It's no secret. The most productive time to hunt whitetail deer is during the rut. We've read it in magazines, heard it at deer camp. Still few hunters treat themselves to the excitement of hunting during this turbulent time in the whitetail's life cycle.
Unfortunately for firearm hunters, the rut is 80 percent complete by mid-November when the firearm seasons begin in many states. Archery hunters enjoy the greatest opportunities to hunt during the rut, but that doesn't mean firearm and even muzzleloader hunters can't get in on the action.
Rutting activity in the upper Midwest begins in late October and peaks during the first two weeks of November. However, some whitetail deer breeding continues throughout November, December, and even into January.
Although most of the attention surrounding the rut is focused on bucks, does play the controlling role in the breeding process of whitetail deer. Does trigger breeding behavior among bucks when they come into heat (estrus). A doe will remain in heat and receptive to bucks for about 24 hours. If a doe is not bred during her first estrus cycle, she will come into heat again approximately 28 days later.
Does not bred in late October or early November will go into a second estrus cycle about the first week of December. Yearling does and fawns often don't come into heat for the first time until early December. Occasionally some of these deer will have a second estrus cycle in early January.
Not all does come into estrus at the same time and not all does are bred during their first estrus cycle. This fact causes the breeding period for whitetail deer to drag on for over two months. Bow hunters, muzzleloaders, and modern firearm hunters can tap into the excitement of rut hunting.
Late season hunters frequently report sights of monster bucks chasing tiny does. This occurs because adult does that often come into estrus early in the breeding cycle are bred first. Yearling does and fawns are the last to come into heat and the last deer to be bred each year.
Young does are inexperienced and girlish by nature when it comes to breeding. It's common to see a young doe leading a buck on a merry chase before becoming receptive. Fawns that are conceived during this late breeding cycle are born later in the spring and mature later in the fall. This fact guarantees that the late breeding cycle will continue season after season.
What Triggers The Rut?
Whitetail deer breeding activity is controlled by several factors. Weather is less a factor in triggering the rut than many hunters realize. Extremely cold or hot weather, deep snow, and heavy rains or winds slow down deer activity including breeding efforts. These environmental factors slow down deer activity whether the rut is underway or not. Contrary to popular belief, frosty mornings do not trigger the rut any more than they make fall leaves change color!
Light level, or what biologists call photoperiod, is the primary stimulus that triggers does into heat and bucks to start producing testosterone, the male sex hormone.
The process occurs when decreasing daylight results in lower light levels entering the deer's eye. This seasonal change is predictable and triggers both hormone development and personality changes in bucks and does.
Bucks that up to this point have been tolerant of other antlered deer in the vicinity become independent and competitive towards rival bucks. Adult bucks stake out a territorial boundary, mark the territory with antler rubs and scrapes, and attempt to force other bucks from this range.
Yearling bucks and two-year-olds pose no serious threat to a dominate buck. These smaller bucks are simply harassed and intimidated from the area by larger and more powerful bucks.
Rarely will a small buck and an obviously larger dominate buck lock horns. A nasty glance or false charge is all it takes to make younger bucks turn tail and run. Pairs of young bucks often spar during the pre-rut and rut period. Training for the day when they may be the dominate buck in the area, young bucks push and shove each other around, but rarely do the incidents get serious.
However, when two evenly matched adult bucks cross paths, the fur is likely to fly in a battle for territory. Few hunters have actually witnessed bucks fighting in the wild. The experience is exciting and something that won't soon be forgotten.
Sight to Remember
Several years ago while hiking a nature trail in the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge near Saginaw, Michigan, I heard two bucks crashing and grinding their antlers together. It was a foggy morning with visibility of about 50 yards. The dew soaked grass and leaves allowed me to approach the sound of crashing antlers and thumping hooves without making a sound.
I carefully approached until two monster bucks could be seen locked in mortal combat through the fog. From a distance of about 30 yards I watched in amazement as the two deer dug in their heals and used flexing neck muscles to throw each other off balance.
The deer were fighting in a muddy opening at the edge of a bottomland forest. Both deer were covered with mud and obviously exhausted. One buck had a piece of fern wedged into his antlers. At first glance I thought the animal was sporting a non-typical rack.
I watched the spectacle for about two minutes before the bucks split up and stood staring at each other for a moment. The match looked like a draw to me, but one of the bucks suddenly whirled and bounded away.
Both deer appeared to have about the same body size. One buck's antlers spread beyond his shoulders and opened up into eight or nine short points. The second buck's rack featured a slightly smaller overall spread, but the individual tine length and mass were impressive.
The buck with the wide rack turned and ran leaving the other buck to claim victory. If I live to be 100 I doubt I'll witness anything that sticks in my mind more vividly. It was years later that I realized what an amazing and rare sight I'd been treated to. I believe the battle I witnessed was between an old (past his prime) buck and a younger and more agile rival.
Doe Behavior
Such is the way of the whitetail deer. Adult bucks fight for the rights to breed. Ironically, it's the does that go looking for the bucks when the time is right.
Adult does actually seek out bucks when they come into estrus. Unwilling to wait for a buck to appear, the doe keeps moving relentlessly in search of a breeding buck. Does increase their activity level up to 300 percent while in estrus.
In her travels, the doe will visit buck scrapes and other territorial markers to announce her willingness to breed. With luck the buck will cross the doe's scent trail and trail her down before the brief estrus cycle passes.
If the doe is bred, she will not enter another estrus cycle and will return to her normal behavioral pattern. The natural wariness that deer are famous for returns immediately after a doe is bred. The buck on the other hand may breed several more receptive does and risk his neck many more times before his duty is done.
In nature's cruel but effective way, whitetail bucks are more vulnerable to danger during the breeding season than does. An expendable commodity, it only takes one buck to service many does. If the dominate buck is killed, a second buck quickly takes his place in the pecking order.
As the rut continues deer activity increases significantly. The rut normally peaks during early November (in Michigan). Not surprisingly this is the same time period that car deer accidents peak. Deer may be on the move at any time during the rut, but activity is especially high during the dark moon cycle.
The dark of the moon provides deer with the ideal opportunity to be active without being spotted. An excellent time to be afield, deer are on the move and susceptible to hunting pressure earlier and later in the day during the dark moon cycle.
Depending on whose study you read, adult bucks lose 20-30 percent of their total body weight during the rut. Intent on chasing away rival bucks and following hot does, bucks burn up an enormous amount of energy. Meanwhile, food is about the last thing on the mind of a dominate buck in late fall. As the rut progresses bucks become fatigued. In some cases, bucks become so worn down that they endanger their survival.
Bucks that lose too much body fat and weight during the rut may not have enough reserves to survive during cruel winter conditions. Starvation death of breeding bucks is another indicator that suggests these dominate animals are expendable in the whitetail herd.
Hunting the Rut
It's during the rut that dominate bucks behave like love sick teenagers instead of the masters of survival they have become. A buck must survive three or more hunting seasons to develop the antlers and body mass of a Alpha buck.
Any buck that survives this long has become well adapted at avoiding hunting pressure. If it weren't for the rut, most trophy bucks would die of old age, instead of at the hands of hunters.
The best way to kill a trophy buck is to be in the field as much as possible during the rut. Anyone can luck into the buck of a lifetime, but few hunters collect quality deer season after season.
Those hunters who frequently score on above-average bucks have two things in common. Successful big buck hunters are afield frequently and they concentrate their efforts during the rut.
Specialized hunting techniques like horn rattling, using sex scents, and grunt calling are effective during the rut. Each of these techniques may help a hunter locate a quality buck. It's also important to realize that these hunting tricks are useless in early October before the rut starts and once breeding has ended.
Some hunters claim that horn rattling and grunting are most effective before the peak of the rut. Their rationality is simple. Bucks aren't likely to leave a hot doe to investigate the sounds of other bucks in the area.
Just prior to the rut, dominate bucks are in top physical condition and looking to pick a fight with anything that moves. It is during this period that rubs and scrapes start appearing in the woods.
Frustrated bucks often spar with shrubs and trees. Pushing against and raking the bark from saplings helps bucks get in better shape and releases built-up tension prior to the rut.
Once the rut gets started, bucks have less time for making scrapes and rubs or chasing smaller bucks from their territory. It's also likely that horn rattling and grunt calling become less effective as deer become preoccupied with real-life rutting chores.
Using Scents
Sex scents are highly effective hunting tools throughout the rut period. Matrix lures, as they are called, imitate the smell of a doe's urine while she's in heat. This scent attracts bucks throughout the breeding period. Since does are coming in and out of estrus from late October to early January, sex scents are a natural part of the deer woods and can be used effectively by archery, firearm, and muzzleloader hunters.
To be most effective, sex scents must be applied and used with the minimal amount of foreign or human scent. Experienced hunters use knee-high rubber boots to help reduce their scent trail when moving in deer country. Clean outer garments that are free from smoke, food, and other foreign orders are mandatory.
Apply a small amount of deer matrix scent to your boots when walking to your blind or still hunting. The scent trail created could lead a love sick buck straight to the waiting hunter.
A common hunting technique is to use sex scents to create hunting trails. The hunter places scent on his boots and walks downwind for a distance than doubles back a short ways to form a bootleg pattern. From a motionless position, the hunter watches his back trail for signs of a following buck.
Adding scent to an existing scrape or making mock scrapes is an excellent way to incorporate sex scents into an effective hunting strategy. Adding doe urine scent to an existing scrape or one you made yourself may fool a buck into believing a receptive doe is in the area.
Sex trails, scrapes, and other uses of matrix scent have little value early in October before the rut begins. However, once the first doe goes into estrus, sex scents become a powerful hunting tool to those who use them properly.
Be a Three-Weapon Hunter
To maximize prime hunting opportunities, the whitetail specialist must hunt with several weapons. The archery season provides hunters with the longest and best opportunities to see and harvest trophy bucks.
Archery hunters should plan to be in the field before Halloween and hunt as often as possible until the third week of November.
During this prime rutting period, hunters are likely to spot heavy racked bucks at any time of day. When a doe enters estrus, she remains active throughout her 24-hour estrus cycle.
It's not uncommon to see monster bucks chasing does during the middle of the day. Breeding activity peaks at night, but bucks are likely to be on the move all day long.
Wise hunters stay in the field all day during the prime rut periods. Every moment spent hunting is a step closer to spotting and harvesting the trophy of a lifetime.
Firearm hunters are faced with a greater challenge. The increased human activity in the deer woods prior firearm season puts every trophy buck on edge. Trophy bucks have learned through experience to recognize these signs of impending danger.
Most of the bucks harvested during firearm hunting season are taken in the first couple days. The majority of the animals killed are 18- and 30-month-old bucks that didn't know any better.
Firearm hunters shouldn't be depressed if they don't connect early in the season. The opportunities to harvest better than average bucks increase as hunter activity in the woods decreases.
Big bucks lay low when heavy hunting pressure threatens their existence. A monster buck isn't going to risk his hide and horns chasing does when tons of hunters are afield. After a few days when the woods quiet down, bucks will again resume their relentless efforts to defend a home territory.
The Michigan Commemorative Bucks records are a dependable reference to big buck hunting data. According to MCB most of the true bragging-sized bucks taken are harvested later in November when hunting pressure is light.
Ironically, young bucks are one of the reasons more hunters don't connect with big-racked bucks. The job of running off smaller bucks is a full-time occupation for dominate bucks.
Yearlings and young adult bucks are constantly trying to get in on the excitement of the rut. Smaller bucks often appear on the trail of a hot doe. Hunters spot these bucks and liberate them before the big boy in the neighborhood has an opportunity to show himself.
Hunters who settle for anything with antlers harvest few head sets. If a hunter has his heart set on a wall mount, he must console himself to the fact that passing smaller bucks is a painful fact of trophy hunting.
Hunting isn't about simply filling a tag. For most hunters, the spirit of the chase, the opportunity to see deer, and the possibility of knocking over a big boy means more than simply having venison in the freezer.
Copyright (c) 1996 Mark Romanack. All rights reserved.
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