2 rut hunting questions

[dremarquis]

1.     1. I know that it is best to spend as much time as possible in your stand during the rut, but given work and family responsibilities, I know I’m not the only one who has to use their time as “efficiently” as possible. My question to all of you is: if you have only 4 hours to hunt on a day during the rut (esp. chasing phase) would it be:

a    a) Dawn to noon

b   b) 10a-2p

c    c) 1p-dusk

I hunt a lot of public lands and don’t put trail cameras there because the first year I did that, they both were stolen (along with 3 stands that had good chains on them!). I also hunt 15 acres of private land that i put trail cams on and during this year’s rut, I saw the most mature bucks from 10a-2p.

 

I     2. I know not everyone buys into the “second rut” (i.e., one month after the primary rut) but if you do, would you hunt the same hours as you answered in question #1?

Thank you very much and good luck to all! and Happy Thanksgiving!

andre

[Legacy]

11 hours ago, dremarquis said:

1.     1. I know that it is best to spend as much time as possible in your stand during the rut, but given work and family responsibilities, I know I’m not the only one who has to use their time as “efficiently” as possible. My question to all of you is: if you have only 4 hours to hunt on a day during the rut (esp. chasing phase) would it be:

a    a) Dawn to noon

b   b) 10a-2p

c    c) 1p-dusk

I hunt a lot of public lands and don’t put trail cameras there because the first year I did that, they both were stolen (along with 3 stands that had good chains on them!). I also hunt 15 acres of private land that i put trail cams on and during this year’s rut, I saw the most mature bucks from 10a-2p.

 

I     2. I know not everyone buys into the “second rut” (i.e., one month after the primary rut) but if you do, would you hunt the same hours as you answered in question #1?

Thank you very much and good luck to all! and Happy Thanksgiving!

andre

 

1.

I prefer mornings during the rut. If i had to gamble on a 4 hr window during peak rut I would pick the am shift. The time time period Im talking about is Halloween through the first week of gun season. Bucks tend to be extremely active during those hours at that time of year. Also if they are finished breeding a doe they seem to leave her in search of another during the morning hours. 

 

2.

The second rut can provide some action but obviously not like the primary rut. Bucks can been seen cruising in the am however the best bet is to concentrate on a hot pm food sources. If you have a hot late season food source then the bucks will show up to find hot does and to eat. It could be a cut bean field, cut corn, ect but you may have to scout it to make sure. I typically start scouting for these spots the last week of shotgun season. Cameras are great but having snow on the ground also paints a good picture. The peak of the late rut coexists with our muzzleloader season so the deeper into the muzzleloader season the less pressure the woods has and bucks are more inclined to walk during daylight hours. The more deer in the field the safer they feel. If you have a spot pulling 15-20+ deer in the afternoon I would bet that mature bucks will show up. However if you dont have the hot food source then it may be better to turn your attention to am hunts in thick bedding. 

[dremarquis]

Rob - thank you very much!

andre

[sherman brown]

does that don't get breed during the 1st round come back into heat again and againuntil they get stuck by a big buck. i live in IN and this years deer which we call yearlings are usually dressed at 50# to 100# but the larger ones are rare. but the deer that gets breed late have there young later than normal. the smallest deer i've seen was killed on public land by a guy new to hunting. he took his kill to the property check station and said he made a bad mistake and he quit. and left the 22# deer with them and left. a  deer at 22# wouldn't have survived the winter. this happened on our muzzleloader season in mid December.

 

bottom line yes thetre are second ruts but not as many hot does making the bucks work harder to find them. plus any does that don't ger breed during the 2nd rut will come back into heat again.

[Pappy]

I agree with Rob on both 1. And 2. With just a couple of observations.

I live right in the middle of the private land that I hunt and watch the wildlife daily. Once the early chasing phase starts any of those three times of day are very active and you will see younger bucks even 2.5 year olds wondering around chasing does all day. If your specifically want to target big bucks, then it would be mornings or evenings. Some days it’s great in the am, some it’s great in the evenings and it changes all the time.

 

The second rut is legit, but it only happens if the does in your area don’t get bred or it doesn’t take, so it’s iffy. I would say about a 20% chance of seeing a buck buck in the second phase. If you are satisfied with any buck, hunt just like Rob says, late season, brutal cold food source. If ones around, he will show right at dark