temp map

This is gonna be the best weekend of the season so far, so plan to be in a tree as many hours as you can. With cooler temperatures and high-pressure across the country, bucks will start moving in preparation for the rut.

October 20 is the kick-off of the hard pre-rut every season, and so some serious rubbing and especially scraping are set to kick in. While bucks have been making sign right along, they are going to really get after it now, with the days growing shorter and the temps cooling down. I bet you find some big, fresh scrapes.

While I don’t like this full moon nearly as much as the one that will illuminate the rut next month on November 17, I think the deer will move okay, some during the middle of the day and especially in the evenings in and around food sources. Here are some stands to try now and for the next several weeks.

While all this sounds good, I add a disclaimer: We are still a good 10 days out from the start of the best buck movement, so things might still be slow in your area, you just never can tell.

Get out there and hunt hard, and then check back in and tell me what you see and hopefully shoot. Good luck.