Wandering Aimlessly
A One Porcupine Night
by Phil Burkhouse
The people in the know say the peak of the deer rut is not the optimal time to be spending all day perched in your tree stand. It seems the week to ten days leading up to this peak breeding time actually produces more buck sightings since there are few receptive does during this time and the mature bucks are on the move searching for a willing partner. During the peak of the rut many does are cooperative and the bucks “lock down” for several days after finding a receptive doe, and then the buck’s movements become very restricted. All of this makes sense, but I know for a fact you can’t kill a buck unless you are out there, so we hunt every day and hope for the best.