The Best Week for Finding a Trophy Buck
Do Your Homework, and Know You Have A Trophy Buck
To Hunt
 Editor’s
Note: Famed baseball announcer Dizzy Dean once said,
"If you done it, it ain't braggin'." And friends,
I've done it. I've found the magic week to hunt deer
that increases my odds for bagging a trophy buck. You
don't have to bet on moon charts, tide charts, soothsayers
or any hunting aids. But you can bet on experience from
top biologists and hunters. Read on to learn how to
down a buck during the best week of the year.
Dr. Keith Causey, former professor of wildlife science
and a wildlife researcher at Auburn University in Auburn,
Alabama, suggests that departments of conservation in
most states can give you the date when the majority
of the deer in each section of that state conceive.
"Of course there are some variables," Causey
cautions. "Ex treme
weather conditions can throw the rut off by as much
as a week. Another factor that determines the rut is
where the deer originated in the area where you hunt.
For instance, Alabama has used deer from Michigan and
South Carolina as well as from Alabama for restocking.
Some sections of the state have a November rut, other
areas a December rut and other regions stocked with
native Alabama deer have a February rut." Therefore,
if you don't know where the deer have come from to restock
the place you hunt, you can't pinpoint when the peak
of the rut will occur. Though biologists consider February
11 the perfect day to hunt the rut in 60% of Alabama,
I'll miss the rut by three months if I hunt in  northwest
Alabama and by two months if I hunt in northeast Alabama.
When you speak with the biologists in your state, be
sure to tell them the specific section of the state
where you plan to hunt. Then they can give you the peak
rut date for that area and not the statewide rut date.
By doing this, you can target the best week of the season
to hunt.
Know You Have A Trophy Buck To Hunt:
To take a trophy buck during the best week of the season
to hunt, you must know you have a trophy buck on the
property. You can determine if a trophy buck lives on
the land you hunt. "I hunt for sheds during turkey
season," Causey reports. "I know that one
or two trophy bucks live on my hunting lease that I've
never spotted nor have the people with whom I hunt.
Each season, these bucks leave huge sheds on the property,
but we never see the deer." Causey recommends you
search for a trophy buck for two weeks after the season
and a month or more before the season. "Older age-class
bucks are extremely sensitive to hunting pressure,"
Causey emphasizes. "After hunting season is over
and before hunting season begins, these bucks will frequent
open places during daylight hours much more often than
they will when hunting season is taking place. Therefore,
if you scout intensively two weeks after the season
and a month before the season comes in, you may be able
to see that trophy buck of your dreams."
Tomorrow: Understand the Does'
Secrets, and Hunt Between the Honeymoon Suites
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