The Best Week for Finding a Trophy Buck
Understand the Does' Secrets, and Hunt Between the
Honeymoon Suites
 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.
Most hunters have misconceptions about the rut. However,
scientific observation has shed new light on what actually
occurs just before and during the magic 24 hours when
a doe becomes receptive to a buck. "Just before
a doe goes into estrus,
she begins to move away from other does and yearlings
and into isolated, thick-covered areas," Dr. Keith
Causey, former professor of wildlife science and a wildlife
researcher at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama,
reveals. "A doe's normal home range is about 400
acres. However, just before she comes into estrus, she'll
move into and hold in a thick-covered region, usually
30 acres or less. As she starts into estrus, she'll
begin to urinate frequently and leave a tremendous amount
of scent within that 30-acre range where she's holding."
Research indicates that the doe stays within this 30-acre
honeymoon site to let the buck find her. Some scientists
believe the estrous doe moves away from the other does
and yearlings to keep the buck from becoming confused
by other deer scents when he comes looking fo r
her. "Once the doe establishes this small area
to hold in, she'll remain in that region until the buck
she wants to mate with comes in to breed," Causey
explains. "Or, she may leave that area for a short
time if an inferior buck with which she doesn’t
want to breed comes in and chases her." Harold
Knight, the co-creator of Knight and Hale Game Calls
in Cadiz, Kentucky, has developed a hunting strategy
that takes advantage of this new research. "Three
or four hunting buddies and I will take stands in small,
thick-covered areas where does come to breed,"
Knight comments. "If  we
spook a buck out of the area, we'll still take a stand
in one of these spots because we know that either that
buck or another buck will come there to check for a
hot doe. If one of us spooks a buck, that buck will
likely go to another patch of cover, looking for another
doe during the rut."
Hunt Between the Honeymoon Suites:
Knight's partner David Hale, also of Cadiz and a longtime,
avid deer hunter, uses a different strategy to take
advantage of the same phenomenon. "I target traveling
bucks. Instead of taking a stand in the thick-cover
areas where the does breed, I'll put a stand between
two thick-cover places, hoping to down a buck that's
moving between these little honeymoon spots. I also
may have the opportunity to take a buck coming out of
one of these areas after he’s chased the doe and
played the cat-and-mouse game they enjoy playing while
they're courting."
Tomorrow: Recognize the Different
Types of Classes, and Realize How the Rut Affects the
Home Range
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