Midwest Rut Report, Week 7: The Lockdown is Over

While hunting for mule deer in South Dakota last week, I observed a few different whitetail bucks. Some were moving between bedding cover and food sources with no apparent rutting behavior, while a couple of bucks were cruising. I also noticed lone fawns, which likely meant that bucks were somewhat locked down with mature does. Winds were high for two straight days, which had deer hunkered tight against hillsides and in dense thickets. When the winds subsided, the deer seemed to move really well. A couple of other hunters in the area noted multiple daylight buck sightings.

The mule deer were rutting hard during the mornings and evenings, but they bedded up tight during the midday hours, including on the calmer days. I observed multiple mature bucks locked down with does. I also witnessed some aggressive behavior from mature bucks as subordinate bucks tried moving in on the action. The muleys I hunted were occupying a relatively small area, and I was able to get on the same bucks multiple times. On November 14, I tagged a tremendous buck that was locked down on a doe.

In Michigan, Dale Techel shared that warm temperatures are holding out across the state, but that the temperatures haven’t stopped the rut. “The bucks are definitely moving during daylight hours,” Techel says. “I killed a nice 9-pointer in the afternoon as he was cruising and looking for does. I’m not sure if it’s the warmer temps, but usually, we’ve seen more scrapes by this point than we have this November. We haven’t been seeing much lockdown activity. Heavy rains prior to our firearm opener slowed deer movement down to an extent, but buck poles across the state still had many nice deer hanging from them.”

Don’t Miss: Use Rut Science to Get Your Buck

Justin Roach of Performance Outdoors in west-central Illinois said that the bucks are on the back side of lockdown. They’re moving into the second seeking phase, he says. Most of the does have been bred, and the bucks are desperately looking for the last few does to breed. This phase can be one of the best times to kill a huge, mature buck. Focus on where the does are and the transitions between doe groups.

Melissa Bachman of Winchester Deadly Passion said that it was a super-slow week in Illinois. “We saw some decent bucks pinned down with does on fields,” she says. “Our trail cameras on food plots and scrapes basically went dead with minimal movement and zero big buck movement. Things seem to be picking back up based on the trail cameras, but I’m now back home hunting in South Dakota.”

As for Nebraska, Joel Burham of Whitetail Fit said that things are rocking and rolling. “The rut is on!” he says. “The bucks are chasing hard, and the bucks that were locked down earlier are back on the move. Mid- to late-morning has been good as cruising bucks check the downwind edges of bedding areas. On a scale of one to 10, I d give the current rut activity here a solid eight.”

Bowhunter Magazine founder M.R. James has been hunting his southern Indiana farm and says, “The Hoosier State rut is shifting into high gear. I m seeing multiple bucks chasing does at all times of the day. I’ve passed up multiple shots while waiting for Mr. Big. One chase I observed had five antlered bucks hot on the heels of a mature doe that wanted no part in their attention. I’ll continue carrying my favorite bow and wearing blaze orange as required by law during the firearm season. Right now is prime time here in Hoosierland south of I-64 and likely most areas of the state.”

A friend rattled and decoyed in an impressive non-typical last week in Wisconsin, so calling could prove effective. My Wisconsin trail cameras had shut down pretty hard for about a week, but now I’ve been getting branch-antlered bucks on food sources and on scrapes again since November 15.

I believe the best way to summarize the rut across the Midwest right now is that bucks are mostly coming out of lockdown and are covering ground, even despite the warmer temps. If there was ever a time to keep grinding it out, it’s now.