Hunting the Rut
Other than the opening day of the Bowhunting season, hunting the rut is one of my favorite times of the year to be in the woods. This past year was no exception. I would say from a learning point, seeing mature deer on their feet and big buck encounters, This was the best NC deer season. Because of all this, it may have been my most favorite season!
Hunting the Rut – Morning
Morning hunts during the rut are my favorite. There is nothing like watching the sunrise each day and watching what God has created come to life. For some reason, there is not much that can top this for me. Getting up early, gearing up in the dark, leaving the truck 2hours before daylight for a 2-mile hike into a piece of public land, all in hopes to set eyes on a mature buck.
From my experience, not sure it’s in my head or real, but I tend to see more deer on their feet during morning hunts. I do think Deer are nocturnal by nature and do most of their feeding at night and sleep mainly during the day. During the rut, the deer are up and active all night, which naturally allows the bucks to chase the doe while they are on their feet. The chasing is a bit of a disruption to their normal patterns and ultimately causes the deer to be late to their normal bedding areas. Therefore, the deer are on their feet later in the morning, which allows me to set eyes on them easier.
Hunting the Rut – Bedding areas
You may hear more lately about hunting bedding areas. Well, this makes sense based on the idea that deer are more nocturnal. When hunters are out in the woods looking for deer during the day, the deer will be in their bedding areas. Hunting the rut is very much the same. Even though the bucks are out and about looking for doe and bumping doe pretty much all night and day, the bedding areas are safe zones for deer. They also serve as great areas for cruising bucks to scent check for a hot doe.
During the rut, you want to find the bedding areas and hunt on the downwind side. These are the areas you can hunt all day and you never know what to expect to come down the trail!
Favorite 2019 Hunts During the Rut
As we are in the new year, I do like to think back on the hunts I had this past year and start planning for the 2020 rut hunt I do every year. Many bowhunters call it their rutcation. My favorite hunt of the year didn’t actually end in a big buck kill, but rather an encounter with a big buck I was chasing and set eyes on multiple times. This morning hunt I had all the pieces put together and set up where I thought he was going to be. Well, it all came together and I had him within 40 yards. The shot just was not presented.
The second favorite hunt of my year did end successfully with meat in the freezer. This did top off the experience, but it was more about how the whole hunt went down. It was a morning rut hunt and one of those mornings when there were deer everywhere. I spotted 2 does on an opposite ridge and decided to stalk down the ridge I was on in hopes of getting a shot. The video tells the rest of the story!
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