I arrived at my Texas lease on Dec. 3, hoping to catch a lovesick buck looking for the last of the does in estrus before burrowing into whatever hole they seem to disappear in to recover from a month of fighting and breeding. One of the other hunters at the lease told me of a big 9-point that showed up the final week of November. We did not have photos of the buck before Nov. 27. It was a very mature deer that likely lived elsewhere and was just traveling, searching for more does to breed.

Dec. 4, my first full day hunting, saw inclement weather, and deer movement was next to none. I was in the stand early in the afternoon, as the full moon and weather will sometimes drive bigger bucks out at odd hours to feed. At 4 p.m., with two hours of daylight left, three does walked out to the feeder. The buck I was looking for followed only a minute later. He didn t want anything to do with the feeder. He was there for the does. I didn t waste time and put him down. His tarsal glands were swollen and sticky. He was still in rut, and it s probably what led to his demise. I have been lucky multiple times on big deer that showed up seemingly out of nowhere at the very end of the rut. I have come to like the first week of December for killing big bucks in north-central Texas and many other areas that generally have an early- to mid-November rut.

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Many areas of the Southwest have seen the season come and go, with the rut only now getting hot. Eastern Colorado still has another week of rifle season and then will finish out the month with the last of archery season. The deer in eastern Colorado are at the tail end of the rut, and from all accounts I m hearing, their racks are generally broken up. If you re still hunting for a buck, you will probably struggle to find one with a full set of antlers. Northern New Mexico is also going full blast right now, but most hunters won t get to benefit from the rut action, with the remaining hunts being youth-only or not until January. Over-the-counter Arizona hunts are likely a few weeks out from any good rut activity, along with southern New Mexico. Chris Guikema of Compass West Outfitters (www.compasswestoutfitters.com) had a southern New Mexico muzzleloader mule deer tag this past week and killed a great buck. He said the bucks were still bachelored up, and it didn t seem like that was going to change soon.

Western Texas and the Panhandle are pretty hot right now, with southern Texas getting ready to start. I m getting reports of some rubbing and scraping in some areas of southern Texas, but it s still very early. Another week or two and we will see some rut activity in earnest.