settled into the stand and sat for a couple hours but didn’t see anything. Finally, about 4:00, I heard a sound over my right shoulder. I turned around to find the coyote we had seen Tuesday afternoon. She was coming down the same trail into the creek to get a drink. She did not come our way but walked the creek bed around the corner and headed south. With the night being a bust so far, I decided to try calling her back. What the heck, it was worth a shot! I made about four calls before she stopped, turned on a dime and came in for some supper. The coyote walked right into my wheelhouse closing the distance to about twenty-five yards. I thought to myself, she is going to bust us but she did stop once to look up at us. For whatever reason, she let her guard down, turned to look away from me and gave the green light to draw my bow! I asked Justin if he had it and he said yes. I squeezed the trigger and it was all over with the Rage 2.3 Extreme. Well, let’s just say it stood up to its name. What an impressive entry and exit! It stopped her dead in her tracks. I am a firm believer in the Rage products!