The Rut

The time of year we hunters dream of will be starting any day now. When bucks are chasing doe with only one thing on their mind. Deer running all around without a care. They are the days where you can seemingly do no wrong, and those days are here. “The Rut” is upon us.

With our annual Guys Weekend trip coming up this week, I was able to get up to camp for a pre-trip hunt and scout. I was up at 4:00 AM today, showered, packed up my lunch & coffee, and was out the door at 4:45 AM. The drive up was eventful in and of itself. On 5 different occasions, I had deer on or crossing the road. I arrived at camp around 6:15 AM and after a quick stop inside to get my hunting clothes on, I hit the woods.

I headed back to the “Graveyard” area where I missed a big bucks a few weeks ago. On my way in, I saw 2 deer on the road, and another as I walked out the trail. It was a pretty slow morning once I got in the stand, but the chipmunks and squirrels crunching the leaves all around me had me on high alert. Regardless, I was happy to be in the woods, knowing that things could change any minute.

Finally, at 10:30 AM, I heard the “crunch, crunch, crunch” of deer hooves trotting through the timber. I turned around to see a shooter 8-point at 75 yards. As he angled slightly my way, I reached for my bow. He ended up crossing over the trail I walked in on and down over the ridge to my left, coming to 55 yards at his closest.

I stayed up until noon before climbing down, and bumped yet another deer at 12:15 PM as I got to the truck. With all of this activity, I can’t wait for the week ahead.