Predicting the Rut

Photo courtesy of Apple Creek Whitetails

Predicting the rut is one of the hottest topics in whitetail hunting.

The short answer for when the rut will occur this fall is: the exact same time it happened last year.

Truly, the only effective way to predict the rut is to subtract the gestation period of a whitetail doe from when the fawns are born. The average gestation period for a whitetail doe was 200 days. In my neck of the woods, most fawns will be born in the last few days of May and the first few days of June. This puts the breeding season around November 15.

Midwestern deer, because of their larger body size, have a slightly longer gestation period. This moves their rut forward to November 8.

Check with wildlife biologist in your area and find out how long the gestation period of whitetail deer is where you live. Just remember those keep the fawns will hidden for the first two weeks of their life. When you start seeing your first fonts they are probably two weeks old. You’ll probably need to another 14 days on to your math to acount for this.

-Jim
http://jimcollyer.com/

Dig a Pit

Photo courtesy Apple Creek Ranch

One of the oldest and most successful methods of hunting deer is rarely used nowadays. I’m talking about hunting out of pits.

Back in my youth, I found an arrowhead on the West shore of Lake Coeur d’ Alene. I was looking around for more arrowheads when I found a shallow pit built with rock’s against a slide some 20 yards away. What I had discovered was an ancient Indian hunting blind. Digging shallow pits or making rock blinds near a deer trail was a common hunting tactic of Native Americans.

Hunting deer from a pit is as effective today as it was back there. The pit not only helps to keep your scent from spreading around but the low-profile does wonders to keep the deer from being spooked.

If you’re hunting in an area where treestands are not possible, you might want to think about digging a pit.

– Jim http://jimcollyer.com/

Antler Rattling

I begin by crashing the antlers together. Then I twist and work the antlers together in an effort to imitate the sounds of two bucks sparring. My entire rattling sequence only lasts about 15 seconds. I try not to rattle more than once every 10 to 15 minutes because the last thing I want is a buck to catch me rattling. It’s happened more than once and every time the results have been less than desirable.


-Jim http://jimcollyer.com/

Mock Ground Scrapes

I harvested this buck over a mock scrape

If you really want to put your buck into a tizzy, try making a mock scrape. Dig up the dirt from a scrape in a different location and place it in the scrape you’re hunting over. Be sure to use scent-free gear and a shovel. Dig down about six inches and transport the dirt in a clean plastic bag. Empty this dirt into your hunting scrape and your buck will perceive this as an intrusion by another buck. He’ll begin refreshing this scrape in earnest. This is most effective in the pre-rut, before the bucks are on the does.

-Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

Edges

Whitetail deer like to travel edges. Most hunters recognize an edge as were timberline meets a crop field. While this is a great place to intercept a whitetail, there are a lot of edges that go unnoticed by hunters.

Fence rows, gullies, and even where a hillside week’s flatland are images recognized by the dear.

One of my favorite edges to hunt is at the base of a hill. Big bucks just seem to love to travel here.

-Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

Hunting Scrapes

Bucks start scraping in earnest a week or two before the first does come into season. This is the best time to hunt over a scrape line or a primary scrape. A scrape line is just that; a line of scrapes showing the buck’s travel route. You can find a flurry of scrapes where the buck’s trail intersects the does trail.

While I like to set up as close as possible to a scraped line, I prefer my set to be 75 to 200 yards downwind of a primary scrape. A big buck will more commonly travel downwind of a primary scrape and merely scent check it.
-Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

The Last Stand

Here‘s an old Midwest hunting proverb; “Whoever has the last standing cornfield wins.”
Regardless of where you hunt, keep an eye on which crop fields are still available to the deer once the season starts and try to get permission to hunt close to those fields.
-Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/