North Central

northcensticky

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:00:50 -0400

Big woods, big cropfields, and big bucks. These are all hallmarks of the north-central region--the heart of America’s Breadbasket. Rut Reporter Scott Bestul is a Field & Stream’s Whitetails columnist and writes for the website’s Whitetail365 blog. The Minnesotan has taken 13 Pope & Young-class whitetails and has hunted, guided for, and studied deer in the north-central region all his life. States covered: IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, WI

The Tale of a 21-Point, 200-Class, Double-Drop Iowa Monster Buck

Online Editors — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:11:41 -0500

Jesse Jans first encountered this dandy Iowa drop-tine from only 10 feet away, then spent a year pinpointing the big buck’s movements. Once he did, the North Liberty accountant told a hunting buddy over lunch one day that he’d have the 21-pointer on the ground that afternoon. Then—like Babe Ruth calling his homer in the 1932 World Series—Jans delivered. Here’s how...

Illinois Twofer Bucks: 325 Inches of Antler After 30 Years on the Bench

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:22:56 -0500

Joel Grafton hadn’t picked up a bow in 30 years before this summer, but he quickly made up for lost time, knocking down a 180-class nontypical 14-pointer (left) and a 140-class typical 10-pointer (right) during the Illinois archery deer season. How he did it—by going whole hog with a ton of research and enough tree stands to hunt every day in every wind—offers lessons lots of hunters can learn from.

Huge Wisconsin Buck Leaps To Its Death From Bridge

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:18:16 -0500

Bestul: Bucks Scraping and Chasing Between Meals

Sarah Smith — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:23:21 -0500

Rut Reporter Scott Bestul is a Field & Stream’s Whitetails columnist and writes for the website’s Whitetail365 blog. The Minnesotan has taken 13 Pope & Young-class whitetails and has hunted, guided for, and studied deer in the north-central region all his life. States covered: IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, WI.

It’s about the food, yet still about the does, too.

On a recent hunt, a friend watched a nice 2-1/2 year old buck chase a doe in tight, frantic loops, grunting as he ran. Meanwhile, the next morning, I rattled in two bucks that came to the horns like it was the first week of November, not two weeks before Christmas. The common denominator in each situation? Both hunts occurred near a pair of picked cornfields, separated by excellent transition cover and a few prime bedding lairs.

Many people dismiss the secondary rut as a non-event. I’m not one of them. Then again, I don’t expect rutting activity in December to resemble what occurs during the main event. I scout very hard for prime food sources, because I know that both bucks and does will congregate there. And while bucks are just as serious about eating as does now, they’re always willing to expend some extra energy on breeding. The action is rarely dramatic, but I’ve witnessed it every year since I’ve hunted deer in December--which, now than I think of it--is a heckuva lot of years.

One perfect case in point happened to a Minnesotan buddy this week, who missed a shot at a fine buck with a muzzleloader. The buck showed up at a late season food source, but before the buck entered to feed, he spent a bunch of time under a walnut tree with low-hanging branches. After the shot my friend searched for a non-existent blood trail, and then realized why the buck was hanging near the walnut; a table-sized scrape that he actually smelled before he saw. If that’s not secondary rut behavior, I don’t know what is!

Elsewhere, firearms and muzzleloader seasons are winding down in the region. Wisconsin smoke-polers are largely done, and Gopher state blackpowder hunters have a few days left. In neighboring Iowa, the second shotgun season opens this weekend, and I expect more giant buck photos in my inbox soon. The photo above features a gorgeous 12-point buck tagged by a hunter who was a client at Tri-State Outfitting; the buck had a 23” inside spread and excellent mass. Congrats to the hunter!

Bestul: Hunting the Transition

Sarah Smith — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:00:51 -0500

We’ve reached an interesting phase of the season here in the north-central region; in most states, the general firearms season (rifle or shotgun) have recently closed. I always find this a fascinating, but often challenging, time to hunt. In areas where deer have experienced heavy hunting pressure, it usually takes a few days for whitetails to resume normal feeding and breeding behavior. When this is the case, I typically forego serious hunting and scout or observe feeding areas and let whitetails emerge from shell-shock mode.

The behavior of hunters has changed across much of the region. The big gang-drives that were once commonplace in the Midwest are not as popular and in some places have disappeared altogether. This has made the gun season less of an event in the lives of whitetails and made hunting them in the aftermath less of a challenge. But make no mistake; the deer we seek in the weeks ahead will simply be sharper and more alert to danger than they were a month ago, regardless of the level of pressure they experience.

I talked to a friend in Michigan the other day who reminded me of this when he said “after we get done gun hunting, I simply put more time and thought into my late-season setups than ever before. The deer just don’t tolerate any sloppiness on my part. If I can’t find a great spot with good cover and a perfect wind, I don’t bother to hunt it.” Words to live by for late-season hunters!

Speaking of late season, the first winter storm system is supposed to bring significant snow to parts of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin this weekend. If that indeed occurs, look for post-rut whitetails to get very serious about finding a concentrated food source to camp out on. There’s something about the first major accumulation of snow of the year that focuses deer on the business of eating, and wise hunters will spend their scouting hours looking for feeding sign in the fresh snow. Deer tracks in the white stuff can really simplify your scouting efforts!

Iowa shotgun hunters enjoyed their first crack at the action over the weekend, and I expect to see photos of giant Hawkeye bucks in the days ahead. Illinois’ second firearms season also opened and Prairie State hunters will certainly knock down more of the whopper bucks that have made that state famous. The buck pictured above was shot by Illinois bowhunter Brian Steele somewhere in Macon County last month. No other details than that at this point. This is one beautiful, giant whitetail!

Bestul: Adapting to the Late Rut

Sarah Smith — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:36:46 -0500

The photo above shows more than just a fantastic trophy; it illustrates the need to adapt to ever-changing whitetail behavior as the hunting season progresses. Illinois hunter Brent VanHoveln used a ghillie suit to set up on the ground and shoot this 180-class monster during the Prairie State’s recent gun season.

Brent found the perfect spot to ambush the great buck, and sometimes those “perfect” sites don’t include a nifty stand tree. In recent years, scores of hunters have come to believe that an elevated stand is the only way to fool the eyes, ears and nose of a monster whitetail, but others like Brent know better--he shot this tremendous buck at a distance of 22 steps. Congrats to Brent!

This is the second report of ground success I’ve received this week. My neighbor here in southern Minnesota recently found great feeding sign where a soybean food plot met the edge of a picked corn field. Lacking a stand tree, Alan set up a portable ground blind, spent some time brushing it in, and then left the spot so deer could get used to the presence of a blind. On his first hunt (three days later), Alan watched 13 does feed within range of the blind. Alan has every right to believe a good buck is using the area, too, and I’m confident he’ll score if he continues to hunt this spot.

Rut activity is largely ebbing in the region, but I expect the weeks ahead will be filled with reports of second-rut action as unbred does start to attract bucks. Much of this activity will center around the remaining prime food sources such as food plots, farm fields full of standing or waste grain, and the best mast crops or browse sources. Successful hunters will be the ones who find these active feeding areas and find the best way to hunt them.

Bestul: “Pickup Breeding” Peaks

Sarah Smith — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:27:33 -0500

I’ve received several reports of bucks chasing does this week, and the stories are interesting indeed. One of my Minnesota contacts called yesterday morning to discuss his hunt from the previous evening, which started with a small 6-point buck dogging three does past his stand. “I could have sworn it was a bull coming, he was grunting so loud,” says avid whitetailer Bob Wick. “That buck chased the does hard through a wide circle that eventually took them out of my sight.”

But that wasn’t the last of Bob’s action. “A few minutes later I heard more deer running toward me,” he says. “The same three does came piling by, and this time the buck running them was different, and bigger! It was a nice big 8-point, but one side of his rack was gone, apparently from fighting. I decided to pass the shot, and hope he shows up next fall with both sides.”

Bob’s hunt brings up an interesting phenomenon; the later in the rut you hunt, the greater the possibility of encountering a buck with busted antlers. This occurs throughout whitetail range, but it’s more likely in areas with a strong mature buck component. I’ve hunted spots in Iowa, Kansas and Illinois where, come late November it’s hard to find a buck without broken tines and/or beams. It’s a fascinating barometer that tells something about how rigorous the rut can be.

While we’re on the topic of fighting bucks and broken racks, my friend Ron Gehrke, an expert bowhunter from Wisconsin, shot just such a deer this month. Ron’s buck approached his stand in a thick patch of red cedar trees that screened the buck’s antlers much of the time. “All I saw was a slab body and thick bases,” he recalls. “When the buck gave me a shot I took it. When I recovered the animal I just had to shake my head at what a fighter he must have been. He had two tines snapped off on his ‘good’ side, and on the other side, the main beam was broken off about half way. Later, when I skinned him out, I found 39 puncture wounds in his neck. I just had to laugh; if he was going to keep fighting like that, I probably did him a favor by shooting him!”

Obviously, not all late-November bucks sport disfigured antlers. Some deer, I’m convinced, simply don’t possess the fighting gene; they have more mellow personalities and stay out of brawls. Other bucks don’t have to fight much in order to breed, and there is always a handful of deer who can mix it up with other bucks and emerge unscathed. I don’t have any details yet on the tremendous Iowa buck shown above, but it’s clear this is one perfect specimen of a typical whitetail!

Bestul: It’s Big Buck Time

Sarah Smith — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:46:33 -0500

It’s not often I can post a picture of a hunter who shares my name, so I’m jumping at the opportunity. The smiling man on the left of this photo is my cousin Scott Bestul, posing with a great buck he killed on the opening day of the Wisconsin firearms season. Next to him is his brother Stuart, who also tagged a fine whitetail. These guys have been some of my favorite hunting partners since I began chasing whitetails in the early 1970’s. I learned to deer hunt on the property owned by this branch of our family tree, and count those memories as precious indeed. Congrats guys!

On to rut reporting: As noted in previous posts, firearms seasons are open across much of the region and some great bucks are being harvested. Peak rutting behavior is slightly later this year than normal, and gun hunters have been capitalizing. My cousin Scott’s buck, for example, was one of a number of deer that he saw on that first morning. The whitetails moved toward him as they escaped hunters on neighboring properties, but the buck Scott killed was intent on following a particular doe. The most likely scenario was that the doe was in (or near) estrus and once the immediate danger was past, the buck was not going to lose track of her. The doe stayed in the area just long enough that Scott was able to get a shot.

In neighboring Michigan, reports from the gun season seem positive and one contact seemed to think hunters were seeing more deer because the DNR’s moratorium on baiting had been lifted. Whatever the cause, the mood seemed to be positive. The first Illinois shotgun season just ended, and I’ve already received some photos of the giant deer that are synonymous with that state. I’ll post them in the weeks ahead as I get the green light to do so.

I talked to one of my favorite Iowa contacts just last evening, who’d missed a 170-class ten-point with a bow that very morning. Despite the whiff, Steve was in a great mood and talked at length of the thrill he felt when such a giant responded to rattling antlers. “The rut is still happening here, but its definitely winding down,” he reported. “When a doe comes into estrous, the only bucks left with the energy to chase her and fight off other bucks are the big ones.” Sounds like an exciting time to hunt!

Bestul: Bucks in Flux

Sarah Smith — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:17:21 -0500

I just returned from a Kansas bowhunt where my timing couldn’t have been worse; though big bucks were abundant in my hunting area (the sign was incredible and sightings/reports from locals called this “the best year ever”), my buddy Dave and I saw few mature animals.

Reading the situation was as simple as it was disappointing; the majority of the biggest bucks in the area were tending does and moving little, while smaller bucks were moving widely and hoping to blunder into some love.

Don’t get me wrong. The hunt was really fun and we saw plenty of action. But had we been there five days earlier or five days later, we‘d have likely seen some of the monsters that had strewn rubs and scrapes like confetti before our arrival. Hunting this lockdown period requires patience, luck and time, and if we’d have been able to stay just a few more days I’m confident that one or both of us would have found a big, willing buck. We ate our tags, but had plenty of fun!

Similar news is drifting to me from across the region. Hunters in western Wisconsin report that big bucks are tending does in thick cover and smaller bucks are tiring out from a seeking phase that started in earnest in late October. Contacts in western Illinois report many mature bucks tending does—and not moving around much—in earnest, and Iowa and Missouri hunters seem to echo those lack-of-action stories.

These situations don’t last forever, though. Mature bucks will lose their does and be back on their seeking missions within a few days, and as more and more does are bred, these big bucks become the only deer with the stamina to continue the latter stages of the rut. That’s good news for hunters with the patience and endurance to keep going.

The second X-factor is the advent of firearms seasons across the area; Michigan opened their gun hunt earlier this week, and Illinois opened their first shotgun season. Wisconsin opens this weekend, and Minnesota’s gun hunt has been ongoing since the 5th of November. Hunting pressure can obviously force deer to move regardless of the rut activity, and I expect reports—and hopefully photos—of some great bucks tagged in the days to come.

Ethan Greden, from southeastern Minnesota, was hunting with his dad Ross when he took this fine buck during Minnesota’s shotgun season. Ethan has taken several does, but this was his first buck. Quite a deer!