October Lull?

[Mottz]

I've heard different stories about this topic. Some say the deer just disappear and some say thats when the big boys love to show. Now last year I hunted every weekend of Oct. and I remember seeing very few deer at all. No bucks. Now, would you say they are in the deep wooded areas eating the forage or do they wait til dark to eat the crops? I just don't know. I'm kinda at a confused state of mind. If I'm reading the signs wrong or what. Someones gotta have a solution.

[Siman08/OH]

I see tons of them out feeding in the feilds. And the pre-rut around here starts kicking in towards the end of the month.

[GMMAT]

Here.....they're transitioning food sources (october). So....I think a lot of people think they're less active....because they're hunting for them the same way they did in Sept.

I never really pay the notion any mind.

[Vabowman]

I hear of this lull, but I have never really experienced it. There are so many deer here in Va that you can almost see one every time you hunt and never hunt the same stand more than once in a year.

[Hurricanespg]

I'm with gmmat....they are doing different things so you have to hunt them differently to see them.

[StrutNtom]

Here in SC this "lull" is easy to solve.

October is when our white oaks start dropping their acorns. Find the white oaks and you will find deer. I see more deer in October than any other month because I hunt the white oaks.

[nybowhunter]

Since we do not have any oak trees on my hunting area, we go to theapple trees.Bow huntingdoesn't start until mid October in WNY and that is when the apples are still falling.

[peakrut]

Nope do not believe in it.

[jmbuckhunter]

ORIGINAL: StrutNtom

Here in SC this "lull" is easy to solve.

October is when our white oaks start dropping their acorns. Find the white oaks and you will find deer. I see more deer in October than any other month because I hunt the white oaks.

I think this is the answer also. The deer don't have far to go from bedding to find the acorns so they don't move much. And the guys waiting for them on the edge of the fields don't see them, so they figure they dissapeared. They're around, they just found a new food source.

Another answer might be, they got bumped off of their regular rutines by the mass invasion of bowhunters into the woods. If you suddenly had a bunch of strangers walking around in your backyard, you might avoid it too.

[GMMAT]

Here.....they're transitioning food sources (october). So....I think a lot of people think they're less active....because they're hunting for them the same way they did in Sept.

LOL...

The thing that people don't take into account, here.....is where are the FIRST mast producing trees the deer are going to utilize (and for how long)? I know on the lands I hunt......they have these trees closer to their bedding areas. Once they deplete those.....they'll come to me (or....the mast trees I CAN hunt). If I sat in a group of white oaks, in October.....and the deer are using mast crops....but those utilized arecloser to their beds.......

Yeah....I "might" experience a "lull".