By: Corey New
Ahh… November. For everyone around the country, it is a time for giving thanks. For the folks who call themselves deer hunters, it is time to give thanks for that big ol’ bruiser buck falling in love and losing all of his wariness. This time of year, the only key to deer hunting is being in the woods for as often and as long as you can. This is the month of the infamous rut in most parts of the country.
To some people, the rut means those three to five days when bucks, young and old, are out chasing does like drunken sailors just home from a year at sea. Actually, this is the second of three stages of the rut in my eyes.
Stage one is when you will see the year-and-a-half to two-and-a-half-year-old bucks running around chasing anything that remotely resembles a deer… kind of like a human teenager. They’re not exactly sure what they’re doing or what they’ll do if they catch what they’re chasing, but they know they want it. You’ll see this during peak time of deer activity, mostly mornings and afternoons. Occasionally, you will see a mature buck cruising to check if any does are ready, but he’s still very careful, most of the time moving under the cover of darkness.
Stage two is full rut. These are those three to five days when your local big-buck contest scorers stay busy. The first does come into heat, and the chase is on! Instead of just seeing this activity from young bucks, you start seeing big mature bucks acting like they have lost their minds. When a buck has found a hot doe, there is essentially nothing you can do to spook him or, in some cases, stop him long enough to get a shot off. I have had mature bucks on more than one occasion run right by me while I was walking to my stand, nose to the ground, mouth wide open and panting. I hollered, screamed, even chased them, but I couldn’t get them to stop or even look my way. This is the time that your best bet is to spend as much time in the woods as possible. That buck you’re hunting may be under your stand at midnight, and 6 or 8 miles away at daylight, but back by noon. They cover a lot of ground during this stage.
If you have ever wanted to try a spot and stalk a mature buck, stage three is the time to do it. I call it lockdown. You see very little deer movement from the stand, but, if you can find where he is “locked down” with his doe, you stand a very good chance of killing him. As long as the doe doesn’t leave, he’s not leaving.
The timing for these three stages of rut vary across the country and are not set in stone. Regardless of when this happens in your neck of the woods, it can make for some magical times and wonderful memories.
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