Buckle up, bowhunters. This week should bring your best rut hunting of the entire season. Each year, as part of our annual Best Days of the Rut coverage, we choose and overall Best Day, and because there are many more gun hunters than bowhunters chasing deer each fall, that day is usually a little later in November, when more firearms seasons are open. (This year it's November 15.) But if we were to pick a Best Day for bowhunters specifically, it would be during the middle of November's the first week.
The 4th would be fine, and the 6th would suffice, but we've picked the 5th this year in homage to F&S's late, great whitetails columnist, Scott Bestul, who authored this annual story for well over a decade until he passed away this spring. November 5th was Bestul's birthday. (Happy Birthday, Scott!) He was obviously born to hunt the rut, and he never let his b-day pass without getting into the deer woods.
If you're a bowhunter—or if your lucky enough that your gun season is already open—you should, too. Because bowhunters need to get so close to deer, the best rut hunting is just before the chase phase turns into an all-out frenzy, when there's plenty of action but you still have a good chance of calling a buck into range and can still stop a buck for a shot. Bestul's birthday should be just about perfect.
Related: The Best Days of the 2025 Whitetail Rut
Rut Phase: Early Chasing
Bestul used to point out that although seeking and chasing are both technically part of the same rut phase, there's no doubt that it starts with more seeking and ends with more chasing—and the time when more seeking becomes more chasing alway fell right around his birthday. So that's what most hunters can expect to see now.
Up until now, bucks have largely been satisfied to cruise around doe feeding and bedding areas, testing the air for signs of a hot doe and initiating some half-hearted chases. But as we move closer to the second week of the month and more does come into estrous, bucks—especially mature bucks for whom the 2025 rut isn't their first rodeo—will become more aggressive about finding a willing mate, and more persistent about sealing the deal once they do. In short, you're are about to see and hear more deer running, crashing, and ping-ponging through the timber during shooting hours.
Buck activity will only intensify from this period through peak breeding. We are not quite at the full-on-frenzy stage yet in most of whitetail range, be we're close. This Wednesday also happens to be a Super Hunter's Moon. Does that mean the hunting will be better? Some think so. I think that the name alone—Super Hunter's Moon—pretty much requires you to get out there. The action should be, well, stellar.
November 5 Morning Hunt Plan: Stake Out a Doe Bedding Area
I'm not the first to pick Bestul's birthday as a Best Day of the Rut. He did it himself more than once, each time offering plans for how to hunt in the middle of November's first week. Seeing that I picked this day as a tribute to our late Whitetail editor, let's have him tell you how to hunt it in his own words. Here is a morning plan, and below an afternoon plan, taken right from Bestul's playbook.
I love setting up on the edge of doe bedding areas now, as bucks will be trolling downwind of these spots, sniffing for a willing mate as they return from destination food sources in the morning. Another bonus of this setup is that does being chased by bucks—especially does not ready to breed—will often flee toward bedding areas, where they hope to elude bucks in dense cover, or even confuse their pursuers by leading them to an area where other does are present. Look for major trails leading into a known doe bedding area, hang a stand, and stay in it for as much of the morning as possible.
November 5 Evening Hunt Plan: Rattle from a No-Bust Stand
I’ve long maintained that the ultimate deer call during this phase of the rut would be one that imitates the sounds of deer running through leaves. I’ve lost track of the number of bucks that I’ve seen walking through the timber (sometimes heading right for my stand) when they suddenly pause to listen and then sprint off to when they heard the sounds of a chase. Until that call is invented, we’re stuck with rattling, grunting and snort-wheezing, which, of course, are all effective.
The only problem with rattling or calling is that most older, savvier bucks are apt to approach from the downwind side. So, the key here is to have a stand where the wind carries your scent toward an obstacle that a deer can’t (or won’t) navigate; a steep hill or bluff, a sharp creek bank, a barbwire fence—or a stand where the terrain falls off sharply enough on the downwind side that your scent with ride harmlessly above an approaching buck. My buddies and I call these no-bust stands, and they are perfect for calling during the rut.
Another way to keep a buck from circling downwind of you is to give him something else to circle downwind of. Namely, a decoy. So, whenever I'm ratting near open cover, such as a destination food source, a food plot, or the edge of a CRP field, I’ll stake out a doe decoy out in front of me to give an incoming buck something to focus on and keep him from circling on me. Try this setup for the afternoon hunt, and be ready for a buck to come running in.
Related: How to Rattle in Whitetail Bucks
Hot Tip: Don't Forget the Oak Flats
We've reached the stage of the rut where you'll want to focus your afternoon hunting efforts around do feeding areas. For many hunters, that means ag field and food plots. And those spots can certainly be hot right now. But don't forget the oaks. Does that aren't ready to breed don't want to be bothered by bucks, and they know that their suiters are less likely to spot them if they stay in the timber, not far from thick cover. This makes oak flats prime doe feeding areas now. Do some quick midday scouting to find the best feeding sign under the oaks then hang a stand and settle in. And don't forget your bleat call. —D.H.
