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3 Ways to Hunt Mornings in October
Whitetail hunters live to die on hills. Fixed blades versus mechanical. Doe bedding versus rut funnels. The list goes on and only gets more trite and obnoxious. One of those dead horses includes the morning versus evening debate, especially in the early season.
I’m biased because I’ve killed a...
Adam Moore
Sep 28, 2023
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Featured Gear
Early Season
Hunt
How to Deer Hunt a Staging Area
If there is a month to consider hunting staging areas, it’s October. That is, at least, if you’re the kind of hunter who spends time on public land, or just generally around pressured deer. In either case, the field-edge pattern has probably died a quick death, and the dreaded reality of educated...
Tony J. Peterson
Sep 30, 2021
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Hunt
3 Places to Kill a Buck During the October Lull
The first few weeks of October are almost a season on their own. Everything changes, leaves are turning, farmers are harvesting crops, weather fronts are fluctuating, and bucks are easing into their fall patterns and ranges. It’s also the period known as the infamous October lull. Spending most of...
Alex Gyllstrom
Oct 1, 2021
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Hunt
How to Kill a Whitetail Buck on Opening Day
September is a celebrated month among the hunting community. While some hunters focus on bugling bulls or rutting antelope, September is equally tantalizing for whitetail hunters. While keeping areas fresh for the November rut can be a sage strategy for whitetailers, you might be missing out on some...
Dylan Tramp
Aug 23, 2021
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Hunt
How to Deer Hunt Standing Corn
While many hunters value agricultural fields as reliable food sources for deer, one negative aspect of standing cornfields is that mature bucks rarely leave them. Standing corn makes for secure bedding, feeding, and breeding. These reasons give bucks little reason to stray very far. Rather than...
John Eberhart
Sep 20, 2021
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Hunt
Why September is the Best Month to Hunt Scrapes
Hunt with me just once, and you’ll know at least one thing about me: I focus a lot of my whitetail attention on scrapes. Even in September, which goes against conventional whitetail wisdom.
I think I make a sound argument that September and early October is the best time to target a mature whitetail...
Tony Hansen
Sep 16, 2021
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Hunt
How to Find Bucks After They Shed Velvet
If you’re fortunate enough to hunt whitetails in early September, you know how effective it can be to pattern bucks on their summer feeding routine. Factors like hunting pressure vary a bit from state to state, but this summer feeding pattern will soon come to an end, which often happens in...
Dylan Tramp
Sep 7, 2021
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Hunt
How to Kill a Buck at Midday in October
In deer hunting (and life), it’s the false things we think are true that hold us back the most. While I could list a pile of these beliefs as they relate to deer hunting, a glaring example is the myth that there’s no reason to be on the stand during the midday hours before Halloween.
We all know...
Tony J. Peterson
Oct 11, 2022
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The Rut
Hunt
How to Rattle in a Buck on Public Land
On managed properties, hunter interactions with bucks are considered non-life-threatening until the bucks reach the trophy antler or age kill criteria. After they reach such benchmarks, they have a high tolerance for human intrusions and are very responsive to hunter tactics—they’ve responded...
John Eberhart
Oct 18, 2021
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Hunt
3 Unconventional Whitetail Rut Hunting Tactics
We’ve all been there: The rut is in full swing, yet mature buck encounters are slim to none. You’ve sat your best bedding areas, transition zones, and destination food sources, but the woods have been quiet. If this sounds all too familiar, it might be time to think outside the box and leave no...
Dylan Tramp
Oct 29, 2021
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Hunt
How to Hunt the Whitetail Rut in Big Woods
The rut is simultaneously the most exhilarating and frustrating time to be in the whitetail woods. That being said, your odds of finding a big-woods buck have never been higher than during this time of year. Hunting the big woods has its own set of challenges including unforgiving terrain, thick...
Beau Martonik
Nov 1, 2021
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Hunt
Can You Burn Out a Rut Stand?
It’s easy to think that once the rut is in full swing you ought to be spending every possible waking moment on stand. While this certainly may be a valid argument, does it mean that you should sit your best stand day in and day out? Some believe it’s impossible to burn out a rut stand simply because...
Dylan Tramp
Nov 5, 2021
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Hunt
How to Kill a Pressured Buck During the Rut
Whitetailers tend to think of the rut as a magical time when the season starts anew and success is all but guaranteed. As I discussed in a previous article on why so many hunters fail during the rut, that’s simply not the case. Iowa’s harvest rates speak to this point.
There is no state that offers...
Tony J. Peterson
Nov 11, 2020
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Hunt
What is the Best Day of the Whitetail Rut?
I’d wager to say that bowhunters burn up a majority of their vacation time in the first half of November. It’s for good reason, as most whitetail enthusiasts agree there’s no better time to be in the woods.
I reached out to 10 big buck experts to take a closer look at that part of the season. They...
Spencer Neuharth
Oct 16, 2019
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Late Season
Scout
3 Natural Food Sources To Hunt Late Season
Ask anyone what is the key to late-season whitetail success, and I can almost guarantee you the first word out of their mouth will be “food.”
Food is the name of the game when we get late into the year, and the reasons for that are clear. Deer are now almost entirely focused on recovering from the...
Mark Kenyon
Dec 10, 2021
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Scout
The Ideal Conditions for Late-Season Deer Hunts
It was the last day of muzzleloader season in Michigan and it was time.
A cold front pushed through, the rain faded, and temperatures were nearly 30 degrees lower than they were just 24 hours prior. Best of all, my target buck was caught on trail cam during daylight the night before. Conditions were...
Mark Kenyon
Dec 31, 2021
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Hunt
3 Best Late-Season Whitetail Hunting Spots in the Big Woods
I used to think the late season was a very difficult time to kill a nice mountain buck. In Pennsylvania, rifle season kicks off during the first few weeks of December, and although some great bucks get killed every season, few hunters are consistent from year to year. In most states, hunting...
Beau Martonik
Dec 13, 2021
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Hunt
How Neil Dougherty Kills Big Late-Season Bucks
Most hunters live for the rut and invest the bulk of their vacation days in this unpredictable yet exciting time of year in the whitetail woods. But Neil Dougherty isn’t most hunters.
A wildlife habitat consultant with decades of land management and whitetail success under his belt, Dougherty would...
Emily Kantner
Dec 17, 2021
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Hunt
3 Places to Find a Post-Rut Buck
The peak of the whitetail rut is now behind us in most parts of the country. I hate to say that, but it’s true. If you’re still holding on to a buck tag this fact might be causing you some stress, but don’t despair. The post-rut can be just as promising as the peak if you know where to look.
Here...
Mark Kenyon
Nov 27, 2020
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Hunt
How To Kill a Late-Season Buck On Public Land
If you want one of the biggest challenges in whitetail hunting, set your sights on a mature buck in December. If that’s not enough, commit to doing it on public land. After general gun season resets the deer herd to survival mode and the rut winds down to nothing, it becomes challenging just to see...
Tony J. Peterson
Dec 11, 2020
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Hunt
3 Overlooked Deer Hunting Tactics for Late Season
Many hunters claim that December is often the best time to kill a mature buck. After all, the rigors of the rut caused them to drop 25% of weight, and packing on pounds is of utmost importance. So, simply hop on your side-by-side and drive out to your favorite box blind to shoot a hitlister over...
Tony J. Peterson
Dec 16, 2020
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