This weekend in cheesehead land I had 5 sits. Kinda rained out on two. Saw no deer. Local said he had the same results. I've remembered this from years past. Anybody else run into an Oct lull?
It's more scientific??? One trail camera I had set up for a month in the same spot would verify an Oct lull.
2 weeks in Sept. had 54 hits.
2 weeks ending on Oct 13th 10 hits.
Any opinions????
Bowmania
Is there food dropping where your hunting?Where are you hunting on a trail to a bedding area or to a food plot? Deer have to eat and water.
I have always considered the "October lull" a myth. October is a month of change for the whitetail. Food sources are changing, crops are being harvested, mast is now dropping, bucks are preparing for the coming rut, etc, etc. The consistant summer patterns you saw, and photographed, in September have changed. A lot of hunters fail to adjust during this time and blame it on a lull in activity. The deer are still out there but their patterns are just changing. My 2 cents.
Bill
I've seen and had others concur that food sources like apples get hammered hard during sept, but if white oaks start dropping last sept early october the don't touch the apples again for a while...
could be a food source thing.
Acorns Acorns Acorns Acorns Acorns Acorns..
Strick9 has it right.My stand sits looking over a grove of oaks with a good acorn crop this year.I counted 6 deer yesterday am in the 3 hrs I was on stand.
There is certainly truth to every statement made.But lets not forget deer know when hunters hit the woods and they seem to react every year the same way, a lot of night movement.October has always been that way in my experience.I don't know if it is specifically related to pressur alone but they love to move at night in october.The rut will change that and low food sources will change it.The camara having lower hits is cetainly change in bed and food.My opinon! :campfire:
My camera hits have really dropped off in the past week also. Of course i have the timer set so that it is only on an hour before sunrise and an hour after dark. Something has certaqinly changed but in another week or two things will magically turn for the better and there will be deer everywhere again. It certainly isn't deer reacting to hunting pressure since there is none except for me on my property (200 ac). Certainly a change in weather and food/water sources though.
Didn't read all the replies...but it not a lull...just a change from the summer pattern to fall pattern. You gotta follow the deer, as they haven't stopped moving or eating.....just changed there travel patterns.
Least that's what I've found always seems to happen.
If you follow the harvest records I think we as a group have trouble filling many tags the first two weeks of Oct.. True it is a transition time from summer to fall and the up coming rut, but feel early season pressure has forced many deer to be a bit more timid or reclusive.. Find an area with zero or very little pressure and they will still be hitting the summer food sources.
By the way, a whole lot of us out here in the mid west or west don't have to worry about acorns.. (No Oak trees) our deer live by the ag crops with fourth cutting alfalfa, beans and corn leading the way, and I would put them in that order... No fourth cutting alfalfa, I'd move beans to #1. Standing corn will hold them as much for security as for feed
I believe in the "myth". Here in Michigan the deer get pounded really hard by archery hunters. It does not take but one solid weekend of encroachment by hunters for the deer to change their patterns... i.e. moving more at night, sticking to thicker cover where it is more difficult to spot them. Not to mention what the others have about changing food sources. Combine all of these factors and if you are not in the right place you will be in for a beautiful sunset and nothing more :D
Then, about the last 10 days or so of October the movement seems to increase again as the bucks begin to get a little restless with the oncoming rut. Bucks start cruising more and cruising more during the daylight hours, making and checking scrapes, chasing does and just causing a bit of ruckess that makes the deer visible to us hunters again.
So basically if you can find an out of the way spot with little pressure, sit near the favored food source for that time of the year, you can still have some awesome action even when many other areas seem devoid of deer.
kevin.
I believe the "lull" theory. It's a time of change, for both hunters and deer. Food sources change, days get shorter, bucks become solitary, visability, temps, more hunters. Of course they still move, just tougher to pattern, 'till the rut starts.
In my neck of the Georgia woods, pre-rut is kicking in and they will be breeding by months end. I saw 5 bucks this weekend and killed one7pt. A buddy with wheels killed an absolute monster 10 pt that I bet goes close to the top of the Georgia records on Friday night. No lulls here!
I believe its from the changing food sources. I have noticed decreased activity on my property (food plots) but I believe that is in direct correlation with more corn piles showing up now than earlier. It is common in my neck of the woods for people to start dumping corn in mid OCt. up to the Rifle season. They bowhunt a few times but are mostly doing it to keep the deer in their area for the rifle hunt.
I may not see as many deer in October,but I've killed all my biggest bucks between 20-30 October.
I think the lull is a myth. You just need to keep adapting to their prefered food source and hunting different times of the day. They are still out there but their movement changes due to food and hunter pressure.
I think the lull is me tryin to catch up with their changing pattern,they still eat,drink and move just as much,I'm just not with it yet!LOL
My best bucks have also been from Oct 20 to Halloween........
I had never heard of the "lull" but was just thinking about it myself yesterday. I've been archery hunting 4 years and have experienced a tremendous decrease in activity the first 2 weeks of October. Just the last few days I started seeing a spike of activity again. The apples in my yard were there before, during, and after... but they just now are hitting them hard again like they were at the end of Sept.
I can't fully blame acorns for my past Oct. failure as much of it is hunting large stands of oaks. I think changing conditions and food sources is always a factor... but perhaps the deer, both doe and buck, are also genetically pre-programmed for a bit of a breather before the real action begins.
If you are calling the decrease in deer movement during daylight hours in the early part of october the "october lull" then YES it not a myth it is a fact.
I believe it, I've seen it, matter of fact, I've been hunting it!
Hope it changes this weekend like everyone says... :)
the only myth in October is when humans can't figure out the whitetail deer...Like others have said, they are moving to the fall movements, getting ready for the breeding season... try deeper woods, places you haven't been in your area. This is the time when Bucks start to get dumb... Good Luck to all
Interesting thread...good discussions...
I don't think the deer go on vacation for 2 weeks....I think its more of a hunters lull.
There's also a 'lull' during the full moon in Nov....but you might be suprised at what you see if you hunted from 10-3 during that phase.
In northern MI, IMO there is a "lull" such that I don't hunt much or at all from about October 8 until starting up again about October 24. The deer don't disappear, but change their habits quite a bit. I hunt mostly near bedding areas, and even there they feel pressured a bit. I've seen it for 30+ years in the same spots.
I've observed this at some length. I noted this same "lull" when following deer around rotating food sources all thru October, back when I wanted to do that. They basically act spooked and alter their habits to avoid us messy humans more.
I believe it's pressure related. On public & some private land here, there is a rifle season "lull" a few days after the opener that is more a "freeze", purely pressure related. This occurs even if the rut is really hot & heavy. You've gotta move into deeper cover--where I am anyway--or just get lucky.
I also hunt in Canada where walking/sitting hunters are low in number, the deer there experience no "lull" or "freeze" and, depending on weather & rut activity, often become more active as the hunt progresses.
This is just my opinion, and if I didn't have the opportunity to choose my hunting periods, I'd hunt the "lull" as hard as any other time. I just like the rut and colder weather, later season hunting.
I used to buy in with the lull theory. I started hitting more oak flats and other food sources instead of Edge of Ag fields. My sightings have gone way up. Last night I had a decent 8 and a forky feeding on white oak acorns under me. When a group of does came to a nearby field their ears perked up and they chased those deer all over that field! So it's getting close to the chase...
I have killed 6 mature bucks in 10 years...3 have come during the October lull. I love October!!! Bring on the lull!!!
I took some advice, hunted back in deeper than normal in an area that I haven't been in awhile.
Had the biggest doe I have seen in a long time come in from behind me; unfortunately I was too low and she saw me. The stand is an old ladder stand in there that is only 9' up.
I could have taken a "poke" through a few small holes in some dead sumacs; but I held off, waiting for her to be in the clear, quartering away.
I gave myself a back-pat for not trying the shot. :)
I glassed where she went and was spotted by another deer on the OTHER side of the little low-spot where I was set-up...lol! They didn't wind me, just saw something in camo that they were unsure of. ;)
Now that I know where and when they come out, I'm going to hang a portable on the little ridge that the big doe came in on, I have seen lots of tracks there in the winter.
Good Chasin'
BD