Tail end of the rut

[rochester coops]

I've heard a lot of talk about the tail end of the rut being a great time to kill a good buck. I would like to see pics or real examples of kills/close encounters anyone has had. The farm i typically hunt is overcooked from gun hunting pressure by then, but wondering if i found less pressure what might i expect? I know does are still getting bred at the end of November. How good has the end of the rut been compared to the typical seeking or chase phases? What time frame do you consider this to be (week of thanksgiving?) Lastly how much does gun pressure effect this time for you?

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[BuckyHunter13]

I had several encounters with the same two or three bucks last year, 3 or 4 during the rut and then 3 or 4 times after gun season. I'm hunting just off a funnel (no trees in the funnel, it's bordered by a small stream on one side and an open area on the other... Connects a big marsh and 3 different farm fields. The late rut had almost early pre-rut feel. They were still moving through in late daylight pretty regularly, still checking doe trails but seemed a little more passive about it (or at least it was less obvious to me until I realized the trails they were crossing). As for pressure, I think I the marsh is their safe zone, I had one of the mature bucks following a doe at noon on opening day. All the neighboring farms are gun hunted. As far as later rut dates, I saw one of them Nov 17, 22nd on camera, 26th, dec 4th, and a daylight AM picture of him dec 13th. (And again on feb 16th and July 16th... :-)

I learned a ton about him this past year. Seeing him in July made me confident he's a 5yo. Big old potbelly and barrel chest. Looking forward to picking my spots better but also getting aggressive this year if I haven't closed the deal by the end of the rut.

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[cdeam]

Around here many deer are locked down by the gun opener which is ~11/15. Near thanksgiving they move again and seek out hot does. Some of the biggest deer I've seen have been taken the week of thanksgiving. But I think trying to time these different phases of the rut is a numbers game because not all doe start at the same time. So times for seeking, chasing, and breeding, can be off by days or even weeks in the same state or even county. That's why it's important to keep a hunting log. Rut behavior will begin to trend in specific family groups and you'll have a better idea of what time of year a certain farm will get hot.

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