@Bigterp and
@Jammintree, 20 questions……..
1. How was the wind for your setups?
Very light but In their favor, the spot I’m in sucks the thermals down to the river. He figured it out but tried to drop lower & still cross in the same direction (shot him in the thermals after his correction)
2. Did they come in nose to wind or tail wind?
Quartering in their face but perpendicular to dropping thermals
3. Was wind direction part of your mental setup analysis? Kinda, mainly food & hoping for the best. But if the wind was more predominantly towards their appt from bedding. They wouldn’t have come through ( I wouldn’t have been there either)
4. With this cold snap, I’m assuming the deer were mostly relating to food. Did your setups factor in anything else besides food? If so why? I know Jammin you said you were also set up overlooking a primary scrape and using lures….
Nothing more than time in the stand over heavily browsed hillside ( I was shooting any legal doe & these guys came through)
5. What factors did you use in your setup analysis to hang in the locations you chose?
I was dead in the flat that took my wind just off where I thought they would approach & hoped thermal detection would be too late. What almost messed me up was a smaller 8 was in front of this guy & hit that 17yd hole & put his nose & tail up as he walked through the chute, so my deer pumped the brakes & backed out, I thought it was over but he just cut lower to where he thought it was safe. I just happened to have a hole there where he checked the thermal a 2nd time. Had he walked through I was out of the game!
I find the late season rutting activity so interesting. It’s an understated strategy in my opinion. I’ve got bucks still sparring to some extent on one of my cell cams and last year the late season buck I shot was totally chasing a group of does the evening he came out. Totally rutty!
I’m trying to gather how much rutting influence is still happening with the deer compared to food needs.