With November upon us, archery hunters for deer are bursting with anticipation as the peak rut of whitetail deer season is about to begin.
For me, this time of the year is the equivalent of Thanksgiving and Christmas Day all rolled into one, and as deer hunters, it’s what we live for. So it’s understandable why hunters get excited at the prospect of the peak-rut, but don’t let your excitement turn into anxiety because the rut will happen, If you hunt deer, you know this, and you’ve probably discussed and debated the topic many times. That said, having bow hunted whitetail deer for decades, I’ve finally concluded that the “peak rut” is predictable.
Each fall, breeding occurs around the same time, and not much of anything – temperatures, rain, snow, or moon phase – changes it by much. The timing of the rut is related to the hours of daylight, and as the season progresses and the amount of daylight decreases, hormones in both bucks and does elevate, generating an urge to breed. I’ve always believed that this peak-rut activity usually happens here, on or between Nov. 6-24, with a new moon usually rising during that period. New moon advocates may dispute this, and that’s OK, because the rut really dictates deer behavior during a complete breeding season of which there are many contributing factors.
In New England, the peak rut presents a brief window of opportunity, as bucks become more active and start letting their guard down while searching out as many does as possible. But there’s also other predictable phases of the rut which in turn dictates behavior in whitetail deer — especially bucks. And during late October, with the pre-rut phasing out and the peak-rut starting up, if you haven’t already harvested a deer, you’ve probably seen and learned something about the deer in your area, as the pre-rut cycle is a great time for patterning and predicting a buck’s movements.
A few years back, I’d been seeing a decent buck entering an area where I’d been scouting for almost a month. Now, when I’m bow hunting, I rarely hunt the same stand two evenings in a row, but during that year, it was very hard to stay away from this stand. And on the last day of October, I was in the stand watching the sun set in the western sky. It was a very cold day, but not unbearable, yet a slight chill from the first southwesterly breeze I’d experienced that season got my attention. I had been waiting for this breeze to appear since opening day, and with the moon peaked high, another sign that the rut was close, the evening I’d been waiting for finally appeared, and the conditions were close to perfect.
Unexpectedly, the sound of crunching leaves to my right made me freeze in my seat, and as the sound grew closer, I slowly turned and watched a buck enter the field not 30 yards away from me. As I reached for my bow, the excitement and gratitude I felt for this opportunity was real. But the truth is, I only had that opportunity because during the last days of the pre-rut bucks can become predictable and very patternable while doing the same thing, and being in the same area, every day.
That said, it’s the peak rut that bucks are most active, while abandoning their daily habits in favor of shifting into cruise control searching for does. This also means that deer of either sex are usually moving during daylight hours. Bucks will also start cruising from one food source, or bedding area, to another covering many miles while checking scrapes. This is when smart hunters pay close attention watching for does, because during peak-rut, “where there’s does, there’s usually bucks!” Look for fresh sign near areas you know they’re frequenting, and if you see a doe being chased, stay close to these spots and hunt near them. Bucks will often be hot on a does trail and at any given moment that doe may decide to circle back.
Also, use your scouting time to search for squeeze points and funnels as deer are covering a lot of ground now. Finding spots that will funnel deer into small areas, crossing from one location to another, can quickly lead to filling a tag.
Magical things can happen at any given moment during the peak-rut that simply aren’t possible during the rest of the year because you just never know when a loved-crazed buck will filter through. For many Bay State deer hunters, it’s happening right now, so my best advice from today until Thanksgiving week is to get comfortable, sit tight, and stay in the woods!
Joe Judd is a lifelong hunter and sportsman. He is an outdoor writer, seminar speaker, member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association, and a 2019 inductee into the N.E. Turkey Hunting Hall of Fame. Joe is also on the Quaker Boy Game Calls and Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Pro-Staff. He can be reached at jjontheridge@comcast.net