I’m not very shy about expressing my opinion each and every year that peak hunting has always been for me around Halloween.  I love that time frame from about the 20th of October ramping up hard by the 25th…and then peaking around October 31st.  Hunting of course stays good well into November but I really like that 10 days surrounding Halloween.  This year has been no different.

Tim Hogan, October 29th, 2015

Tim Hogan from Wisconsin had it all come together this past Thursday morning the 29th.  But really, I think his success all started the morning before.  On Wednesday, he made a trip into a stand I call the “Fence Jump” hoping to get a sit with a west wind.  Upon arrival, he noticed the wind was coming too much from the north, and backed out picking a different stand for that wind.  Not many hunters are disciplined enough to make the right wind decision all the time.  Few will make the tough and disciplined decision to actually back out and pull a switch that far committed into a hunt.  Hats off Tim!

The next day, the forecast once again showed west winds…only this time upon arrival the wind was perfect.  At day break, a good buck came up from the draw to his south and worked a scrape out in front of him.  With not much time to make the decision and because it was still fairly early in the morning, he let the buck walk.  It circled around and eventually came back and worked a mock scrape only a few yards from the actual fence jump.  This time, Tim knew for sure this was a good buck only that scrape was just out of range.  With a couple pops on his grunt call, the buck came in for a good broadside shot.

Congratulations Tim on a great 13 point buck…and hats off to your decision on the 28th to “pull a switch”.

Farm Update:Much like every other year, the game cameras are starting off slow.  Each year, I only get a couple deer on the farm that are mature during late summer and early fall…and that will increase by one or two more by the end of October.  This year is no different but it can make you question if the bucks you’ve been watching year to year are still around.  My experience tells me they still are.  Never assume these bucks are not around!

For me, experience tells me that for the most part the bucks I follow from year to year are still around.  It’s really asking a lot to think that you’ll get all the bucks on your farm to walk in front of a camera.  You might get most, but you will surely miss some.  I have dozens of examples of this but the one that sticks out the most is Barkley.  I first found Barkley on one of my cameras as a 3 year old in 2012.  Going into 2013 I had high hopes to finding him again but he didn’t show up until December!  Where was he?  I’m sure he was around all fall…he just got lucky to avoid my cameras.  Last year, he showed up in late October and I lost track of him by early November.  Where was he?  Again, I’m sure he was around all fall.  This year, I’m waiting patiently and anxiously to see what Barkley and Feingold look like if and when they show up once more.