Does A Late Lull Mean A Late Rut?

Research and history would suggest that more or less, the whitetail rut will fall within the same timeframe year after year. The only interruptions seem to be weather (heat), herd ratio, age structure, and possibly hunting pressure. So I'm struggling to explain how the mature buck activity has seemed to stop after the 19th of October. Possibly even more bizarre, is how I'm not even getting nighttime pictures over scrapes or anything. Either the deer are really laying low in anticipation of the energy about to be exhausted on chasing does, or they've left the area.
Since my last post, I've sat three times:
Friday, October 20 Evening (sit #17) - I sat in the stand I put up on the east side of the area where I had been getting pictures of the 6x5 most recently. I saw two lone does that evening. The first one walked behind me at 75 yards through the slough grass and the other was the huge doe and she was out at about 150-175 yards feeding on field grass. Nothing too exciting.
Thursday, October 26 Evening (Sit #18) - After getting sort of frustrated about the sign I was seeing and the lack of pictures on the cameras, I decided to move in a little closer to where I thought the 6x5 had to be living (if in fact he was even still in the area). I had a wind that was switching to the SW which would be perfect to come down the river bank straight into the wind. I told myself that I would only go in there until I found some fresh sign. I found about 6 rubs or so and a couple scrapes and I was only about 200-250 yards from where I thought he was hiding out, so I looked for a set up with good back-cover and shoot-ability and I think I found a great spot. I was right on the bank of the river and I had one trail coming straight at me and a second trail coming by at about 20 yards. I figured that this must be one of the few travel routes he would be taking when he leaves his bedding area. Honestly, if this buck has been living in a 20-30 acre block of mature popples for three weeks, I will be shocked, but a lot wiser for the wear. This buck is old and this buck is smart. This would be a perfect case study for how small a buck's core area can become (if my theory is true). As October has approached its end, I know he must be getting restless in that small of an area and if he is confined to that small of a space, it must be absolutely TORE UP! I need to slip in there will a camera to see if he's moving along that river bank and look for updated sign. I only have a little over a week to kill him before the rut takes him across the township.
Saturday, October 28 (Sit #19) - I finally got a North Northwest wind so I could sit closer to where I had been getting pictures of the 6x5 earlier this fall. As I was getting settled in, I had a doe sneak past me at 12 yards. Too bad I didn't have a bonus tag. No other deer. Again, the 28th being historic scrape day, I did not find any indication that bucks had been any more active than the previous two weeks. I feel like in the next three days, everything has to change and it will change suddenly.
The only interesting things in the last week or two is that they left some beans standing west of the Tweeten woods,

I was able to hang two stands on Steph's birthday, and I've gotten crap for pictures up by Pete's. I pulled the camera I hung NW of Pete's back up by the dozed willows. I had a bunch of young bucks, but nothing exciting. One nice wide two year old:

This little two year old 8 moved into the 6x5 area:

Pencil is just south of the cabin by all guesses, so it should make this rut kickoff pretty interesting.

NW Winds For Two Weeks!!

Last post was about all the fiascos in ND and catching up on what really hadn't been happening back home. Well, finally, things are picking up here. The weatherman is calling for some type of west wind for the next two weeks. At its furthest, it comes from the SW, and up to a straight N with most days being a straight WNW - NW wind. This is perfect for a stand I just set up on the east side of where the 6x5 has been hiding out. The question is - Will he move east into the oak island to work scrapes/check does soon?
I was able to get some sweet flash pictures of 6x5 before the batteries died in the Cuddeback. He cam in on the 9th, 10th, & 11th. He came in on the 9th with a doe, which would make sense if she was super healthy. She could've been in heat. Regardless, he looks good - a nice blonde rack as I suspected.

After switching the batteries out on the 14th, I was surprised to see another old friend spend some time in the same area - Twigs! He made a little trek over to there. Where he was in between, I can only guess. He's looking as good as ever. No broken points yet, which should be interesting if these two mature studs rub shoulders in the next few days. They both have big bodies, but there's no way Twigs' rack will hold up to the 6x5's mass. Hopefully I can kill one of them to keep them from fighting.

In addition to these beauties, I picked up a few pictures of Pencil that show he's fattening up nicely, too.  So that's three different 6 year olds that were moving in the same week. I think things are about to get interesting!

Recently, the bowhunting has been pretty slow. Since the 8th of October, I've sat 3 times:

Thursday, October 10th Afternoon (Sit #14): I sat in hopes of seeing Twigs and saw nothing but a lone grouse and a young timberwolf, which was kind of interesting.

Monday, October 14th Morning (Sit #15): I sat the same spot believing that it was a matter of time for Twigs to come back through the ridge between the swamps. He did not show, but the grouse with 9 lives came back for round 2. I missed again. Depressing.

Thursady, October 17th Afternoon (Sit #16): I sat east of where 6x5 has been spending a lot of time. The day before I was able to hang a stand in the rain. The wind wasn't great, but it allowed me to slip in and out quietly and hopefully my scent was washed away for the most part. I sat that Thursday more or less as an observation sit. There were two does that came out, one downwind and the other about 200 yards away. The farther doe was a horse of a doe. I'm sure it was the doe that made the scrape and was in the camera with 6x5, she was huge - at least 140. When her head was down, I thought it was going to be the 6x5! I was able to move a bunch of cameras into the area that the 6x5 has been visiting in hopes of putting together some more pins in the map and know how much to press my luck with new stands, etc. I need to move in on him while I have a consistent wind. However, I know that as we approach the end of the month, he will get restless and begin looking for does. I need to capitalize on his hormones. Sounds like a plan.

Octoberfest - ND & MN

I've been pretty poor at keeping this log going lately. Life's been a little hectic. So to catch up, I'll need to back up. There hasn't been many things that have been earth shattering lately. I'm beginning the camera migration from the remote locations to the big woods to help mom and dad mentally prepare themselves for rifle season. It's only a month away! So here's where I've been sitting lately:
September 30th - Morning and Evening (Sit # 7 & 8): I spent the afternoon of Sunday with Steph lounging and relaxing and headed to Grand Forks to hunt the next day in the morning. I tried pretty hard to figure out spots to hunt he SSW - SW winds of Monday the 30th. I decided to get down into the  river bottom in the morning and hopefully catch deer coming back to bed, which I did - just a yearling buck. I left the stand up because I liked the spot and the wind was basically supposed to be the same the next day. That evening I set up the Muddy ladder stand on the edge of a standing soybean field, which they started cutting while I was sitting. I managed to see around 6 or 7 deer including a couple bucks, but they were all about 200-300 yards away. In between monday's sits, I set up my two cameras knowing I'd pull them down the next day. I managed to get lucky and catch quite a few of the deer I have been seeing earlier this summer. I found a scrape along the edge of the bean field and picked up a nice two year old buck working the scrape right at last light.

My Cuddeback Seen got set up in river bottom on one of the main trails that seemed to funnel deer a bit.
October 1st - Morning (Sit # 9): I crawled back up into the same Muddy Bloodsport down in the river bottom with really high hopes of seeing something. I did not see a single deer. I grabbed my camera, tore my stand down and hiked back up the hill. I didn't even bother reviewing the images/videos that the camera captured, and to be honest, I didn't think there was any. To my surprise, when I got home, I saw that there was multiple bucks that walked that very trail the night before, right up until 6:09am! I was in the tree by about 6:20am! I probably bumped the bucks a little further. But, I did learn that I really liked that spot in case I go back out there.

The downfalls of the trip: One of the farm's employees was getting very territorial and without saying it, tried to kick me out of the area. Also, one of the two cameras I left out there got picked off! STOLEN! So that sucked. Not that I was expecting a bunch of awesome pictures, but it sure hurts the pocketbook!
October 4th - Evening (Sit # 10): Zach and I tried to sneak into the area where the 6x5 has been showing up. We got in fairly quiet, and tucked into our homemade ground blind. Zero deer.
October 5th - Evening (Sit # 11): I had a NE wind, so I wanted to try something new - I headed out to the stand I hung for the pre-rut North of the East/West road. After I got set up, the wind felt very EAST and I now know I need a straight N wind when sitting out there. I got drizzled on and saw two deer. I hung the SEEN camera out there on the same tree that I got pictures of Pencil & Splitbrow in 2011. Hopefully I get to see Pencil again out there.
October 6th - Evening (Sit # 12): The wind switched over to a NW/WNW and although I didn't really plan to hunt, the corn field was already a set up option for me, so I tested it out. I had a clear sky, high pressure system with a perfect wind, but the only thing I saw was a doe and a fawn until I was already packing up. It was at that point that two younger bucks decided to make their way into the corn from the NW corner of the field. The corn still does not seem to be a destination food source. Until we have a couple killing frosts, I don't think it will be. There's still green in the woods!
October 8th - Morning (Sit # 13): I finally got a SE wind and figured I better try to hunt Twigs since he was about the only good buck giving me daytime photos. Well, he still hasn't been in there since the 29th of September, but the huge bear decided to make an appearance. He is a monster!!!

I have about a week to kill him if I want to buy a tag. If he comes back in, I'll consider it. He's probably there right now. I'll have about a week off of hunting and then it'll be swinging right into the early stages of the pre-rut.