What is everybody seeing for rut action?

[engfish]

Was hunting on the relatives' property in Cannon Falls and had an unbelievable finish to the night. With the east wind I was able to hunt in a stand that I've left vacant much of the season. At 4:30, I had a doe and a fawn come in from the south and then come up the hill and hook right back toward me. Ten minutes later, I caught a glimpse of two more deer come off the ridge behind me and follow the same path the first two deer took. By this time, the first doe was within 25 yards of me and walking right toward me when she looked up and we had a little Don't Blink contest. I thought for sure I was busted, but she moved to my right and out of sight. Or so I thought.

It got even better. During the staredown, I had another 7 does and fawns come off the ridge behind me, all of them in shooting range. This has NEVER happened in three years of hunting this property. I've seen this many deer in the field, but I've never had this many deer in close proximity at one time. What a rush.

I waited until the last doe walked under my stand and was sitting in front of me broadside at 15 yards. I thought that the time was right, but when I pulled back, all hell broke loose. I forgot about that first doe, and she was watching me from the right and blew the first warning signal. Believe it or not, I had to laugh at getting busted. I've never had to avoid so many sets of eyes, but it was sure good to see that my scent control was spot on.

You can imagine my surprise when I heard a loud snort to my left followed by a paw striking the pathway. Snort. Paw. Snort. Paw. I'd seen this same buck twice during the shotgun season and knew he was a dandy 8, but he's at least a year away. The doe I had in my sight earlier started walking toward the buck. Slowly.

They were on alert because of the earlier commotion, but there is no doubt he was hanging with the girls to see which ones are coming into estrous.

Definitely the most exciting 30 minutes of bowhunting I've experienced.

I'd sure like to see some colder weather and a little dusting of snow, but it's not going to happen in our part of the state this week.

[Jeff13]

Sounds like you had a great night! Hunted this evening saw nothing until after I packed up my gear and turned on the truck. Deer came out to the picked corn about 5:30, they have been pretty nocturnal all week. Hopefully some colder weather comes soon, to get them moving a bit.

[matchset]

that's a pretty dog gone exciting night! I havn't been out in 2 weeks and i'm going crazy! I have one tag left and I am just waiting to fill it!

[james_walleye]

Saw a lot of does yesterday and a 6 pointer. My camera is still full of bucks. Had another random big boy on it the other day.

[slimngrizzly]

Looks this guy was doing some chasing on Muzzy morning! 8:55 in the morning. Bad pics... but we know what was going on!

[sticknstring]

You know that doe is smelling good to keep that dude on his feet that late in the morning - cool sequence! And yet another reason to get that cam switched over to video! Clear video w/ chasing & audible grunts vs. blurry pics of unidentfiable bucks?!?

[engfish]

And yet another reason to get that cam switched over to video! Clear video w/ chasing & audible grunts vs. blurry pics of unidentfiable bucks?!?

Your videos this fall were very enjoyable to watch, but sometimes not knowing exactly what's going on is better. If I knew how good it was all the time I wasn't there, I'd never go to work.

[sticknstring]

That's very true! One of the reasons I won't get a cam that emails pics to my email! You'd never get any work done.

[slimngrizzly]

I will go switch it stick! 270 pics are I couldn't hardly tell what bucks were which? All blurry! I never realized the videos would be clearer??? cool! I better listen to you... since youre the one who recommended THIS CAMERA

[sticknstring]

You won't regret it. I had 4 of 'em out for a few months before I switched to video. Getting a blurry sequence of my target buck during daylight was the last straw for me. Switched 'em all to video and never looked back. The only negative is it takes a lot longer sorting through the videos. They're clear and the audio is awesome. 12-13 seconds on trails, 17-18 seconds for scrapes works best for me. Here's a couple from this fall. Video loses quality uploading to youtube, originals are MUCH better. Turn up the sound and make sure youtube video quality is highest as it goes and then tell me how pics are better?

[slimngrizzly]

OK im convinced... switching to video TODAY!

[sticknstring]

Hopefully the 2013 models will address the motion blur for pics. The other downside to video is the trigger isn't .6 secs like on pic mode. It takes longer for the camera to prepare to write the larger sized files to SD card and the result is a 1.5 sec trigger on video mode. You will miss an occasional event because of this. To combat it, place your cams a few feet further away than you would on pic mode when setup on trails. There you have it, my 8 month learning curve! Have fun!