Tracking the Rut 9-18-18
(rut meter at: 2%)
Rut Tracker 2018!
Posted by Hunting on Friday, September 21, 2018
Antlers are peeled, sparring matches are breaking out and scrapes are being laid, the bucks are jockeying for position and before long the dominant bucks will emerge (for now). The testosterone is flowing and the bucks are beginning to get “bucky”. It happens every year at this time and it will happen next year again, but don’t mistake this early sign of buck activity for the rut you have been waiting for, the rut you have been waiting for is still weeks away, the does are interested in little more than food.
The woods are loaded with food and the deer are all over it, savvy hunters are staking out food sources in hopes of catching Mr.Big with a mouth full of apples, or acorns, or turnips, or the hundred other deer foods that are available in early fall. Fall food plots are getting prime and the deer are covered up with food, they are packing on the pounds making ready for the rut and winter ahead. The rut you are waiting on is as much doe dependent as it depends on the bucks. Does will not be interested in bucks until many weeks from now.
The savvy hunter takes advantage of the deer’s need to feed (6-8 times per day). The big bucks are in their late summer feeding patterns and can be caught with their guard down. Pattern that buck and catch him before he knows he is being hunted, he is moving from food to food but he’ll smarten up soon enough and disappear before you know it. Don’t waste your time with rut tactics just yet, smart hunters are hunting food, food and food
