"When the rut hits, he's looking for big does. Bucks want the 2- and 3-year-old does, especially the 3-year-olds, because those are the ones that will drop two fawns almost every time. You need to find does' bedding areas and places they're feeding."

Instead of setting up along rub lines or scrape lines, Longworth sets up around does, pure and simple, or he looks for little runs that does use to get from their bedding areas to places they feed.

"During the rut, with the bucks on the move, I like to look for little corridors between wood lots where a doe will move from one place to another," he said. "I concentrate on doe trails.

"Obviously, everybody has heard that bucks have little trails off the beaten path, indistinct, but close to the does' trails. Well, during the rut they're right with the does -- right on their tails, right on their trails. This is the kind of stuff that everybody has read before, but it's true.

"And I love hunting the edges of swamps," he added. "The thicker, the better, because does will live in there and come out."

To watch what's going on among the does, Pye says, bucks may use certain areas that they don't normally frequent. These would include knolls or ridges in rolling terrain that offer a good view of the trails taken by does in transit from home to grocery store. And Pye pays special attention to scents -- both his own and the kind that bucks are searching for.

"I'll use some kind of spray and spray down everything I have with something that will kill my scent," he said. "And I'll try to use some kind of clothing that contains your odor, like Xscent.

"You need to use some kind of doe-in-heat lure. There are a lot of them, and all of them are really good. They'll help you get as close to him as possible."

Pye doesn't totally discount checking a buck's scrapes during the peak of the rut, because, he says, bucks will visit at least some of them to look for does just coming into estrus that haven't been bred.

"You do want to know where the really big scrapes are," he said. "The ones I call 'community scrapes' -- the ones that are as big as the hood of a car. Every deer coming through that area is going to visit that scrape, does and bucks. A buck will come through and check a big scrape like that to find a doe that's ready, but once he finds her, he'll leave those scrapes alone for a couple of days.

"In the peak breeding season, a dominant buck may breed nine does in two weeks. As they come into their cycle, he'll find 'em and spend two or three days, breeding them every time they'll let him. When he's finished, he'll find another and spend two or three days with her."

Pye pays special attention to creeks, ponds or other sources of water. Even if a buck doesn't eat during the peak of the breeding period, he's still got to go to water sometime during the day.

"One key thing is to know where the water is," he said. "A big buck, even if he's not feeding, he has to get water. They lose so much weight in body heat when they're running that they've got to have water to survive. So if I can find a source of water close to where the does are feeding or bedding, that's a place he'll visit every day."