The Rut Sucks!
- fred bear
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The Rut Sucks!
a little bit of frustration is kicking in... this is my first FULL year of beast style hunting, i started after gun season last year, after i bought the MARSH BUCKS DVD! (which is the best whitetail hunting video of all time, imo) all the places ive been hunting ive been walking out deep into what i feel are prime spots to at least see a mature buck moving, i dont care if i have one in shooting range or not. i just love being out in the wilderness annnnnd well, everyone on this forum probably knows how i feel! Im glad to see that its been slow elsewhere but its been completely dead where im hunting! but when i get back to my truck and there are guys telling me what they saw, and where they are sitting, which is such an easy walk... it starts to get to me! ever since ive seen some first good signs of rut with 1 1/2 years chasing doe about 10 days ago its been sooo dead but ive seen booner class bucks while shinning i just dont know if you guys switch up your tactics during peak rut from the beds to elsewhere? ive had more action in september than during RUT!!! i took off work monday, so ive got 3 days this weekend before gun season to capitalize!! any advice would be much appreciated!
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- Casper
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
Rut hasn't really kicked in yet, so you aren't alone. Cruising spots aren't that good right now. You need to be between food and bed while hoping a buck is following the does back to bed.
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- whitetail4ever
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
It really is just a matter of where the hot does are. One ridge/swamp area could be on fire while the other adjacent to it can be dead as a doornail. I am sure you have all seen that first hand. So at any time all heck can brake loose and turn things around. That happened to me this past weekend. I hadn't seen much deer activity (although tons of sign), but one evening within 15 minutes of time I saw a 2 1/2 year old chasing a doe, only to be cut off by a dandy 140 class 10 pt. All he wanted to do was to get a piece of the action. He never gave me a shot because he was moving full tilt and was not gonna stop when I made a mouth grunt. So, hang in there man!!!
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
I agree with all of the above. 15 minutes (or even less) can turn a dismal season into the best yet. Stick with it man!
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DROPTYNE
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
To hunt the rut successfully it is as easy as doe bedding areas in AM and doe feeding at night. Follow that and you will have action...
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- Stanley
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
If you are rut hunting and not seeing deer you are in the wrong place at the right time. Make a move to a diferent area and see whats moving there.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
- kwaldeier
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
I feel your pain. Not lookin so good right now...
- BowtechHunting
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
I hear ya man, I was never a big fan of the rut to begin with. I hear all this "magical time" when "big bucks come out". Bunch of crap to me. The big bucks are always there, you just have to put some elbow grease in to find them. Usually they are right next door on adjacent properties where they're not disturbed and right under our noses. I'll be honest, it may be just where I live and Kentucky, we have mediocre deer hunting a best. That's due to fact that we have a heavy population of deer hunters, and if has 20 inches of horn it's going down. We (me not included) do not practice deer management effectively. If I find a buck that has poor genetic potential, I'll take it out of the heard. Most bucks around here rarely live to see 4.5. If we want the rut to better year after year, we have to start practicing quality management and remove the genetically poor deer and let some of these younger bucks with good potential walk. It's tough, I've done it, but it's going to pay off soon. And another note, we HAVE TO GET RID OF SOME DOES!
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- MN Legacy
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
I agree with you I think that the rut gets to much hype. I like the last 10 days of October the best to the week leading up to the Gus Season. See here in MN we have out gun season during the rut and mostly becomes a nocturnal affair. Than I think my next favorite time to hunt is in December on a food source if you can get permission you see more deer than at any time of the year and you may also see some big bucks.
- fred bear
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
ill try switching my spots over by some known doe areas and see if i have any luck, thanks for the input and reassurance guys! its always nice knowing other people are in the same boat, cuz sometimes i just start to feel like i suck at hunting or something lol
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- goldtip5575
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
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So what do you do if your property that had some good bedding deer population runs dry come rut?Is it as something simple as the wrong wind for bed hunting success ??Reason is since the N NE winds weve been having the last week action has been slow on our property.But action driving to property last weekend there was a buck chasing doe at 1 pm in 2 different fields 1 and 2 miles of the property.This is broken farm land where bedding may not be as predictable day to day.
Bucky wrote:To hunt the rut successfully it is as easy as doe bedding areas in AM and doe feeding at night. Follow that and you will have action...
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So what do you do if your property that had some good bedding deer population runs dry come rut?Is it as something simple as the wrong wind for bed hunting success ??Reason is since the N NE winds weve been having the last week action has been slow on our property.But action driving to property last weekend there was a buck chasing doe at 1 pm in 2 different fields 1 and 2 miles of the property.This is broken farm land where bedding may not be as predictable day to day.
- BowtechHunting
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
fred bear wrote:ill try switching my spots over by some known doe areas and see if i have any luck, thanks for the input and reassurance guys! its always nice knowing other people are in the same boat, cuz sometimes i just start to feel like i suck at hunting or something lol
Haha, I know man. I feel the same way. I keep thinking "I suck at bowhunting". I see a lot of hunters on here dropping bucks year after year, but I keep in the back of my mind that from what I read, the hunters are successful because of what I had mentioned earlier and the amount of forage that is available to them. Don't get me wrong here, KY has got some great bucks out there, but no comparison to some of the northern states. IMO.
Hands down, December is my favorite time of year to be in the woods after the rut is passed and rifle season is long gone. Find a quality food source and find some decent bucks.
- bowhunter15
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
fred bear wrote: but when i get back to my truck and there are guys telling me what they saw, and where they are sitting, which is such an easy walk... it starts to get to me!
I went through the same exact experience as you did a couple years ago. I was going deep into the swamp during the rut and not seeing much, while other guys hunting close to the access were seeing deer. So I tried hanging my stand literally 30 yards off the main walking trail parallel to the edge of the marsh, an extremely easy walk and setup hunting in hardwoods. As it turns out, I started seeing deer everytime I went out. I even had my dad sit there on Veterans Day morning, and he had a 140 class 12 pointer chasing does around his stand, but never got a shot.
It just goes to show you that you have to be active and hunt where the deer are, not where you necessarily think they should be based on pressure. The guys at the parking lot can sometimes provide useful clues if they're seeing stuff and you aren't. "Work smarter not harder" as one of my math teachers used to tell me.
- BowtechHunting
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Re: The Rut Sucks!
fred bear wrote: i just dont know if you guys switch up your tactics during peak rut from the beds to elsewhere? ive had more action in september than during RUT!!! i took off work monday, so ive got 3 days this weekend before gun season to capitalize!! any advice would be much appreciated!
Here is a suggestion. I was in the same boat that you were in a few years ago. I hunted everywhere I could think of that I thought would hold a buck or two. So, I threw caution into the wind and said heck with it, I'm going to hunt XY spot. I ended up parking my truck on the pull off, walked 100 yards down the side road, walked in about 50 yards. This is on a back, back road, so traffic is sparse, but anyways I ended up seeing a total of 10-12 deer that week that I so close to everything. I ended up taking a doe out of that stand and passed up on a decent 115-120 8. You've heard it before, it's usually the first time sits in a new place that produce a good sit. Good luck.
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