By Scott Bestul

If you didn’t cash in that get-out-of-work pass on Friday, do it today—or extend it to give yourself a four-day weekend to fill your tag with a tank whitetail.

The chase phase is a period of frenetic activity for whitetail bucks, and today will be especially busy. Local bucks will be in a lather from the first does that have entered estrus. They have smelled the scent of a hot female in the air and might have pursued or even fought for her. Those on the losing end of such a skirmish are not content to skulk about. Instead, they turn into heat-seeking missiles, intent on finding the next doe with an open dance card.