Warm temps .. now what?

[Dahitman44]

Anyone have any good ideas on what to do? We never have much luck when it is warm. Any ideas? we usually post.

we have crp, small woods and fields with corn standing. Some small swamps as well.

thoughts?

[IceProwler]

The year the high was in the 60s or 70s in 2003ish time frame, our group filled 4 of 5 tags on opening day....

I would rather not hunt in the warmth, but for whatever reason the deer really seemed to be moving for us.

[eyehead]

I shot my biggest buck back in 98 I believe (140" 10pt). All I remember is that I was gutting it out in a t-shirt and it was WARM!!!!! The buck came out of a slough at 2 in the afternoon to cruise for does I assume. Well my dad missed him and he ran a couple hundred yards to my stand........end of story. So the thought of 60's really sucks but the fact of the matter is a big buck is so unpredictible during the rut you never know what he will do. Whether its in the teens or 70's a buck still has only one thing on his mind this time of year........

[USPENAMC]

being from texas it will still be too cold for me ha ha but like they say any day out in the stand is good hunting.

[hookset]

we had our best opener ever that one year it was 70 on the opener.

cant wait!!

[Harmonica Bear]

We've had good luck on warm openers as well. I think its more becuase you are more comfortable on stand (less movement and fidgeting) and people (our group anyway) tend to stay out on stand much longer.

[lungdeflator]

around bemidji its supposed to be in the high 80's so if you dont like the heat stay down south....

[Dahitman44]

very good points.

thanks

[Quackaddict9]

I shot my biggest buck back in 98 I believe (140" 10pt). All I remember is that I was gutting it out in a t-shirt and it was WARM!!!!!

well it wasn't warm up north in 1998 when I shot my first deer. It had to be high 20s in the morning then low 40s afternoon.

well I hope it won't be too warm out this weekend or I'd be duck hunting.

[Dahitman44]

I am afraid it will be THAT warm ...

[eyehead]

Originally Posted By: eyehead

I shot my biggest buck back in 98 I believe (140" 10pt). All I remember is that I was gutting it out in a t-shirt and it was WARM!!!!!

well it wasn't warm up north in 1998 when I shot my first deer. It had to be high 20s in the morning then low 40s afternoon.

well I hope it won't be too warm out this weekend or I'd be duck hunting.

Central MN.......not sure if it was 98 or not but it was around that time frame????

[Dahitman44]

I think he meant ... "back in 98 as in 1998?

[Quackaddict9]

yea... 98 as in 1998 like I said.

I think you may have meant 1999? I know it was high 60s-low 70s that year.

[Dahitman44]

I think they thought you meant in was 98 degrees -- Man, that would be a hot one!

[harvey lee]

I only know I will be on the stand most of the day. When the deer move, I will be there.

[Coach1310]

Warm weather isn't perfect... in my opinion movement might be a little bit limited and taking care of harvested game is a little trickier.. BUT.. it allows more people to be afield, longer which increases not only their chances but yours as well. A few people out and about bumping and nudging deer definitely gets more deer on their feet and I think that is a good thing for all of us....

[JIvers]

I am up in Fillmore County getting ready for the weekend. That included going out and checking my stands earlier today.

When I got out there, a six-pointer was chasing a doe in a picked bean field half a mile or so south of my timber.

When I was at the foot of one of my stands, in plain sight and moving around, a nice eight-pointer chased a doe out of the treeline thirty yards from me, grunting like crazy. This was at about 12:30, on a warm sunny day, with hundreds of acres of un-picked corn within a mile of me. If that had happened two days from now, my season would have been over right there with two well-placed shots.

What this means is that with the rut going on, you can see deer anywhere, any time. Yes, there is a lot of corn in the fields (I would estimate 85% still in in Fillmore County), and the weather will be warm. But the combines will be running, people will be driving deer, and bucks will be chasing does, so there will still be action during the day.

[ts_hunter]

eyehunter.....thanks for the GOOD NEWS. I am hunting in Fillmore county this weekend and was wondering how the rut was shaping up. I figure as long as I sneak in before sun up and bring my rattling horns, it should be good hunting. What part of the county are you in?

[JIvers]

I hunt west of Harmony--I too am planning on bringing the rattling horns and grunt tube, as I'll be hunting on stand all weekend.

The funny thing is, I drove up 150 miles from Iowa City to Fillmore County this morning, and didn't see a single live deer until I got within a half mile of my family land, and then I saw two bucks out chasing does. I'll take that as a good omen.

[CANOPY SAM]

When the temps are a little too warm for significant deer movement I typically climb out of stand, or blind, and begin still-hunting the area I'm in.

Slow, careful stalking thru woods, meadows or standing crops can be really fun, and rewarding. Be mindful of your location, where your shadow or silhouete is showing, where other hunters are, and always, always know where your scent is blowing.

Painstakingly scan every nook and corner of your area with slow methodical movements, and take plenty of time between steps or short moves thru the woods.

If it's too crunchy in the woods, as it may be this weekend with warm temps and pretty gusty winds (dry leaves and sticks), moving quietly is virtually impossible. Then I just get creative and make short moves around the woods that may bump up a deer and provide a quick standing or running shot - for me, or perhaps other hunters in the area.

You'd be amazed how often a deer jumped off it's bed will only bound a few yards then stop and look back to see what just spooked it. That's when you're ready to teach it a permanent lesson.

To me, stalking thru the timber, alder thicket, or standing corn is truly the essence of white-tailed deer hunting. I can't wait.

[JIvers]

I just got back from double-checking the scope on my slug-gun, which required putting a few rounds through it in a picked bean field here in Fillmore County.

After shooting a couple times, I looked off to a fence line a few hundred yards away, and sure enough, there was a deer walking down it, paying no attention to me, my truck, or the shots I had just fired. I grabbed the binoculars, and found it was a six-pointer, ambling along with his nose to the ground right out in plain sight. The rut is definitely here.

A lot of combines going today, but all the ones I saw were working on beans.

[harvey lee]

NO problems with the warm temps in North Dakota this weekend. We shot many does and did shoot 2 bucks that were in rut and running in the middle of the afternoon in 60 dergee temps.

I don't believe the rut is really going as I watched 5 different bucks by many does and they could have cared less about the does. One buck was so busy rubbing his rack on a fence I think I could have walked up on him.

I saw approx 80 deer and about 7 were bucks on Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. We had plenty of good deer moving.

The only thing not moving were the granddads of the big boys.

The buck did make a beeline for my decoy but never got the chance to figure out what it was as it ran into my 7mm bullet.

[BobT]

This was probably the warmest opener I can remember in my 40 years of hunting. It was also probably the most successful in terms of deer taken. Seven hunters, 4 bucks on opening day. Not bad.