Southwest Rut Report, Week 7: Mule Deer Rut Off to Slow Start in Colorado, Whitetail Action Hit and Miss in Texas

I began Colorado’s third rifle season with high hopes for my clients. We had gotten good weather and the temps were cool. The does were piling up and younger bucks were showing that love was in the air. I thought that any day it would turn loose and the big boys would show up with the does. I was wrong. Day after day I waited for it to turn on and day after day it was the same little bucks with the same herds of does.

On the second-to-last day of the hunt, I decided to check a few nooks and crannies close to the does where I thought a mature buck might be laying around, waiting for a receptive doe. Just before dark, I spotted a lone buck. He had come out of the thick stuff and was feeding on the edge of an old field that hadn’t been planted in years. It was mostly weeds. This matters because the does have been spending the majority of their time in or on the edges of irrigated hay or grain fields.

I recognized the buck immediately from some photos taken in the summer while he was in velvet. He was easy to recognize with some big kickers growing off his G-2. Without hesitation we made our way along the treeline to 219 yards and the hunter dropped him with one shot. This buck was in the area but had no desire to be around other deer. He seemed to be a good way from caring about the does.

Don’t Miss: Oklahoma Style Venison Onion Smash Burger

As soon as that hunt was over, I hightailed it to my lease in north central Texas. I had reports that rattling was working well and thought I might hit the rut just right. I didn’t. The full moon had the deer moving at odd hours and doing a lot of work at night. It seemed as though the mature bucks were locked down with does. The deer that didn’t have a doe were cruising like crazy but not very consistent. I had very few pictures of mature bucks at feeders. Most of the bucks I saw were cruising by the feeder at all hours of the day. They weren’t there to feed, but instead looking for a date for the day. It’s as entertaining as it gets but makes it difficult to target a specific buck. I had first-hand accounts of bucks hitting three different feeder areas within an hour. Some of the deer I had on camera disappeared but, in their place, new bucks have shown up.

I didn’t kill a buck in Texas this trip, and had to head back to Colorado for fourth rifle season. I would love to continue the game of cat and mouse in the Lone Star State, but I have a date with a big mule deer. With the moon traveling through waning gibbous to third quarter around November 22nd I suspect the rut will finally heat up in southern and eastern Colorado, southern Utah and the northern parts of Arizona and New Mexico. I still think the best tactic right now for those areas is to stick close to the does. Keep checking them and eventually there will be a big buck standing with them.

For the panhandle, west and north central Texas, rattling is still working great. The bucks are cruising like crazy. I watched a nice buck literally beat the branches off a cedar tree after checking out a feeder without stopping to eat. New rubs and scrapes are showing up daily. Staying in the stand as long as possible has been key. The two best bucks I had on camera this week hit the feeders looking for does around 9:30 am, 2 pm and 3:30 pm with very little deer activity at the feeders at first and last light. It’s worth noting also that for the last few days I have had no mature buck photos in the dark either. They have been working overtime with the full moon and not slowing down to hit a feed station.