When is rut season for deer

Rut activity peaks during the three hours after dawn and before dusk, so arrive early and be prepared to stay late. Approach downwind, use vegetation as cover, tread softly and avoid sudden movements. And always keep your distance — even in enclosed parks, these are large wild animals. As well as disturbing them and preventing them from exhibiting their natural predators, deer can be unpredictable and thus can pose a danger to humans.

Take a guided tour into the Braes of Glenlivet to watch rutting stags in a glen near Kymah Burn, as well as roe deer, red grouse and, possibly, golden eagles. Open moorland north of the String Road offers frequent sightings, and Lochranza Golf Course is good for close views. Red deer outnumber people on this isle by 30 to one, with roughly 6,, deer.

During the rutting season, the sounds of the roaring stags echoes between the hills. A former Royal Forest, Exmoor National Park is known for its red deer, which have existed there since pre-historic times.

There are currently about 3, red deer. Also look out for Exmoor ponies, a native British pony. This National Nature Reserve is a large, open expanse with a range of species, including tree pipit and Dartford warbler. The latter is an endangered species native to China and are part of a joint breeding programme with ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. Hunting during this phase requires significant knowledge about deer behavior.

Most importantly, it is vital to know where they go for food and where they bed for the night. Deer start to hit mast crops during this period, so look out for areas with lots of acorns. Rut signs are a good indication that a buck has settled in nearby. Setting up between food sources and bedding areas gives the best results.

During this period, evening sits are the most productive. The seeking phase is when bucks start to try to determine the general location of females. Mature bucks begin to walk in the daylight, and younger deer might begin chasing females during this period. Hunting during this phase is a little less constrained as far as good hunting times are concerned. Due to increased hormone levels, deer wander about earlier in the day and rut signs become more prevalent.

Like the pre-rut phase, staking out the areas between the bedding and feeding zones is still the most effective tactic. However, morning hunts start to become effective now—especially when setting up between a bedding spot and an area with a lot of rut signs. Little actual mating happens during this phase, but every buck out there should now be making a play for estrus females.

With just one thing on their minds, bucks lower their guard and become easier to harvest. To hunt this phase of the rut, set up alongside trails that run parallel to any fields, open areas and food sources. Bucks use these trails to search for estrus does that might have traveled along them. In hill country, bucks travel along ridges, staying a little bit away from the top of the ridgeline to avoid being skylined, so setting up on the leeward side of ridges works here.

They might also visit doe bedding areas in search of the females that occupy them. It is during this phase that throwing out all the stops when it comes to trying to attract deer becomes effective. Both doe-in-heat and buck-grunt calls work, with the former attracting bucks in search of a mate and the latter pulling in bucks that want to chase competition off their territory. Decoys also work to attract either males taking an interest in a forthcoming unmoving when approached doe or males who might view them as competition.

Naturally, scents can also work during this phase if deployed properly at around waist height in the surrounding foliage. The tending phase is when much of the actual breeding happens. During this phase, mating pairs usually hole themselves up in thick cover, which can make this phase of the rut very difficult to hunt. Hunting this phase of the rut involves keeping watch over known bedding areas.

Setting up over narrower transit areas that buck traverse in search of another estrus doe is also a decent choice. Flexibility is key here, as is getting as much intelligence as possible using cameras, tracks or local sighting reports. As with the previous phase, using calls aggressively might still prove effective.

Many bucks are still sexually fired up during this phase, and the promise of another female might lure one in. They might not, however, be as keen on driving out competition as they previously were. The post-rut phase is generally one of the toughest phases to hunt. Breeding should have died down by now, though a few does might still enter estrus during this phase. The elevated hunting levels during the peak of the rut, in particular, would have pressured the deer into being a lot more cautious.

This phase marks a return to more reserved hunting tactics. Bedding is once again the chief method for bagging a buck, and hunters might have to contend with the thick cover the bucks prefer to hide in during this phase. At the very tail end of the deer rutting season, a second rut might occur, which is when females who were not bred during the first rut go into a second estrus cycle. Doe fawns can also become sexually active for the first time during this phase and enter estrus. If food is abundant, the latter can happen as a larger event.

During this phase, hunting primarily takes place around food sources and along bed-to-feed trails. Doe fawns might also go out in the open, which has the potential to attract males out of cover for a clean shot. However, because only a few does go into estrus during this phase, it generally yields slim pickings unless food is unusually abundant during and after the peak rut.

Hunting the deer rutting season can be an extremely rewarding experience. Break-Up Country. Elements Agua. Elements Terra. Shadow Grass Habitat. Explore All Patterns. Back About Our Story. BACK About our training. Online courses. Find a Course.

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