By Jeff Holmes

Reports about second-rut activity are still coming in from hunters and photographers in the field, although except for special hunts, only Idaho is still open for archery deer hunting at this point. Hunters in the Gem State have until December 24th to tag a deer.
 
Bucks in some areas are reportedly still seeking estrous does—and finding them—but they’re also finding rivals resulting in some excellent reports of fighting. [ Read Full Post ]

By Jeff Holmes

The December whitetail hunt in Southeastern Colorado has just drawn to a close in the state’s extreme southeast corner near the Arkansas River. The 12 hunters at Cassidy Outfitters took 12 bucks this year, averaging a gaudy 161 inches. Look for my next post, a comprehensive western update on any areas of existing rut activity, which will feature photos of Colorado whitetails shot so recently they’re still hanging, waiting to be cut. Some of those December bucks out of Jack Cassidy’s operation look worn to the bone from rutting, with lots of broken tines from battling into December for the last few estrous does.

A few weeks ago, I heard a rumor about a potential Washington State record whitetail, a typical-racked buck topping 200 inches. Information on the deer was sparse, and I spent as much time tracking down leads on this buck as I did hunting whitetails this year. Patching together sparse reports became a quest. I figured the buck wouldn’t hit the record, but a deer even approaching 200 inches is something I have never seen in Washington, even in photographs.

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By Jeff Holmes

While several other rut reporters are noting that the rut is over or winding down in their regions, bucks in northeastern Washington and northern Idaho are continuing to rut into December.

Word from archers hunting northeastern Washington is that bucks are still rutting hard in Stevens and Pend Oreille Counties, home to the state’s highest concentration of whitetails. Across the border in northern Idaho, the same scenario holds true. Next week, I’ll focus a detailed report on the two states, with intel from late archers on buck movement, including reports from hunter Troy Pottenger targeting 170-class bucks in both states.

Meanwhile, rutting activity in far western Montana appears to be hotter than most of the rest of the state, where rut activity is still occurring but sliding down from its peak. Just before Thanksgiving, Nuridia Nulliner of Missoula took this dandy whitetail on a backcountry hunt. Here’s how she tells it:

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By Jeff Holmes

Overall activity status: Western landscapes were hot with rutting bucks and receptive does over the Thanksgiving holiday. Rampant rutting is still the story most areas of the West, and rut activity is at or nearing a peak. The biggest of bucks are becoming active during daytime hours, and some are falling, like this four-point behemoth with a split-brow tine. This buck is undoubtedly the biggest four-point western whitetail I have ever seen in a photo or on a wall. He was killed while wildly chasing a does just before the end of legal shooting light in northern Missoula County, Montana, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Dale Manning is a world-class taxidermist at Custom Bird Works and the Big Game Connection  in Missoula. He measured the deer’s inside spread at 24 inches. “This is the widest whitetail I’ve ever measured,” he said. Manning and I have both heard absurd stories of much wider bucks, but such deer are almost as rare as Bigfoot.
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By Jeff Holmes

Many western whitetail hunters only take to the field during the season, sometimes just on weekends, sometimes just on opening day. Even for those of us who make it our business to observe of whitetail behavior, it’s tough to be as in-touch with current deer patterns as are two of the biggest western whitetail outfitters.

Both Montana Whitetails’ Keith Miller and Wyoming’s Wind River Whitetails’ Mike Rinehart are able to monitor large deer herds daily, while also receiving first-hand reports from their hunters and staff. Their reports this fall have often foreshadowed what hunters on the ground have seen.

According to both Rinehart and Miller, the rut has started, but somebody forgot to tell the does. [ Read Full Post ]

By Jeff Holmes

Finally, the rut is starting in earnest across the West. Scrapes are starting to appear all over the six western whitetail states, and bucks have been observed chasing does in Colorado and Montana. We’re still a little early in most parts of the region for widespread rutting, but the deer have definitely gotten started.

Dale Denney of Bearpaw Outfitters is based out of Colville, Washington, but hunts several other Western states, including Montana. He offers this report: Bucks have started rutting pretty good in Central Montana. Just in the last two days, we have found three scrapes, we have seen one doe with bucks following her, and we videoed a crazy little forky yesterday morning rubbing on a small bush like it was a fierce opponent.
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