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Here comes the rut! Welcome to our annual Regional Rut Update, our weekly reports on whitetail activity from experts in the field. From pre-rut to post-rut, we’ll help you harvest the buck of a lifetime. This is the first of seven weekly reports from whitetail contributors Doug Howlett (East), Darron McDougal (Midwest) and Josh Honeycutt (South).
- 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.
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Nov 23, 2023 · Every other deer, buck or doe, would take a trail 20 to 40 yards off of the top of the ridge as they moved parallel to the top. And once their path came to the main intersection they would always cut the corner, again, off of the top, versus walking the main ridge top. In addition to this, nearly all of the deer would walk on the downwind side ...
- What Causes The Rut?
- When Does It Start?
- Understanding Rut Sign
“Photoperiod” is the length of day all plants, animals and other life forms receive sunlight. Photoperiod decreases as days shorten, triggering changes in bucks’ behavior and physiology. Bucks are solitary creatures most of the year, and rarely move more than a few hundred yards from their bedding area except in darkness. During the rut, however, b...
When does the rut peak? The Quality Deer Management Association notes regional differences. Northern deer have a narrow breeding window to optimize the health and survival of does and fawns. A doe’s gestation period lasts about 201 days, meaning a doe bred Nov. 1 should give birth near May 20. Citing studies across the northern United States and Ca...
As a buck strips its antler velvet, its testosterone levels start rising. They polish their headgear, and start testing their antlers. They rub trees, paw scrapes, and lick and chew overhanging branches, which become community social hubs for whitetails. Bachelor groups of bucks that fed together in summer no longer tolerate each other. The groups ...
Rut Calendar. The following calendar shows the peak breeding dates for your area. It will also show the peak chasing phase before peak breeding and the peak chasing phase after peak breeding. All of these dates are great times to be in the woods, but if we had to rate them in order of best time to be in the woods, they would stack up like this. 1.
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Oct 18, 2022 · Tips for Hunting the Five Phases of the Deer Rut. October 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. It’s the rut.
Nov 2, 2023 · Here's the most recent information on the whitetail rut in the East, Midwest and South. November 02, 2023 By Game & Fish Staff. The waiting might be the hardest part when anticipating the annual deer rut, especially when the calendar hits November. But trust us, the whitetail woods are about to be full on with bucks chasing does.
