The scrape is a place that female deer—the doe—come and check out the males. If they're interested in a particular male, when they come into heat they'll urinate in the scrape as well and hang around the scrape. The male will regularly check some of these scrapes, but they won't check all of them. Some scrapes are referred to as primary scrapes, and that's usually a cluster of scrapes in a line.
As the females come closer to estrus, the bucks are checking the scrapes almost every hour. When they detect a doe that is very close to being in heat, they'll pick up a track and follow that doe and mate with her several times.
Big bucks like this dandy tend to drop their guard during the rut. This means that if you're a buck, there is lot of competition for does, so there is quite a bit of dominant behaviour between males over females. This is why rattling antlers and grunting can really pay off. Dominant bucks are always trying to keep their turf free of wannabes. In places where there are many more does than bucks, the bucks are more likely to have a harem and less likely to pick a fight.
Rattling with real or artificial antlers, a rattle bag, or a plastic device like the Rack n Roll can mimic a fight and call in big bucks. Calling bucks with devices like the Rack and Roll will attract the big boys in. One is the buck snort. That's a big blowing sound, and any member of the deer fraternity can do it. Deer often do this when startled and they start blowing a loud "whoof, whoof" at you.
If you've startled a deer and you're working into the wind, you can make a big blowing sound with a challenge or deer growl call and it will think you're just another deer.
The rut refers to all behaviors and activities associated with the breeding season. There are several behaviors associated with the rut. Rutting behavior typically begins around the time that velvet is shed from the antlers coinciding with decreasing day length and increasing testosterone levels and ends when antlers are shed coinciding with declining testosterone levels.
The first sign of rutting behavior is often sparring among bucks. Sparring may take place between bucks of equal stature or between a dominant and subordinate buck.
Initially, these are usually short-lived, low intensity, pushing and shoving matches. These sparring matches may help establish the dominance hierarchy among males.
As the peak of the breeding season approaches, sparring matches may give way to full-blown antler fights. These generally take place between bucks of similar hierarchal status. These trees show wear from rubbing. Rubs are made as part of deer rutting behavior.
The middle six phases containing the rut of the 13 phases outlined in DeerCast are:. Interestingly, also brings us a super new moon on November 4. A super moon full or new is when the moon is at its closest to Earth in its elliptic orbit. What might be early in the rut for many parts of the country could also be a great target date to be in a tree stand or blind.
Pre-Lock is a great time to start calling, using your grunt tube or rattling antlers to try to make something happen in the whitetail woods. Often the oldest, most mature bucks can be found in daylight hours during this time of year as they are seeking that very first doe in estrus. This is the time of year you can start to get aggressive. Honestly, the best days to hunt, in my opinion, are as much as possible between October 25 and Thanksgiving.
All signs point favorably to an early morning hunt coinciding with the super new moon on November 4. With the new moon falling right in line with the rut window, this specific day offers a good shot at a buck. With repetition comes experience.
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