I observed fields and hunted in the timber throughout Wisconsin’s 10-day muzzleloader season, which commenced Dec. 1. On food sources, the best bucks showed no interest in does or fighting with other bucks. Feeding was their sole focus. One evening, though, I observed two immature bucks shoving each other around pretty hard. Another evening while hunting some public land, I saw a 1-1/2-year-old buck following (not chasing) a doe and her fawn.

On Dec. 7, I encountered a big shooter buck deep in the timber feeding under oak trees 35 minutes before dark. Does and fawns walked right by him, and he just kept feeding. Unfortunately, he was too obstructed for a shot. Most hunters who have access to good food sources have been seeing solid daylight movement, given the cold weather, snow cover and recent barometric pressure swings.

Melissa Bachman of Winchester Deadly Passion spent a handful of days mentoring her son, Jax, in Illinois for a gun hunt this past weekend. She said that food is king there — the same as I’ve noticed in Wisconsin.

“We didn’t see any rutting or secondary rutting activity,” Bachman said. “When we arrived, everything was hitting our clover field, digging through the fresh snow. By the time we left on Dec. 7, the deer were heavily focused on food and hitting corn and beans. We did see a couple of bucks bristling up or sparring on the trail cams, but we didn’t see any of the fawns acting like they were coming into heat or any bucks chasing them around.”

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Michigan Deer Hunters Facebook page manager Dale Techel provided some promising second-rut observations from his audience.

“I’ve received reports of hunters seeing bucks chasing smaller does, as the second rut has been happening the past week,” he said. “It’s a great time to focus on food sources and outside bedding areas where does will be right now. Keep in mind, the bucks have been on the move and pressured by hunters a lot the past month, so their travel has slowed down. Area-to-area reports vary, but using a deer call can be effective this time of year as bucks compete for the young does.”

Michigan isn’t the only state where hunters are seeing signs of the second rut. Brooks Johnson of Bartylla’s Whitetail Plans said it’s going on in parts of Minnesota, too.

“We are seeing more second-rut activity in the northern half of Minnesota than normal,” he said. “And despite more snow cover than the past couple of years, we are not seeing as much deer activity on food plots as expected.”

This spurt of second-rut behavior will not compare to the primary rut, and it will also be comparatively short-lived. The best bet in most places is to hunt food sources or just off them on routes deer are traveling to reach the food. Bucks are not running full-tilt as they did in November. Mostly, they’re focused on feeding, and if a doe that was not bred during the first estrus cycle comes into heat again, or a doe fawn comes into her first estrus cycle, it could stir things up on a food source and make your late-season hunt more exciting.

Top food sources going forward are corn, beans and brassicas. Some areas had solid acorn crops, and deer are still working on those, as I noticed while hunting in the Wisconsin timber. Look for oak trees with disrupted snow beneath them. That will be your clue about where deer are dining in the woods.