Nick, too me any day in the month of november is a good day, like all the previous answers theres a plus to both those scenarios. In the month of november i hunt trails that come to this meadow and just set and wait, my first buck i shot i got in late november and he was with a doe at the base of this bluff, by this creek that was right by this meadow i was going to. He had his radar on but he seemed to be more interisted in another buck trying to take his doe instead of me, i know he didn’t see me or sense me. I watched him for about 20 minutes befor i was able to position myself for a shot off this bluff above this creek bottom where he was with this doe. I watched him and i could tell he was protecting his doe. The reason i was able to get a shot is because he and his doe found a small ravine that joined this creek bottom, she was farther in the ravine than he was, he was on the outside turning his head back and forth looking back at the creek bottom for another buck, evidently there was another around that was trying to take her. I was able to slowly approach the edge of the bluff and get a shot down to the buck. He wasen’t looking for a human, I know he was looking for another buck trying to steel his doe. The end of October is very good, i think better than the beginning of the month but i think the same holds true for november too because later in the month the bucks are paired up with does or have already bred one and are looking for another doe and they have most of thier attention on them, i hunt this whole month the same way and the colder it gets the better the hunting is so to me anytime in the month of november is a good time. Here when its 15 degrees at night and then warms up to around the 30’s during the day to melt the frost and its calm, to me it dosen’t get any better than that in november. You don’t have to think the ruts over at the end of november because the does are getting bred clear into janurary. I seen a fawn come out of a wild raspberry briar after i started grunting that still had spots, it was a late one that came from an early fawn that was bred or maybe a doe that miscarried and came into heat again, i forget but i seen this fawn in december or janurary as it was near the end of the season. In november the whole months in full swing here in iowa. Lets hope its going to be fairly clam with little wind, where i hunt they don’t move as much with higher wind, they like calmer conditions where they can hear and smell whats going on around them. Good luck on your hunt.
When I lived in Iowa, I used that date as my “peak” and planned hunting accordingly.
! Good luck to all this fall!!!!!! 