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- Find the Does. Your next move might not require a move at all if you have scouted well. During the breeding or lockdown phase, bucks relentlessly search for estrus females.
- Hunt the Downwind Sides. Keep in mind that during the breeding phase, bucks become highly efficient. Instead of boldly walking across a field, they might skirt the downwind edges or inside corners to scent-confirm any estrus females.
- Find a Love Nest. You do have another option and whether you make it your main play or a backup, consider looking for a buck love nest. Once bucks find a doe, do they want to parade it through a crowd of potential suitors, or spend more time alone?
- Find a Drifter. By scouting and setting up stands or blinds near highly visited food plots, agricultural fields or the routes in between, you stand a high chance of meeting up with a home territory buck.
- Tracking The Mating Season
- Understanding Rut Timing
- What Else Affects Rut Timing?
- Real World Examples
For years, it has been frustrating to hear so many erroneous perceptions of what constitutes the rut, so let’s begin with a brief primer on what the rut really is! According to Wikipedia: “The rut is the mating season of certain mammals, which includes ruminants such as deer, sheep, camels, goats, pronghorns, bison, giraffes and antelopes, and exte...
Why do whitetails have a rut? The first obvious answer is that they need one to reproduce! A precisely timed breeding season guarantees the production of fawns at a time of the year that will maximize recruitment. In reality, it is more the timing of weaning that affects when deer breed than any other factor. Once weaned, fawns are virtually on the...
The melatonin/sex hormone control of whitetail breeding is one thing, but there are confounding factors that can frustrate this system. These include the physiological condition of the deer coming into fall, moon phase timing and demographics of the herd. Temperatures play a role in affecting whether or not deer move in daylight hours. You may have...
We work and have worked with many landowners over the range of the whitetails. We not only advise these landowners, but also conduct research on their properties. Two of these are perhaps the best managed properties in the U.S., Turtle Lake Club and Grand Rack Club in the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Turtle Lake has been man...
- Dr. James C. Kroll
Oct 5, 2021 · As the rut expands into early November, so do the number of options for a buck’s mid-rut wanderings; but that does not typically apply to the last 15 days of October. The steps needed to take advantage of this period of the season may seem simple, however they involve quite a bit of preparation, patience and timing.
But before you do, you’ve got to take the steps to locate a mature buck. So whether you’re hunting the rut in November, or in the deep south in the months of December and January, here’s a look at how to make it happen this season.
Oct 18, 2022 · Increase your odds of tagging a mature buck with these tactics for each phase of the rut. It’s finally here, like Christmas for adults, but it arrives a month early and lasts for longer than a single day.
Nov 8, 2019 · The reason the whitetail rut is so exciting is because, for a few short weeks each year, bucks lose their minds while searching for females to breed. If bucks are looking for does, you should be too. When the going gets tough, you can’t go wrong hunting close to known doe hot spots.
People also ask
Do Buck Hunt ruts?
Do Buck's mid-rut wanderings occur in October?
What is a pre rut & rut period in Nebraska?
How long does a whitetail rut last?
Oct 18, 2021 · The answer: Pre-rut and rut periods when bucks are on the move, fighting with each other, rounding up does and establishing their turf. In Nebraska, that usually means during the archery season up until the start of the firearm season.
