Buck Weather

This is an interesting thread on 24hourcampfire.com

A lot of folks like snow and cold. Here at Genesis 9:2-4 Ministries, the Shamanic Dream Team takes deer in a lot milder weather. Here is my answer:

As patriarch of camp, I keep the log. It’s in .XLS format, so it is easy to ask these sort of questions. What I’ll give you is bucks only. The doe results are far more variable.

Temp: 32F to 62F with the average being 40F

Conditions: Clear or Partly Cloudy. None taken in Rain or Snow (we’ve had less than 5 days with snow on the ground during deer season since 2001)

Wind: 0 to 17 MPH. 75% taken under 6 MPH. 33% Calm. 50% with wind S to NW.

Barometer: 29.54 to 30.61 with the largest number between 30.04 and 30.08. There is a 2-1 preference for rising barometers.

Time: 3/4 taken in the AM before 1000. The vast majority taken in the 8 O’Clock hour.

Moon: All phases. However, more seem to be taken while the moon is waxing.

This is the results for a 200 acre patch of heaven in SW Bracken County, Kentucky.

The peak of the rut was decreed years ago by Jake, the proprietor of the general store in Lenoxburg, KY. It was and is the largest deer processor in our part of the county. He set the official peak of the rut to be 10 AM of the Rifle Opener.

“You can’t rut when you’re hanging from a meat pole.” he said.

On a good Opener, Jake had to shut down intake at Noon on Saturday. If you were going to get your buck to Jake, you needed to be quick about it.

To distill this down, here in our patch of the Trans-Bluegrass:

It is beginning the second hour of legal hunting on the Opener. Temperature is 40 degrees. It will dip one more degree before the sun starts to warm you. The wind is calm, but you can hear the leaves rustling in the oaks on the ridge to the west. The sun has just cast your shadow on the ground for the first time this season. For the past few minutes, the shooting has been a continuous fusillade. You hear a heavy thudding in the leaves off to the south and east. Something is coming.