 When buck movement wanes when it should be red hot, you have to become proactive in your approach. Here’s what to do when the rut stops.
The absence of whitetail activity didn’t make much sense, and I felt cheated because I trusted the rut would have kindled some deer movement. A rumbling noise interrupted my thoughts and through the timber I saw the noisemaker. A 1980s-vintage pickup slowly paralleled the edge of the woods, and hunters were clearly visible.
“Truck hunters,” I thought to myself as my blood began boiling. Although dressed in orange, they could just as well have been in their pajamas, because it didn’t look as if they planned to get out and hunt. The tire tracks I saw while hiking into the property clearly indicated that they preferred to drive the woodland edges, hoping for a rutting buck to make a mistake.
Now I knew why the bucks weren’t moving when they should have been tearing up the woods in lust: hunting pressure. Hunting pressure can put the brakes on the rut faster than anything. Research has indicated bucks do most of their pre-rut activity, approximately 75 percent, in the nighttime hours. If you add hunting pressure to the mix, it doesn’t take much for a whitetail to lay low and not move at all. Survival is a strong instinct and the reason most whitetails melt into the backdrop when orange becomes trendy and rifle reports ring through the woods.
Pressure Shuts It Down
While some whitetails might vacate the woods for safer pastures, most simply figure out ways to hide better. A three-phase whitetail research study in Pennsylvania has early data suggesting just that, according to Kip Adams, Quality Deer Management Association’s director of education and outreach for the northern United States. Researchers will live-capture 140 to 160 does each year and fit them with radio collars to track their movements and survival. One group was already captured and fitted prior to the 2005 firearm season. An additional number of the captured deer will be fitted with GPS radio collars. GPS allows researchers to home in on whitetail does and receive hourly updates on their travel pattern and location.
“Some of the doe data already collected shows an interesting story even though the study isn’t complete,” Adams says. “For example, one of the wooded sites is relatively inaccessible, and in that area hunters only harvested seven percent of the radio-collared animals; a minimal impact. Nevertheless, a common complaint from hunters in that area is that there were no deer present. The whitetails presumably reacted to the hunting pressure and learned to evade hunters using the rough terrain. Another study completed in Nebraska shows that radio-collared whitetails retreated to a small parcel of posted land and spent their time there until the hunting pressure ceased. They had found a refuge and used it for survival.
Unfortunately, hunting pressure isn’t the only problem you have to battle. Another phenomenon occurs during many firearm seasons that might bring a screeching halt to the rut: does in estrus. As the rut peaks and the majority of does come into estrus, the routine of whitetail bucks changes from searching and chasing to cuddling and courting.
According to the book “The Deer of North America” by Leonard Lee Rue III, the bulk of breeding takes place during a 60-day period, and that window might extend more than 120 days if does are bred when they cycle. Breeding can begin as early as October and extend into February for the doe that fails to meet up with Mr. Right. This is rarely the case, and in most whitetail populations, most of the does are bred in a two-week time frame. It’s during this two-week period where your whitetail activity might decrease.
When a buck discovers a doe coming into estrus, he immediately latches onto her and will use his dominance stature to retain her for breeding purposes. This rough wooing lasts for at least 48 hours and and can last for as long as 72 hours, depending on the buck’s commitment. For the first day, the buck stays with the doe as he realizes she is coming into estrus. The second day is spent doing the fun stuff and the buck might continue tagging along with the doe into the third day due to scent stimuli — call it animal afterglow.
During this entire process, the buck and doe decrease their movement because the doe sticks to her home-range routine, which is smaller than a buck’s rutting range. Plus, I’ve seen bucks in out-of-the-way hideouts when trying to breed a doe and I believe it’s simply to escape the pestering they’d get if they visited whitetail-heavy locations. Regardless, the amount of buck movement in the woods decreases when does come into estrus.
In a perfect herd with a one-to-one deer ratio, there would be ample opportunity to breed, creating a frenzied rush as bucks competed for the various does as they cycled into estrus. It’s too bad most of us hunt in areas lopsided with an overabundance of does. When the ratio jumps to four or more does per buck, the competition decreases drastically since it’s relatively easy for a buck to find a doe in estrus.
If you do happen across a doe coming into estrus being pursued by a group of bucks, it’s a dazzling event and one to be taken advantage of as a hunter. The bucks throw all caution to the wind and the doe is often so preoccupied with the buck activity around her that her ability to detect you is diminished.
If you don’t happen across such an event during the peak of breeding, you have to deal with the proverbial double-edged sword: hunting pressure and breeding activity putting the brakes on whitetail activity. Being successful in a situation like this takes more than time in a stand; it takes the initiative to hunt aggressively for success, and that might mean abandoning your tree stand until late season.
Bedroom Intrusion
You’ve been preached to since your first year of deer hunting that you must stay out of a buck’s bedding area. But when bucks disappear, they mimic a human trait and take comfort in their bedroom. Since most of us don’t have extra time to wait a buck out, you might need to take a bold step and go into a buck’s bedding area. Bedroom cover, typically more dense and rugged, attracts not only bucks dodging bullets, but also bucks dodging satellite bucks bent on ruining a breeding relationship.
If you do decide to go into a bedding area, do it with the finesse of a cat burglar. Moving into a buck’s bedroom carelessly can force him to abandon it, become nocturnal or even move. You should also plan to stay all day. Going in, then leaving for lunch, returning and then walking out later is a surefire way to alert deer to your presence. But, if you move into position in the dark when bucks are feeding, then sneak back out after dark when bucks have left for feeding, you’ll lessen your chance of bumping one. Plus, your scent will have a chance to dissipate in the evening hours as bucks follow does to feeding areas.
Several years ago I took advantage of an invitation to hunt whitetails in southeast Kansas during firearm season. Hunting pressure and the waning rut decreased whitetail sightings, and food plots weren’t productive. Toward the end of the hunt I decided to hunt a stand deep in bedding cover. Late that afternoon a doe sneaked in huffing, puffing and looking nervously over her shoulder, a sure sign that a buck was on the way. Seconds later hoof steps indicated the arrival of the buck as the doe stood by and let him slowly ease in for another whiff. Trying to line up my target was no easy task through the tangle of branches, but as the doe warmed to the buck’s presence, he stood still long enough for a shot. The buck wasn’t a Kansas monster, but a respectable, hard-won trophy that fell despite intense hunting pressure and breeding activity.
Hide-N-Seek
Bucks often seek refuge in bedding cover, but don’t overlook a mature buck’s efforts to dodge the bullet. My good friend Cody Warne, a South Dakota pheasant outfitter, has watched some bucks hide in remarkable locations. Warne’s operation consists mainly of agricultural fields bisected by shelterbelts, cattail wetlands and stripped pheasant cover. Although it’s perfect for pheasants, crafty whitetails also use the cover for escape. During pheasant hunts Warne often jumps big bucks hiding in out-of-the-way locations far from the main whitetail activity. Grassy growth around irrigation equipment, overgrown fence lines and even old building sites attract whitetails focused on evading hunting pressure.
“It’s not at all uncommon to find a rutting buck bedded in the middle of a wheat stubble field in the fall, and they’re often in the company of does,” states Warne. “They like these locations because they can see a long way for security from hunting pressure and to get away from the other deer. A stubble field usually isn’t a place you go looking for deer. You just don’t think there would be anything out there because it is so barren.”
Last fall while hunting with Warne I witnessed firsthand the extremes to which mature bucks will go to survive. A large herd of nearly 200 bucks had gathered on Warne’s ranch late in the rut because of hunting pressure on surrounding farms. I positioned myself to watch the herd from a small hill, placing myself in the path of the herd as it moved to higher ground for bedding. Bucks were rutting among the does, but I spied one old patriarch who knew better. A burly, gray-faced buck slipped out the side of the herd and completely ignored the rutting activity to seek solitude. Targeting the old buck, I belly-crawled around the hill to intercept him, and after 15 minutes of hide-and-seek, the buck crossed into my riflescope crosshairs and I ended the season.
Deer Drives
Deer drives are a topic I seldom discuss, because I prefer to hunt whitetails in a sneaky fashion, not while tracking them with fleeting glimpses through patchy cover. Still, a friend taught me years ago that when bucks disappear due to pressure, deer drives can save the day.
To be successful, deer drives have to eliminate all escape routes by positioning a hunter to intercept fleeing deer. My friend kept it simple, but his drive theory was successful. Never try to drive a deer downwind. Mature bucks will try to escape into the wind or at least by utilizing a crosswind. To get the jump on pressured bucks, you must sneak silently into intercept points, including funnels, overlooks and river crossings. Hunters should use a crosswind and never edge too close to a buck to allow him to smell the hunter.
Drivers wouldn’t actually spur the bucks into a life-or-death escape, but rather nudge them into a cautious escape where they should stop occasionally to watch their back trail, possibly giving the standers more opportunities for a high-success shot. The drivers should also stay sharp, since the slow approach might lead to a shot for them as well.
On the last weekend of a recent rifle season my friend and I weren’t having much luck due to the pressure from other hunters. He suggested a short deer drive down a small creek. I stalked into place and waited for him to still-hunt up the creek. My daydreams quickly ended as a mature buck bounded up the creek and into the wind to make a textbook escape. Unfortunately for the buck, he didn’t smell me in my crosswind position and I wound up putting a tag on him.
Regardless of hunting or breeding pressure, having the brakes put on rutting activity can sabotage your efforts for a successful whitetail season. Don’t wait for the screeching end to the season. Hunt aggressively for success.
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When The Rut Stops
