By: Greg Miller
One of the driving forces behind big buck movement during the post rut is the quest for highly nutritious foods. Big bucks often become extremely feed-active in the hours leading up to the arrival o
I think most hunters would agree that it’s not all that tough to locate big bucks during the early season. Though things can be a bit more difficult during the October lull period, hunting at this time of year can have its occasional rewards. Of course, hunting conditions do nothing but improve as the pre-rut rolls along. And then there’s the rut. As most hunters know, any one of a wide variety of strategies can be effective when bucks are consumed by the breeding urge.
But what happens when the rut comes to a screeching halt and you’re left with a buck tag in your pocket? Quite honestly, you’re facing one of the toughest challenges known to trophy whitetail hunters. You now have to try and outwit a post-rut buck. What a depressing thought!
It’s not impossible
Believe it or not, I know a good many hunters who simply throw in the towel at this point in the game. Admittedly, there was a time when I considered post-rut hunting a total waste of my energies. That’s no longer the case, however. In fact, my biggest bow-killed buck to date, a monster 18-point non-typical that gross scored 202 5/8, was arrowed during the dreaded post-rut period. A few years after taking that deer I waylaid another post-rut buck. And during post-rut hunts in between I muffed chances at a couple other Pope & Young class whitetails.
So how did I suddenly become a proficient post-rut hunter? The plain truth is that I started paying attention to what the deer herd was doing at this time of year. More specifically, I paid attention to what the bucks were doing. In a nutshell, those deer were merely trying to survive. And at the heart of this struggle for survival was the bucks’ overwhelming desire for food.
Stand placement is critical
The author poses with an 18-point non-typical he arrowed during the post-rut period. The ambush occurred along a rub-line, near the edge of a snow-covered alfalfa field.
Here’s the way I saw it. For almost the entire previous month, the mature bucks in my hunting areas had run themselves ragged trailing, chasing and breeding does. They had taken in very little food during this time. I knew that nature’s law dictates that only the strong will survive. I also knew that it was imperative that prolific breeding-age bucks get back on their feed as soon as possible after the rut. (In my part of the country, ‘rutted-out’ bucks must replenish depleted body-fat supplies as soon as possible. Otherwise they could be some of the first animals to perish under severe winter weather conditions.)
But as I quickly learned, locating preferred feeding areas was only part of the battle when hunting for post-rut bucks. Mostly due to the accumulative effects of hunting pressure, mature bucks often get into very restrictive travel patterns during the post-rut. For the most part, my successes at this time of year have come from stand sites situated very close to buck bedding areas. This has held true for both my morning and evening hunts.
My many years of experience with the situation have shown me that post-rut bucks often used many of the same travel routes they used during the pre-rut period. The great thing about this is that I already knew the exact location of those routes. And if I didn’t know where they were, I was confident that I could find them fairly quickly. That’s because these preferred routes have a very distinct appearance. They usually harbor a great deal of rub and/or scrape sign.
As noted, mature bucks often revert back to their secretive ways during the post-rut. For this reason, it’s imperative that hunters spend the bulk of their time hunting from stands located in close proximity to bedding areas. However, there are a couple factors that can and should prompt you to relocate your hunting efforts near the edges of primary feeding areas. One of those factors is the short flurries of breeding activity that can occur at this time of year. In such instances, big bucks will often cruise around near antlerless deer feeding areas in hopes of encountering the ‘hot’ doe. This activity is just as likely to occur in daylight as after dark
The other factor that can prompt post-rut bucks to become active in daylight is weather. More specifically, it’s the threat of bad weather that gets bucks moving. I watch weather forecasts throughout the hunting season. But I pay especially close attention to the forecasts during the post-rut. If I hear that a major winter storm is bearing down on my part of the country, I immediately head for the woods. That’s exactly what led me to the monster non-typical mentioned at the beginning of this article.
The local weather forecasters were calling for a major winter storm to move into our area some time later that night. As I suspected, the impending storm pushed the whitetails on my hunting land into a feeding frenzy. There were at least 30 deer in the snow-covered alfalfa field in front of me within an hour after I got settled on my stand. The non-typical strolled into the field a full 30 minutes before dark. I let him close the distance to 15 yards before sending a broadhead through his lungs.
Along with my moderate successes, I’ve realized another benefit when hunting during the post-rut period. I hardly ever encounter other hunters. This is a fairly important factor when pursuing big bucks at this time of year. As I’ve become fond of saying, it’s tough enough trying to arrow a mature whitetail when you’re the only one pursuing that animal. But the task becomes just about impossible if another hunter suddenly jumps into the game. That has never been a problem on my post-rut hunts.
The more I think about, the more I love chasing big bucks at this time of year!
One of the driving forces behind big buck movement during the post rut is the quest for highly nutritious foods. Big bucks often become extremely feed-active in the hours leading up to the arrival o
I think most hunters would agree that it’s not all that tough to locate big bucks during the early season. Though things can be a bit more difficult during the October lull period, hunting at this time of year can have its occasional rewards. Of course, hunting conditions do nothing but improve as the pre-rut rolls along. And then there’s the rut. As most hunters know, any one of a wide variety of strategies can be effective when bucks are consumed by the breeding urge.
But what happens when the rut comes to a screeching halt and you’re left with a buck tag in your pocket? Quite honestly, you’re facing one of the toughest challenges known to trophy whitetail hunters. You now have to try and outwit a post-rut buck. What a depressing thought!
It’s not impossible
Believe it or not, I know a good many hunters who simply throw in the towel at this point in the game. Admittedly, there was a time when I considered post-rut hunting a total waste of my energies. That’s no longer the case, however. In fact, my biggest bow-killed buck to date, a monster 18-point non-typical that gross scored 202 5/8, was arrowed during the dreaded post-rut period. A few years after taking that deer I waylaid another post-rut buck. And during post-rut hunts in between I muffed chances at a couple other Pope & Young class whitetails.
So how did I suddenly become a proficient post-rut hunter? The plain truth is that I started paying attention to what the deer herd was doing at this time of year. More specifically, I paid attention to what the bucks were doing. In a nutshell, those deer were merely trying to survive. And at the heart of this struggle for survival was the bucks’ overwhelming desire for food.
Stand placement is critical
The author poses with an 18-point non-typical he arrowed during the post-rut period. The ambush occurred along a rub-line, near the edge of a snow-covered alfalfa field.
Here’s the way I saw it. For almost the entire previous month, the mature bucks in my hunting areas had run themselves ragged trailing, chasing and breeding does. They had taken in very little food during this time. I knew that nature’s law dictates that only the strong will survive. I also knew that it was imperative that prolific breeding-age bucks get back on their feed as soon as possible after the rut. (In my part of the country, ‘rutted-out’ bucks must replenish depleted body-fat supplies as soon as possible. Otherwise they could be some of the first animals to perish under severe winter weather conditions.)
But as I quickly learned, locating preferred feeding areas was only part of the battle when hunting for post-rut bucks. Mostly due to the accumulative effects of hunting pressure, mature bucks often get into very restrictive travel patterns during the post-rut. For the most part, my successes at this time of year have come from stand sites situated very close to buck bedding areas. This has held true for both my morning and evening hunts.
My many years of experience with the situation have shown me that post-rut bucks often used many of the same travel routes they used during the pre-rut period. The great thing about this is that I already knew the exact location of those routes. And if I didn’t know where they were, I was confident that I could find them fairly quickly. That’s because these preferred routes have a very distinct appearance. They usually harbor a great deal of rub and/or scrape sign.
As noted, mature bucks often revert back to their secretive ways during the post-rut. For this reason, it’s imperative that hunters spend the bulk of their time hunting from stands located in close proximity to bedding areas. However, there are a couple factors that can and should prompt you to relocate your hunting efforts near the edges of primary feeding areas. One of those factors is the short flurries of breeding activity that can occur at this time of year. In such instances, big bucks will often cruise around near antlerless deer feeding areas in hopes of encountering the ‘hot’ doe. This activity is just as likely to occur in daylight as after dark
The other factor that can prompt post-rut bucks to become active in daylight is weather. More specifically, it’s the threat of bad weather that gets bucks moving. I watch weather forecasts throughout the hunting season. But I pay especially close attention to the forecasts during the post-rut. If I hear that a major winter storm is bearing down on my part of the country, I immediately head for the woods. That’s exactly what led me to the monster non-typical mentioned at the beginning of this article.
The local weather forecasters were calling for a major winter storm to move into our area some time later that night. As I suspected, the impending storm pushed the whitetails on my hunting land into a feeding frenzy. There were at least 30 deer in the snow-covered alfalfa field in front of me within an hour after I got settled on my stand. The non-typical strolled into the field a full 30 minutes before dark. I let him close the distance to 15 yards before sending a broadhead through his lungs.
Along with my moderate successes, I’ve realized another benefit when hunting during the post-rut period. I hardly ever encounter other hunters. This is a fairly important factor when pursuing big bucks at this time of year. As I’ve become fond of saying, it’s tough enough trying to arrow a mature whitetail when you’re the only one pursuing that animal. But the task becomes just about impossible if another hunter suddenly jumps into the game. That has never been a problem on my post-rut hunts.
The more I think about, the more I love chasing big bucks at this time of year!