Tracking the Rut-10-01-2018
(Rut Meter at 2%)
This time of year can be incredibly frustrating to hunt. Stand sites that were very good last week go cold. Sightings go from ten or twelve deer per sit to zero. Where do the deer go? They don’t disappear. They’re just in different spots and feeding on other food sources. Follow the Hunting Pages Rut Tracker to see how the whitetails world goes through some profound changes in early October and follow where you need to be.
Posted by Hunting on Thursday, October 4, 2018
Deer season is upon us and we are all anxiously looking forward to the rut. The https://thehuntingpage.wpengine.com/ rut tracking team is in the field and the reports are streaming in, plenty of scrapes and rubs but no rut behavior just yet, the rut meter is still reading a puny 2%. We have a long way to go before we start hunting the rut. We expect the Hunting Page rut meter to steadily climb but for now it is staying put, some early scrapes and rubs and scrapes won’t move the meter, neither will a few young bucks pushing each other around in a food plot, after 25 years of watching the rut develop The Hunting Page rut tracking team knows the difference between a bunch of “soft sign” and the rut we are waiting for.
Right now, it is all about food in the deer woods, acorns and apples are everywhere and food plots are in full production, this week it’s all about hunting food. Don’t waste your time hunting scrapes and rubs or anything else associated with testosterone driven bucks. The deer woods are full of food and that’s where the smart hunters are spending their time, most of the scrapes are visited after dark and you are probably looking at last week’s rubs. Spend your time patterning bucks, find where beds and what he is having for dinner, pattern his travel patterns and be there when he shows up. Right now, deer hunting is all about food.
The big bucks are in their late summer-early fall feeding patterns and can be caught with their guard down. Early season hunting is all about catching a buck while he is in his pre-rut feeding frenzy, catch him before he knows he is being hunted, or he moves to another food source because the acorns have been cleaned up or some farmer just harvested the beans corn field that he has been feeding in all fall. Get after him before it’s too late, once he gets wise to you and the whole game changes. Your next good chance to connect with him will be when the rut erases his hunting season caution. But don’t waste your time with rut tactics just yet, smart hunters are hunting food, and staying on it.
