I’ve never relied on rut to kill a buck. Heck the first few years I hunted growing up I didn’t even know deer rutted. It made no difference. I hunted them the same. I rely on the right conditions to kill a specific deer and when they arrive I go hunt. My most successful periods during the season are archery, ML and the first week of rifle. I’ve killed far more bucks then than the rut. My idea is put him down before he travels 3 miles and gets put down by someone else. Trying to kill a specific buck in rut has been a fairly futile effort for me. They move too dang much. I want him dead before rut ever arrives. With that said, I have killed big deer in rut, but no more than I have any other time. If I had to choose the best time to hunt all season it would be the first two weeks of archery and the first week of rifle.
