Arctic Cold Sets Hunting on Fire

A wintry blast has blanketed central Iowa with a light icing and around 1" of snow, transforming Fall into Winter.

Just the right amount of snow for tracking, but not getting stuck.
This blanket of white will last in many spots until Monday afternoon.

Now bone-chilling temperatures under Arctic high pressure will collide with the prime time rut and hunters will want a front row seat to one of the best hunting weekends we'll see this season.

Rutting activity will be peaking by Nov. 24th
 and sharply falling off into Post-Rut after that.

Nearly one week after the rutting full moon, this perfect storm of conditions should really fire up the already promising deer activity. We are nearing peak breeding in the Whitetail herd and many locations will begin experiencing the "rut" where daylight deer movement dramatically reduces. Until then, the bucks are moving at full throttle and this cold weather aims to push it over the edge combining feeding activity with breeding activity.

Transformed to Winter overnight.

Snow is also a huge plus! A disgustingly delightful crust of ice and snow will now reveal deer once hidden from view and betray their movements with loud crunching. Snow cover is also extremely helpful in tracking size, sex, numbers and direction of deer movement in your area. In stark contrast to last weekend's 60s/70s in the state, recent snowfall will make this weekend seem like an entirely different world in the deer woods.

Bundle up Hawk Fans. The wind chill factor will be 0 to -10F at kickoff.
Cyclones get a break from the wind, but not the cold.

Rut activity is still high and bucks are chasing does in central Iowa. In the sleet and freezing rain I successfully rattled in two nice bucks and watched a third chase does, mouth agape, and constantly grunting.

 Arctic air will challenge your gear and force the game to feed. Crunchy snow may make that deep-woods stalk nearly impossible, but bitter-cold will make that food-source ambush a hit.

Deer hunters wont be the only ones with success this weekend. Migrating waterfowl will be hitching a ride on the strong northerly early on Saturday. Winds will relax for Saturday night and Sunday morning. Pheasant hunting Sunday morning may be about the coldest walk you'll have this season, but the frost and light wind should hold the birds and their scent well.

My favorite weather days to deer hunt this week would be Friday afternoon,
Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning, Monday morning and Thanksgiving morning.

Although most of us don't like to lose feeling in the fingertips, a heavy-horned buck chasing a doe toward your stand or that flush of a rooster tails exploding from the grass in front of you seems to have a way of making it feel warmer outside.

It looks darn cold this weekend -certainly the coldest we've seen this season. And we may even have to dress like Ralphie and Randy from A Christmas Story to survive it, but I expect this weekend's hunting weather to be great. So layer up, lace on the tundra-boots, and good luck!