By Scott Bestul

Rut Reporter Scott Bestul is a Field & Stream’s Whitetails columnist and writes for the website’s Whitetail365 blog. The Minnesotan has taken 13 Pope & Young-class whitetails and has hunted, guided for, and studied deer in the north-central region all his life. States covered: IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, WI.

Avery Hansen is a good friend of mine from Soldotna, Alaska. For the last several years, he’s made an annual pilgrimage to the bluff country of western Wisconsin to bowhunt for whitetails. Back home, Avery has tagged almost every Alaskan big game animal, including—last March—a very large muskox, which he took with a bow. I’d like to go on record that muskox tenderloin is extremely tasty, and the only reason I know that is because Avery grilled one and served it up after I’d joined him for a hunt last week.

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By David Draper

Rut Reporter David Draper grew up hunting deer and small game throughout this region and presently lives on a family farm in Nebraska. Draper, former communications specialist for Cabela’s and an authority on the Great Plains, subsists on a diet of duck breast and venison. States covered: ND, SD, NE and KS.

The Nebraska rifle season opened with a literal bang this past weekend. I heard my first rifle report at 6:59 Saturday morning, and the shooting continued through last light on Sunday, when I climbed down from my stand with a statewide buck tag still unpunched. No worries, though, as I have the rest of the week to hunt and I have some good deer--both whitetails and mulies, I’ve been scouting for a month. Hopefully at least one of them survived the weekend.
 
One deer I had a tip on that didn’t was this nice 10 pointer taken by my good friend Mark Nelsen about 11 a.m. Saturday morning. I was in a stand a few hundred yards from Nelsen and heard his H&R slug gun bark just as I was about to climb down for a quick lunch break. I made my way over to Nelsen and found him tying his tag to the rack of this nice, tall 10. [ Read Full Post ]

By Eric Bruce

Rut Reporter Eric Bruce has been writing about hunting and fishing for newspapers and magazines for 25 years and hunts deer all over the South, including near his Georgia home. States covered: AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL.
 


Overall Activity Status Nov. 14: The rut is on in Georgia, tapering off in South Carolina, and getting real close in Arkansas. Hunters all across Georgia are seeing bucks chasing does and many nice bucks are being taken. There has been a significant increase in rutting activity in Arkansas ,with bucks making scrapes and sparring.

Fighting: Georgia and South Carolina are seeing bucks fighting with the rut ongoing. With the rut getting closer in Arkansas, hunters are seeing bucks sparring. One hunter reported seeing eight bucks in one sitting with several of them fighting.  [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

Rut Reporter Scott Bestul is a Field & Stream’s Whitetails columnist and writes for the website’s Whitetail365 blog. The Minnesotan has taken 13 Pope & Young-class whitetails and has hunted, guided for, and studied deer in the north-central region all his life. States covered: IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, WI.

Nov. 14: We’ve had largely mild weather conditions for the previous couple of weeks. That all changed across much of the region this weekend, as a sloppy mix of rain, sleet and snow moved in and changed shirtsleeve temps and sunny skies into more November-like stuff. Hunters ditched the T-shirts and looked for warm layers and rain gear!

Did this nastiness going to make hunting better or worse? We’ll find out shortly. I’m betting the cooler temps and lower light conditions put more bucks on their feet during daylight hours….Undoubtedly a good thing. But the flip side? It’s simply tougher to stick with it as a hunter, so fewer bucks will have been shot. Only those who’ve got good clothing and can grit their teeth and grind out the stand-time tagged out. [ Read Full Post ]

By Brandon Ray

Rut Reporter Brandon Ray is an expert on the region. Ray was born in Dallas and shot his first deer with a bow in Central Texas at the age of 15. The full-time freelance writer manages his family’s Texas Panhandle ranch, is a licensed New Mexico guide, and last year took a 184 gross P&Y non-typical trophy. States covered: TX, OK, NM.

Nov. 12--Overall Activity Status: Bucks seem less tolerant of each other with each day that passes. I watched two medium-sized 8-points walk stiff-legged around each other, heads tipped down, both itching for a reason to fight. Eventually, they went their separate ways, but clearly the boys are not friendly any more. They are not willing to share the girls. I saw two other bucks trotting, nose to the ground, like they were scent trailing something.

Two friends killed big bucks this past week in the northern Texas Panhandle: One a big 160-inch 10-point spotted and stalked in big crop fields and CRP fields; the other a 150-plus buck with extra kickers spotted and stalked in similar terrain. That buck had a G-2 snapped completely off. The trail cam pics of that same buck showed that tine was about 12 inches long. As bucks spend more time sparring, expect more tines to be busted. Both bucks were taken with a rifle.

Rub Making: The more country I scout, the more rubs I find. Friends in Central and North Texas report small rubs around every corn feeder on their lease.
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By Scott Bestul

Rut Reporter Scott Bestul is a Field & Stream’s Whitetails columnist and writes for the website’s Whitetail365 blog. The Minnesotan has taken 13 Pope & Young-class whitetails and has hunted, guided for, and studied deer in the north-central region all his life. States covered: IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, WI.

Nov. 10: If you need additional proof of the craziness that is the whitetail rut, look no further than Michigan. That’s where a pair of fishermen—after steelhead in the St. Joe River—saw a pair of giant bucks engaged in a knock-down fight on the river bank. The fight carried the bucks into the river, where they both eventually drowned. According to reports at this time, the DNR issued tags allowing the fishermen to keep the carcasses.

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