Do you ever find yourself wondering when the rut is likely to occur and when the peak activity for hunting will occur?

The Pattern of the Rut

A common question that arises among hunters is whether there are any rules of thumb to consider about when the rut might occur.

“We have no evidence, and not just with my people at my institution, no research biologist has ever found any evidence for the rut changing to any significant degree from year to year.”

We vividly describe why the timing of the rut—strikingly, the moment a doe conceives and subsequently births a fawn—isn’t left to the unpredictable mercy of elements like temperature, precipitation or lunar phases. Intriguingly, it leans towards a remarkably unwavering influence: photoperiod. That’s the balance of sunlight to twilight—an everyday rhythm that commands our natural world—a rhythm reliable enough to guide the miracle of life.

Keeping in mind this constant factor is crucial, as it lays the foundation for not only when the rut might happen, but how you should base your hunting strategy around it.

Movement of Bucks: Day vs Night

A frequently held belief among hunting enthusiasts is that midday offers the prime hunting time, especially when stalking bucks. I can affirm that being perched in your hunting stand or tree is always advantageous. However, the logic backing this widely accepted concept may prove to be less sturdy than the hunting stands themselves.

Instead, data from GPS technology, captive deer observations, and common deer behavior suggest that bucks actually tend to be most active around sunrise and sunset.

That’s not to say that some movement doesn’t occur during the day, or even in the middle of the night. These periods simply see less activity compared to dawn and dusk.

If you’re looking to maximize your opportunities for encounters with a buck, it’s crucial to include midday hunting in your strategy.

The Ideal Midday Hunting Locations

Though shrouded in the mystery of unproven theories, University insightful suggestions propose intriguing possibilities about the optimal locations for midday hunting during the rut’s peak seeking phase. The guidance hints at these hotspots likely nestling closer to hiding spots rather than the usual destination food sources we might typically envision.

This notion is based on the observation that while bucks may meander around cover during the day, long-distance journeys, for example to food plots or large agricultural fields, might not be quite as common.

Buck and Doe Interactions

When a doe enters her estrus phase, a fascinating behavior often noticed among bucks is their instinctive attraction towards her – as if they are magnetically locked onto the doe. Despite its prevalence, this captivating interaction fluctuates considerably between individuals and should not be automatically viewed as the doe’s readiness to mate.

An exhilarating discovery has recently come to light: the same doe can be bred by multiple bucks, sometimes even leading to pregnancy. Intriguingly, an examination of collected samples revealed that around one quarter of all twin fawns born have different fathers.

Timing Your Hunt

Year after year, rut timing proves to be reliable within a large region. Shifts in rut timing usually occur over large distances, and these shifts can be as much as three weeks or a whole month apart.

I will provide a riveting insight for all buck enthusiasts – start your spotting pursuits nearly two weeks prior to the rut’s peak. Experience the exhilarating thrill as your trail cameras become hotbeds of activity and you witness an upsurge in sightings. It is the time when nature begins its captivating dance – primary females commence their heat cycles, compelling bucks to embark on an adventurous roam in search of them. So, if you’ve got a penchant for buck-spotting during the daylight hours, this could be the perfect opportunity to indulge in that passion.

When a majority of does come into heat (which typically coincides with the rut’s peak), the overall visibility of buck activity tends to decrease as most bucks are now ‘locked up’ with does.

As we bring our illuminating conversation to a close, it becomes abundantly clear how vital an understanding of the rut’s timing, its impact on deer behavior, and the adaption of your hunting strategies truly are. By integrating these insights into your hunting routine, the quality and fulfilment of your experience will be elevated to new heights. So, fellow hunters, let’s venture out into the wild with this newfound knowledge and enjoy the thrill of the chase. Happy hunting!

Samantha Cromwell – Staff Writer

Two things are a must have when having to recover an arrow shot deer that does not drop within eyesight.  They are patience that comes naturally, and the skill to blood trail a deer that only comes with practice.  In a nutshell, the more patient that you are, the longer you will wait before beginning to follow the trail which translates to doing whatever is necessary to find your deer even if it means crawling on your hands and knees.  All this means the more success you have at recovering the deer.

It doesn’t matter how much time you spend at the practice range or how good the shot looked, there are going to be times that it becomes tough to recover a deer.  I am willing to bet that almost any bowhunter you talk to has lost a deer or two if that person has hunted for any amount of time.  One of the biggest reasons that hunters fail to recover their arrow hit deer is because they take up the trail too soon, and they do not have the knowledge to properly trail a deer.

Blood trails are not created equal.  Some will be so obvious that they are impossible not to follow.  Others will be a little tougher to navigate but the same basic techniques to follow a trail can be used for all circumstances.  

You were born with five senses.  It is important to employ all of them, except for tasting, when blood trailing a deer.  Do not walk throughout the woods hoping to luck into finding your animal.  Keep your search area to where the blood trail is.  By noticing which direction the pointed edges of the blood drops point will indicate the deer’s direction of travel.

Do not focus only on blood and miss other good sign that is left behind.  Disturbed leaves and soil, broken limbs and tracks also help in the recovery process.  Study the track of the deer you are following and memorize it.  It should be second nature to be able to distinguish that track from others.in the recovery process.  Another good tool to have is to be able to notice ants, flies and other insects that have gathered.  These critters often accumulate on blood along the trail that is so small that hunters often overlook it.

Unfortunately, hunters shoot a deer in the paunch, and this requires waiting several hours before picking up the blood trail.  This is when the hunter should look and listen for buzzards, crows and jays that might have recovered your animal before you.  I have had coyotes find my deer first, so I always keep an ear open for them as well.  It does not take long for a coyote to find a deer either.  I have had coyotes on a deer within twenty minutes of being shot.  Listen for a deer bounding off that you might have jumped, and for a deer gasping for a breath or struggled movements.

Smelling your arrow will help you recognize where the deer was hit.  A gut shot deer will leave an arrow that smells as if it passed through the intestines.  

The main thing that must be done when tracking a deer is to stay diligent in the task at hand.  This is the most valuable tool to be successful in finding an arrow shot deer.

Wherever you might shoot a deer, there are telltale signs that will help you find the animal.  These signs are the sound of the hit, how the deer reacts, what the arrow looks like and the appearance of the blood trail.

A deer hit in the lungs will sound as if it was just hit with a wooden bat hitting a green tree when the arrow impacts.  Expect the deer to take off on a run with it tail tucked between its legs and its body low to the ground, not caring what it crashes through.  At times, the deer will kick up its back legs when the arrow hits.  The arrow will have bright pink/red blood with small bubbles the entire length of the arrow.  Any hair from the deer will be brown with black tips.  Do not expect to see a lot of blood for the first 30 yards or so.  When you start to see blood, it will look just as it did on the arrow.  Keep in mind though that sometimes the deer may only bleed internally and leave little blood.  The deer should not go more than 150 yards after you wait one hour before picking up the trail.

A heart shot will sound the same as a lung shot deer and the run will appear the same, often called the “death run”.  Hair left on the arrow will be brown to gray in color.  The blood trail will appear the same minus the bubbles.  Again, wait one hour and go find your deer.

The sound of a deer shot in the liver will sound the same as a lung and heart shot deer, but the animal will trot a short distance then begin to slowly walk away, stopping from time to time.  At times, the deer’s back will be hunched, and its tail will twitch.  Look for thick, dark red blood on the arrow with medium length brown/gray hair.  There will not be much dark red blood on the ground.  The deer is not likely to go more than 200 yards if not pushed and might even head towards water.  After 4 hours of being patient, take up the trail.

A gut shot deer is a hunter’s worst nightmare and it can prove difficult to recover the animal, but it can and often is done when pursued correctly.  An arrow striking a deer in the paunch will sound as a hollow thump like a wooden bat hitting a dry, hollow log.  The deer will trot off with hunched back and will slow to a steady, slow pace.  Sometimes the tail twitches.  The arrow will have small amounts of watery blood with brown stomach contents.  The arrow will smell of stomach contents.  A high hit will leave medium-length, brownish gray hair on the arrow.  With a mid-level hit, lighter brown hair and a low hit will leave white hair on the arrow.

After twelve hours of waiting, you will find small amounts of watery blood with brown stomach contents on the trail with a distinctive smell.  A deer can travel a few hundred yards before bedding.  If the deer is not bumped it will die where it first bedded.  This is why important to wait twelve hours.  A jumped deer that has been shot in the paunch might never be found.

I highly recommend using a lighted nock.  This will allow you to better see the flight of the arrow, the impact and to find the arrow itself after it passed through the animal or eventually falls out.  

A lot of guess work is taking out of the equation when you can see the arrow hit the deer or be able to examine the arrow for signs of where the animal was hit.  I have been using Nockturnal Lighted Nocks the last few years and they have performed flawlessly for me and have helped me in deciding how to move forward with the tracking.

Another tool I highly recommend is a good light.  Not all recovery jobs will happen during the daylight hours.  A good percentage of deer are shot within minutes of legal shooting light ending.  Rather than waiting until morning and run the chance of a deer spoiling or a predator getting to it first.  The last couple of years, I have been using the Super Bright Headlamp from Bossman Outdoors.  With 6,000 lumens, it is more than enough to follow a blood trail on the darkest of nights.

If you follow this advice almost any deer is likely to be recovered.  Just remember to be patient and persistent on your next blood trailing job.

Captions

1. The author with a nice management buck he shot in Texas last year.
2. Unfortunately, not all blood trails are like this one and a little effort needs to be put into the recovery.
3. Nockturnal Lighted Nocks will take a lot of guess work out of where the arrow impacted.
4. Not all blood trails will be on the ground.  As was the case when this deer left blood a couple feet off the ground on standing corn.
5. It does not matter how much time you spend on the practice range, there is going to come a time that trailing a wounded deer is difficult.
6. A good headlamp is a must when tracking after dark.  This Super Bright Headlamp from Bossman Outdoors is more than adequate to light up the dark.