Five Tips Leading to Pre-Rut Whitetail Success
By Kyle Wieter
The Whitetail pre-rut presents a golden opportunity for hunters, as bucks have come out of the dreaded October lull in full force. Bachelor groups have long separated, and territories start to become established. Testosterone levels are beginning to peak, as whitetail bucks have become battle ready with increased body mass, muscular necks, and an attitude to go along with it.
The best indication the pre-rut is underway is a dramatic increase in the amount of rubbing and scraping activity appearing within a few days period. This stage of the deer season can be one of the most productive and exciting times to be in the deer woods as daylight activity picks up, in turn giving hunters more recon to work with and allowing for more aggressive tactics to be implemented. Read on to learn pre-rut tactics for harvesting a mature whitetail.
1. TRAIL CAMERA RECON
Move trail cameras to scrapes along travel corridors leading to popular feeding locations and over scrapes along the edge of feeding locations. Bucks will be spending more time working and checking scrapes during this stage than any other. The intel trail cameras tell which bucks are working particular scrapes, the timing and regularity of a bucks visit, and if trail cameras are set to video mode, hunters can learn how a buck enters and exits the scrape.
2. START CALLING
Whitetails are social animals by nature and use vocalizations as one of their ways of communication. Learning how to utilize a good grunt call and rattling antlers can be the difference between seeing a buck in the distance and filling a tag after the satisfaction of calling him in.
- CALLING - Paint an audible picture while paying close attention to how the deer react. There’s no magic formula or algorithm to calling. It’s all about reading the bucks reaction and knowing when to call again. Over time, a hunter can learn to read a buck’s demeanor/mood while calling to him and this combination can be a deadly tactic.
- OVER CALLING - The best hunters call just enough to keep the bucks attention. If he turns and looks, stop calling. Either curiosity will get the best of him, and he will work his way toward the calls, or he will begin to lose interest. If the buck begins to lose interest and it feels right, try calling again. At this point, the hunter will know if the bucks going to commit and if he doesn’t, let him go.
- CALLS - Use a deep sounding grunt call that’s moderately loud. As bucks are on the move during this stage, a call that’s moderately loud may be the difference in him hearing it, as noise from leaves and other debris while walking may mask the sound of your call.
- RATTLING - This technique is best used for deer in the distance to get their attention prior to switching to a grunt call to close the deal. Blind rattling (rattling with no deer in sight) can also be very effective if the hunter is paying extra close attention to their surroundings, making sure not to spook a buck that may be sneaking in.
3. MORNING BEDDING
Once the pre-rut hits, morning hunts close to doe bedding will quickly become the hot spot. The local bucks know exactly where these areas are and will utilize wind direction as they skirt the downwind side to actively search for available does. Stand locations within range, but downwind of the buck’s travel corridor are ideal.
Entry and exit strategies need to be in place to avoid being detected by any deer. This tactic will also require a hunter to beat the deer to the bedding area.
Calling close to doe bedding can be extremely effective but does require a bit of finesse as bedded deer are close by.
4. EVENING HUNTS
Evening hunts during the pre-rut are based around travel corridors leading to feeding locations and the feeding locations themselves. Bucks are very active, working rubs and scrapes along these travel corridors on their way to a doe feeding destination.
- TRAVEL CORRIDORS - Finding funnels within a travel corridor, such as bottlenecks and pinch points, makes for the best stand locations. These locations constrict movement in-between bedding/feeding, and bucks spend a substantial amount of time making rubs and scrapes as they work their way towards popular food sources in search of a receptive doe.
- FOOD SOURCES - When weather conditions are ideal, the whitetail herd routinely works their way to feeding locations in the evenings. During the pre-rut, as does and fawns are still on a feeding pattern, bucks suddenly become frequent daylight visitors to these locations with breeding in mind.
Food source stand locations set with an entry and exit strategy are a must, as some deer will feed in these locations until well after shooting hours.
5. WATCH THE WEATHER
Nothing affects deer movement more so than weather. The more substantial the change in conditions, the more deer react to it and knowing which combinations to look for will improve a hunters success rate significantly.
Here are a few intricate details on which types of weather patterns to look forward to planning your hunts around.
- COLD FRONTS - Fronts with temperatures dropping a minimum of 10 degrees after a long period of warmer weather will lead to increased deer movement.
- HIGH PRESSURE - A barometric pressure that is below 30 will have hunters experiencing sluggish deer movement. Conversely, positive deer movement happens with a rising barometric pressure above 30 and climbing.
- WINDS - A change in wind direction after several days of the same will increase deer movement temporarily.
- HARSH WEATHER - Overall, most of the deer herd will bed during harsh weather. Movement begins immediately after the front passes through, as does have missed out on feeding opportunities and bucks are amped up wanting to cruise.
Overall, look for a combination of cold weather mixed with high pressure causing “blue bird” skies and whitetails on the move.
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