“pre-rut”

Did this happen to you this past hunting season? Before opening day you found a really good buck using your trail cameras, so you set stands, were all a-twitter—then never saw him again all season. Did you think you did something wrong, and forced him to go nocturnal? Maybe—but probably not.

Contrary to popular belief, much like whitetail, mule deer will come to a call—if you make the right sound.

Turkey hunters must analyze the ever-changing circumstances of the spring breeding season lest they fail to recognize changing behavior among wild turkeys and strike out. Use these strategies to tackle four typical spring turkey behaviors to bag a turkey dinner.

Using scent is common during the rut. Many of my buddies swear by various forms of doe-in-estrous scents and would probably be more comfortable on stand if they forgot their rangefinder than their favorite scent.

Scents, mock rubs or scrapes, decoys or even upturned earth may stop a curious buck long enough to create a brief shooting window.

The next 10 days are prime time for scouting big bucks transitioning between summertime bachelor groups and fall breeding patterns.

Here’s a game plan for each phase of the whitetail rut.

It may be the easiest time of the year to take a big buck, but let’s face it, you can still screw it up. Here’s how Michael Waddell approaches the rut.

This is the deer hunter’s calculation. You ask yourself if there are low-impact entry and exit routes that will take you to and from a stand. Can you get a true wind in/near the buck’s likely bedding area? If you’re bowhunting, will you have to cut shooting lanes? Can you afford to risk making this buck even more nocturnal in October?