Sweet November

Hunters, welcome to sweet November!

Beautiful Iowa buck on a nice November cruise for does.

This is the month where the Iowa Whitetail Rut offers hunters the best deer hunting for the entire year. It's time to start clearing the calendar for some stand time! But the big question is when? When will the deer woods explode into a parade of thick necks and giant antlers? Oh, how I do like to predict things... and like it or leave it, I'm going to use the bottom pin and take a long shot to forecast the rut activity for central Iowa! Here is my rut prediction for 2013.

I always hear, "no one but the deer truly knows the answer, and it varies from farm to farm across the state." Although that's true to an extent, I think we can use science and our own hunting experience to get an edge on this year's rut. Just like our spring warmth that waited until June, the summer heat that blasted into September and our Autumn colors which are a full two weeks behind last years pace -I'll bet this year's rut will likely be a bit "late."

Vibrant colors are clinging late into the 2013 fall season.

The rut gets its name from the fact that there is a distinct period of time during breeding where deer seem to disappear. This "rut" in deer activity can be one of the toughest times to be a stand hunter, made even worse by the frenzied pace of deer activity chasing just a few days prior. The rut can be broken down to distinct phases; pre-rut, seeking, chase, breeding and post rut. Each phase has consistent and predictable behavior, but that behavior is influenced by a multitude of factors such as human pressure, temperature, barometric pressure and moon phase.

Under cold temps, a dark moon and the bright midday sun,
this buck's looking for a date.

I have been following the work of Charles Alzheimer a renowned Whitetail photographer and deer expert for many years. He has some theories on the timing of the rut and each year I put these to the test in my neck of the woods. So far, they've proven pretty consistent and I've been able to track each phase as it transitions into the next.

It begins with the early fall pattern merging with pre-rut. Pre-rut is where the bucks begin making scrapes, rubs and start sparring. This stage begins roughly 1-2 moths before the rutting full moon. They're sizing up the competition and practicing for the big game. Pre-rut then merges with the seeking phase about one week prior to the rutting full moon. Does are getting close, but they're not ready to breed. Bucks begin seeking out which does are closest to ready, traveling longer distances and during daylight hours. Establishing territory, gangs of bucks vandalize trees, fight with other bucks and send scrapes like love notes to their future does. The seeking phase is one of the best times to hunt the rut because bucks are hoofing it during daylight, deer respond well to calls and the woods hasn't succumb to the chaos of the chase phase.

Chase phase is just days prior to peak breeding. This is the time where buck figure out which does are nearly ready to breed and they chase 'em down. Predictable feeding patterns where does lured bucks past you become disrupted by intruder bucks, posturing and sometimes all out brawls right in front of you. Travel corridors that presented broadside deer that you could set your watch to are suddenly quiet. Trail cams reveal shooter bucks parading by under the midday sun. The inconsistency, frustration and excitement of the chase phase is unparalleled in the deer woods.

Breeding will soon follow and it is usually about a week after the rutting full moon. Breeding can last two weeks depending on the herd size and buck to doe ratio. Following breeding is another surge of sporadic activity called post-rut. Post rut can be a very effective time to hunt as bucks struggle to breed every last doe and the does attempt to get back into their normal feeding routine.

The rutting full moon as described by Charles Alzheimer is the second full moon after the fall equinox. This year the equinox was Sunday, September 22nd. That placed the Harvest full moon on Friday, October 18th. So the rutting full moon is the 17th of November and that means that some of the best hunting action may wait for another week until the 2nd week of November to begin. The peak of deer activity this year looks to be the November 11th through November 27th.

Good luck and consider taking some serious time off the week before and the week of Thanksgiving. I hope you see a big one.