What is Rut?

In order to receive a complete understanding deer hunting you need to understand what the rut is. This will help you as a hunter understand what those deer signs mean and the best location to hunt. So, lets begin by explaining what the rut is.

The quick and dirty definition of the rut is, the time frame, usually in the fall, when the deer are breeding. Now, why is this important to you as a hunter? Well, the rut helps you gage the times when you're most likely to see more activity of bucks. Those deer signs for example, such as scrapes and rubs, are caused by the rut. With that in mind let's talk about the stages of rut.

Pre-Rut:
Mostly feeding occurs in both bucks and does during this stage. Most likely the deer will be feeding early morning or late in the evening, and bedding down during the day. Does will collect in family packs while bucks will mingle with other bucks or does. Towards the end of pre-rut testosterone levels start to rise and you see early-rut signs in bucks occur.

Early-Rut
Does begin to go into heat, or become fertile. During this time bucks will separate from others and become more territorial and aggressive. During this time bucks are more reckless and you may see more during the daytime and even as roadkill due to negligence.

Full-Rut
This is the time when a majority of does are in heat. Deer can be seen moving during all parts of the day. Bucks are very aggressive at this time, can be called more easily, and are territorial. However, that's also not stopping bucks from moving further from their home in order to seek out other does. Scrapes and rubs can be seen often and you'll even see broken antlers from bucks fighting each other. This is a hunter's best time to be out in the field. I've talked about how I prefer rifle season, but here in Kansas, full-rut usually happens during archery season, so, pick up that bow if you want to have the excitement and deer activity during rut.

Post-Rut
Around this time breeding has concluded and a majority of deer break off. Things go back to normal and deer will go back to their normal life cycle of being seen mostly in the early morning or late at night.

Second-Rut
About a month after rut, the does that are unbred go into heat a second time. During this time a hunter will get a second chance to pull in a buck due to their increase in activity once again. Although, it's not as prominent as the first full-rut, it gives hunters another last minute chance.

Late Season
During this time, bucks become rare to see and the time has come close to an end. However, don't count this time out because the very last day of buck season last year, December 11th 2016, i was persistent and went out to hunt that day. It was late season, but I ended up with a buck that night.

 I was more than excited that night but did find one thing to complain about. As I explained earlier, during full-rut, bucks become aggressive and may fight. Looking at the left antler of my buck in the first picture, you can see the broken antler which may have happened during rut.

So overall, rut is a great tool to understand if you want to become a deer hunter because It helps you gage the time frame of when bucks are out and searching for does. Although keep in mind once again that rut is not an end-all-be-all for shooting bucks. Remember, it's called hunting and not shooting.

You're Under Surveillance

While you might think that shower you took last night after work or that cup of coffee you needed to start off your morning hunt is just another daily routine, keep in mind it's foreign to wildlife. Trust me, you are loud, obviously seen, and you stink badly.

Be Quiet

It might be an obvious statement, but when you are out on your hunt you can NEVER be too quiet. Every leaf you crunch and every twig you snap draws a deer's attention straight towards your direction. Although a deer's hearing is relatively similar, still better however, to a human's hearing, a deer is better at honing in on the location. Deer will hear you walk straight up to your hunting location and avoid you at all costs. Your best bet as a hunter is to quietly and quickly get to your spot and sit quiet the rest of your hunt. You will scare off nearby deer at the beginning, but as the hours pass other deer won't hear you if you're quiet... unless you're moving excessively.

Be Still

There are many reasons why hunters wear the colors they do. For example, while it might look stupid for a hunter to wear bright blaze orange out hunting, it does serve a point with a helpful, unaware bonus. The blaze orange is obviously seen by humans. This provides safety during rifle season so you know not to shoot in that direction. However, many are unaware that deer cannot actually see most of the red scale. Confused? Well, let me ask you this, can you see ultraviolet light? Just as humans don't see UV light, which deer can see clear as day, deer don't see blaze orange.

Moreover, wearing camouflage helps hunters blend in with the surrounding. Yet that doesn't mean that moving around while looking like a tree doesn't draw attention to your direction. Deer pick up on movement very well, however, nothing will beat a deer's sense of smell.

Be Dirty
Quite literally I do mean be dirty. You want to smell like the Earth itself. Smelling like shampoo, soap, laundry detergent, mint toothpaste, those all give away your location to a deer. When it comes to a deer's sense of smell, a whitetail deer has up to 296 million olfactory receptors while humans have up to five million Here are some helpful tips to mask your scent from deer. Although there are many brands out there, my preference is Scent-a-Way. Scent-a-Way sells anything and everything to cover your scent. This includes detergent to wash your hunting clothes in and shampoo and soap for showers. There is also a spray bottle to cover your gun, boots, bags, etc. in out at the field. On top of wanting to smell like the wildlife, the best way to mask your scent from deer is to position yourself downwind. If you're downwind from the deer, it is less likely to be smelt and avoided.