Sometimes a doe will seek cover on a south-facing slope to keep from getting harassed by a buck. I’ve sometimes had a big buck stand up after hours of being bedded close to my stand with his doe.” To get to stands in these areas, I make places to put my feet along the last 75 yards of my entry path by scraping 12-inch spots down to bare dirt. “Doe bedding areas are good places to find a buck that has a mate pinned down. It might take a couple of setups, but eventually I’ll be close enough to get a good shot.” Since they’re not going far for a couple of days, I use that chance to move a stand closer and wait for them to return. But sooner or later one of the two deer will want to get up and stretch its legs, and the other one will follow suit. “Breeding pairs are famous for locking down for hours at a time.
That combination makes these areas great ambush sites for receptive does and the mature bucks that follow them.” South-facing slopes are perfect, since they feature brushy habitat that’s also warmed by the sun. “Does-even receptive ones-seek thick cover now to avoid being harassed by bucks. We’ve killed eight or 10 bucks scoring 170 or better with this technique.” I’ll sneak close to that isolated cover and rattle or call to suck in a buck that’s tending a doe. My rule is: If it’s big enough to kick a rabbit from, it’s big enough for a buck to rat-hole a doe. “During lockdown, bucks corral does in small oddball covers. Bucks that teemed in the timber just days ago seem to vanish as they tend does. Most hunters call it lockdown-and want to pull their hair out. Most biologists consider this the rut’s peak. This is when the majority of does enter estrus. Phase Four: Peak Breeding Bucks are tending does now, but you can still score. Ask yourself, if a buck were travel a mile or more away to find does, from your property to another or vice versa, what pinch points and bottlenecks and corridors would he use. Pull up a mapping app on satellite view and look for natural funnels that connect your properties to others. Suddenly, they are covering much more ground, and means it’s time for you to look at the picture. Find a Macro-Funnelĭuring the chasing phase, bucks start making doe-seeking forays outside of their core areas. Adding realism to your buck decoy can be a game changer. I’ve watched some big whitetails come from a long way to check that thing out.” Now I can take any one of my taxidermy mounts, hang it on that hook, and I have the most realistic decoy any buck has ever seen. “My success at decoying bucks into bow range went up dramatically when I took the plastic head off my decoy and mounted a piece of plywood in the opening, with a hook attached. Barry Wensel, bowhunting legend, Brothers of the Bow A hedge apple laced with doe-in-heat gel can stop a buck in its tracks. When a buck comes through, he’ll stop and sniff that scent trail-which leads away from my stand-giving me a broadside shot at a standing deer that’s looking the other way.” When I get in my spot, I put doe-in-heat scent gel around an apple, and then toss it so it rolls across the game trail and into a shooting lane.
“Every time I walk to a stand I grab some hedge apples. Bucks are both feeding and harassing does the whole time. So I get in a stand before first light and catch bucks moving out to feed at midmorning, then back to bed again in late morning. When the sun warms things up-usually eight or nine o’clock-they move back out to feed for a while. The early-morning cold puts deer off food sources before daylight, and they go back in the timber to bed. “I love to hunt the first hard frost of the year, which often occurs during the seeking phase.