Ask The Biologist

Play the Numbers

Play the Numbers

By Bob Humphrey

Doe groups will always draw bucks during the rut.

QUESTION: They say you should hunt does during the rut because that’s where the bucks will be, but that doesn’t seem to work for me. My experience has been that does nearing estrus want to get away from other does. Am I on to something, and if so, where should I focus my rut hunt efforts?

ANSWER: During the rut, bucks are looking for does, primarily by scent. Once they find them, they’ll look harder to find one close to or in estrus. If they find a hot doe, they may chase her off, but before that happens they’ve already spent some time in that area.

Older bucks also learn where to look for concentrations of does and will seek out those areas, then repeat the above steps. Wherever the does go, they leave scent that will linger and might still draw a buck’s attention minutes, hours or possibly days later. Taking all those things into consideration it certainly seems like your odds of finding a buck during the rut are greatest where you can find the greatest concentration of does.

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