Use Rut Science to Get Your Buck

A Mississippi State Deer Lab study found that each day during hunting season, mature bucks use several bedding and resting areas rather than one major sanctuary. Photo by Tony Campbell.

When deer scientists talk, I listen with an open mind. Men and women who make a career out of studying whitetails don’t do it for fame or money. Having grinded for years to obtain a master’s degree in wildlife ecology, and in many cases a Ph.D., these researchers are passionate about learning all they can about deer, and then implementing best practices for managing herds across the nation. When the biologists are also hunters, I double down on their data, because I’m confident it will help us shoot more big deer.

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OLD RUBS, NEW RUBS

In a Michigan study, biologists removed all the deer from a research enclosure where they had lived for years. No animals inhabited the facility for the next three years. In the fall of year No. 4, the researchers restocked the enclosure with a fresh herd of does and bucks. Some of the new residents were from Michigan, and some animals were trucked in from other states.

Get this: As the rut came on, bucks in the newly replanted herd immediately began blazing and scent-marking the same scarred trees that their predecessors had rubbed years ago. Fascinating, and it’s science you can use to your advantage.

As you scout, check around for a ridge or bottom marked with clusters of signpost trees. Look close and it’s easy to see brown, healed-over scars that bucks blazed in previous years. Right now, many if not most of those trees will show fresh, shiny rubbing on top of the old marks. These rubs tell you some portion of a core area or travel corridor that bucks old and new have used for years. Hang a tree stand in the area and you’ll see deer.

BEST DEER COVER

“Everybody needs a safe, comfortable place to sleep — even deer,” said Pennsylvania biologist Jeannine Fleegle, who contributes to the great Penn State University Deer-Forest blog.

Penn State’s research shows that the best security cover is vegetation thick enough to hide 90% of a deer from observation at a distance of 200 feet or less. “That’s pretty thick,” Fleegle said. “Saplings and shrubs do the job very well.”

Is that thicket 70 yards ahead of you dense enough to hide 90% of a bedded doe with a rut-crazed buck standing guard over her? Or shield a big buck that is rubbing or scraping? Think like that and look with binoculars as you still-hunt or approach a blind.

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MULTIPLE BUCK BEDS

In the study “Understanding Buck Movement,” scientists at the vaunted Mississippi State Deer Lab found that each day during hunting season, mature bucks use several bedding and resting areas rather than one major sanctuary.

The MSU researchers tracked GPS-collared bucks and found that they visit and revisit distinct focal areas within a property with varying levels of regularity each day. Although the biologists could not say exactly why bucks frequented various covers, they speculate, based on slow and concentrated movement data from the collars, that the deer were likely bedding and resting in one spot before getting up and moving to the next focal area. (Probably slipping around to avoid hunting pressure, and possibly to keep tabs on more does, I speculate.) Almost all adult bucks in the study showed these repetitive movements, shifting security spots frequently. A whopping 74% of the bucks changed focal areas every six to 10 hours.

Expect the big buck you’re after to use several resting and bedding sites rather than one sanctuary. The researchers note that because the focal areas are scattered across a property, you can best take advantage of this science by setting stands to overlook funnels and travel corridors, such as creek bottoms, brushy draws, timber strips and hogback ridges. Maximize time in those corridor stands to see bucks as they move from cover to cover. In the rut, some of that movement will be during daylight, which is perfect.