Phases of the Rut
Here at Created Outdoors, we look forward to the time that we get to spend in the deer woods. It is a peaceful time of year that is spent reflecting on, and admiring God’s creation. The different phases of the rut can provide their own excitement, and action-packed views from the stand. Such as bucks rubbing, making scrapes, fighting, and chasing. These views are the true blessings of a successful hunt. Here are some things that we do during the different phases of the rut to try to increase success.
Pre-rut
When we hear other hunters start talking about the October lull, we think the pre-rut is starting in their area. They are seeing less deer, because the does are getting ready to go into estrous, and pushing their fawns away. The bucks are working scrapes, rubbing, and fighting for dominance. This will cause the bucks to travel more, and farther distances looking for that first hot doe.
Hunting the pre-rut can be fun if you have the patience to sit through it. Calls are starting to become effective. Grunts, bleats, and especially your rattling antlers will work well. Watch the deer body language when calling. If the call catches the deer’s attention, then keep working with it. When using antlers in the pre-rut, start soft like a sparring session, and then get louder as if the dominant bucks have started showing that they are the king of the woods. Each deer is different, so don’t be afraid to try the grunt tube, then the bleat, and if that still doesn’t work, then snort wheeze and/or work the antlers. Decoying will add realism to the scenario. Giving the deer something to look at will make the calling that much more believable. Some deer will come running, and others may be turned away by the decoy, but when it works, it works.
Using cover scents will help in the pre-rut, as well as all season long. For cover scent, fox urine, or raccoon urine are common. There are a lot of manufacturers that make natural and synthetic cover and scents such as pine, apple, and dirt. The fruit scents can bring in the deer as well, acting as an attractant (check your local laws to see if these are legal). Although, it is rather easy to make your own. If you can get a cheap individual drink blender, you can blend up some native vegetation from around your stand sites with some water. Place it into a spray bottle, and freeze when not in use. Adding salt can help preserve it as well.
Using buck urine and doe estrous can be a helpful tool in the pre-rut. Haning estrous from a scent wick works well. Other wise spray a branch that is in reach of deer, and spray periodically from the stand to use their noses against them. Buck urine works also, spraying it on licking branches and in scrapes will work well during all of the phases of the rut. Spraying urine or estrous on the bottom of your boots will aid in hiding your scent trail on your way in and out of your stand.
Rut
The rut can be the most action packed, or the slowest hunting you will experience. With the bucks chasing does, and having them locked down to breed, there always seems to be an ebb and flow during the rut. When the bucks are chasing it is difficult to get them to stop. These tips may help get that shot off. Derek Denlinger (Created Outdoors Staff Member) has a few words of advice for the chasing activity during this phase.
“During the chasing phase of the rut, hunt the does. Spend time on the downwind side of doe bedding areas in the mid-morning, and feeding areas in the evening. Or sit bottlenecks or transitions strips between areas of heavier deer activity.”
Derek Denlinger Created Outdoors Staff Member
Hunters having stand sites that are in separate locations than other stages of the season is common practice. Since deer behave sporadic during the rut, it pays to know the land you are hunting, and the deer behaviors at all stages of the season. Here is what Bruce King (Created Outdoors Staff Member) has to say about rut stand sites.
“I like to position stands in travel corridors. I plan for all day sits if the weather is cooperative. I'll keep rattling antlers, a grunt call, and a doe bleat. Deploy doe in heat scent bombs and depending on the age structure of bucks I'll use buck urine as well.”
Bruce King Created Outdoors Staff Member
Using attracting scents can be extremely effective in the rut. Attractant scents can be some of the peanut butter, apple, and some other fruit sprays on the market. Add them to any feed or mineral (We use Domain Outdoors Stockpile) to help draw the does in(again we recommend checking your local laws prior to doing this). Some use dominant buck or doe estrous on a drag rope, cloth, or just spray on the ground and vegetation along your trail on the way into your stands. We like the Scent Step Dispenser; it straps right to your boot and works like a bingo dabber. With each step the amount of scent released is more, and thus the scent is stronger closer to your stand. When you reach your stand, it can also be hung on the stand or a nearby tree to act as a scent wick or drip scent of sorts. Be careful when using dominant buck urine, only use it if your target buck is an aggressive fighter, otherwise, it may scare the bucks out of the area.
Calls during the rut can make or break the hunt, but some deer are so focused that they don’t even pay attention to calls. Part of that ebb and flow. Bleats, and grunts combined seem to work pretty well, but when used in combination with estrous will increase the attraction. Snort wheeze when you see a target buck that is not responding to grunts and bleats, this may hit the right nerve. Don’t be afraid to try every call you have, if he isn’t paying your other calls any attention, then what do you have to lose?
Decoys are the most productive they will be during the rut. Adding the feeding doe works best. Take an old tail from a doe, and preserve it with borax, or buy one from a fly-fishing supply shop, attach it to the decoy rear. Make sure that it is loose enough that the wind can move it to add to the illusion of a real doe. Adding that little bit of movement can make a world of difference, and when used with doe estrous it can bring in the weariest of bucks. Make sure to have the decoy secured pretty sturdy, as some bucks have been known to mount decoys.
Post-rut
When hunting the post rut, things are starting to get back to a normal pattern. For some deer they will be on a feeding pattern again, attempting to regain the fat and body mass that they lost during the chasing phase. However, some deer will still have love on their minds.
While most deer will be on a feeding pattern, some bucks will still be searching for a hot doe. Some does may come back into estrous if they weren’t bred, or the breeding didn’t take. So, we recommend still utilizing the estrous in the post-rut. Using drags, or the Scent Step Dispenser can be the most effective tactic in this phase. This may cause the deer that are not thinking about love to do so. Be alert, as in the post rut I have had deer follow me to the stand using this method, though nothing that I wanted to shoot, you never know if you will cross the path of your hit list buck.
Calling can be essential, but DO NOT over call in the post-rut. While it is almost unlikely that you can over call during the rut, in the post-rut most deer have heard everything by now. Some have come to calls and been shot at, or even wounded by other hunters. So, focus on food, still use rut tactics, and pay attention to body language when you see deer to make sure that you DO NOT over call.
Steve Schrock and Derek Denlinger Created Outdoors Staff Members
Using minerals and blocks where legal can assist your deer herd in gaining weight and nutrients back that they lost during the rut. Domain Outdoors have a few products that are great for this. Stockpile is always a good product to have out, we use it year-round. Recharge is designed to provide vitamins and other nutrients back into the deer herd. Bad Habit can do a lot of the same with the nutrition value, and protein source. Where baiting is allowed, these can be used individually, or over corn, whether on the ground or in a gravity feeder. Gaining back the layer of fat that they lost can make surviving the winter a bit easier on the animals. Having that extra source for fawns will give some of the later born a fighting chance in the winter months as well. This will ease the stress of the deer also, decreasing the risk of illness.
In closing, the phases of the rut can be extremely exciting if you are patient. Also, they can be very boring if you let it get to you. It only takes a few seconds to see a deer, and then get a shot. Romans 8:25 says “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Pray for patience, pray for safety in the stand, and pray to thank the Lord for our opportunities to see his creations the way that hunters experience it. Until next time, God bless.
Send prayer requests and inquiries to have us speak to:
Evan Gersper Created Outdoors Staff
evan@createdoutdoors.com