Get A Buck Under Any Condition: How To Hunt The Rut When …

How to Hunt The Rut When It’s Rainy
Degree is important here. Bucks adore a light mist or drizzle, which reduces ambient light, allows quiet walking, and makes them feel safe. Hunt your usual stands, and don’t be afraid to sit near open cover that a normally light-shy buck would shun. If it’s a real frog choker, stay home.

How to Hunt The Rut When It’s Windy
Unless trees are tipping over, never let wind stop you. Wind can make whitetails shift locations to the lee sides of hills and to low, thick cover, so shift your hunting efforts accordingly. In open habitat, deer are so used to wind that they don’t hole up until Toto flies past.

How to Hunt The Rut When It’s Snowing
Light to moderate snow puts deer on their feet like nothing else. In a heavy snow, keep hunting but shift toward canopied cover (upland conifer stands and swamps), where deer escape the wind and precipitation. When it’s really howling, mix a hot toddy and wait for things to calm down.

How to Hunt The Rut When It’s Really Hot
Do single young men chase women when it’s hot out? Of course they do. But a lot of the action takes place in the evening when it’s cooler, or near water. And that’s your clue to hunting in heat. Stick close to bedding areas, or at least a pond or creek where a buck can cool down.

How to Hunt The Rut When There’s Heavy Pressure
Hunters in high-pressure places often think the rut never occurred. Wrong. Deer just moved to places hunters won’t go, such as dense cover protected by a swamp, river, or mountain. Follow them. If you don’t get scratched, winded, or wet en route, you’re going in the wrong direction.

How to Hunt The Rut When The Ratio Is Imbalanced
When mature bucks don’t have to compete for does, there’s little need for them to advertise machismo by rubbing and scraping. But they never quit altogether, and the best bucks will always lay down sign. Pull on hiking boots and keep walking until you find it.