The rut is something that we hunters passionately wait for throughout the year but especially once the various Southern states' deer seasons begin. Regardless of where we will be afield, we will have to make some major decisions during this time. Here, then, are five strategies that may increase our chances for success this year.

ALLOW CURRENT CONDITIONS TO DICTATE HOW YOU HUNT
To the subhead above, I might rephrase it to read, "Allow current -- and local -- conditions to dictate how you hunt." The problem here is ascertaining what stage of the reproductive period is actually taking place concerning your local whitetails. It's not uncommon for sportsmen in the same county to be witnessing entirely different buck behavior.

For example, many of us, including this writer, have a network of friends who likewise pursue whitetails. During the course of a season, and especially as the rut nears or advances, we will contact these individuals -- and they us -- to share successes and commiserate concerning failures.

Several years ago over a period of two days, I contacted four of my buddies in order to receive their field reports. The results are as follows. Note that we were all hunting within a two-county area.

• Acquaintance -- A told me that the rut was nearly over and had been winding down for the past few days. He had already tagged a nice buck that was chasing a doe.
• Buddy -- B proclaimed that the rut had not yet begun, but it was about to. That day he had witnessed several bucks pursuing does. He was quite optimistic and expected to kill a good buck any day.
• Colleague -- C admitted that he was confused about just what stage the rut was in. The "moon phase and weather," he said, had caused his local deer to be "all messed up." The whitetails had "just disappeared, who knows where."
• Deer hunter -- D flatly announced that the rut was long over. He had killed two fine bucks and would now try to tag a doe for the freezer.

And what news did I have for my compatriots? Over the course of those two days, I had observed only two whitetails: a scrawny 2-pointer that was bedded with a smallish doe. For all I knew, the duo could have been brother and sister that had remained together because their mother had died the year before.

My point is that all deer activity is local, just as is such highly relevant factors as buck-to-doe ratio, weather conditions and existing hunting pressure. Yes, I know that moon phases and photoperiods play a crucial role in the rut. However, knowing what is going on locally on your 40-, 400- or 4,000-acre tract is often more important than just about anything else.

In any given county in any given state -- because of various local factors -- the bucks may be in the pre-rut phase and chasing, actively mating, or in the final phases of the rut. The only way to know for sure is to go afield as often as and as long as you can day after day.

ADAPT TO THE DEER
The preceding strategy leads to this second one: That is, we should understand the importance of being able to adapt to the deer and change how we are hunting based on their behavior. For instance, let's assume that the does on your local tract have not quite entered estrus. The bucks, however, have become filled with vinegar and are busily jousting with each other, laying down scrapes, and marking rub lines.

This would be a marvelous time to engage in some activities that could lure bucks to our stand sites. Rattling is a very viable tactic now and it probably has a greater chance of working than at any other time of the season. Conversely, say two weeks later when the bucks may very well be actively mating, our rattling will have little chance of paying off.

This same time during the pre-rut would also offer us a great opportunity to draw in a nice buck by creating scent trails. A buck that comes across the first doe-in-heat trail of the season could come charging to our stand. But, again, relying on doe-in-heat potions when the forest is full of the smell of estrous females is a gambit that is not nearly as likely to result in success.

My favorite strategy to implement throughout most of the rut (all in fact, except for the actual mating period) is to set up along rub lines. This past season, for example, four times I witnessed an excellent 8-pointer moving along a rub line. Three of those times were when I was afield with a compound, and the period was very early in the pre-rut.

On two of those occasions, I was able to draw back on the buck, but either the old boy would never stop within a shooting lane or his vital area would remain behind some tree. The last time I saw the 8-pointer was during the gun season when he was clearly on a mission and was steadily moving along the rub line. I grunted and bleated to him, but he never turned or even slowed his pace. In response to my calling, a 3-pointer did immediately show up at my stand, but I never saw the massive 8 again that season. I can only hope that he will make a reappearance this autumn. And chances are that if he does, it will be along that rub line.