Brad Harvey: Getting a grasp of the magic month

Ask any deer hunter why he or she loves November and they’ll be quick to tell you that it’s all about the rut.

The problem here is that, despite the fact that every hunter is aware of how important it can be to a successful deer season, few approach it correctly.

To do so requires more than just making sure that you’re sitting in a treestand in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, though many a whitetail fanatic has gotten lucky doing just that, myself included.

The rut is the annual breeding season for whitetails, when bucks go a bit girl crazy. Even the oldest and wisest of them will relax their natural instincts of caution and act more like 16-year-old boys who have wandered onto a college campus and into a sorority house.

You’ll see them running around and chasing the does during times of the day that they’re never normally active, and there are even times where they’ll be completely oblivious to everything around them as their focus is locked on a pretty little gal.

Obviously, all of this ups the odds quite a bit for the hunter.

Despite every hunter’s proclamation that November is the magic month, that’s not quite true.

The onset of the breeding period varies not only across the country but even from property to property. Around here I’ve seen bucks in full rut during October on one place and then see it not even begin to kick in until late November on another place just a few miles away.

Biologists tell you that even they can’t predict it due to variances that range from such factors as buck to doe ratios on a given property to crops that are grown in the deer’s home range.

Many of them swear that it’s all about the number of hours of daylight in the day and when, as the days grow shorter, we hit that perfect spot, Bam! It happens.

Because I’ve witnessed that earlier scenario where things kick off at different times on neighboring properties, I believe there are many influences and elements that come into play and they are just too numerous for anyone to make an accurate prediction.

As a hunter, the best thing you can do is to spend time in the woods watching. Learn the dead giveaways for each phase of the rut and you’ll then take advantage of what’s happening out there.

Let’s take a little peek into the process and maybe you can pick up on something that you’ve seen this season.

Pre-rut

As the pre-rut opens, bucks will start to leave their bachelor groups to wander on their own to start sizing up the girls in their area. Activity around rubs will still take place but making the rounds and hitting fresh scrapes, often heavily scratched out, become a normal part of their activity.

If you’ve come across some scrapes early in the season that look active, you’ll likely find a string of them not too far apart.

When you’re standing on the ground near one it’s often easier to see the next one by looking for the licking branch that will usually be over it. Like the scrape itself, which deer paw at and urinate into, licking branches are just another way that deer place their sent in a way that is meant to leave a message of “Here I am and I’m interested!”

Once you’ve located a string of scrapes, you know that both bucks and does are traveling that line in one direction or the other. Their activity is still mostly limited to early mornings and late evenings, so if you’re set up somewhere just off of that pathway then, you’re sure to see some action.

Just remember that it’s extremely important that you pay attention to the wind and get in and out of there without placing your own scent all over. You also need to be aware that full-blown breeding activity can begin in an instant as if someone just flipped a switch.

The escalating rut

The easiest way to tell that things have officially kicked in is by checking those scrapes. As soon as the girls are in estrus, the boys are hot after them and no longer have a need to flirt through scrapes to indicate their interest.

Scrapes will now appear inactive as they’re dry and partially covered by leaves.

When this indicator is there, it’s time to move your hunting set-up. Bucks are going to be found wherever does are, and although the boys have little interest in eating or anything else that’s not breeding related, the girls are still going through their normal routine, which is all about food. Just find what they’re eating and you’ve found where you need to be.

Hunter’s peak

Most every hunter has heard the term peak of the rut but nobody ever bothers to mention that there are actually two peaks, a deer hunter’s peak and a deer’s peak.

If you’re suddenly seeing a lot of buck movement throughout the day and it’s obvious that they’re just as active at noon as you’ve ever seen them early in the morning or late in the evening, it’s time for you to be in a treestand.

If you’re noticing more deer running across roads as you’re driving or passing by considerably more deer carcasses than usual, again, you’re missing out if you’re not 20 feet up in a tree.

Get out there. Pack a lunch and stay all day if you can, because it’s not gonna get any better than this during the entire season.

This is the time that you’ll make the most use of things such as doe decoys and scent attractants, because every buck’s testosterone level is maxed out and they’re running all over looking for a willing partner.

Lockdown

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard another hunter say something along the lines of, “It’s over. They were still hot after them yesterday and they were all over the place but there’s not a deer to be found in the woods today.”

The truth is that this is the peak of the rut. It is to the deer anyway.

When deer sightings suddenly become few and far between and activity appears to have slowed tremendously, it’s because most of the deer have found a mate and have followed that doe to wherever she has bedded down. He’ll be standing right over her just waiting for her to accept his advances so, when she moves, he’ll be moving, too.

It could be a long sit in the stand but you’ll want to be somewhere near bedding areas and between a food source. That doe is going to get up at some point and, when she does, you can bet she’ll be heading to eat. The buck is going to be right there with her so there’s your chance.

Because we’re creeping toward the end of this so called magic month, next week we’ll plan ahead for our hunting approach in the post-rut.

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Brad Harvey: Getting a grasp of the magic month."