October Lull...Fact or Myth?

     Man, I love this time of year!!  The St. Louis Cardinals are playing in the World Series, the Indianapolis Colts are playing some good football, and the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team is getting ready to kick off their season.  My favorite part of this time of year though, is bow hunting whitetail deer.  I live for it.  It's my biggest passion.  I love the cool temperatures, the changing of the leaves, and the pre-rut starting to pick up in the deer woods.  I just harvested my first doe of the year on Tuesday and donated her to the Hunters Helping the Hungry program through our state DNR.  This program helps families in need by giving them venison donated by hunters.
     The main point of this post is to talk a little about the October Lull.  Every serious hunter has heard this term and more than likely experienced it while bow hunting in mid October.  There seems to be a time in mid October that deer, especially mature bucks, seem to just up and disappear.  Deer movement seems to slow way down and sightings are at a minimum.  A lull is defined as a temporary interval of quiet or lack of activity.  Here comes the point that I would like to get across.  In reality there is no October Lull.  Deer are just changing their feeding and travel patterns.  Farmers are in the fields busy harvesting their corn so deer no longer have their safe bedding areas that they had in summer and early fall.  The lush, green soybeans that deer devoured during the summer have lost their leaves, become dormant, and have been harvested.  I have several acres planted in clover, alfalfa, and chicory and the deer hit them really hard during this time, but do let up a little for a couple of weeks.  Even with these lush, green food plots, deer are still sometimes a little scarce in mid October.  There is only one other food that deer prefer over everything else this time of year...acorns!!  Acorns, acorns, acorns...that's where you will find your deer and especially the mature bucks.  Bucks need to put weight on as quickly as possible in order to be able to survive the rigors of the rut in November.  Acorns are high in fat so deer will abandon everything else and feed back in the woods on oak flats, ridges, and groves.  While many hunters think the deer have moved somewhere else, in reality, they are still there, they have just changed their feeding and travel patterns.  Trail cameras should let you know the bucks are still around, you just don't see them as much if you are hunting field edges or over food plots.  This only happens for a few weeks while the acorns are available.  Once the hard mast is consumed, it's back to the cool season food plots.  As late October/early November arrives, you should see a lot more bucks in the open.  Bucks are more visible during the day because they cruise the woods and field edges looking for does.  This is when they become the most vulnerable because they let their guard down.  Hunting the rut is a topic that we'll tackle another day.
     Now that we have established that there is no October Lull, get out there and find those oak trees and hang a stand to hunt there in the future.  Oaks don't produce acorns every year so you'll have to check to see what years they are dropping and then hunt there when you get the perfect wind.  Remember to set your stand up on the predominant downwind side between the bedding area and the acorns.  Hunt here in the middle of the day and in the afternoons.  NEVER hunt a stand when the wind isn't right or more often than not you'll have some tags to eat at the end of the season.  You will rarely get a chance at a mature buck if he smells you, and if he does, you probably won't see him again this year...or maybe ever.  Good luck!