By Alex Comstock
If you want to be successful hunting the rut, it can sometimes mean spending a lot of time in a tree, to the extent of sitting all day. I’m currently getting ready to head to North Dakota for two weeks of rut hunting, and can assure you, I’ll be spending as many of those days as possible in a tree dark to dark. It can get to be to the point of questioning your sanity, but sitting all day during the rut can surely pay off. Here’s why.
Anything Can Happen at Anytime
The thing about the rut is those “rut moments” we all dream of, well you really never know when that moment could happen (A great time to read: The Rut That You Dream of: It Comes in Small Doses). Of course, early morning and late evening is still when you’re likely to see the most deer, but when it comes to the rut, you have to be ready at all times. If a buck gets a whiff of a hot doe at high noon, he isn’t going to wait to go after her until the evening, he’ll most likely be on her tail immediately. Bucks do funky things during the month of November, sometimes even unexplainable. What I do know for sure though is this. At any moment, a mature buck can cruise by your stand. If you decide to go get lunch and come back to the stand after taking a few hours off, you could easily miss an opportunity. Not to say every mid-day hunt is going to produce, but you never know when it could, and that’s enough of a reason for me to stay in a tree all day.
You simply never know when you’ll be taking the bow off the hanger during the rut.
Most Everyone Else is Heading Out
If you hunt public land or even private property where others hunt around you on bordering properties, a train of thought that I have is when those hunters are headed out of the woods for lunch and then headed back after lunch, they could very well be bumping deer around, and those are moments I want to be in my tree. I’ve actually hunted stands in the past just to benefit from this and it’s worked. Using any kind of pressure to your advantage could be key during mid-day hunting.
When It Comes to The Rut, It’s All About Time Spent in The Field
The rut is one of the only times of year where I’d strongly recommend spending as much time in a tree or blind as possible. Other times of the year, there are no chances I would want to spend a full day in the stand. But things are different during the month of November. It kind of goes back to my first point of anything can happen at anytime. The more time you spend in the field, the better chance you’re going to have an encounter with a mature buck, which could ultimately lead to you having a better chance of tagging one.
A great example of this is my favorite rut hunting spot in North Dakota, where I’m about to spend a lot of time. It’s a river bottom area, and bucks will travel through it from miles away. I may go a day or even a couple days without seeing a mature buck, but I know if I spend day after day in this area, eventually a mature buck is going to come by.
Conclusion
Hunting mid-day during the rut isn’t necessarily easy. If things aren’t rocking, you could get bored easily, and let’s face it, sitting 12 hour days in a stand just takes a lot out of you. But it can and will pay off. By putting in the time, and staying in your stand as much as possible, it will only help your chances of putting a big rutting buck down.
