Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Honest question about "the rut"

I see so many posts on here, and hear so many conversations in general, from hunters seemingly saying they totally depend on the the rut to ever see or kill a buck. Seen a couple of remarks on here the past few days saying something along the lines of, "Got to work this week, afraid I'm going to miss the rut, and therefore won't kill a buck this season."

Is that something specific with the terrain you hunt, or how you prefer to hunt, or just your preconceived notion? Again, I'm not trying to stir the pot, it's a real curiousity for me. I do appreciate the excitement of rut behavior, but I've never depended on the rut for confidence or sightings.

I've hunted my whole life n I hardly ever see mature bucks outside of the rut unless it's very early in bow season...I'm not talking full blown rut but a couple weeks before and then from there on until the end of season...basically all January till end of February...that don't stop me from hunting December but I've only killed 2 that's on the wall during December

Most people lease paper company or timber land. It’s thick and nasty. We have very few places other than some big hardwoods and clear cuts where you can see more than 80 yards.

The rut/ chasing makes deer move more so sightings go up.

Also, if you hunt in a low deer density area, the rut doesn’t last long. You may only get 3 to 6 days of wide open chasing. If you aren’t hunting and miss those days, you can’t make it happen again. I’ve seen deer chase for 3 days and it be over.

I saw 21 bucks in 2 days on one 1200 piece of property one year. I saw 6 bucks chasing one doe before work one of those days. For the remainder of January I think I saw 3 more. The rut was over because there were very few does to be bred.

So yeah, you can miss it.

My experience is when u get in the middle of it u know it deer running everywhere but seems that only last where they are oblivious to people being about a week. I’m sure it continues on but I’ve walked up on deer in the middle of chasing thinking I spooked deer just to climb in my stand and watch the show. Wasn’t me spooking them it was bucks chasing a doe and never paid attention to me one bit. A few days is all I’ve ever seen of it every year and like I said u know when it’s on. If u miss that window it’s pretty much over.

From my perspective, I stand an OK chance of seeing a buck during bow season. I have yet to place a camera on my hunting lease where I have daytime buck pictures after about 2 weeks of bow seasoon. I think part of the problem with a club is you have turnover, and each year, new people come in, and they wait to scout until September or so. That plus you have activity pick up for field prep, planting, stand/shooting house maintenance, and all of a sudden, the deer are smelling way more human presence than before. If your lease is timber company property, then you have all these pine thickets that bucks can hole up in, and rarely if ever need to come out of. And I think you just flat have very inexperienced people who come out to hunt, and they don't pay attention to the wind, and that doesn't help either.

I personally think the ability to kill a doe a day hurts the chances of seeing bucks during the day. I think if a buck sees doe's moving about throughout the day, then he will probably do the same.

I am trying to work towards not shooting a doe off a green field for a couple years and see if we can get some doe's more comfortable feeding in them during the day. We stopped letting people bait green fields this year, and I think those results have been positive. I also put up a list of stand sites with the proper wind direction to hunt them, but I don't think everyone follows that either. Also since we didn't get to set up our property with deer hunting as the primary activity, we have to live within the limits the timber company places on us.

And I need ways to get close to buck bedding area's, but honestly, when they get in the middle of a pine thicket, there isn't an effective way to hunt them, short of zipping thru there with a skid steer with a forestry head on it, and creating ways to slip in quietly.

On our place the best times to kill a mature buck are the first 2 weeks of gun and the last 2 weeks of January. We can kill bucks just about the whole season though.

We start seeing them around Christmas and they get more visual in January.

We don’t lease land but 90% of our land is first thinned pines. With no definable terrain features to funnel deer. So they could be anywhere at anytime, and the mature bucks just won’t move outta the thick until the rut. Over 20 some odd years I’ve run cameras on this land and only get mature bucks on camera during the rut.

My experience in the 4 short years I’ve lived here……my sightings, shot opportunities, and kills on the same bucks I “hope” to see during the rut, are way higher during the first 5 days of bow season. Bucks are unpressured, generally daylight moving on food, and probably have been patterned on your cameras for weeks if not months. Get a slight cool down on those first 5 days and for me it’s far better than the rut, like it was this year. Grab a bow, thermacell and enjoy.

This is my situation I have 170 acres of Hardwoods and 30 in Hay fields. Bucks especially the mature one just simply don't "live" there. I'm eat up with does and the bucks will start showing up around Christmas until the end of the season. this year i have 17 different bucks that have shown in the last 2 weeks. mostly all at night until the last few days. my land is also surrounded on 3 sides with about 3000 acres of private land that hasn't been hunted for deer in 25 years so I'm not really worried about the neighbors killing off the bucks. it would be nice to see bucks year round but me and my son have managed to kill at least 1 mature buck each since I can remember

Seems to me that the actual highest percentage shot at a big buck would be the first week of bow season especially when it's still hot.

Bucks are sluggish and lazy in the heat like that and if you've been consistently maintaining a corn pile all summer long and get pics of them right at dark at said pile every night then it really can't get much easier.

This method is expensive and time consuming because you constantly have to purchase corn and keep it out all summer but seems to be the most effective way to kill a big one.

As for the rut, movement is erratic and random in my experience. you can either hit it perfect and see bucks running wild or it can be just like another boring December morning. Very hit or miss in my experience AND 200 yards in the wrong direction and you can miss ALL the action.

That said. 95% of bucks I have ever shot have been the last week of January. in the height of the rut. out of the same tree. in the same creek bottom. but if I could afford corn and would take the time to keep the field baited I could see where that could change.

I think this relates more to pressure than any other factor. In typical Alabama hunting club lands there is too much pressure. Big bucks disappear after the guns start booming until the rut overcomes their senses of self preservation. Bow season, the first week of gun season and the rut are the best opportunities on most land in Alabama.

On low pressure lands, this is not the situation.

Pressure is the key.

This ^^^^^^ except the part about booming. I dont think they care about shooting just the increase in pressure due to people being in the woods for the first time in months.

Love the rut for public, don't particularly like it for well managed, low pressure private ground.

What AU338Mag said

Also - Even on low pressure land - once the does get hammered (chased hard) they go into hiding So u still need to b there at the right time

My fav time has always been first time sits in good weather (no pressure). The rut is the next time they can act stupid after that

I’ve never killed a buck chasing a doe. I’ve killed a bunch of them cruising/ checking scrapes though.

I gun hunt only....go a few times in November....don't even try in December-----Dog hunt Squirrels then. Once January comes and some COLD weather all the Acorns are gone and food becomes harder to find and if it's going below freezing at night they are either Chasing Does or covering more ground searching for food. I've also got one spot that is a go to on a Really Cold/Sunny day....they go there to get out of the wind and soak up the warmth. So....for me I may hit the Rut...may not....But that well limed soil growing some good Greens will bring them. And I don't hunt right on the edge of the field....I pick a spot about 75 to 100 yards from it where I can see the field but also be in an area I think they may be coming from. Bucks will quite often "Stage" out in the woods watching the field until after dark then they go in there. Done it that way for years....it works!!

I'd say it depends on the property but our big bucks don't move much in daylight other than during the rut. I do have some transition areas were pine plantation bedding area meets hardwoods feeding areas. I killed 2 before the rut on that transition area but I'd hunted the same way the last 4 years and never saw one move in daylight before this year

I’m pretty limited on time. I try to kill a good deer the first 2 weeks of bow season. Then I leave them alone until the rut. I’ve killed 6 mature deer in the last 5 years during the rut. I’ve probably averaged 3-5 man days hunting during the rut each year. Could I kill mature deer outside of those two time frames? Yes. But trying to would actually hurt my chances of killing them, with the limited amount of time I can spend in the woods.

It has been my experience that nocturnal bucks move in the daylight during the rut. Even in high pressure areas. So yes, I like my chances better during the rut.