MDRN Whitetail Ep. #8 - Hunting October Cold Fronts, Scrapes & October Mornings with Scott Buckley

Scott Buckley left Michigan for southern Iowa chasing bigger deer, and the move paid off. He's arrowed a public-land buck at 170 inches at 8:20 in the morning on October 3rd, taken a wide 160-inch 12-point by catching him off guard on a rare east wind, and this season got his 10-year-old grandson Carson onto three bucks and eight or nine does. Scott hunts a mix of public land and his own farm in southern Iowa, and he's built a reputation — through his Whitetail Cribs videos and years of content — for killing giant bucks specifically in the stretch most hunters write off: October. In this episode, Scott makes his case that the "October lull" is mostly a myth, breaks down why cold fronts dictate his entire game plan that month, and explains his long-standing habit of hunting rare east winds on purpose because pressured deer haven't learned to be careful of them. He gets into when scrapes are actually worth hunting — and why the biggest, oldest bucks are the least reliable ones to show up on a schedule — walks through a food plot he built from scratch on his farm over a single growing season, and doesn't hold back on what he thinks of Iowa's incoming public-land trail camera ban. Topics covered: Why Scott thinks the October lull is mostly a myth, and what's actually changing in the woods as the month goes on How cold fronts dictate his entire October plan, and why the first day or two after a front beats a whole week of "cooler than normal" His case for east winds — a rare wind direction he hunts on purpose because pressured bucks haven't adapted to it Hunting October mornings: when he avoids it on his own ground, and the one setup (deep timber, a cold front, deer feeding well off in a field) where he'll go in before daylight Scrape strategy: why 3- and 4-year-old bucks show up consistently on cell cam scrapes, while mature 5- and 6-year-olds are sporadic at best Rain and late-October movement, and why he'd rather hunt a cool, drizzly day than wait on clearing skies Building a food plot from scratch on his southern Iowa farm — radishes, oats, and rye through one growing season Scent and scrape "magnets," including the time straight vanilla extract outperformed every commercial lure he owns What he picked up from Dan Infalt about reading the freshness of rubs and buck sign His reaction to Iowa's incoming public-land trail camera ban, and how he'd adjust his scouting without it Advice for young hunters, and what he's learned taking his 10-year-old grandson out Follow along on social! IG - @modernwhitetail YouTube - @WHTLDEER Thanks again for all of the support from our partners—none of this would've been possible without them! -Buck Land Funding: https://www.firstbankers.com/bucklandfunding -Hawke Optics | Use Code WHTL for 15% off: https://bit.ly/hawkeoptics_ -OnX: https://bit.ly/onX_Hunt -Painted Arrow: ⁠⁠bit.ly/PaintedArrow -Latitude Outdoors: https://www.latitudeoutdoors.com/