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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.
Nov 6, 2020 · MADISON, Wis. – As Wisconsin heads into what is known in the hunting community as "peak rut," or the primary breeding season for deer, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) would like to remind those participating in deer hunting season to practice safety when using treestands. According to surveys, 25% of bowhunters have ...
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- Myth #1: The Peak Rut Is The Best Time to Take A Buck.
- Myth #2: Rutting Bucks Are Impossible to Pattern.
- Myth #3: When The Action Is Over, The Rut Is over.
- Myth #4: You Might as Well Stay Home During The Post-Rut.
- Myth #5: The Primary Rut Lasts About A month.
It’s easy to have a Pavlovian response to the words “peak rut.” We can’t help it. Decades of magazine articles and deer-camp conversations have created a conditioned reaction that makes us take our vacations during the height of the whitetail breeding season. Instead, we should be taking off a little earlier. Bucks are actually most mobile and vuln...
Deer hunters rarely complain about the rut, but when they do, this is usually their gripe. It happens because once does begin coming into estrus, bucks do indeed leave their home areas, abandon their rub lines and scrapes, and begin traipsing over the countryside in search of ready mates. But bucks don’t wander haphazardly. Rather, they move quite ...
Just about every serious whitetail hunter has spent days watching deerless woods in mid-November and thought, The rut must be over. More likely, it is at its apex. Today’s expert hunters refer to this peak-rut lull as the “lockdown,” and it’s one of the most difficult times to fill your tag. When a buck senses that a doe is coming into estrus, he c...
Not if you want to tag a trophy. Although it’s almost certain that you’ll see fewer bucks immediately after peak breeding than you would during the seeking-and-chasing phase, research on Texas’ King Ranch by noted whitetail biologist Mickey Hellickson revealed an excellent reason to keep hunting—and to bring a set of rattling horns with you. “We ra...
This is Nature’s plan, as whitetail does have a roughly 28-day estrous cycle. But when doe numbers get out of control, which is a problem in many areas, the rut can last far longer than that. Biologist Grant Woods studied a property in New York’s Adirondacks where hunters had harvested almost no does for years. “The rut there lasted nearly four mon...
Nov 6, 2023 · It goes something like this: “Keep shooting until the buck is down or you can’t see him anymore.” —A.R. 94) Always keep your scope dialed to the lowest power during the rut. It’s possible that buck could come charging in at 25 yards, and if you have your scope dialed to 12X, it will be difficult to get on him quickly.
Dec 7, 2020 · “Battle scars and wounds can help indicate a buck that was fully engaged in the rut this year or in previous years, showing he’s probably at least 3 1/2 and an active participant in the rut.” Another cool thing, tarsal staining can be a good post-rut characteristic because the stains have not faded yet.
Nov 10, 2012 · With that in mind, I typically avoid the pre-rut buck hideouts. We know a buck’s range expands during the rut. Thus, we can assume bucks are not going to be in the same areas they frequented during the pre-rut. Instead, they will find the does — where they travel and where they feed.
Apr 5, 2022 · Average gestation from our data, covering almost 50 years, is 198 days. So, a doe conceiving on Nov. 15, 2021, will fawn around June 1, 2022. The tighter the fawning period, the less impact of predators, so we try to manage deer herds to have a short, concise conception curve, which in turn produces a short, concise fawning period.
