Spot n stalk during rut

wawhitey

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
191
Anybody do spot n stalk whitetail hunting? Feel like i screwed up pretty bad yesterday. Im normally pretty aggressive, and yeah thats led me to blow a few stalks on deer and bears. Yesterday i was up in a 2yr old burn where ive never been. Seemed kind of barren so i wasnt too hopeful. Well right at 4pm (4:50 end of shooting light) i swung my binos due west, put my eyes up to them, and ill be damned, big bruiser whitetail buck running a ridgeline. I see him for only 2 seconds before he disappeared into tall brush, but even at 1000 yards he looked BIG. thing was, the way he was running and just vanished, i thought he may have run down the back side of the ridge. The little voice in*my head was telling me he just put on the brakes in the brush, move move move now, close the distance. But i ignored the voice, afraid he was still covering ground, wanting to see where hed pop out, which direction he was heading. So i waited, and waited too long. 20 minutes later he stepped out of the brush right there, and yup, he was a hog! So i made my move, and it was too late. He was just a little outside my comfortable shooting range at last light, and i didnt want to push it and make a poor shot.

What do you do in this scenario? Rutting buck running around like his ass is on fire. Do you skip the whole careful planning thing, drop non essential gear and cover ground fast? Or wait to see what the deer is going to do? I think i should have just thrown caution to the wind and covered ground, as rutty bucks are so notoriously unpredictable. What are your thoughts?
 

adamm88

WKR
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Messages
408
Location
Pennsylvania
You dont say if your archery hunting or rifle but i have still hunted during the rut with a bow and do it with a rifle too, not necessarily spot and stalked, I try and get the wind in my favor and travel areas that they could be cruising and catch one looking for a doe, If i hear movement or see something i stop and try and get it to come to me. If i bump deer i check to see if there are any more and if not i haul ass after the ones i bumped.

In your scenario i would try and close the distance between us and see what happens. Worse case scenario you bump him, Best case you have a dead deer. I feel like during the rut with all the human pressure in the woods if you bump a deer it doenst mean its gone forever. They very well could be back the next day.
 
Top