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Nov 21, 2023 · Focus On Food. Your strategy from early December through the end of the season should center around the limited food sources that remain for deer. Both does and bucks are run down from the primary rut, and they have to eat.
Nov 30, 2022 · Again, bucks need food to regain their strength and make up the bodyweight worn off during the primary rut. Deer, in general, require more food to stay warm during colder weather. When hunting food sources such as crop fields, a hunter will need to sit and be patient as deer feed.
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When does a whitetail deer rut start & end?
Do deer eat in December?
When is the best time to hunt a whitetail?
Why are whitetail deer short day breeders?
Dec 18, 2018 · As we all know, whitetails in the Northern regions of the continent do their breeding from October through December, with early November being the peak of the rut across most of the country. This is because whitetails are “short-day breeders,” which means that the estrous cycle is keyed to shorter daylight hours.
- Get on The Food Source
- Tuck Into The Edge of The Bedding Area
- "The Second Rut"
- Calling and Rattling
- Go Get Lost
- Do Some Deer Drives
I recognized one glaring reality when I looked back through my field notes: mature bucks are really only interested in food for those first couple of weeks of December—up here in the Northeast, at least. Of course, hunting wisdom tells us they're exhausted. But you if you're able to lay eyes on a mature buck, you can actually see it. They've droppe...
I can't stress this enough, and this is probably the best advice I can give anyone when it comes to late-season deer hunting. If you know of a bedding area that holds plenty of deer or actively holds mature bucks, this is where those deer are now. A bedding area that is close to a food source is dynamite in December. As mentioned before, the bucks ...
Toward the end of November, I have traveled through several states hunting and made my way back home in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The deer during the first two weeks of December are focused on food but are still pushing does around. Knowing where the does go this time of the year is crucial to being successful. As the does group back up and travel...
By December, I'm usually all done with rattling. But that changed during that 2017 hunting season. I was watching a group of six does feeding on the downwind side of a bedding area. This was a property that I am contracted with to remove a specific number of deer from annually. I shouldered my shotgun, popped off the safety, and just as I was about...
As a public land hunter, this is my time to find new ground. I'll typically wait until a fresh track of December snow comes for the best chance. I will then make my way deeper and further than ever before. This is a great time to look at pieces of property that I didn't have time to dedicate to earlier in the season. I like to move in and look for ...
One of my favorite things to do in the entire season happens the last weekend at hunting camp in the Adirondack Mountains. Friday night we show up, play cards, and eat like kings. Then Saturday morning we would start out doing deer drives. The deer drives would last all day and well into the early afternoon. We would skip the evening watch and cele...
For whitetail deer, the rut starts in late October and ends in early December, but it can vary by a few days between populations. We can also break the rut down into different phases: pre-rut, early rut, full rut, post-rut, and the second rut.
Oct 30, 2023 · The answer is simple. Whitetail deer are known as short-day breeders, meaning day length plays a role in the hormonal balances that drive the rut. This causes an increase in observed movement and allows hunters afield during the peak of breeding season to harvest more deer.
Jan 16, 2022 · In western Canada, the whitetail rut usually starts in early November. The peak is usually around the second and third week of the month but can run as late as early December. Not all the does come into estrus at once, and breeding occurs over a lengthy period.
