While breeding activity is winding down and deer focus on food in the East and Midwest, bucks in the South are either in full rut or on the verge. (Shutterstock)
December 04, 2024
By Game & Fish Staff
This is the final week 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 says the rut is over, but there are still opportunities to find bucks looking for a last-chance doe with only a couple weeks left in the season in many states across the region..In the South, Honeycutt reports the action is in full swing in much of the region, while the best rut activity is yet to come in several areas. In the Midwest, Butler says breeding activity coming to a close, hunters should focus on food sources to fill thier tags. EAST REPORT Breeding Activity All But Over With the rut in the rearview, it’s time to focus on food and hope to catch a desperate buck out cruising. By Doug Howlett
Thanksgiving weekend saw some of the last true rutting behavior deer hunters in the East will witness in 2024, and we’ll be sorry to see it go—especially those of us who failed to benefit from it. Across most of the region, hunters are reporting seeing groups of does and bachelor herds of mostly young bucks already reforming in plots and fields, trying to restore their energy levels.
Of course, these final days when there are few does left to breed is when some of the bigger bucks are taken, as they seek one last breeding opportunity. The night before Thanksgiving, I had two does enter a food plot acting jumpy. I assumed it was because of all the shooting on surrounding properties over the past week and a half, but soon I realized there was another reason. With about 20 minutes of shooting light left, a 3.5-year-old 8-point entered the plot. I’d seen this buck earlier in the season and let him walk in hopes he’d make it to next year. Once again, I decided to just watch him, though with a month left in our coastal Virginia deer season, that’s a roll of the dice, especially if the buck wanders off our farm.
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The buck eyeballed the two does and then proceeded to chase the larger one around the plot and into the woods. The smaller of the two does soon followed, but minutes later the 8-point returned alone. He then cleared a scrape as a 6-point entered the plot. The two faced off momentarily, the larger buck stiff-legging his way to the younger buck, who bowed his head and walked a wide circle around the 8-point. That’s rut-time behavior. Then the two went on to feed together until after shooting light ended. That’s not rut-time behavior.
Earlier that morning, my son Cade killed an old, tall-racked 8-pointer barely 30 minutes into shooting light (see “Tagged Out” below). That buck came into blind rattling, a tactic I’ve had little personal success with at this stage of the season. Late in the rut and even into the coming week, I’d opt for doe bleats and tending grunts to mimic a doe still in heat or a young buck interloping on an older buck’s territory. But the rattling seemed to work for Cade, as a younger buck appeared just before the old boy he ended up shooting.
Coming into this final week of the Regional Rut Update, it’s sad to say there probably isn’t any notable rutting activity we can expect, though there’s always a chance you could catch a buck still roaming. Just this past Monday, Maryland’s Tristan Taylor finally connected with a heavy, wide-racked buck he had spotted checking does on opening day. The does are grouped up now, Taylor reports, and this guy was in search of a final dance partner. He found Taylor instead, who estimates the buck is at least 5.5 years old.
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Deer seasons throughout the East will still be open in every state for at least two more weeks. That means there’s still plenty of opportunity for hunters still looking to punch a buck tag.
With the desire to breed subsiding and hunter pressure still high, don’t expect trophy-class bucks to be roaming openly during daylight hours unless one is bumped by another hunter going to or from a stand. Hunters looking to score should put their focus on food sources as bucks look to replenish their energy stores after a tiring rut and before harsh winter weather sets in. Hunt the edges of the day to catch bucks either coming from the feed in the first minutes of daylight or going to the feed in the final light of the day. That means being the first hunter in the woods and the last one to leave. Stick with it to the end. Nice bucks will fall until the final day. One of them could be yours.
TAGGED OUT Young deer hunter Cade Howlett downed a 9.5-year-old buck and a trophy of a lifetime. (Photo courtesy of Cade Howlett) Methuselah Monster Virginia hunter takes down ancient buck never before seen in daylight.
Hunter : Cade HowlettDate : Nov. 27, 2024Location : Southampton County, Va.Method : ShotgunStats : 8 points; 6.5-inch bases; 9.5 years oldMy son, Cade Howlett, 17, spends a lot of time in the field, though it’s not always the one he wants to be in this time of year. Most of his time is spent on a baseball field, where he is a starting pitcher and outfielder for the 2024 Virginia Class 5 State Champion First Colonial High School Patriots (he’s committed to play for Bridgewater College beginning next fall). Fall travel ball tends to eat up many of his weekends, as anyone who plays or has a kid who plays competitive sports knows. When the season strays into late October and early November, he begins to get antsy.
This year worked out well for him, as the travel ball season ended early. Plus, this is the first hunting season during which he has his driver’s license, so he has been able to head to our farm on his own and spend a lot of time in the woods and up a tree.
The first several weeks of the season produced lots of deer sightings for Cade, just nothing big enough to shoot. That changed in the first moments of daylight on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
Sitting in a stand where, days earlier, he saw as many as a dozen deer, including several smaller bucks, Cade broke out his Primos rattle bag a few minutes into shooting light. If I had been with him, I likely would have advised against it, but it’s a good thing I wasn’t. Moments later, a small buck stepped into the path behind his treestand, followed by a tall, heavy-racked 8-point with a body as large as any Cade had seen in several years of deer hunting. He didn’t have to wrestle in his mind whether this one was a “shooter” or not.
Cade hoped the buck would step into the one clear sight line he had down the path. However, the buck turned and never stepped into the open shooting lane, offering only a severe quartering-away shot. Cade aimed his Savage 220 bolt-action slug gun loaded with Winchester Copper Impact slugs and squeezed the trigger. His shot hit forward of the shoulder, angled through the center of the buck’s neck and broke its spine, dropping it in its tracks.
The rack has an outside spread of only 14 inches, but it’s taller than it is wide and particularly thick, measuring nearly 6.5 inches around the bases, with wide, almost palmated beams. Despite a huge body, we were surprised the buck only tipped the scales at only 155 pounds. But the real surprise came from fellow hunter Chase Windley, who later told us he had this same buck on camera going back 8 years—and never once in daylight. That makes the buck at least 9.5 years old. The buck’s age and the fact that Cade saw it during legal shooting light makes it more of a trophy than its rack.
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SOUTH REPORT Rut Raging in Several States Things are finally starting to get good across much of Dixie. By Josh Honeycutt
The latest intel from the field suggests deer movement remains on the rise throughout much of the South. In fact, although we may be past the rut in certain places, reports from several states indicate there are plenty of whitetails still exhibiting typical rut behavior.
In southern Louisiana , Kinion Bankston of “Southern Boyz Outdoors” says the rut hasn’t started yet, but the deer are definitely getting in the mood.
“They’re just starting to feel good, with signs of play fighting,” says Bankston. “Of course, southern Louisiana is different than most of the country. We won’t see full rut activity until the first week of January.”
Larry Stewart of Whitetail Properties says southern Mississippi has seen good deer movement the last few days, though deer are still in their early-season patterns.
“It will be the middle of December before we see pre-rut activity,” he says. “The rut should take place between Christmas and New Year, and there will be some good bucks killed on plots in January as they try to recover from the rut.”
In Texas , HuntStand’s Will Cooper says they are right in the thick of it.
“The rut is really kicking off in parts of Texas, with does running around and bucks going wild,” says Cooper. “I’m seeing fights on our cellular cameras, and lots of bucks are cruising, looking for that next hot doe.”
TV hunting show veteran Phillip Vanderpool says bucks are hitting scrapes again in Arkansas.
“I’ve noticed the rut is winding down, but bucks are coming back and hitting scrapes pretty hot and heavy,” he says. “A lot of the bucks are also coming back to their home range. So, if you have a hit-list buck that’s been gone a while, consider returning to the range where he was originally. Get back on the food sources, make new mock scrapes or hunt those original hub scrapes.”
Reporting from Georgia , TV hunting show host and comedian Michael Pitts says the rut is slowing down in his area.
“Some of the more mature bucks have not been seen in the last few days, which makes me think we are starting to enter the lockdown stage,” says Pitts. “We are still seeing a little chasing. I watched a 3-year-old 8-pointer make a scrape yesterday evening, but things are definitely slowing down. It won’t be long before the deer get hungry and start pulling toward food sources.”
RUT YET TO COME
Mind that there is plenty of good hunting ahead, as the annual mating ritual continues in vast sections of the South region. Here are some timelines to help you plan for the rest of the season:
Alabama: Throughout much of the state, the rut is just kicking off. Several counties start in late November and carry through early December. Other counties experience the rut from mid-December to late December, from early January to mid-January, in late January or in early February.
Arkansas: In the counties bordering the Mississippi River, the rut tends to peak the first two weeks of December.
Florida: While the rut is over in most of the Sunshine State, deer in various counties of the Panhandle don’t rut until December, January or even February.
Georgia: The peak of the rut in the northernmost stretches of the state’s northern counties usually extends from early to mid-December. Meanwhile, in some sections of Seminole, Decatur and Grady counties in the Peach State’s southwestern corner, the rut happens in early January.
Louisiana: The southwestern quadrant of the state is past the rut. However, in parts of the northwestern counties and the eastern half of the state, the rut is expected sometime between early December and late February.
Mississippi: The rut kicks off in northwestern counties in early December, then sweeps southeastward, reaching the Magnolia State’s southeastern counties in early February.
North Carolina: In the western third of the state, the rut is either hitting peak action now or it soon will.
Oklahoma: Most rutting activity is over. For the remainder of deer season, focus on bed-to-feed patterns.
South Carolina: The rut is in the midst of its peak period in several of the state’s northwestern counties.
Tennessee: While already past its peak, some rut activity continues in various parts of the Volunteer State.
Texas: The rut has come and gone in some of the state’s easternmost counties. In most parts of the central, northern and western counties, the best is yet to come this month.
TAGGED OUT A self-avowed meat hunter, John Bradley passed several does in order to take this buck. (Photo courtesy of John Bradley) Patience Pays Giving does a pass leads to a Georgia 10-pointer.
Hunter : John BradleyDate : Nov. 27, 2024Location : Walker County, Ga.Method : RifleStats: 10 points, 120 inchesOn the day before Thanksgiving, John Bradley’s hunt kicked off with a few squirrels. Then, four or five does stepped out.
“Normally, I would have shot one of the does that came in, but this time I waited,” says Bradley. “The does walked in about 20 yards behind me. I grunted a few times, and about two minutes later the buck popped out of a thicket about 100 yards in front of me. He came straight at me, so I grunted again to stop him, then let the bullet fly.
Bradley first saw this buck right under one of his stands when driving his four-wheeler in to hunt.
“At that point, I decided it was fate telling me to target that deer,” he says. “This deer means everything to me. I've been hunting for meat my whole life, and never really cared about antlers. But I saw this deer two weeks before and made the decision to hunt him.”
MIDWEST REPORT Transition Time As the breeding-period window closes, switch your focus to food, especially late in the day. By Brandon Butler
There may still be a month or more of deer hunting opportunity in front of you in your state, but the rut is all but over. Glimpses of a second phase are sporadically apparent across the Midwest, but the focus of the remaining bucks has switched from breeding to feeding as they look to recuperate from the physical exhaustion of the last two months.
Hunters still out there trying to wrap their tag on a mature buck are likely to experience the most action in the evening as large groups of deer converge on food sources. Driving rural backroads this time of year will expose the fields where deer are feeding heavily. This is also a good time of year to ask for permission to hunt since there’s a chance the primary hunters are done for the season. A sympathetic farmer or landowner may take pity on a hunter who’s willing to brave late-season conditions.
The Black Hills of South Dakota is one of the most beautiful places in the Midwest to chase whitetails, and John Vlcek has been hunting them there his whole life. He believes the rut takes place later in far-western South Dakota than it does where he lives in southeast South Dakota.
The avid hunter says bucks normally come screaming in to rattling in late November, but this year they were not as interested. Vlcek’s party managed to shoot some nice ones (see “Tagged Out” below), but the bucks were being far more cautious than he expected for this time of year.
In Nebraska , Thomas Sawin, the hunting manager at the Kearny Cabela’s, says he didn’t hunt this year, but heard from customers that the deer hunting was tough in the Platte River Region.
“The rut was a little light this season,” says Swain. “Quite a few customers have said the population is way down to the north of us, and that has caused a slower season.”
John Wallace is a lifelong Ohio outdoorsman who has passed his love of hunting on to his three children. With so many under one roof interested in the pursuit of fish and game, John spends a lot of time outside and shares his stories across numerous digital platforms as “The Wild Game Cook.”
“It was a heck of a year for the Wallace family, but we’re winding down on whitetails,” he says. “The rut is clearly over in our neck of the woods in central Ohio. We have a lot of open fields around us. Three weeks ago, bucks were running all over the place. Now you might catch one creeping into the picked corn a few minutes before the end of legal light, but chances are you’re not going to see one hot after a doe.”
And just like that we’ve reached the end of another rut. A ton of incredible whitetail bucks were taken across the Midwest this year. Hunters are certainly reaping the rewards after decades of quality deer management practices. We have reached a time in the history of whitetail management when you can let one walk and have realistic expectations to see it alive next fall.
TAGGED OUT South Dakota hunter Kolton Vlcek called this big Black Hills buck within 60 yards to down his biggest deer to date. (Photo courtesy of Kolton Vlcek) Black Hills Bruiser South Dakota hunter stalks within range of an 11-point monster.
Hunter : Kolton VlcekDate : Nov. 28, 2024Location : Custer County, S. Dak.Method : RifleStats: 11 pointsKolton Vlcek had a special reason to be thankful on Thanksgiving this year. At 9:30 in the morning he killed the biggest buck of his life, a buck his father, John, says is bigger than any buck he’s ever taken from the Black Hills—and he’s been hunting there for more than 40 years.
“Where we hunt in the Hills, it’s really, really thick. A lot of people road-hunt this country, so they push the deer back into the cover. That’s where we go to find them,” John says.
Treestands are not even a consideration for the Vlcek family. They hunt on the move, but only one step at a time.
“We stalk-hunt,” John says. “What I mean is, we'll still-hunt so slowly it’s more like stalking. We take one step, then slowly look at everything. Then we take one more step and scan everything again. When we stop, we sit by big trees and call.”
On this hunt, it was the third stop of the day when John lured this old Hills buck to 60 yards.
“I always grunt first, then rattle. I did that and nothing responded, but I just had a feeling about this spot, so we waited 15 minutes and did it again. This time he showed up and my son put one right behind his shoulder,” says the proud dad.
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