Great Plains

greatplainssticky

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:40:25 -0400

The bucks of the nation’s prairie and grassland region seem to be getting bigger every season. Rut Reporter David Draper grew up hunting deer and small game throughout this region and presently lives on a family farm in Nebraska. Draper, former communications specialist for Cabela’s and an authority on the Great Plains, subsists on a diet of duck breast and venison. States covered: ND, SD, NE, KS

Draper: Most Big Bucks on the Feed

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:05:43 -0500

Rut Reporter David Draper grew up hunting deer and small game throughout this region and presently lives on a family farm in Nebraska. Draper, former communications specialist for Cabela’s and an authority on the Great Plains, subsists on a diet of duck breast and venison. States covered: ND, SD, NE and KS.

Overall Activity Status: Although we’re definitely fast to the post-rut phase of the year, not all is quiet on the Great Plains right now. There are still a few sporadic reports of rut-like behavior being observed by hunters who are working to fill a late-season tag, but by and large, the big bucks that have shown themselves seem to be more content on recovery than rutting. Some hunters are reporting large groups of does coming together as deer start to yard up for the winter. From southeastern Kansas, Clete Frazell checked in to say a buddy had killed a good deer there on Monday. “The buck was hanging with a group of 7 does. They all came to feed on corn together.”

Fighting/Rub/Scrape making: You’d be hard-pressed to find a buck on the Great Plains that has either the energy or the inclination to pick a fight. Same goes for rubbing, scraping and other rut-related behavior, as the deer tend to be keying on high-protein food sources in the face of a long winter.

Chasing: One of the few bright spots I have heard came from Brad Lines, who ate his Nebraska rifle tag, then traveled to Kansas to tag this trophy last week. “Whitetails and mule deer were still very actively rutting in Kansas November 30-December 2. On Nov 30, I shot this whitetail that was glued to a hot doe all morning. He tried to tend her a couple times, but she wouldn’t stand. I saw several other whitetails and mule deer doing the same thing during the course of the hunt. ”

Daytime Movement: A cold front earlier in the week that brought sub-freezing temperatures and snow to the region seems to have prodded deer onto their feet at all times during the day. Hunters reported seeing several bucks and does, all with one thing on their mind – food.

Estrous signs: Other than Brad Lines’ hunt in Kansas, not much has been reported in the way of estrous activity. Lines did report seeing a buck dogging hot mule deer doe the day after he shot his Kansas trophy. “My buddy shot a 6x8 mulie on December 1 in the 190” class that was super rutty. Directly before the shot, the does busted us and started to “bounce” off, but the buck was still glued to a hot doe; he even saw us and went right back to chasing her. There seemed to be a lot of does that were cycling later than usual there.”

X Factor: Just because the rut is over doesn’t mean there aren’t deer up and moving. Our Kansas die-hard Nathan Oehlert has still been out hunting and reports seeing several large bucks, all of them on the feed. This predictable pattern is a great time of year to take a big buck that survived the onslaught of hunters that were out in November. Get out now and you’ll probably have the fields to yourself.

Draper: Hunters Still Tagging Big Deer

Sarah Smith — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:37:30 -0500

As the 2011 rut slowly fades away in the rearview mirror, it’s easy to think major deer activity has come to an end as well. Combined with the colder weather and snow that has moved on to the Plains, this might keep some hunters out of the woods. Well, if you’re still holding a tag and feeling discouraged, don’t be. I’ve seen photos of two great bucks that have been killed within the last week--one 175” giant tagged in Kansas and another great 10-point killed in Colorado right near the Nebraska border. I’ve also heard of a few other deer dropping, which goes to show you that post-rut can be a great time to tag a buck that’s shifted to feeding pattern to recover from the rut.

Perseverance pays, as proven by this report I received from Kansas bowhunter Nathan Oelhert. Nathan has been one of my sources of info for deer activity in the Sunflower State this year, always checking in, with up to date reports of what’s going on in his neck of the woods. I always wondered how Oehlert kept his finger on the pulse of the rut, and now I know. He recently told me he spent 46 straight days on stand, either hunting or filming for friends. Well, after an incredible seven weeks of hunting, Oehlert finally got his reward in the form of the buck he nicknamed Super 8. Here’s his story.

“On November 25th, Hunter Hastings and I decided to hunt a stand a couple hundred yards behind the house. I have pictures of several nice bucks down there, but not very many recently and none in the daylight hours. A 170" 10-pointer that we call the Ghost had recently just shown back up after he disappeared from the property four years ago. We also had pictures of a big 8-pointer that we ended up calling Super 8. Another hunter I know who hunts about a mile away on a different piece of property had told me he shot a big 8 pointer the week before and never found it. That week, we did not get any trail camera pictures of Super 8. I figured he was already dead.

“We had been hunting for a couple of hours before I saw a buck cruising about 100 yards away. Once he got in the clear, I immediately knew it was Super 8. I grunted at him three times before he finally took off at a run toward my tree. As I put my release on my string, he was entering my best shooting lane broadside at 20 yards. I drew my bow, lined up my pin and asked Hunter if he was on him. He whispered yes and as I put my finger on the trigger to release the arrow, the buck turned right toward us and walked to within 10 yards of the base of our tree. I held at full draw with him facing us for more than a minute and finally let down when he turned his head.

As he walked to the left, I stopped the buck perfectly at 15 yards, except a branch was angled down right over the heart and lungs. I was using a Rage broadhead and with the Mathews Z7 Extreme I felt comfortable trying to hit the back of the lungs and hope for liver as well. I released the arrow trying my best to keep it a few inches away from the branch. The hit was just a couple inches farther back than I had wanted, but I felt extremely confident that the Rage had hit the liver and possibly the back of one lung.

We climbed down and found the arrow totally passed through and covered in dark red blood. We went back to the house and watched the footage to make sure where the hit was. I would have normally waited until morning to look for him, but rain was on its way. We waited several hours, until the rain had just started, to go look for him. We found him about 125 yards from where I shot him, and less than 200 yards from our back yard. It had been a long year, but this was an awesome hunt for a deer that we thought was dead when we set out for the stand that day.”

Draper: It’s Not Too Late for a Rut Buck

Sarah Smith — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:33:22 -0500

Overall Activity Status: Most hunters are reporting a later than normal rut this year, which means there is still opportunity for those who hold a tag to tie it to a big buck. Though activity does seem to have slowed, there are still bucks on the move looking to breed, as well as some late estrous does to the lead them around.

Fighting: By now, you would think bucks would be tired of fighting, instead saving the last of their energy for breeding. But as Nebraska bowhunter Kurt Kaiser found out last week, rattling can still bring big bucks running: “I killed this deer with my bow on Wednesday night,” said Kaiser, shown here with his trophy. “I first saw him dogging a doe pretty hard, then later rattled him in. Make no mistake, the rut is still very warm.”

Rub/Scrape making: No fresh sign reported, though cruising bucks are still being caught on game cameras checking scrapes in the early morning and late evening hours.

Chasing/Daytime Movement: Other than Kaiser’s report of his buck dogging a doe, most chasing seems to have tapered off. Clete Frazell checked in from Kansas, saying “Big buck sightings are starting to diminish. Some early morning/late evening activity, but not much at mid-day. I do think there are still a couple bucks cruising. My brother saw a giant this morning cruising around 8:30 by himself, down a levee on the edge of a creek and bean field.”

Estrous signs: Frazell also noted that does are exhibiting some post-rut behavior in southeast Kansas. “Does are starting to bunch back up and feed in big groups as they were spread out the last few weeks,” said Frazell.

X Factor: While hunters may see some localized rut behavior when a late-cycling doe goes into estrus, every day we get closer to a post-rut pattern. “The rut here is definitely on the late end,” said Kansas hunter Nathan Oehlert. “I wouldn't say full-out post rut yet, but not far from it. I am still seeing several bucks following does but nothing hard.” Oehlert did manage to kill a great deer late last week and promises to share a photo and picture with Rut Report readers soon.

Trail Cam Photos: A Candid Look At Whitetail Breeding Behavior

Sarah Smith — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:21:02 -0500

Like a lot of bowhunters who set out multiple trail cameras every fall, Steve Esker of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, was hoping to catch a glimpse of the heightened deer activity during chasing and breeding portions of the rut, a shot here or there that could help him identify a big buck or gauge the progress of the rut in his area.

What he got, when he pulled the card on his Moultrie M-80 in early November, was a remarkable series of 105 photographs that shows a doe standing for two different bucks over a 9-hour period—both times, incredibly, at the same exact spot in front of his trail camera. Esker shared a selection of these photographs with Field & Stream, which provide a rare and fascinating view of the finish to the chase.

Draper: A Best Day Buck

Sarah Smith — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:14:25 -0500

It’s always great to open up your e-mail in-box to find photos of successful hunters, but it’s even better when one of those hunters is an avid Rut Report reader, like South Dakota college student Spencer Neuharth. In his e-mails, Spencer thanked the Rut Reporters for helping him tag this great East River buck. Using information from this site, along with a bolstered confidence knowing he was hunting our best day of the year, he put a successful strategy together. Here’s his story:

“I took this 5x5 P&Y buck on your best day of the rut, November 12. Since I go to college an hour away from home, where I hunt, I have to hunt hard all season on the weekends. I check the Rut Reporter blogs every day to see what my hunt will be like for the upcoming weekend and was relieved to hear that the best day of the rut fell on a Saturday. I even used the advice written for that day--that I should finally use my best stand in the bedding area I left alone all year. It paid off.

Just 20 minutes into the hunt I arrowed the third buck that walked by that morning. He was coming down a high traffic trail in the bedding area; his nose was to the ground and neck thick. He green scored at 130 and was taken from 35 yards away with my PSE Bow Madness and Boss Wasp broadheads. This was the first time that I saw this buck all season. I am a huge fan of the Rut Reporters blogs and the map. I use them religiously.”

Draper: Tags Filled as Rut Peaks

Sarah Smith — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:43:32 -0500

After getting blanked in Illinois by letting a few deer pass I maybe shouldn’t have, I decided to shoot the first wider-than-his-ears 4x4 during Nebraska’s rifle season. Well, last Thursday, just an hour or so into my first day on stand, I punched my tag on this guy (that’s me in the orange Hornady hat). He happened to be the fifth buck I saw that morning and, like two other bucks before him, came into my box blind with his nose in the air, sniffing at the estrous doe urine I had sprayed into the air from my stand.

In fact, all of the bucks I saw that morning, and the several more I saw over the next couple days as I sat on stand filling doe tags, exhibited some sort of rut behavior, from lip-curling, to dogging does, to cruising with their nose on the ground. What I called a “weird” rut a week ago has turned into that full-blown mayhem we’ve all been waiting for, at least in south-central Nebraska, where I was hunting.

In other areas of the Great Plains, things are in flux. Down south in Kansas, big bucks have disappeared from the radar as they lockdown with estrous does, as Rut Reporter Scott Bestul reported in his Kansas-hunt recap last Friday. One of my Kansas contacts--Clete Frazell--did have some success last week, tagging the cool looking buck here that was out cruising:

I started the morning in a stand that was good for a SE wind and planned on staying put until the wind switched. Shortly after eight a.m., I felt the breeze blowing from the NW and thought it was time to make a move. I was planning a hang and hunt set-up on the other end of the property in an area that I had purposely stayed out of until I knew the bucks were cruising and chasing, that was perfect for the NW wind. By 9:15 I was perched 20 feet high after a somewhat noisy set-up when the wind switched back to the SE and I was badmouthing weather.com under my breath and thinking about leaving and returning that afternoon. I thought, “I have already been busted if anything is downwind, so I might as well just stay put til at least 10:30 or 11:00 a.m.”

At 9:45 I saw a mature buck 40 yards out cruising, with his nose to the ground in some heavy timber and couldn’t get a clear look, but from what I saw I thought I would let him walk if he came into range. A few minutes later he was out of sight and gone. Fifteen to twenty minutes later I spotted movement through the cedars and realized he was now at 30 yards. He turned broadside and I saw at least three kickers on his left antler and made my mind up that if he came to an opening I would shoot this deer. After 10 minutes of eating acorns, he worked his way into a narrow shooting lane and I mouth grunted at him. He stopped in the lane and I released my arrow hitting the intended mark.

Congratulations Clete. As both our hunts illustrate, the rut is still on, despite rumors to the contrary. And, any bucks that have been on lockdown should reemerge soon looking for remaining estrous does, so get out there and good luck!

Draper: Not All Bucks Locked Down

Sarah Smith — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:10:54 -0500

Overall Activity Status: The peak of the rut has left many hunters scratching their heads as big bucks have all but disappeared in many areas, either due to the dreaded lockdown, a full moon, unstable weather patterns or a combination of all the above. Several of my contacts reported seeing small and medium bucks still chasing, but the big bruisers have either gone nocturnal or have paired up with a hot doe and aren’t moving much.

Nathan Oehlert checked in from southeast Kansas with a report that buck sightings are down there, most likely due to bucks pairing up with estrous does. “I think a lot of the big ones are probably locked down right now, but here and there we are still seeing some rut action. Seems to be hit or miss.”

Fighting: Other than last week’s reports of some locked-up bucks, fighting seems to have subsided as dominance has been established. However, a well-timed rattling strategy might still lure in curious bucks thinking a nearby doe as gone into estrous, causing bucks to skirmish.

Rub/Scrape making: Most of the field-edge scrapes I’ve seen have been abandoned, but those on established trails deeper in the woods are getting pawed up regularly. I heard of several bucks killed last week over scrapes, so even if a scrape doesn’t look active, you can bet bucks are still cruising by hoping to catch a whiff of a hot doe.

Chasing/Daytime Movement: Reports filtering in support the lockdown theory, as most hunters are seeing smaller to mid-sized deer harassing does or out cruising.

Estrous signs: Jeff Barry tagged this nice Nebraska whitetail during the state’s rifle opener by focusing his attention on lone does:

“Doe movement led us to a pair of decent bucks on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. Sunday afternoon, one of our hunting partners watched a single mature doe walk into a deep thicket and decided to watch that thicket. Finally, with only a few minutes of shooting time left, that doe emerged with a 140-class ten point that he was able to take Yesterday morning, I used the same strategy as I noticed a mature doe walk into a finger of deep cover in the middle of a winter wheat field. I left my box blind and walked to that cover and was able to get this buck out of his bed and take him.”

X Factor: While it seems like whitetail harvest numbers are down throughout the region, the number of hunters tagging trophy mule deer is up, or at least that’s the feeling I get. Admittedly, much of this comes from incidental evidence in the form of Facebook posts, text messages and e-mailed photos, but I got some validation from Nebraska hunter Klint Andreas who e-mailed me Tuesday after dropping his trophy mule deer off at the taxidermist: “I’ve yet to see a picture of a dead whitetail from rifle season,” said Andreas. “I stopped at Foster’s Taxidermy in Ogallala yesterday morning and he didn’t have one whitetail in his shop, but had some good mulies.”

I attribute some of this to the extremely high winds, with gusts up to 70 mph reported, that buffeted the region over the weekend. A whitetail that hunkers down in thick cover during the day won’t get spotted, but a mule deer that lays on the lee-side of a hill is a bit more exposed and susceptible to getting bumped by hunters working through pastures looking for deer. Whatever the reason, it looks to be a good year for mule deer hunters, like Nebraska hunter Tess Rousey who tagged this 4x5 mulie--her first--in north-central Nebraska on Saturday.

Draper: Are We Having a "Weird" Rut?

Sarah Smith — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:02:27 -0500

In reaching out to hunters for information for the Rut Report, I’ve had several people comment that this year’s rut is “weird.” Now, just what that word means to each individual hunter is up for speculation, but in my opinion, the “weird” rut is more a product of anticipation than actuality. As hunters, we try to pick the best day of the rut, but in our minds the rut means we should be seeing deer activity that I classified last week as “full-blown mayhem.”

What we tend to forget in all this is that the deer pick “the best day” of the rut. Not us. And, depending on where you’re hunting, the deer may or may not be active. There are so many factors into what deer are doing over these few weeks and why, that I suspect we don’t know the half of it. But, that shouldn’t stop us from going hunting. “Weird” rut or not, the deer are still out there and, if we’re lucky, we might just get the chance to encounter one.

That’s what happened this past Saturday to young Colton Guernsey, who managed to tag a bruiser of a first buck in south-central Nebraska. Justin Smith, a friend of Colton’s dad Steve, passed along the photo and said Colton was in the right place at the right time as this near 160-inch whitetail was edging along a river bank. Smith also said rut activity where they were hunting was slow, with just some glimpses of small and medium bucks. Which goes to show, you can still kill big deer, even when things are “weird.”

Draper: Deer Moving in Spite of Wind

Sarah Smith — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:36:21 -0500

While I’ve been suffering through cold, wet and windy conditions on a hunt in Illinois, hunters on the Great Plains are enjoying a more stable weather pattern, with temperatures in the 40s and 50s through much of the region. High winds last weekend made hunting tough, but didn’t seem to affect deer movement as much as conventional wisdom would dictate.

On my long drive across Nebraska Saturday, I counted more than 20 instances of road-killed deer, and a significant majority of those were does, or appeared to be as I passed by at 80 mph. I also saw several does on their feet in the middle of the day. South Dakota hunter John Lubeck didn’t let the 30 mph winds Saturday deter him from going out, and although he didn’t get to fling an arrow, he saw deer moving all afternoon.

“Sat for an hour and a half Saturday and caught a glimpse of a buck walking away from me up the ridge on the opposite side of where I was. Grunted, rattled, but he did not seem to care. Another hour went by--here came two does. I was getting a little excited when a buck appeared behind them with his head down on a mission. Did not get a good look at his rack, but a very decent sized body. Little disappointed I didn’t get a shot, but was glad to see some action.”

Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures consultant Jason Berger spent some time back home in North Dakota and reported bucks are starting to chase does up there and showing some rut activity, though he says the deer population is suffering there. “I would say overall numbers are down about 50%,” said Berger, “I did have one friend harvest a 164 P&Y buck, however.”

One of Berger’s outfitters in Nebraska and Kansas, Mark Beam of Beamers Guide Service, passed along the following e-mail:

“It’s game on. We’re in full blown rut in Southern Nebraska. The big bucks are being sighted mid-day and traveling. The one in the pic was following a doe when I got the shot. The northern Kansas rut appears to be a little behind, even though there’s only a few miles’ difference in latitude.”