Warm weather continues to hamper buck activity, but cooler temperatures are forecasted soon and should kick things into gear. (Shutterstock)
November 20, 2024
By Game & Fish Staff
This is Week 5 of the 2024 Game & Fish Regional Rut Update , a series of exclusive weekly rut reports from the field by whitetail contributors Doug Howlett (East), Brandon Butler (Midwest) and Josh Honeycutt (South). This week's report includes:
In the East, Howlett describes the East rut as "weird" due to extreme localization of buck activity with many areas seeing bucks on lockdown. Despite the inconsistencies, plenty of hunters are finding big bucks. In the South, Honeycutt reports that some areas are experiencing the full rut with bucks on the move at all daylight hours checking scrapes, while in other locations such activity is still a couple weeks away.In the Midwest, Butler says unseasonably warm weather is slowing buck activity, but forecasted cooler weather should shift things into overdrive. EAST REPORT Challenging Conditions Lead to Sub-Optimal Results Things have been anything but normal during the Eastern rut so far, but things could change this weekend. By Doug Howlett
If I were going to use one word to describe the 2024 rut in the East, it would be “weird.” The last couple of years that I’ve written this report, the action has been clear-cut throughout the region, with deer going gangbusters up and down the coast, from Virginia to Maine, at roughly the same time. This year, the action seems to be extremely localized—meaning you’re either seeing deer or you’re not. Some blame EHD outbreaks in areas, though those reports are most often unconfirmed. It’s certainly been a strange year for me and my fellow hunters on the land we hunt in Virginia . Most likely due to the warmer-than-usual weather, the wide dispersal of acorns off of our property, not on it, and perhaps even changes in cover habitat, the deer activity has been noticeably down this year.
But talk to enough hunters and take a visual cruise on social media, and you’ll see plenty of big bucks destined to take up residence on lucky hunters’ walls. Hunters I’ve spoken with in New York and Massachusetts have all reported lackluster buck movement over the past week. I sat on a stand for nearly five hours one morning just three days into our firearms deer season and heard one shot. But a look at the Virginia Whitetails page on Facebook reveals certainly no shortage of bucks riding home in hunters’ trucks.
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If you ask me, most of us are in the throes of the dreaded lockdown, the literal peak of the rut when the majority of bucks are waiting to breed specific does before moving on to others. With no way to know when that inevitable movement will happen, you still need to be out there. And while we’ve talked in the past two to three weeks about warm weather giving way to cooler weather and how that will kick-start things, every two- to three-day cool snap has been erased by another wave of warm weather. However, another dip in temperature is beginning today in most of the Northeast, with temps dropping at least 10 degrees across the board. This news has hunters excited and should inspire those with buck tags yet to be filled to call in sick or cash in those PTO days they’re going to lose at the end of the year anyway.
Right now is as good as it’s going to get as we can anticipate post-rut conditions to become the norm in the following week, marking the last big hurrah of the rut before we head into late-season feeding patterns. Bucks from Virginia to Connecticut will be returning to scrapes and freshening them up as they seek the final wave of does in need of breeding.
Vermont’s Michael Wheeler suggests if you know where does are feeding, hunt nearby, as a big boy will show up at some point to check them.
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Another thing to keep in mind as you continue your rut-hunt approach is the fact that across most of the region, gun seasons are in or coming in this week. That means more crowded woods and deer kicked up and out of their normal patterns. Bucks that have been daylighting may cease to be so generous in their movement and begin going nocturnal. Get to your stand early and stay as late as the law and your optics allow you to catch bucks on the prowl at the fringes of the day.
The action is going to begin to slow as the week runs out, but it’s not quite over yet, so get out there and stay positive if you’re still trying to score big. And if you’ve already scored big, enjoy the moment. From the reports I’m hearing, you are in relatively rare company this deer season.
TAGGED OUT After a two-day, 15-mile foray into the remote mountains of Vermont, Ivan Blanchard used a flintlock muzzleloader to knock down this great-looking buck. (Photo courtesy of Ivan Blanchard) Going Old School Vermont hunter channels frontier spirit to tag a great buck.
Hunter : Ivan BlanchardDate : Nov. 16, 2024Location : Northwestern VermontMethod : Flintlock muzzleloaderStats : 9 pointsLet’s face it: There’s rugged, and then there’s Jeremiah Johnson-level rugged, and most of us are the former if we're lucky.. We drive to our lease in a heated F-150, slip out to our treestand or pop-up blind a few hundred yards away, sit for a few hours hoping a buck pops by, then head to town for a warm breakfast with our buddies. Ivan Blanchard, however, is Jeremiah Johnson rugged.
Last week, the Vermont hunter ventured into the remote mountains in the northwestern part of the Green Mountain State just north of Route 2 along the Canadian border. He spent two days and two nights living off the land, all the while dressed like Daniel Boone. His dog acted as a pack mule, toting a kettle and canteen on its back while the hunter carried everything else, including his trusty old-school muzzleloader tamped and loaded with a round ball.
He was cold and wet most of the time. Over the two days, he estimates he covered about 15 miles. By Saturday, Nov. 16, he found paydirt when he took this solid 9-pointer—a truly legit rack by Vermont standards—and then packed everything out himself. A tip of our coonskin cap to Mr. Blanchard.
GEAR The Moultrie Edge 2 Pro gives hunters an advantage by providing valuable intel without the need to regularly invade a buck's core area. (Photo courtesy of Moultrie) How to Get the Most from Cellular Trail Cams Trail cameras have come a long way in the last few years. Advances in trail cam technology and features allow hunters to mitigate human pressure in hunting areas, giving them a better chance of seeing quality deer while afield. The Moultrie Edge 2 Pro fits the bill for hunters with its Auto Connect Technology (all four major carriers) and an increase in built-in memory. The trail cam offers full HD images and videos with 40MP photos and 1440p video with audio. The On-Demand feature also allows hunters to trigger photos or videos remotely via the Moultrie Mobile App.
Whatever unit you place in the field, these tips and tricks will help you squeeze as much intel as possible to help harvest quality deer.
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SOUTH REPORT Rut Slowing in Some Areas, Heating Up in Others There’s still time for hunters in the South to cash in on deer season’s peak period. By Josh Honeycutt
The annual whitetail mating ritual may be approaching its final stages in some parts of Arkansas, Florida and South Carolina, but it is only nearing or just hitting its peak in the rest of the South. In fact, field reports indicate that deer hunters throughout the region still have a few weeks to take advantage of this highly anticipated phase.
Georgia-Kate McFerrin of “Legends of the Fall” says that bucks in south Texas are no longer in groups. As of Sunday, things were continuing to heat up, so she believes the rut will be in full swing in just a couple of weeks.
“It looks like some of the does are starting to come in, and a cold front is arriving later this week,” she says. “The hunting should be awesome the next 10 days.”
In Arkansas , diehard deer slayer Jay Jackson says the rut seems to have hit its peak.
“I’m still seeing some [bucks and does] locked down, but there’s not a lot of chasing,” he explains.
Outdoor writer and editor Brodie Swisher is seeing excellent deer movement in western Tennessee .
“We’re in the midst of our best week of rut action,” he says. “Bucks are on the move, and the bigger ones are making the rounds and visiting scrapes.”
Michael Lee of “Backwoods Life” in Georgia says that bucks are locked down and running does right now.
“They’re still feeding on acorns pretty hard, and there was a lot of nighttime activity during the full moon,” he says. “We just need colder weather, but things are getting good.”
Also in Georgia, comedian and hunting-show personality Michael Pitts says that things have picked up.
“I was hunting a few days ago and had a hot doe come through with six or seven bucks in tow. They stayed in the area for a good 45 minutes and put on a great show,” he says. “I also had an encounter with a great deer the other morning. We are supposed to get some rain, and then the temps are going to get lower. That’s a solid recipe for some big-buck hunting.”
Kinion Bankston of “Southern Boyz Outdoors” weighs in from Louisiana , where he says deer are still exhibiting their pre-rut habits. For instance, bucks are still hanging with other bucks. In Bankston’s estimation, the rut won’t kick off in Cajun Country until about the first of the new year.
Larry Stewart of Whitetail Properties just returned from Oklahoma . He says the deer there are on their usual feeding patterns, so the rut is likely to be subsiding already.
TAGGED OUT (Photo courtesy of Patrick Boyd) Tarheel Dandy North Carolina bowhunter downs an imposing buck.
Hunter : Patrick BoydDate : Nov. 10, 2024Location : Brunswick County, N.C.Method : Compound bowStats : 140 3/8 inchesAlthough most of the rut activity he’d seen was around Halloween, North Carolina’s Patrick Boyd recently bagged a great buck that first showed up on Oct. 10 and apparently decided to stick around.
“I was hunting a pinch point along a creek where hardwoods bordered a thicket, and I was late getting to the stand that day,” he says. “I settled in by about 3:45 p.m., but things remained slow until almost sunset. Then, three small bucks came out, followed by six does. Shortly after, a big 8 and a 10-pointer stepped out, but they were not chasing or pushing any does. They seemed more focused on feeding.”
Boyd opted not to shoot at either of the larger bucks because he knew an even bigger one was around, and it would typically come in with one of the smaller bucks that had shown up minutes earlier. His hunch was confirmed when the big fellow finally appeared.
“I did not expect him to come from the opposite direction that the rest of the deer came from,” Boyd says. “When I first saw him, he was already 30 yards away, and I didn’t have a clear shot. But he made a quick run to push the other two big bucks off, and that brought him just inside 20 yards. I had a small window while he was standing broadside. When I took the shot, there were so many deer running that I couldn’t tell if I heard him crash or not.”
Unsure if he’d hit the targeted buck, Boyd waited an hour before climbing down from his stand. He soon found half of his arrow and immediately knew his shot had been fatal. Boyd later recovered the deer about 50 yards away.
“I feel blessed to have harvested a whitetail of this quality in southeastern North Carolina,” says the bowhunter. “I typically spend most of the season helping my kids be successful hunting mature whitetails.”
This big buck, however, was all his.
VIDEO 3 Deer-Calling Strategies for Rutting Whitetails Know when to use grunts, bleats and snort wheezes to score during the deer rut. Understand the differences and uses of each call style. Don’t "over speak" to mature bucks. Just talk to them in a natural tone.
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MIDWEST REPORT Peak Rut Plagued by Warm Weather With cooler temps arriving, the action should heat up this weekend. By Brandon Butler
A full moon and temperatures in the 70s didn’t help deer hunters last weekend. Plenty of great bucks were still taken across the Midwestern region, but it was a tough week overall.
The Missouri Department of Conservation reported 68,312 deer were killed during the opening weekend of firearms season. Of those, 42,283 were antlered bucks, 5,105 were button bucks, and 20,924 were does. In 2023, gun hunters killed 90,253 deer on opening weekend. A 25 percent reduction in harvest is significant.
“The calendar shift this year put the November portion [of firearms season] a week later than last year, which results in lower deer harvest,” says Jason Isabelle, the state’s deer biologist. “The peak of the rut in Missouri occurs around November 10. When the calendar shifts, it puts the opener about a week past peak rut, when deer movement isn’t as high as it is earlier in the month.”
The good news is that temperatures are supposed to plummet before this coming weekend, and there are still plenty of deer left to hunt. This year, the second weekend of the firearms season may be a better hunt than the opener in Missouri.
It’s been warm in Kentucky, too, but cold weather is on its way to the Bluegrass State, too. The bucks are still showing strong rut signs, but the lockdown period is certainly underway.
“I have seen a few bucks in complete lockdown mode in the last couple of days,” says John Bond, who hunts near West Liberty. “I thought I was going to have to get a tractor out to move one buck off my lane. He was intent on staying put just downwind from a doe in a little thicket behind our barn.”
As more and more does become bred, bucks will have to work harder to find one that’s still receptive. They’ll travel farther; when they find one, they won’t leave her. This is the time of year when a buck can show up out of nowhere. Just when you think there aren’t any shooters left around, here comes a buck you’ve never seen or captured on camera.
In Wisconsin , Al Hogen reports seeing more rut sign this year than in recent memory.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but there are more rubs and scrapes this year than I can remember,” says Hogen, who hunts near Spooner. “It’s not just on one property, either. I’m seeing this on a few different farms that I hunt. The scrapes are still being worked, too. I sat over one big scrape on Saturday and had seven different bucks check and mess around with the licking branch in one morning. It’s been a fun season.”
The rut is still going strong across the Midwest. We’ve passed the peak, as Isabelle says, but life can be dangerous for big bucks when the pool of receptive does shallows. Keep hunting travel corridors, as you never know what may show up in search of just one more doe coming into estrus.
TAGGED OUT Ohio hunter Katie Wainscott took her first harvest ever with this 190-inch monster buck with her crossbow. (Photo courtesy of Katie Wainscott) Buckeye Booner Ohio hunter stalks 190-inch giant with crossbow.
Hunter : Katie WainscottDate : Nov. 10, 2024Location : Warren County, OhioMethod : CrossbowStats : 190 inchesAfter spotting this giant twice in one week while out riding her horse, Katie Wainscott and her husband, Markas, went after him the morning of Nov. 8, but he didn’t show. Katie had to leave town for a horse show over the weekend, but she came home to a surprise Sunday afternoon.
“My husband watched the buck push around a smaller 8-pointer down in the field where I had spotted the buck. We threw our gear on, racing the clock to get to him while we still had light,” Katie says.
The wind was in their favor as the husband-and-wife duo stalked this massive buck along the grassy edge of the field he was standing in. When they were about 50 yards from the buck, he bedded down, and they were able to close the distance.
“At around 25 yards, I separated forward from my husband as the deer stood, quartering toward us and looking our way. He gave me a clean shot, and I was able to land a vital blow,” Katie says.
To stalk into crossbow range of any deer is an accomplishment to be proud of. To do so on a world-class whitetail is remarkable.
“At that moment, I fully grasped the feeling of ‘buck fever’ as I shook all over in disbelief that I got the buck,” Katie says.
The couple fully understood what had just happened and how big the buck really was. They weren’t taking any chances and decided to wait a few hours before beginning to track it. When they picked up the trail, it led to a river, so they called in a drone. The tough old brute had gone about 400 yards.
“This was my first-ever harvest, and I am beyond grateful—and downright lucky—to have spotted this amazing buck and have him as my first kill,” Katie says.
TAGGED OUT While it took two shots, young hunter Kelan Hill arrowed this 10-pointer with his compound bow at 25. yards. (Photo courtesy of Kelan Hill) Father-Son Success Young Hoosier hunter arrows first bow buck.
Hunter : Kelan HillDate : Nov. 3, 2024Location : Monroe County, Ind.Method : Compound BowStats : 10-pointerOn Nov. 3, Kelan and his dad, Ford, headed to their stand around 4 p.m. for what would be Kelan’s first bow hunt. Ford figured they would see some small deer, but never imagined what would actually take place.
An 8-pointer showed up first, but it was 35 yards away, which was outside of Kelan’s range. After the buck was out of sight, Ford rattled to see if he could bring it back closer, but instead, this 10-pointer showed up. It started going the wrong way at first but then turned around and came right to the Hills’ stand. Ford was attempting to coach Kelan on what to do and when to pull his bow back while simultaneously recording everything on his phone.
When the 10-pointer closed within 20 yards, Kelan took a shot but missed cleanly. Luckily, the buck gave him another opportunity at 25 yards, and the young hunter made that shot count.
“I was so excited for him,” says Ford. “As I looked down, he was just shaking and overjoyed. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. As a parent, witnessing your kid’s first deer is just an incredible experience that we will always cherish.”
