When scouting for that big buck, do you scout for the does, that will attract the bucks, or do you scout for the bucks only?
During the rut hunt what the bucks are hunting. Other than the rut hunt bucks feeding areas. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Early season I'm ignoring the does altogether except where their presence might interfere with my hunt or my access to my stand site. Even if the bucks are not still in bachelor groups they will really not care much about the does and may even avoid them. All I care about is "what and where is he eating in the afternoons?"... "Can I get in between him and the food without him knowing it?"... and "what wind do I need and where are the falling thermals going to try and take my scent relative to where he is?". Once I have suitable answers (or educated guesses) to those questions then its all in the execution and some luck sprinkled in. Early Pre-rut when they are first starting to get interested and maybe seek a little bit I want to hunt travel corridors and edge cover that is around or between areas being frequented by doe groups. Sure he is scent checking at some point but don't discount how visually driven bucks can be during this time. Look for areas where he can walk in cover and look at areas where the does are feeding. If the does are in fields hunt just inside those field edges. If the does are in open woods then hunt in the edges of thicker cover where he can walk through and look for does to go bother or check. During chasing and breeding you just have to get out there and be around does the best you can and maximize your hours on stand. It is a "romantic" time to be hunting but to me it can be very difficult to cross paths with a good buck AND get him to stand still enough to catch an arrow. Once actual breeding has started you are really just hoping to get lucky enough to be at the right place and the right time to catch a buck that is in between does and looking for the next one. It is a crapshoot. Late Rut is really just more of the same but you maybe want to look to be around younger does and even doe fawns if you can identify some younger ones. The good thing is that the receptive does are getting harder and harder to find at some point so if the hunting pressure hasn't driven all the deer completely nocturnal it can actually be awesome. Unfortunately there are very few places where the hunting pressure hasn't driven the deer to be largely nocturnal by December. Anyway... those are my thoughts my friend. Good luck this year and I hope that big buck comes hunting you.
