November 15th is two things. It's a day that falls in the second full week of November, and it's the third Saturday of the month. And that, in a nutshell explains why it's a third thing: our No. 1, overall Best Day of the 2025 Whitetail Rut.
In many states, the peak of the whitetail breeding cycle and the firearms opener will collide this Saturday—and the result will be a whole lot of happy deer hunters. Yup, we know that any time you hit the woods in mid-November, you are flirting with the dreaded lockdown—when the largest percentage of does are in estrous and the largest percentage of bucks are too busy breeding them to walk past your stand. But that hardly means every buck is pinned down on every property. We'll get to that. But also, the fact that the firearms season will either have been open or will just be opening this weekend—and the increased hunting pressure that this will bring—means even otherwise locked-down deer are apt to be up and moving . If you know where to set up, you can be sitting pretty. You can go out there and think of yourself as a poster, waiting in a primo spot, during the season's biggest deer drive.
The bottom line is that a whole lot of hunters are going to fill their tags on Saturday, not necessarily because it'll offer the hottest natural buck movement of the year, but because bucks are bound to be on their feet when scads of both bowhunters and gun hunters can take advantage.
Related: The 7 Best Days of the 2025 Whitetail Rut
Rut Phase: Peak Breeding
In most of whitetail range, deer should be either in the thick of the peak breeding phase or at the tail end of it. This, of course, raises the spectre of the lockdown. Anyone who's sat for days in the middle of November and seen nothing but lonesome fawns and the occasional young buck knows how tough the lockdown can be. But we shouldn't forget that it isn't the total death knell of buck activity that some make it out to be. The exact timing of lockdown can vary significantly even within the same region. Bucks can be ghosts on one farm and bouncing all over the woods on another just 20 miles down the road. Also, at any time during lockdown—and especially as peak breeding winds down and most does are bred—there will be mature bucks that have finished tending one doe and are off to find another.
But even if a lot of bucks are busy with does now, there’s another factor that could put one in your sights on Saturday, and it’s the reason November 15th is our overall best day: When day breaks early Saturday morning, a huge influx of gun hunters in many state will have deer ping-ponging around the woods, trying to find a quiet place away from the hubbub.
November 15 Morning Hunt Plan: Set Up on a Sanctuary
Your plan for today should be the same as the deer's: seek sanctuary. There's a good chance you already know where your deer typically go to take refuge: a swamp, an impenetrable thicket, or a sanctuary area you've created yourself simply by making it off-limits up until now. That's where you want to be today, either in the sanctuary itself if there are known travel routes within it, or on a funnel or pinch point that leads into the area.
If you are a bowhunter and have a bow-only property, that can be money now. F&S's late whitetails editor Scott Bestul and I used to hunt his bow-only spots during the firearms season, and the activity of other hunters on neighboring properties often made our hunting better. Bucks that lived there went on with their rutting activity as usual, and bucks that didn't moved in for the relative safety.
If you want to see the most action today, your plan should be to use the activity of fellow hunters to your advantage. But if your goal is to escape the pressure yourself, keep in mind that a sanctuary doesn't have to be a swamp or a thicket or any particular type of cover. It can be any place far from the maddening crowd. Hike or paddle to where few other hunters go; or drive to wilderness tract where the sheer size of the place spreads the pressure thin.
Either way, remember that the rut doesn't stop for the firearms opener. Once deer are in a place where they feel relatively safe, bucks are going to be seeking does today. It's worth staying in your stand for a good long stretch this morning—and maybe all day as long as you are seeing deer.
Related: How to Rattle In Whitetail Bucks
November 15 Evening Hunt Plan: Hunt a Hidden Food Source
Just as deer will continue to rut during the firearms season, does, especially, will continue to eat, and bucks won't be far behind. The difference now, of course, is that most deer will be far less likely to stick their noses out in an open ag field or large food plot. Instead, they are going to hit hidden food sources close to or within those sanctuary areas.
You hunting ground's best oak flat could be the perfect spot tonight, as could a young clear cut, or a small kill plot in thick cover that you haven't hunted much to this point. Just keep in mind that the deer apt to show up in these spots will probably be on edge. Whether you are hunting with a gun or bow, you'll want to be conservative with your set up; make sure you can get in without alerting deer and that you have a good steady wind in your favor. If you're toting a rifle, use its reach to stay as far off the action as you can while still having a good shot.
Hot Tip: Make a Play on a Breeding Pair
This is that time of the rut when you're most apt to spot a buck and doe paired up in some oddball little spot, sometimes in the relative open. So why not up your odds of spotting a breeding pair by looking a little harder? If you're not in for an all-day sit, spend some time at midday driving around your property (or properties), stopping often to glass fields, pastures, ditches, and wood lines. And if you find what you're looking for, remember the old saw: Never leave deer to find deer. Plot out a stalk and make a play. If it works, you'll have your buck and a cool story to tell. If it doesn't, you'll still get a nice break from sitting in a stand or blind, and you'll probably have a more fun midday hunt than most.
