The Whitetail Rut Calendar | Grand View Outdoors (2024)
Summary
Like Christmas for adult bowhunters, the rut generates visions of sugar plums in the form of mature, preoccupied whitetail bucks stopping broadside at 20 yards. As a young bowhunter, I anticipated the November rut (yes, Midwest reference) to finally achieve the upper hand on a buck lost in the fog of breeding. Bucks begin moving more during daylight hours, establishing patterns and seeking out doe groups for that first hint of estrus to ensure successful breeding of the herd. With testosterone in the driver’s seat, bucks begin to visit doe groups congregated on food sources to make sure they do not miss that first whiff of estrus. Find a series of fresh rubs leading from suspected hideouts and you may have one of the pieces to your puzzle solved as bucks begin to extend daylight movement with a pattern.