BEST RUT IN YEARS
Connecticut
Contributors to this thread:
Hope you are all experiencing this great rut activity. Lots of very mature bucks chasing doe all over..After last year this is a pleasure...Happy Turkey Day!
You’re a comedian. It’s not as bad as last year. You’ve got that going for you.
Wait, is this Hung Fo in disguise??
IT’s November 24th not April 1st.
Iv seen about 45-50 deer in ct so far.
With all those huge 100# feeders you guys hunt hard over your still not seeing deer? Lol. Quit shooting the skippers and doe’s. 3 points per side with 2 deer max. 1 doe 1 buck.
This is the best laugh I heard in a while.
Knew you’d like it. These guys are too funny. Hunt 2 acres, sit over hundreds of pounds of corn which attracts every deer and their brother to those 2 acres and bam. BBD!!! I’m done now! Not a fan of baiting. Just my 2 cents
That's the best thing about hunting. You can use a traditional bow, cedar arrows, no rangefinder and stalk your prey. Or, you can use a high powered rifle with a variable scope on a high fence farm over bait with guides telling you when and where the trophy buck will come from. We get to pick any of the above, or in between. I hunt state land, so no baiting allowed.
All state land here also. Lots of opportunity if you put the time in. Endless acres!
AP, you hunting north eastern CT?
The rut is late, but it is here now.
Indeed, as everywhere else, the entitlement sentiment is growing in the hunter community fueled by YouTube hunting videos and clever marketing for hunting related products. Meaningful results and long lasting memories come with a price, which less and less are willing to pay, and that is hard work and patience.
Come to think about it, on small properties and for older hunters, baiting is the only way to keep the game close. Young will be old without fail before you know it, and the early ways of hunting will change as age related limitations set in. I am not that young myself to burst daily with energy, but by the grace of God I am still strong and have my health to be able to do that three times a week before I need to take a recovery break.
In case you did not notice, it is always easier to point the finger elsewhere other than ourselves. Try it. The wrist will hurt if you mean it.
Six - I'm not getting the hunter entitlement statement? I haven't seen anyone on the site post a statement saying they are deserving of getting more deer. I know several of us, myself included, have stated that this season is very different due to the lack of deer and deer sign.
Six are you one of those that sit over massive corn piles? Lol. If you get too old to hunt how it should be then so be it. Time to retire! Enjoy the memories of working for that deer instead of memories of shooting the deer bait. Btw my wrists already hurt. OSS.
Not to worry AP. I am not using bait. I like it the hard way. You will get old too. Post then please.
@BBB - Just stating the trend set by YouTube, hunting industry, and society at large. One can obtain success in life just by clicking and tapping all sorts of electronic devices. Easy and available if you pay your internet connection bill.
Anchor point , I guess you hunt with a long bow? No rattling horns no can ??? You do know baiting is legal in some zones ! If you don’t like it maybe move in to another site. You must be a real cry baby !!!!!!l big woods guy . Shot a couple of spikes and knows everything !! Didn’t see a pep out of you when Pat went to Kansas’. Like he said don’t like it move on!
What I don't understand (and this is why I don't do facebook) - why do we need to find fault with the way someone else does something? I know I hunt the absolute PERFECT way, so I'm not part of this conversation. Ok, so maybe I only put my stand 15 ft high and not the 20-25 ft others say is the correct height. And maybe I may be guilty of stomping around the woods when I still hunt. I'm also probably not correct when I say the deer herd in the NW corner is below past years. Oh yeah, I almost forgot I shouldn't be playing golf when I should be hunting and letting a gut shot deer sit over night was too long to wait to retrieve. But other than that, I'm pretty sure my way of hunting is perfect and everyone should do what I do,........right?
Now for a glass of port before dinner. Crap, I forgot I should have shot the young buck that was next to my tree, so no venison.
Hunt how you like, I’m just stirring the pot.. if it’s legal do it
Scotty Cameron?? Wow! I have a set Callaway everything except the putter, it's a Spider.
Jeeze that sounds like the ugliest golf bag I’ve ever seen. Good thing your not good enough to be sponsored or you wouldn’t have a sponsor hahahah.
Where’s Buildr? Love it when someone pops up and starts a post and then never responds to their own post……
I think this post was a joke. In NW CT - I’ve seen more bear than deer. 3 bear & the 1 doe I jumped. Was out this morning, windy but not too bad. Nothing! Congrats to all who’ve killed deers. I’m seeing sh*t. Not even squirrels.
Be good enough to locate big bucks; be diplomatic enough to obtain permission; do what is legal to bring them into range; make an excellent kill shot; and stop raining on another guy's parade by pissing and moaning about a legal method of attraction. It's getting real old and quite annoying not to mention childish.
Mapa, you go with what you hit best. I smash the pxg irons. My 4 iron is about 180-200 yards. My driver is solid, 2021 model and I can hit it a mile. My bag is a ping hoofer hahahha. I don’t discriminate. Well I do just not in golf! Lol. I wish I was good enough for a sponsor. My short game sucks. Constantly miss easy 3’ putts.
Sounds like we need a golf thread started.
How many of us hunters are golfers? Get a little golf outing in the spring!
Haven't hunted CT since 11/14. Need to get back out there. Killed a shotgun 8pt in NY on 11/21 that was locked down with a doe all day. I got CT pics of a 10pt moving in daylight on 11/17 and a 6pt on 11/24. I plan to hunt CT several more times in December
Ah yes golf the only sport where it’s cool to wear a pink shirt ;)
Yup, I had pink pants a few years ago, now I have a new Callaway pink shirt, and of course pink balls.
Notme's Link
https://youtu.be/sjrdanK4LSY
Is this golfsite or bowsite?
Seems to lose sight of pink balls mid air. What happens when you drive em to the moon! Haha. Matte red color works great. Prov1 or the callaway chrome soft x.
Notme - that was hilarious!! I was sitting on the couch laughing and my wife thought I had lost my mind. Ok, so she thinks that all the time.
Anchor's balls are blue.....
Don’t think they make blue balls arlow. Maybe the Walmart ones. I don’t hit those. Yellow or white.
Blue balls are available, even Titliest provides that color.
Never seen a prov1 in blue.
You have look in the woods and the bottom of ponds and streams because only the bad golfers use them :>) You're right, no Pro V1, just the Velocity model comes in blue. I can only use white, any color throws off my game,........that's my excuse anyways.
Another thread going of course. Pardon the pun.
The super soft by callaway is a good ball too. Little to soft for my swing speed (107-113) via the simulator, but for a slower swing player it goes a mile. I prefer to putt with the super soft. Feels awesome and rolls great
I see not everyone is experiencing the same rut me and my hunting buddies are..We have at least 40 plus cams out in 3 different towns. I kid u not...the quantity of mature large racked bucks are the most we've seen in years..We have at least 8 or so PandY bucks running around chasing does..not to mention a large quantity of dies and younger bucks. I think it's the food source. The does are bedding near food plots and not moving. All our stands are located near farms and swamps...green briar seems pretty popular..we hunt hard and long..all year..we leave our scout cams out all year..thus gives us a good idea of deer patterns..so, if your not seeing deer..there's a reason...plenty out there..go find em
Buildr - what’s the reason someone would not see deer if the only land they can hunt is hardwoods, state property? Please elaborate when you look down on us……
Buildr - so are you hunting private or state land, and what part of the state? I don't doubt that there are areas that hold lots of deer, like the guy I purchased the weber grill from in Fairfield. However, Blood is correct about state land limitations.
No doubt State land must be tough. Basically a huge deer less forest. I think with the gypsie moth damage in some areas, the forest floor will see more sun, and in a year or two will explode with great habitat. Where one thing falls, another grows. If you have good private land, without alot of pressure, every year is great hunting. The deer are there, and rut is hot.
Deer are where you find them.
I have a mountain spot in MA that is mostly hardwoods and with no acorns I found sign in two spots one being a clear cut which was cleared due to dead oaks from the moths and the other was a path loaded with green briar. If a state spot has nothing but oaks I can see the dilemma. The good news is if there are acorns next year then the state lands will have good deer numbers if they had sanctuary on neighboring private land spots that aren’t hunted.
Buildr - 8 bucks over 125"? how much for a 1-day hunt? I'll come and pay
Buildr, way to get after them, good luck
We hunt both private and public land...always bow only..try to pick spots adjacent to state forests..let the shotgun hunters be our birddogs...one other thing..the spots we pick always have public access..seems contrary to what u might think...we find the deer much less spooked by people..they see them everyday...suburban deer are tougher to hunt..very wary around stands...patience and the ability to sit still, control ur scent and absolutely no noise..seems easy right..lol
Threw my halloween pumpkins out back on 11/23. 6pt strolled by this morning with a full swell neck. I can't hunt this week, but hopefully next week I'll get out there with bow
CT - his whole body looks fat. Good luck.
Fatboy looks like he swallowed a whole pumpkin.
I thought he looks weird too. Only 3 pumpkins, so I can confirm he has eaten zero of them. Just a fat 1.5 year old I guess. Maybe a better rack next year? I got pics of a 10pt that looks to have lost 25-30lbs from early November to mid november
This was the best rut for me too here in MA but on the couch with Covid my damn cell cams were going off like crazy!
Sorry to hear about your illness Spike, covid is no fun for sure. Get well and take of yourself.
I’m good now Bob but was run down on the best week of the rut which on my cell cams showed Nov 15 to the 19th which kind of surprised me but going back on my cam pics from last year I had chasing going on and multiple pics on Nov 16-18 last year. Good intel to prepare for next season.
went out today, got into my stand, settled in by 6:37am and saw one nice buck, too far for a shot. Nothing after that, not even a squirrel. Went to the new area the Game Warden said I could access and it's loaded with sign, couldn't believe it. The only problem it has some steep areas to cross, going to be a tough drag if I score, but right now happy to see the sign. Heard one gun shot way off.
Wow. For Northwest Connecticut, not having any deer… You sure do manage to see a lot of deer.
Blood, you're right. That makes one buck and one doe I've seen while hunting this season, so I'm having a great year so far. I sure hope it keeps up.
Well, considering you’ve only hunted three times this year those are pretty good numbers!
BBB, good luck; hope it happens for ya. Hunting with ML?
I've actually been out 8 times this year, but mostly still hunting looking for where the deer pockets might be. The place I was able to access today really has me excited, it's has that much sign. I will have a hard time with the steep ridge and really thick cover, that's where the big runs are so I'll need to find a pocket and set up, maybe on the ground because I didn't see good trees for my stand. Nice field to the south as well.
Hmmmmm. BBB. You’ve seen a couple bucks. You took a pic of one. And you supposedly stalked up on a doe and a fawn and I think you told us you also saw a doe or two as well. Why wouldn’t you hunt that big buck you saw today? Just move your stand. Why hunt another area if you already have eyes on a buck?
I stand corrected. The doe did have a yearling and there was the young buck that came into my stand location a few weeks ago that I took the picture of, so that would make 4 deer this season,..... swimming in deer.
When you find a new area and it looks like it hasn't been hunted before, and has lots of sign, it's hard to walk away from it. It's like wondering what's over the next ridge. The buck today wasn't something I would shoot, and the sign in that spot is sparse. And the most important is reason is,......because I want to hunt the new area.
BBB, there is no area in CT that has not been hunted. Right when you think that, you’ll find a tree stand or trail cam. No matter where you go there is sign of other hunters past and present.
Yeah, I agree, that's why I said looks like. I looked for stands and cameras, and footprints, candy wrappers, hot dots, orange tape, etc and didn't see any, but that doesn't mean a thing when it comes down to the facts. Just wishful thinking on my part. In any case, it has a lot more sign than any other place I've been this year.
Good luck BBB, Sounds like a good spot.