Daytime temperatures are now peaking in the 50s, and nighttime temperatures are in the 30s and low 40s. Several recent sunrises have revealed a light frost from the night before. The fall colors are peaking or have peaked in our area, and the falling leaves are allowing increased visibility in our woods. The acorn drop is nearly complete, and the beech tree nuts are also littering the forest floor. All of this means that the time is finally right for the deer, bear, and turkeys to be moving as they focus their attention on feeding and putting on much needed fat reserves to carry them through the upcoming winter months.

For those who have waited all year for the whitetail deer rut to begin, there is much sign in the woods to indicate that it is underway throughout our area as well. Rubs from the bucks polishing their antlers are more prevalent, and both scrapes and scrape lines where the bucks leave their scent for the area does are showing up with greater frequency. In fact, the full moon that will occur on Saturday, November 4th is called “The Rutting Moon” and is usually a very reliable indicator of the height of the rut.

Combine those factors with the multiple hunting seasons that are underway right now, and you have the prime time to be in the woods to secure wild game meats of all kinds for the dinner table. The statewide archery deer season continues until Saturday, November 11. The fall turkey season began Saturday, October 28 and runs through Saturday, November 11 within WMU 2G and numerous surrounding WMU’s. The “icing on the cake” this year for many hunters is the archery bear season, which started on Monday, October 30 and will continue until Saturday, November 4th.

Small game hunters, this is your time as well since squirrel, rabbits, pheasants, and grouse are currently all in season and will be until November 25. However, since the greatest interest these days seems to be in pursuing whitetail deer, let’s take a closer look at the opportunities that will unfold for deer hunters from today until the end of the archery season on Saturday, November 11.

Yes, the bucks, does and yearlings have all been feeding regularly, but the warmer weather of the past few weeks has slowed that activity somewhat. Now, with the cooler weather and the increase of mast crops on the ground, the feeding activity is greatly increased throughout the woods — particularly where there is an abundance of red and white oaks. The upcoming frosts will turn food plot plants, such as beets, brassicas, rabe, and turnips to a much sweeter and palatable consistency and thus will be a more active food source for deer. Once there has been a heavy frost that really turns a food plot to be a primary focus for the deer, you can focus your attention there.

In the meanwhile, spend your time in the oak woods. That is where many of the does and most of the bigger bucks will be bedding and feeding. With all of the acorns that have fallen, they simply do not have to move far to get a belly full of high protein mast. There simply is no reason for them to move far as long as the food source holds out, unless an estrous doe wanders by and diverts their attention from food to romance. The bucks that are beginning to make rubs and scrapes will remain in a smaller core area until they have encountered all of the nearby does and need to travel to find more receptive does. This is the time when bucks, even the older and more mature bucks, seem to cast caution to the wind. Their focus becomes single-purposed, with their only interest being breeding whenever and wherever possible.

As a hunter, this will probably be your only opportunity to encounter a mature buck that has let his guard down and seems to ignore his usual heightened senses of smell, sight, and sound that keep him out of danger. If your goal this season is to take an older or more mature buck, then finally, “The Time is Now!”