October Lull!

[Jayrod]

Sorry double post

[bucknut]

I'm seeing several deer but they aren't as active as they were. We have very few acorns in my location this year. I have noticed the deer eating maple leaves a lot this past week. Noticed this several times in the past. You just have to adapt and overcome I guess. Scrapes are just starting to warm up so things are about to change. Especially if we have any sort of front come thru.

[arrowbuster]

Well the October Lull may be upon us, I only seen 13 deer last night. First time I had hunted stand and it was on a food plot that I put in.

[Brock]

had does and bucks all over the place up until a week and a half...right after our floods.  There were so many acorns on ground that it looked like a truck backed up and dumped the worlds supply to carpet the roads and trails and forest floors....mostly small ones.  Now the big ones are still dropping...  Not seen but two small deer the past two weeks when usually I see 4-5 an evening.  The pre rut is in action...does not really in heat...bucks starting to sniff them good and push them....but not a feverish pitch.  I think the pre-rut, huge mast crop this year, plenty of rain for water...all is combining to keeping the deer near bedding areas...they dont have to go anywhere for anything.  Hopefully they will start moving again.....  

[Michael Arnette]

Yep this year is the worst ive seen ever...haven't seen a buck since opening day. I'm waiting for November

[fnshtr]

I'm seeing bucks everyday, not big bucks mind you, but bucks nonetheless. A friend just killed a 150 class buck yesterday. Unfortunately it's one I was chasing. It was dogging a doe already.

Very few acorns here. Activity has been steadily increasing.

[Nantahala Nut]

I am seeing more deer during daylight in October than I did in September. I hunt public land but nobody else is hunting it so pressure isnt an issue.  A nice cold front rolled in a couple weeks ago and its been chilly so I think that has gotten them moving. I have been seeing them early in the morning about an hour after sunrise.  No bucks though.

[Big Ed]

In our area it's purely pressure related.

[toddster]

I belive it is adjustment to food sources and temperature changes.  Moving mkre at night to start fatting uo for the winter

[Cyclic-Rivers]

In my opinion, the October Lull is simply deer patterns changing due a number of variables already mentioned.  they're still there, they just have moved off their routines.

[centaur]

A really slow morning here today, saw one spike and 4 or 5 does where in a more normal day, I would see 15 or 20 deer. A beautiful morning; right at freezing, no wind, clear, but not even the turkeys were moving. I'm ready for the rut to kick in.

[Michael Arnette]

The lull is over in northeast Oklahoma! I saw a mature doe and two young bucks, both showing interest even if mild. I missed the doe and then made a perfect shot on the second small buck has he seen through following the doe about 15 minutes later. These were the first bucks I've seen since opener in the first deer I've seen in two weeks.

[IndianaBowman]

What Ryan said...

I'm the only pressure on the area I hunt and the "lull" is very real.

[Missouri Bowman]

My area is slow too. I hunt a private area that is very slow right now but I know will pick up in another week or two.

[Terry Green]

I usually see deer during the full moon and have seen lots of chasing it all depends on where you're hunting and you got to stay in the woods ........most of my full moon sightings are between 9 and 2

And I certainly hunt in October as I've killed and had lots of opportunities during that month but of course I live in the south so it may be different elsewhere

[K.S.TRAPPER]

To me they just don't have to move much when there's so much food on the ground like acorns and such. They just park there butts right on the food were they know there safe and eat, and eat and eat while they can. No need to travel except for water, they know the rut and winter is fast approaching and they need all the food stores they can get.

Hunters are setup in travel patterns waiting for them to come by and there on a feeding vacation and not needing to move basically. I just let them be like Ryan but I just keep on fishing the river until about the last week in October, that's when the season really starts if you ask me.

Weather is great, bugs are gone, leaves are falling and you can see thru the woods. The bucks are feeling the urge and starting to check does, making rub and scrape lines real ones not those little rubs and marking primary and community scrapes. The same ones they used last year and the year before and next year too.    :D   IMHO

Tracy

[rastaman]

My favorite time to hunt is 4 to 5 days before the full moon in October and then 4 to 5 days after that same full moon.  We start seeing bucks that haven't been seen on any cameras or by any of us that stay in the woods. They are cruising and the occasional doe will come into an early "heat" that gets the boys hormones raging even more.  We do hunt property that we have control over and access is limited, but we don't see much of a lull down here.  This past week was pretty awesome with deer sightings.

[Terry Green]

I've seen 3 this am....buck 2 doe in a new spot....crossing 30 to 35 yards away....

I'm on the ground so I'm moving...

[olddogrib]

As has been stated, around here the "October lull" simply means that the white oaks are dropping.  If you can find the "magic tree" you've got a gold mine, but it seems like it's feast or famine...if they're all dropping, flip a coin!

[Jerry Jeffer]

Funny, I always see deer in October. Never had an Oct. Lull.