Don’t Fall for These Whitetail Rut Excuses

But the fact of the matter is, whitetail hunters with relentless optimism tend to find a way to fill their tags every season. They make hay while the sun shines. Hunting season is short, the rut is shorter, and the number of our days off is even shorter still. As our friend Tony Peterson likes to say, “Ask your dog if you should go hunting today.”

The Corn Isn’t Out Yet

Even though it’s undeniable, standing corn does have an effect on your deer sightings. A percentage of the deer will be seeking refuge in the corn, but not all of them. It’s not recommended to go burn out your best rut stand when the conditions aren’t right, especially if you’re faced with a sea of standing corn.

Nonetheless, some of the best deer my friends and I have taken have been in October, in the heart of ag country, with the majority of the corn still standing. We’re talking 90% of the entire landscape consisting of corn or soybeans, fence line to fence line. While the standing corn certainly isn’t ideal, don’t let it be a deal breaker.

If you’re saving your best spots for the peak of the rut, hunt low-impact stands in late October. Bucks can be found with their guard down, confidently following the edge of the corn. The last week of October typically kicks off the rut, and those mature bucks will assuredly abandon the corn from time to time to survey their rutting grounds. Pair this behavior with the first hot doe of the season, late October can be a whitetailer’s dream, standing corn or not.

It’s Too Warm for Them to Rut

Despite the stories that have been circling the internet lately, we can’t control the weather. If we could, I know a group of whitetail hunters who would pool their money together to make an early November cold front happen. Jokes!

The fact is, yes, daylight rutting activity will decrease with a November heat wave. But does will still be bred, and bucks will still search high and low to breed them all. Most of this breeding will take place overnight and in the wee hours of daylight, but hunters still have a chance.

The key to combating warm weather during the rut is to either hunt water or get in tight to the bedding. With warm weather, we don’t have the luxury of sitting back and letting rut funnels bring midday bucks into our laps. The closer we get to the bedroom, the more likely we are to catch daylight rutting activity.

I Don’t Have Any Bucks on Trail Camera Anyways

As awesome as trail cameras are, how fun they are to check, and how effective they can be, I have a love-hate relationship with checking trail cameras during the rut. They can absolutely tell me when a big buck moves into the area and even help me decide which stand to sit.

What I don’t like about trail cameras during the rut is that they can bring pessimism. If I find myself running low on sleep and deer encounters, no pictures of giant bucks on camera will be enough to convince me to sit one out. Without cameras, I find it easier to stay positive and believe deep down that a monster could be lurking beneath my treestand at any moment. Remember, during the rut, especially in the seeking-chasing phase, a big buck can show up just about anywhere, at any time.

The statistics tell the story. Matt Ross with the National Deer Association summarized data from six studies performed in six different states, featuring 182 collared bucks, and the data is awfully confidence-inspiring.

The study showed that roughly 60% of bucks go on an excursion during the rut. Ross explains it best, “Think about all of those times during the rut you got a one-time glimpse of a buck while hunting and never saw him again. Or, maybe a single-appearance trail-camera image in late October that has you falling in love and breaks your heart all at the same time. Many of these instances may be explained by a buck in the midst of an excursion.”

Of the 182 collared bucks featured in the study, the average distance traveled from the buck’s home range was 1.5 miles. Ross also mentioned, “One Maryland study was able to track the proportion of excursions that happened during daylight versus night and found their study animals went from doing it 85% of the time in the dark during pre-rut to 70% of the time during the day during peak rut.”

This doesn’t mean you can hunt a subpar spot and regularly kill a mature buck, but if the rut is on and you’re in the tree, just about anything can happen. Best of luck to all the bowhunters out there.

Feature image via Matt Hansen.