00:00:01 Speaker 1: What is going on? Welcome to another year of Rut Fresh. This is Jake Hofer, and we are back. It is hunting season, and if you're not familiar with Rut Fresh, this is where we give weekly updates and insight across the country, bringing in three or four guests a week to hear what they're focusing on for deer movement, what are their strategies, and hopefully provide some key intel for the upcoming weekend, the remainder of the week, and leading all the way into the following Wednesday. Refresh is brought to you by Moultrie, and this week we're going to have Cameron Durr, who successfully tagged a buck in North Dakota and now is getting ready for the Ohio archery opener. We have Kevin Latham from Maryland, who tagged a great buck early, and we're also having Clay Merver from North Carolina, who tagged a buck, and Jake Bushman, who is hunting in the Driftless region of Wisconsin, so we have a lot of variety here this week, and Something that we're going to do here is I'm going to give a little whitetail weather report forecast. And so here for September 23rd across the Midwest, cooler air has settled into much of the region to start the week from the upper Midwest through portions of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Temperatures are generally running cooler with overnight lows reaching the 40s and 50s in a number of areas. So some very unseasonably cooler temperature here for a lot of the openers and leading up to the opening days. October 1st seasons for many of the states. Wind direction is also very interesting. Mainly northeast and easterly winds are showing up across portions of the Midwest behind the early week weather system, which is a little bit different than what we're typically planning for west, northwest, or potentially southwest for this time of year. And so we have a lot of east winds, you know, following behind this front. As these systems move through, barometric pressure will fall ahead of the approaching weather and rise again behind it. As conditions clear, rain chances remain in the forecast across portions of the Midwest this week with additional unsettled weather extending east through the Ohio Valley Appalachians. And overhead, we're approaching the harvest moon. And the moon is more than 90% illuminated here today on Wednesday and building toward the full moon on Saturday, September 26th. And so that's your whitetail weather report for this week. We're going to kick things off with Cameron Durr. Here we go. All right, kicking off this year's season of Rut Fresh, I have Cameron Durr with Hawk Optics. We get a two-fold with you because you shot a buck in North Dakota. Do you still have any cameras out there? 00:02:32 Speaker 2: Yeah, I have one camera left out there. 00:02:33 Speaker 1: Okay, so we can get a snippet of what's going on in North Dakota, and then obviously Ohio opens up this Saturday. So we're going to start in North Dakota, how it came together, which that's an annual trip, and it seems like every year you guys find success, or you in particular. So you have something figured out, and... You know, how did it work? And do you think that same strategy would work for someone in the Plains States for the next seven days? 00:02:57 Speaker 3: Yeah, this was a season opener type hunt. I was targeting the first week of the season, which came in a little bit later this year for North Dakota. But our strategy out there is just kind of like a diversity of edge cover. Look for food sources and bedding cover. So I targeted an area that specifically had cattails as the bedding. Standing corn and soybeans it's like the trifecta of what to look for in those areas but just basically is three edges converging and you're always going to find traffic in that it's almost like an inside corner of a field but. the standing corn and the beans are, are the two edges, but the cattails, uh, the bedding cover, um, all week, man, we had South winds, Southeast winds, and I just particularly needed a North wind to have the cleanest access into this spot. Um, backing up, I, I put cameras out there in July or August. So we kind of had some deer pinned down, um, where they were feeding and what they were liking to do. And it's an area we funded before, right? So we had some betting figured out like if they're if they're feeding in this field this is where they're betting anyway um two cattail slews one really works better with a north wind one works better with a south wind if they are in the one that works better with the south wind it's not very huntable um from where the food is like you might be able to cut it but just depends on where they're in those cattails if they approach from the field side you're good but if not you're kind of screwed So I needed a north wind, and again, this cattail slew where they were bedded with a north wind. 00:04:40 Speaker 1: There's a lake. 00:04:41 Speaker 3: There's a big lake, and then there's a finger of cattails that go out from the lake, and I was able to cut my wind to blow my wind over the lake, and the deer was just in the cattail. So if I had northeast in me, he would probably peg me, but it was like a north-northwest, and it just worked out perfectly. 00:05:02 Speaker 4: It was. 00:05:03 Speaker 3: those open country settings, like just on the ground, there's just a buffer zone between the beans and the cattails. And I sat up against a fence is a private land, a farm ranch set up against the fence with a fence post and just put a couple more fence posts around me, made some brush and cover. And I'm actually in a scenario where I'm below the deer, where they enter the top of the field. So like you're, you just see that frame walking up and you, it's, it's kind of freaky, but, um, he read the script. He walked right out of the cattail slew, um, walked straight into the corner of the field and presented a 29 yard shot. 00:05:41 Speaker 2: He never knew I was there and watched him tip over. 00:05:43 Speaker 1: Do you think you have any sort of scent advantage by being actually lower than where you anticipate the deer to come through? 00:05:48 Speaker 2: A hundred percent. 00:05:49 Speaker 3: And those, and those areas, um, the, especially in early season, the sunset, right at sunset, your thermals and, Your wind just dies and your thermals just kind of hang out. But the way I was set up, my thermals are pulling down further down into the field and into the water towards the water than where he was at. So it was kind of a bulletproof setup. The only way he could have caught me is if he did a giant J hook along the edge of the lake to come up into the field. And I glassed him three nights in a row and he never did that. But he wasn't coming from that cattail slough, right? He was approaching from the other cattail slough. We just had a shifting wind. So I just didn't anticipate a huge J-hook in there. I set up 35 yards off of where I thought he would enter and. 00:06:35 Speaker 2: It worked out perfect. 00:06:36 Speaker 1: Do you think, you know, I know you still have one camera out there right now, but for someone listening to this right now and they're in North Dakota, South Dakota, similar terrain, maybe Nebraska, do you think that same intersection of two food sources and cover nearby and a good ambush point? Do you think that could still be a very viable strategy? And ironically, at least here in the Midwest, it seems like we're still going to have a lot of east winds here coming up and southeast winds and some northeast winds. If you were still in North Dakota with a tag in your pocket, do you think your strategy would have changed much? 00:07:12 Speaker 3: No, I don't think so. I think they're going to be on the bed-to-food pattern for a while. The food sources are going to be changing, right? The beans are they were already pretty yellow when we were out there. Um, but the standing corn is going to become more of a draw and there's alfalfa out there. I would definitely target those diversity cover and edge. So I think it would still be, that's what I would be doing. 00:07:38 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:07:39 Speaker 1: And so now transitioning to another opening day, Ohio, your home state, um, what does it look like? Whether, whether considered scouting considered, like what is the next, you know, Wednesday to opening day, what, what are you going to be doing? 00:07:55 Speaker 3: Dude, I think this is the best weather leading up to an Ohio opening bow season that I can remember. Um, a couple of years ago we had a storm land on opening day and that, that provided a really great day. Uh, Stacy Bay has shot that 188, 187 inch deer. They called shank on that day. But since then, that was probably 2021 or 2020 or something. Since then, I don't think we've had an opening week that's looked this way, so I'm super fired up. I just spent this past weekend kind of shifting some cameras around, moving them to white oak trees, and I actually found a standing green bean field on a piece that I picked up in turkey season. I just did a little John Eberhardt speed scout session over there, and there's a ton of acorns dropping. I haven't seen an acorn crop like that in my area as well. So I'm super fired up about that. Scrapes are opening up. Um, I'm going to spend the next three or four days behind the glass every night. I mean, it's going to be in the forties at night here in Northeast Ohio. So I'm super fired up for what's to come. 00:09:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's, that's very exciting. And, um, you know, throughout this route fresh episode, you'll really kind of get an acorn scout across, uh, North Carolina, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Ohio, obviously. And so, uh, it's been a mixed bag to tell you the truth of what the acorn crop is. So I think that's something important that people can, you know, check off here, um, leading up to whenever their opening day is, or, you know, ongoing, but how aggressive do you plan on being with the weather being right speed scout, identifying some scrapes where they're at. And I mean, do you, do you feel like this weekend it could happen? 00:09:38 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the next couple days, if I'm sitting behind the glass, and if they do what they did last night, and even just when I was scouting, there was a puddle in the ground under one particular oak tree that they're spending a lot of time on. The quote unquote feed tree I feel like that's it and last night I just watched them from two different directions come into that feed tree my ambush point would probably be from the bean field like sitting in the bean field and letting them come out as long as I have the right wind but yeah if they do something similar the next two nights or so I'm definitely going to take. 00:10:19 Speaker 2: A big swing. 00:10:20 Speaker 1: So just to make sure everyone understands, so you're actually going to sit in the standing beans? 00:10:25 Speaker 2: Correct. Okay. 00:10:27 Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know the bedding. This is a new piece. I don't know the bedding situation in there and how they're moving through the woods. And the beans are like waist high. They're pretty tall. So using the North Dakota strategy of like getting creative with your setups, that's a really– dynamite they don't ever expect danger to be there you know what i mean and they come out they have the visual they have the wind to their advantage in most scenarios and if i can just be off of that out in the bean field and set up for 25 30 yard shot to below that feed tree to the edge of the field i think it's dynamite plus um the farmer that i'm hunting on like he owns like the first set of trees and beyond that he doesn't own anything so that's also the safest route by permission as well. 00:11:18 Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense. Well, so the bigger question here now is on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best week of the entire year, 1 being one of the worst. Where do you rank this with weather, your scouting report? Where does it fall? 00:11:33 Speaker 3: Man, I think like an 8. 00:11:36 Speaker 1: I love it. 00:11:37 Speaker 3: The, the first week of the season, they're still on a pattern. They haven't had that pressure hit them. And the weather is just looking primo. I think opening morning in my area, it's going to be 44 degrees. So, um, it's like we're in late October. Like you look for that type of weather in late October. So if you have a deer on a pattern and kind of figured out and you've watched do some things like you can be really, really dangerous this weekend. 00:12:03 Speaker 1: I love it. Uh, Cameron, with Hawk Optics, and then where else can people follow along with what you have going this season as we kick things off? 00:12:12 Speaker 3: Yeah, you can find me on Instagram, Cam the Cameraman, or a new platform that I'm working on called Modern Whitetail. You can find those podcast episodes on the Whitetail podcast channel. Yeah, that's where things are going down. 00:12:26 Speaker 1: All right. Thank you so much, Cameron. Congratulations in North Dakota, and good luck the rest of the season. 00:12:31 Speaker 2: Thank you. 00:12:32 Speaker 5: All right. 00:12:32 Speaker 1: Next up, we have Kevin Walsh. from Maryland, who recently tagged a really, really awesome eight-pointer. How's it going? 00:12:40 Speaker 2: Pretty good, man. 00:12:41 Speaker 1: How you been? I'm doing really good. This is the first episode of Rough Fresh. We're all working out the kinks. But some folks, especially for this first episode, have already found success. And so the fun part of that is we get to recap how did it come together. But then additionally, you're in Maryland. A lot of states allow multiple buck tags. And so more so, How do you keep building momentum? So we're going to get into all of that, but Kevin, where roughly are you in Maryland? You don't have to say the county or anything like that, but roughly, just so people can get a frame of reference. 00:13:15 Speaker 2: So it's like right outside of like Baltimore City. I live in Carroll. I hunt like all around Carroll, you know, Baltimore County and all that. That's really the only place I go. A little bit of Lake Howard, but that's about it. Okay. 00:13:30 Speaker 1: And so about a week ago. you smoked a giant how did that come together. 00:13:37 Speaker 2: Um so i've had him on camera for about two months now and uh he was being really consistent um i have another big deer that i was hunting that actually hunted uh the day after opening day didn't see him his running buddy came in he was a big 10 um but the big nine that i was i was going after he actually shed his velvet and i don't know I mean, acorns started dropping too. So I'm sure that part of it, but once he shed him and that 10 stopped running together, like I did not see him together at all. And, um, like I said, I hunted that day. The 10 came in. He actually came in a couple of times. He left. He was coming back. He was going back into thicket. I guess he bedded. Cause he came in early and I had probably 35 deer around me like all night. There's like a big, like grown up field next to me. They're going out in that bed and coming back. Um, so that didn't, nothing happened that day. I went out on Wednesday and hunted for his big eight. He actually has like a kicker coming off his, it's not even a kicker. It's like, it's coming out of his skull. Like he's got hair in between like his base and this point. And, um, so I was like, I'm going to go and hunt him. The wind was perfect. I go in, had deer around me all evening and I ended up shooting him at five 58, but I had two does better underneath me, a little six underneath me. And I heard something crack behind me and I, uh, I like, I couldn't even move much. It was just kind of like, you know, you turn your head a little bit with your eyes to see what it is. And I just saw the big frame coming in and I was like, oh, that's him. And, uh, I was hoping he was going to come like right in front of me. Cause I was in, I was in like a pine tree. I saw like branches all around me. It was all trimmed and everything. So I get a good shot. And I like, when I reached around to grab my bow. And like, he's, I mean, at this point he's like 30 yards and I'm hoping he walks in front of me and I'm looking down and there's a doe underneath me and she's just staring at me. I'm like, this is not how this is going to go. You know, it's like, it's one of theirs. So I'm hoping he comes in front of me. He doesn't, he comes behind me. So I can't even see him right now. My hand's still in the air because the doe's looking at me and I'm looking down and he comes up behind her and like nudges her to like move her out of the way. Well, she spun. That's when I grabbed my bow. I brought it up. Clip my release, and he came out, and he came out to, like, 25 yards, and I drew a shot him quartering away. And he went, like, 60 yards, and I heard him crash and, like, do a thick stuff. 00:16:01 Speaker 1: Was that more of, like, a transition area where they're getting up out of bed and going to feed somewhere? Or why do you think he was— obviously, he had to be bedded somewhat close by is what I'm guessing. 00:16:10 Speaker 2: Yeah, so, like, the property is, like— it' s only, like, a 15-acre property. But it's, like, a river bottom down to one side and the other side. It's all, like, secluded. They have, like, a big yard's ton of clover in the yard. so they go out there and feed and like you know do their thing there's honestly it's like an overpopulated area so there's tons of deer but yeah he like i mean he was coming off like like the hill up by the house it's really thick back there he bed and he was coming down from there and uh yeah it came right in i mean i ended up shooting him at 558 So I remember right when I shot, cause I always like, right when I shoot, I always call my dad. Like that's the first thing I do. 00:16:47 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:16:47 Speaker 1: That's awesome. 00:16:47 Speaker 2: And like, after I shot him, like I'm sitting there, I couldn't even see after I shot, he went like, like I said, like real thick stuff. And I could hear him crash. And I pulled my phone out. It's at five 58. And I was like trying to call dad. I was like, good. And I was like, Hey, I was like, I was like, what are you doing? He was like, let me guess. You shot him. I was like, yep. 00:17:05 Speaker 1: That's awesome. That's super cool. So, um, for the next week, Wednesday to Wednesday, um, you know, for someone that did not find that initial success, what, what would you tell them? What would they, what, what should they be potentially keying in on? What should they be paying attention to? Uh, whether, you know, considering weather time of year conditions, all those different things. And, um, you know, people all across the country will tune in, but, um, you know, some of our States here in Illinois, I'm still waiting for October 1st. So I'm, I'm in a holding pattern here as I, as I hear this advice. 00:17:38 Speaker 2: Um, look, for here, it's supposed to rain for like the next week. So, I mean, I'm going to lay low. I'm always watching cameras and like, that's one thing too. Like you can't get caught up with the cameras. You know what I mean? You got to go hunt. I'm always looking for white Oaks. Like last year was like a really good year for white Oaks for us. So I expected this year not to be, but I mean, they're dropping everywhere right now, which is a great thing. But I mean, I'd always look for white Oaks. And then, like I said, don't just stare at the cameras. Like, you know, if there's a big deer in the area, go hunt them. Always hunt the right wind. I'm, Y'all got to hunt the right wind. 00:18:11 Speaker 1: So give us a quick, to you, what is hunting the right wind? Cause for some people that's some, for everyone, it's interesting because some people say, well, you know, like the deer has to be, the wind has to be somewhat okay for the mature buck and you're kind of flirting with disaster or cheating the wind. Is that your strategy or is it more so like, Hey, it's such a high deer population area. I have to kind of give that up and just have it blowing into an area where deer are very unlikely to be. Yeah. 00:18:37 Speaker 2: So, I'm very big on like access to like, I'm not just going to go hang and stand right in the middle of like where I think, Oh, this is the best spot. You know what I mean? I'm always going to stay back and have the wind in my favor when I get on it. You know, like, and like newer hunters that I talked to about it, I'm like, you know, the biggest things are wind access. And when you first start hunting, like go and shoot deer and have fun. Don't always worry about the big bucks. Like that's, that's like the thing everybody's watching videos. I got to shoot a big buck. Like, growing up i i shot so many deer when i was younger like does anything like you know what i mean so and i feel like that made me a better hunter like there's people that started hunting 10 years ago that maybe shot five deer and they they've killed a couple deer but like i feel like the best thing you could do is hunt and just shoot deer and learn how to kill deer do you know what i mean yeah 100 but like yeah when it comes to wind i mean i I won't hunt on the wrong wind. I have before, and I've learned my lesson. You know what I mean? You're like, Oh, I think I can, I think I can get him. A big deer is always going to try to circle downwind to you no matter what, unless it's the rod he's chasing a doe, you know, but like early season, September, like I always hunt the wind, watch the weather, watch the moon. And you can watch it on cameras if you want. Like, you know what I mean? Like a good moon day, all the big deer showing up in your cameras and you're like, okay. 00:19:59 Speaker 1: So what's a good moon day for you? Is it, is it in relation to the red moon or is it more of the major minor times of the moon? 00:20:07 Speaker 2: Um, I mean, obviously the red moon, but like, like a full moon, that's always, that's always a good time to hunt it. Okay. 00:20:14 Speaker 1: So I like it. I like it. So, you know, over the next seven days, a lot of rain. Um, what's your strategy? 00:20:23 Speaker 2: Um, I'm going to be watching the cameras, see what's going on. Um, if it's pouring down rain, I'm probably not going out. If it's like a light rain, I'll definitely hunt a light rain. Um, And it really just depends with like work when I can get off of work, you know? Um, but I'm like right now I've just like, I'm, I've been like going to all my spots that I don't have cameras or something and just looking for white eggs. I actually just went and put a camera out, uh, on Friday. I went into my one spot and like another thing, it's like, it's another five acre spot, but there's huge white eggs in there that are just, they're dropping like crazy. I just threw a camera up and, um, I just got like four or five bucks on camera last night. None of them are shooters. One's like 125 inch nine point. But like, it's like, it's just stuff like that. Like I'm always scouting, like, you know, I'm not going to the bedding area. I'm just going to where they normally like to feed and do all that. But yeah, like the next week I'm probably, I mean, I'm going to try to hunt a day or two, but I got to see what's coming in. And yeah, I mean, that's. 00:21:30 Speaker 1: Do you, do you think hunting these smaller pieces with, you know, possibly a cluster of, you know, I'm just making this up, a cluster of five oaks, white oaks that are dropping, you know, it keeps it somewhat focused, but on the inverse, let's say someone was hunting a larger track with white oaks all over and, and your region of Maryland. Um, do you think it's kind of like throwing a dart of what, what tree they're going to be feeding under that evening? Or is it, or is it more so find the good access, find out where you can have a good wind and focus on those white oaks and kind of hope for the best. 00:22:00 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'd be on ridges. Like, that's another thing. I don't hunt bottoms because the wind's constantly swirling in the bottom. Find ridges, find the big white oaks. I mean, just look for sign, too. Look for rubs, scrapes, you know. I mean, and throughout the night, bucks are going to make rubs and scrapes everywhere. They're constantly moving. But like I said, I'm usually up on ridges. I never get down the bottom because I've learned my lesson with that. The wind's swirling when you're down there, and it's like, then it's a disaster, you know? 00:22:29 Speaker 1: So. 00:22:30 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'll usually be up on a ridge. And, like, if I'm hunting a new area that I'm not exactly sure about, I've scouted it, did all that, my first one's, like, an observation hunt. You know what I mean? I kind of stay back where I can see a lot and then see how the deer move. And then if I see a big deer, then I'll move in on him. You know what I mean? Something like that. 00:22:49 Speaker 5: Mm-hmm. 00:23:00 Speaker 1: All right, two last questions here. What's the weirdest approach, the strangest approach that you would take in this next week to potentially notch a tag? Unconventional. 00:23:12 Speaker 2: The strangest approach. 00:23:20 Speaker 1: And if there isn't a strange one, that's okay, too. That also provides clarity. 00:23:23 Speaker 2: I mean, I don't really have like a strange or crazy approach I would take. If I'm hunting a big deer, I want to do it right. You know what I mean? I'm not, especially this early in the season, I don't want to go in and booger him trying to do something crazy to kill him when I got all season. You know what I mean? 00:23:36 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:23:36 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:23:37 Speaker 2: That's fair. I mean, September is like my favorite time to hunt. Like out of all the months, like I love September. You can pattern the deer. They're switching from you know, their summer pattern or their fall pattern, they're, they're getting on white Oaks and then like Maryland and Maryland, you can feed. So like, I, I do put corn out some places just to like get inventory of the box and see what's going on. But, um, yeah, I mean, I love September, like patterning them is like the best thing to me, like figure out what they're doing and then trying to outsmart a big giant box is like, I mean, it's like what I live for, man. I love it. 00:24:09 Speaker 4: All right. 00:24:09 Speaker 1: Last question here for you. Scale one to 10. 10 being the absolute best of the week, week of the year, one being one of the worst weeks of the year. So Wednesday to Wednesday, 23rd to the 30th, where do you put it? 00:24:26 Speaker 2: For September? 00:24:28 Speaker 1: For the rest of the season. Just like, do you think this next week is going to be a 10 out of 10? There's going to be a lot of big deer in your area die, would be like a 10 with high opportunity, or one would be, man, there's not going to be much cooking. 00:24:44 Speaker 2: Uh, I don't think there'll be a lot going on. People are obviously going to kill big deer. 00:24:47 Speaker 1: Like that. 00:24:48 Speaker 2: It's still September. I love hunting all of September, but I think like the first week of the season, cause like it always changes for us. It can start on the 5th, the 7th, the 11th, the 12th. Um, I think that's the best time to kill like a big deer all season is the first week of the season. But like, like I said, I like all of September acorns have dropped and you can get on them with the weather fronts coming in. I mean, it's going to be hard. You're not going to be, you don't want to be sitting in a tree pouring down rain. You know what I mean? So I think the next week it'll be a little slow for people killing big deer. I mean, like I said, some will get killed. People that want to brave the rain and whatever's coming. Yeah. 00:25:25 Speaker 1: Well, Kevin, congratulations on kicking off your season with an awesome buck. And I appreciate you hopping on here for the first episode of Rough Fresh for this year. New episodes every single Wednesday. If people want to track you down and ask you a question or something like that, is there a good place for people to do that? 00:25:42 Speaker 2: Um, I have Facebook, I have Instagram. They're both just like at Kevin lathe. Okay. Um, that's about it. Awesome. 00:25:49 Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for hopping on here. Congratulations again. 00:25:52 Speaker 2: Thank you, man. Appreciate it. 00:25:54 Speaker 4: All right. 00:25:54 Speaker 1: Next up we have clay and clay. You recently shot a buck. Congratulations. I want to hear all about it, but before we get into that, uh, what state are we getting, getting into here today? 00:26:05 Speaker 6: We're in North Carolina, Piedmont region. 00:26:07 Speaker 4: A lot of my counties that I'm hunting, their border in the Virginia line. And one of the biggest things around here is just the drought. It's been unseasonably dry food plots or dust. I mean, there, there's no germination and we seeded those a month ago now. So we're going to have to reseed and redo everything. 00:26:26 Speaker 6: It's nineties and dry as can be. 00:26:30 Speaker 1: But you still connected with a, with a really interesting buck with a crazy long dagger time. So how did that come together? Just, uh, what was the, Morning, evening, what was your setup, and kind of take us from there. 00:26:43 Speaker 4: It was opening morning, and I know morning hunts kind of get a stigma around here, but it didn't matter. The deer was on such a pattern that he was coming in off of... There were ag fields surrounding where we were, and I was in a two-year-old clear cut that's about as thick as it can get with perfect access, maybe 100 yards from where I could park the truck, and... in the stand at 5.30, an hour and a half before he was coming back, and he was hitting just a little opening. I'd call it a food plot, but it's not. 00:27:15 Speaker 6: There's no germination in there. 00:27:17 Speaker 4: We are a bait state, so I did have corn out because there's nothing else right now growing, and he was hitting that at about 7 a.m. and then bedding down by a pond, and we were in very tight to where the buck was bedding, I'd say within 100 yards, and at about 7 a.m. he came walking by, broadside perfect and like i said normal mornings if it wasn't perfect we'd stay out but it was one of those situations where it was pretty cut and dry just had to make a good. 00:27:46 Speaker 1: Shot yeah so do you think he got up out of his bed and came and ate on your corner do you think he ate the corn on the way back to his bed at you know seven o'clock in the morning if he had a guess. 00:27:55 Speaker 4: He was on his way back yeah he was leaving those fields and i mean it's probably probably 300 yard walk from the nearest fields through the cut over where he was coming in and then uh, the pond where we knew he was bedding and he was in there like clockwork. So, and, and just an older buck had an injury, had a really cool, yeah, we called him dagger, cool dagger point. 00:28:16 Speaker 1: And yeah. Yeah. So, um, do you think that's, you know, let's, um, let's say you did not have such a bead on or a pattern on this specific buck. What would you tell yourself or how would you have hunted differently for that opening day? Cause I, We're getting close to opening day for many, many other states as this goes live. And so, you know, I think it's pretty cut and dry. Hey, if you have one kind of pinned down and you have a pattern and you have good access, go take a swing and hopefully it works out. But for those folks that don't have that, what do you say to them? 00:28:48 Speaker 6: It's a little bit more difficult. Our deer are moving super late. 00:28:51 Speaker 4: I think your traditional spots sitting over a field or sitting over a food plot aren't as good, at least down here. I've been seeing a lot more daylight movement closer in towards the bedding if you have a good creek crossing or if there's a pond or any type of water source that these deer are hitting that's where i'd be i'd also find those acorns down by us did the acorns it's not a huge mass crop like it was last year but the trees that are produced and they're absolutely loaded and they are raining out of the sky um i'd find one of those trees and eventually those deer are going to come so if you can find that spot Before they get out to the fields, like I said, I'd be on my farms, either a creek crossing bottom or finding some of these uh mass producing trees. 00:29:40 Speaker 1: Yeah okay so for the next week you can still uh you still have a buck tag in your pocket what's your what's your strategy over the next week here um with it still being hot and obviously it's a long season it's still september but i think we're all excited so what's your plan for the next seven days or so uh you know wednesday to wednesday There's. 00:29:57 Speaker 6: A couple good bucks still out there. 00:29:59 Speaker 4: We actually went in after a really nice 10 point from my son yesterday. Didn't have any luck, but we're still hunting. 00:30:05 Speaker 6: We love to hunt. We love to get out there. It doesn't matter what the weather's doing. 00:30:07 Speaker 4: If we can find a spot, we're lucky enough to have enough places to go. 00:30:11 Speaker 6: We're going to get out in the woods when we're available. 00:30:15 Speaker 4: I think for me, there's a good front pushing through Tuesday and Wednesday, and then that sets up pretty good. I mean, we've been It's been nineties and sunny and dry, and we're going to have some rain Tuesday and Wednesday, and it's going to drop down. Lows are going to be in the fifties. Highs are going to be in the low seventies. So there's a big, uh, temp drop there. So I think the end. 00:30:38 Speaker 6: Of the week should be pretty good hunting. I mean, it's still September. 00:30:41 Speaker 4: It's not even October yet. So we're down here. I'd look towards the end of the week and, and one of those bucks that have been coming out a half hour after shooting light might come out a little bit earlier. 00:30:52 Speaker 1: That buck you shot, you mentioned he was on a pattern. Was that almost on– and you mentioned a pond, so I'm guessing he was bedding around the pond depending on which way the wind was coming in the morning. How consistent was he? Was it like almost truly an everyday thing he was going in there? Was he that patterned or was it like two or three days? 00:31:11 Speaker 6: It was that consistent. 00:31:13 Speaker 1: Wow. 00:31:13 Speaker 6: And it was. 00:31:16 Speaker 4: One of those that I knew I was going to get an opportunity, whether it was in the morning or the afternoon. And he was in there almost daily, which there were several deer that were like that. This one was the easiest spot to be able to get in there in the morning without feeling like I was really going to ruin my chances for the afternoon. 00:31:36 Speaker 1: Because if you would have struck out, you would have went back out that evening? 00:31:42 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, the game plan going into it, in my mind, it was go in there in the morning, have an opportunity at this buck, and then try to get out there that afternoon with my son, which actually is exactly how it worked out. We were able to kill one in the morning and then I took my son that afternoon and he shot a good buck. 00:32:00 Speaker 1: That's super cool. So you had mentioned, um, Not a huge acorn crop in your part of North Carolina, but the trees that did produce, produce very well. Would you say that is a key thing for anyone that does not have the super pattern buck right now to go maybe and search for some of those mash trees that are dropped? You know, you're walking on marbles. Do you think that's one of the best things they could do? 00:32:22 Speaker 4: If you could find those trees, that and persimmons, persimmons are already dropping right now. 00:32:26 Speaker 6: I think it's due to the drought. 00:32:28 Speaker 4: So if you can find those persimmon trees that are dropping or if you can find those acorns, I've moved a lot of my cameras around from where they'd typically be sitting on a food plot or these field edge scrapes. They're just not producing right now. A, there's no food plots. The ag fields aren't really good. The beans have already defoliated in most places around here. So I think those Creek crossings. If you could find a couple of scrapes, um, back in between bedding and food. And yeah, if you could set up over some of those acorns that are raining, I think that's a good plan. 00:32:59 Speaker 1: What would be the weirdest strategy you would take over the next week? We're the weirdest way, the weirdest strategy. 00:33:06 Speaker 4: Well, yesterday was kind of like that. We parked on the side of a highway on a property. We're able to hunt and just dropped into a little drainage bottom. And yeah, sitting down there. Our bottoms are tough to hunt. We had deer come in, not the deer we were looking for, but we're not taking any big time swings yet. There's nothing that I think we have a really good chance on. Over the next coming weeks, we'll get a little bit more aggressive, but it's still early here. 00:33:34 Speaker 6: Usually on our spots, we have. 00:33:36 Speaker 4: A chance on opening day or the first three days of the season when these deer are still on that consistent pattern. And then as that pressure picks up there, they're all, all our deer down here are shed out of velvet. Um, and scrapes are just starting to pop up. I mean, not many, I mean, we're not in the Midwest where you guys probably have scrapes all over the place. Ours were a little bit behind that. I'm starting to see them in your common spots, but it's not, it's not really taken off yet. So if you've got a deer on pattern, that's a different story, but if not kind of sitting back and waiting until you could go in and get it done. 00:34:12 Speaker 2: I love it. 00:34:13 Speaker 1: Clay, all right, on a scale of 1 to 10, next seven days, Wednesday to Wednesday, 10 being the best week of the entire year, 1 being might be a good time to keep shooting your bow and practice and scouting. Where do you put this next seven-day stretch at? 00:34:28 Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't think I'm going to be here. 00:34:30 Speaker 4: I think I'm going to leave and go to Ohio, so it's not going to be really good down here. 00:34:33 Speaker 6: I'll try to get up there for the opener. 00:34:35 Speaker 4: Down here, like I said, that weather front coming in near the end of the week is going to be good. But I still don't think it's going to be anything special. I'll put it right there in the middle at a five. 00:34:46 Speaker 2: Okay. 00:34:46 Speaker 1: All right. Well, Clay, with Whitetail Properties, I appreciate you hopping on the first episode of Rough Rush this season. Congratulations. And where can people track you down if they want to get more insight, more intel throughout the year, and they're maybe in the same region as you? 00:35:01 Speaker 4: Yeah, Clay at Whitetail Properties on Facebook and on Instagram. 00:35:07 Speaker 6: But I'm down here. It's... I'm an Ohio boy. 00:35:10 Speaker 2: I love Ohio. 00:35:12 Speaker 4: I spend more time up there during the deer season, it seems like. 00:35:14 Speaker 6: But North Carolina is kind of a sleeper. I've been looking at a lot of the stuff. We had a special. 00:35:19 Speaker 4: CWD hunt this year for a few counties. And I mean, there's already been a 190 killed down here this year. A couple other really high scoring deer. I've got a buddy that's killed, I mean, some heavy eights. We've got pretty decent deer if you can find the right spot. So it's pretty fun. 00:35:37 Speaker 2: Awesome. 00:35:37 Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much, Clay. 00:35:39 Speaker 4: All right. 00:35:39 Speaker 6: I appreciate it, Jake. 00:35:40 Speaker 1: Thanks again. 00:35:41 Speaker 5: All right. 00:35:41 Speaker 1: Next up, we have Jake from Wisconsin. How's it going? 00:35:47 Speaker 2: Good. How about you? 00:35:48 Speaker 1: It's going good. This is the first episode of Rut Fresh for the year, so it's good to get all the intel, all the insights, what is happening now in a variety of folks' neck of the woods. And so for you being in Wisconsin, roughly what neck of the woods are you and then what has been cooking here? 00:36:09 Speaker 2: Um, I'm roughly in the Southwest, like the driftless region. 00:36:14 Speaker 5: Um, and I kind of make my way all over the West, South, Southwest, you know, within a couple hours of me here. So, um, you know, along the Mississippi river, got a lot of terrain to work with a lot of hills, a lot of ag, um, there's not as much, you know, bottoms or swampy stuff like you would get your Eastern part of the state or other places are up North. 00:36:38 Speaker 1: So, Have you had any reports of EHD in that general region? We have not. 00:36:47 Speaker 2: Okay. 00:36:48 Speaker 1: So I remember seeing somewhere that there was some EHD popping up, but not where you're at. 00:36:53 Speaker 2: Yeah, that very south central, southeastern part of the state, it's getting hit pretty hard. Okay. 00:37:01 Speaker 1: So glad it's not in your area. And so really this time of year, Wisconsin opens relatively early for a Midwest state. Much of the neighboring states are still waiting until October 1st. What have you been seeing? Have deer transitioned to acorns? Are they on still a summer pattern? Are they shifting around or scrapes starting to pop up? What have you noticed? 00:37:27 Speaker 5: I think the last few things you said there are definitely really prevalent right now. I hunted for the first time here this last week. and my main focus was finding an acorn flat that I knew about, kind of just checking them, kind of feeling it out a little bit. And the two that I did kind of scout and then hunt one of them, there was a lot of really good rubs. We went along transitions on the edges of those flats, and you could tell they were hitting them. I mean, it was raining acorns the entire time. 00:37:59 Speaker 2: So they're falling. It's just. 00:38:01 Speaker 5: finding that area with maybe a pocket of them versus them being everywhere. I think a lot of people struggle with because where there's oaks, there's always, you know, oceans of oaks and they're everywhere. So it's kind of hard to narrow that down. You kind of, it's a hard thing to not blow a spot up and find that one and be able to, you know, find it and monitor and keep your finger on that pulse of where that one is without kind of ruining the spot and overhunting it. So, I guess right now I feel like in Wisconsin, like you said, they open early, but it's not early enough to really, in my opinion, catch a lot of that summer pattern. It starts in that kind of transitional period for the most part it opens, you know, like mid-September. They're kind of, a lot of the beans, they're kind of getting off the green beans. They're kind of all, you know, yellowing. They're transitioning to that natural browse or those oaks. So you kind of have to be ahead of that shift in a way. You might get lucky some years and it'd be slow. Things might stay green longer, but it seems like at least in this region and when I hunt northern Wisconsin too even, look where my parents' property is. I mean, we don't even think about really beans opening weekend. It's more acorns and natural browse and if we have food plots or something. So it's kind of a transitional period right now and I think for me anyways, if I'm out hunting right now, it's, going to try to be finding those oaks or white oaks. 00:39:33 Speaker 1: What would you say the acorn crop is in the regions you've been so far? Is it above average, average, below average, dependent on the piece? What's your forecast for acorn production in Wisconsin? 00:39:47 Speaker 5: I don't keep up on it as much as I probably should you know, I, I don't really, it's more of a newer thing for me to be really focusing on those oaks. But, um, from what I've heard from people, reds are loaded this year. And then like the piece I was on the other night and hunted, I mean, pretty much everything, reds, whites, everything was dropping. Um, so it was one of those situations where I think there's just so many that it's hard to kind of pinpoint. You kind of got to sift through it and, and, And just play the wind and find those flats that have, you know, got that fresh buck sign. That's the name of the game early season right now is you got to be where the bucks are. And usually they let you know, you know, focusing on rubs. I think if you find rubs now, odds are, I mean, they're not far. 00:40:36 Speaker 2: You're pretty close. 00:40:38 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:40:38 Speaker 5: So that's kind of what I'm keying in on is that natural browse with fresh rubs. 00:40:44 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:40:45 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:40:45 Speaker 1: No, I think that's, that's great advice. And I feel already the scrape activity is starting to pick up a little bit. Um, we've had a little bit of a cold front. It's starting to feel a little bit more like fall. I know, uh, the day before this episode goes live, it'll be the first day of fall. So, um, things are getting more exciting by the day I feel right now, but looking at the weather for you and your region, what are you seeing from like the 23rd to the 30th and how will that impact your strategy? 00:41:16 Speaker 5: Right now, I feel like I'm getting a lot of buck movement. There's a lot of east winds, a lot of southeast winds, which is abnormal. It's not like your typical westerly wind right now, but I've gotten a lot of buck activity in daylight in the mornings. I've hunted them afternoon, and following my cameras, I'm not getting a lot of really early movement in the afternoons from bucks. 00:41:41 Speaker 2: Does, yes, on food plots or. 00:41:45 Speaker 5: Acorn flats wrap cameras um so i know a lot of people don't like hunting mornings this time of year until mid-october i'm quite the opposite in my thinking as i get you know more experienced um i'm a big morning person i just like mornings i've had a lot of buck encounters in the mornings and it's been really really wet here we've gotten like flood weather the last week so with that moisture in the air too, and having all this moisture here lately, I feel like you said it, scraping activities picking up. I've got some bucks on scrapes in the mornings. It just seems like they're getting back to bed really late right now for whatever reason. I don't know if that's going to change here in the next week, but it's going to warm back up. So I would say for someone right now, I feel like hearing this when it comes out, you're going to get a day or two by the looks of the weather that it's still cool with these same winds. If you've got something kind of patterned and then it's going to get warm again. So then maybe it's going to transition more to that normal last hour light afternoon sits being a little bit better during that warmer time. 00:42:55 Speaker 2: I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. 00:42:58 Speaker 5: But then I'd be really looking at the back half of that one, you know, the end of September, early October, when those temperatures drop, dive back down and it switches to more of a normal wind that you can predict a little bit more like that Western North wind. I really like those wind switches or those, those drop offs and temps. Um, but I'm more and more, I like the, the moisture too, like hunting the front end or the back end of a front. So, and, and I feel like the front end of this last rain and the back end of it here in between rain has been a lot of good buck activity in the mornings. 00:43:35 Speaker 2: So for whatever reason, yeah. 00:43:37 Speaker 1: So with that being said, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best week of the entire year for exciting hunts, deer sightings, buck sightings, 10 being the best, 1 being the worst on this scale. September 23rd to September 30th, 1 to 10, where do you put it with the information we have now? 00:43:59 Speaker 5: In my area, I would say probably this first week or two would have been better. So it's probably going to be a slow week. if I had to guess, and then I'd be looking at more a week or two from now when it drops back down or we get another front to come through and changes things. That's going to steadily go, not in a bad direction, it is what it is, you know, depending on your area, but it's going to warm up and kind of stabilize a little bit. So I'm always looking for those changes or those oddball weather days or wind switches or things like that. So I would say probably, to answer your question, a little bit slower for the next week to 10 days than maybe. 00:44:36 Speaker 2: After that. So what number here for something to change? 00:44:39 Speaker 5: Oh, out of 10, I would say maybe like a three or four and three or four. Okay. 00:44:45 Speaker 1: A three or four. Uh, and then, you know, as far as with it being a three or four in your area, getting Intel, moving cameras around, scouting, is that probably the best use of time for the time being? Yeah. 00:44:59 Speaker 5: Or if you're really trying to learn something, you know, sit a little bit further back. I'm still observe things. Just don't, Maybe this isn't the time to blow anything up or go for broke, I would say. So maybe just play it safe. If you got a good win for a food plot or something, maybe this is a good week to shoot some does or something. 00:45:19 Speaker 1: I like it. I think that's a great piece of advice. Jake, where can people follow along with you and your podcast and track you down and stay up to date throughout the year? 00:45:29 Speaker 5: Instagram or Facebook, I'm pretty active on. Personal pages, just Jake Fleishman on both. And then I do run a podcast on training outdoorsman that me and my buddy Jesse run together. So you can check that out on YouTube, any audio platforms. We just right now during the season, we're just doing like little updates as our seasons go, not to too many long form things. So go check that stuff out if you wish. And good luck out there for the rest of the season for anybody listening. 00:45:58 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:45:59 Speaker 1: Good luck to you, Jake. Thanks for hopping on here. 00:46:01 Speaker 2: Yep. Not a problem. Thank you. 00:46:02 Speaker 1: All right, there you guys have it. I hope you guys enjoyed the first week back of Rut Fresh. We'll be here again next Wednesday, September 30th. And if you want to be on Rut Fresh, shoot me a message on Instagram at Jake Hofer. We'd love to have a large variety of guests for this upcoming season. Good luck. And if you have to feverishly wait for October 1st opener, I think there's going to be a lot of deer sign that gets laid down with these cooler temperatures. And a great opportunity to get prepared. And we'll see how the weather looks on October 1. And for everyone that has their seasons open or opening this weekend, good luck. And we'll see you next week.