by dr. harry jacobson

N
ovember can never come quickly enough nor
stay long enough.
You’ve read the playbill, bought your tickets and taken your seat, and as the sun rises on North
America’s magnificent stage, the world’s greatest show
begins. Before the curtain opens, the sounds of heavy
feet in frosted leaves tease the imagination. A distant
grunt call, so base and loud that you can feel its urgency,
quickens your pulse. On come the actors, crashing
through the brush and breaking dead pine boughs. It
reminds you of summer’s last crack of the bat.
The rut is on!
Your heart races faster than the anticipation in your
mind as you await daylight. It is the time when every
hunter should be in the woods — regardless of weather
or any other factor — because it is when the greatest
deer hunting memories are made.
Biologically speaking, whitetails are a better success
story than any other game animal. They have adapted to
every type of terrain, from desert to mountain to swamp
to subdivision. Much of this is because whitetails are
one of the most productive and prolific of all mammals,
and we as hunters have figured out how best to manage
them.
The rut is the most active time for deer movement,
especially in mature bucks, and the best time of all to
hunt. Unlike domestic animals, deer require a restrictive breeding period that is perfectly timed so that the
resulting embryo will be born when it has the highest
chance of survival.
Deer that live in the delta of Mississippi River have
poor odds of survival if they are born in May or June
because of seasonal flooding, which normally occurs at
that time. Deer in desert areas might have poor survival
odds if their births are not timed to the nutrition
provided to their mothers during the wettest portion of
the year.
Photoperiod accounts for much of the difference
in rut timing from north to south. In the far North,
breeding begins in mid-October and peaks in early to
mid-November. The period generally gets later as you
progress south. However, in the tropical regions of
Florida, peak activity may begin as early as mid-July,
and continue through March. Peak breeding is in late
December in far South Texas. In equatorial regions,
where photo-period cues can’t tell deer what time it is,
whitetails actually breed year-round.
The
MythicalMonth
BY DR. HARRY JACOBSON
www.deeranddeerhunting.com
ADVERTISEMENT
November 2012
| 87
Knowing historical rut timing for the area you hunt is critical to getting into the field at the right time for peak rut activity.
Minor Factors
Other factors play a role in rut timing and can swing your
local rut into gear as much as two or three weeks earlier or
later.
For example, nutrition plays a small role in breeding time.
From dietary studies, we know that deer on poor diets breed
later and have slightly longer pregnancies than well-nourished does. If you are on good quality habitat, your rut may
occur earlier than in areas of your state or region that have
low-grade habitat.
There is a common misconception among hunters that
weather has a marked effect on rut timing, but there aren’t any
scientific studies that prove this. Most likely, deer feel better
when its cooler and move more then. On hot days during
peak rut, does may bed down more during the day and move
more at night, so bucks follow and breed then, when you are
not watching.
“Bio stimulation”is another factor that may play a role in
rut timing. This occurs when animals in breeding condition
trigger other members of the group to breed at the same time.
It is well documented that older, more mature bucks reach
peak reproductive condition before yearling bucks, by as
much a month earlier. In experiments with captive deer, the
presence of mature males has been documented to stimulate
does to come into estrus earlier than does exposed only to
yearling bucks.
Doe-to-buck ratios have a distinct and undeniable effect on
rut timing. Separate studies have shown that in herds with
high doe-to-buck ratios, as you cull does to bring the ratio
closer to 1 to 1, that rut periods shift from later to earlier, with
peak activity occurring two to three weeks earlier than with
an unbalanced herd.
Know When To Hunt
November signals the peak of the rut in whitetails in the
Northern states and Canadian provinces, and also, late in the
month, the rut begins in Southern areas like Georgia, and
other states throughout the Southeast. Many hunters (especially bowhunters) prefer to hunt in the week leading up to the
peak of chasing activity, when bucks are on their feet more,
with testosterone high, and susceptible to calling, rattling and
being seen more regularly.
88 | N o v e m b e r
Here are some rut timing notes on a few of the Whitetail
Slam subgroups.
• Northern Woodland Whitetail
Breeding begins as the length of days shortens in late October into December, with its peak in mid-November. Bucks
become very susceptible to calling and rattling from Halloween through the first week in November as they get on their
feet in search of does.
• Dakota Whitetail
Mid-November is when deer are in rut in the Dakota’s
territory. It is an exciting time like all other rut periods, but
it is unique in that bucks can be seen chasing does in the
wide open prairie areas. In river bottoms where population
concentrations are high, the action can be fast and dramatically close as the bucks get on their feet. Any time from Oct.
31 through Thanksgiving can be highly productive.
• Southeastern Whitetails
Average breeding dates begin in the second and third weeks
of November. West Virginia begins as early as Nov. 8. Georgia ruts can be as late as Dec. 15, with heavy activity around
Thanksgiving. In Alabama and Mississippi, breeding varies
depending on specific geographic regions, starting anywhere
from late November through January. Northern hunters can
enjoy a second rut and an extended season by traveling to the
South after the Northern rut is over.
• South-Central Plains Whitetails
With the exception of Texas, peak of breeding for the
South-Central Plains Whitetail is fairly uniform across this
vast area ranging from Nov. 10 to 25. In Texas, it can be as
early as the first week of November and as late as mid-January
depending on the physiographic region.
If you are like most hunters, there are few places you’d
rather be in November than in the deer stand. Check out the
rut timing on all eight Whitetail Slam Subgroups at www.
whitetailslam.com.
Mission:
Whitetail
Slam
TOM MIRANDA
BY
H
aving taken 13 years to harvest all 29 North American big game animals, I know that pursuing a Grand
Slam or Super Slam isn’t something that every hunter
can do. In truth, before Whitetail Slam, average hunters didn’t
really have any sort of big game slam they could realistically
pursue.
Whitetail Slam’s mission is to create a big game Slam for
all hunters, and to feature those hunters’ accomplishments
online, on television and in our magazines.
It really is within reach. Any hunter can travel by pickup
truck to four areas and harvest a Whitetail Slam, or opt to go
for all eight and get the Ultimate Whitetail Slam. Enabling,
educating and entertaining hunters is a major part of the
mission.
2 0 1 2 www.deeranddeerhunting.com
WhitetailSlam.com is the home-base
for all hunters who want to join the
community to learn, interact and WIN
a dream hunt and be filmed for our TV
show!
There are two ways to Join Whitetail
Slam.
1. Join our community: Sign up for
free with just your computer and email
address, and get the Whitetail Slam
newsletter and access to our forums and
weekly gear giveaways. You can even
“Like” us on Facebook along with 40,000
other fans!
2. Register a buck: If you have ever
harvested a buck you can register it and
begin your quest for a Whitetail Slam or Ultimate Whitetail
Slam. Registration of your first buck is free (for a limited
time). Your registration is immediate and has many benefits.
• Each month you can enter to win hunts for any of the eight
Slam bucks and a chance to be filmed for Whitetail Slam TV.
• Register any four bucks, and earn a Whitetail Slam.
• Register all eight bucks for the Ultimate Whitetail Slam.
• Successful hunters might be recognized on Whitetail
Slam TV, magazine, website or other Whitetail Slam features
for their accomplishments and dedication to mastering the
skills of the hunt.
• You can even set up your personal Slam page featuring
your hunts with photos, stories, strategies, gear and tactics
used!
• Connect with other Slammers using our internal Slammer mail system, right from your Slam page photo.
• Use our free classified section to sell anything you want.
Anyone can buy from the classifieds, but only hunters who
have registered a buck can post ads.
• Hunt swap: HuntSwap is a completely free service that lets
you connect with other Slammers to trade hunts on private
lands. The Whitetail Slam TV team will screen both parties
in hopes of filming both hunts for the same episode on NBC
Sports Network and Sportsman Channel.
www.deeranddeerhunting.com
There is something in Whitetail Slam for everyone, so go to
WhitetailSlam.com now, and go for the Slam!
Hunting
the
Weather
JASON HERBERT
BY
O
ur Native American hunting ancestors looked to
the sky for their weather report. Our grandfathers
depended on the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Most of us
grew up watching our fathers reading the newspaper or catching the TV weather man before each hunt.
Regardless of how they got their forecast people have
always known that weather was important when deer hunting. Fast forward to today, where sportsmen have grown to
depend on the internet while planning the next hunt. In just
a few simple clicks of the mouse, a hunter can learn accurate
and timely information about the local weather, wind direction, barometric pressure, moon phases and rut timing.
Weather is arguably the most important aspect of planning for any of the various sub-groups
of North American whitetails, whether
you are collecting your Whitetail
Slam or just on a one-time adventure.
It’s important to understand that all
their behavior changes daily with the
weather. It is also true that just as a
quiet Texas country road is different
than a busy New York street, so are the
whitetails that live in the eight unique
Whitetail Slam territories.
I live and hunt in Michigan, where
the Northern Woodlands subspecies of
the Northeast and Canada kick their
rut into gear around Halloween. The
first true cold front that approaches
in late October is an absolute guarantee that deer will move. The falling
barometer ahead of that front should
be the hours when you are in your
stand. The deer seem to have a special
sense to know the storm is coming, and
November 2012
| 89
the cooling air generates movement and feeding activity.
I’ve hunted the South-Central Plain whitetails in Iowa.
This is a vast territory from the Mississippi River to the Rocky
Mountains and from the Upper Midwest down through
Texas. Wind is pervasive on the plains, and on days when it’s
coming hard, your best bet is to hunt draws where the deer
will move better in the lee of the gusts. Setting up in areas
that are wooded on the windward side of the draw and open
on the downwind side can help the swirling affect and better
your chances of not getting busted when bowhunting for
close shots.
Hunters chasing Dakota whitetails in the Upper Midwest
through central Canada experience intense, punishing storms
and bitter cold winds, that can rage for days. Approaching
cold fronts to get the deer on their feet. The best times to be in
the field are just before and just after these big weather system
roll through. Hunting from a ground-blind is great protec-
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tion from wind and
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spend more time in
the field and increase
chances for success.
Northwestern
Whitetail hunter Troy
Pottenger of NextBuk
Outdoors shared an
interesting opinion on
hunting the weather.
“I personally like
to hunt when the
weather is fairly nasty
during the rut,” he
said. “Drizzle, sleet,
snow — big mature
bucks know to move
around when the weather’s bad and hunters are not in the
woods”.
Southeastern Whitetail hunter Matt Debnam of Bayou
Bucks hunts deer in Louisiana.
“It’s hot here, and the deer can bed up for long periods,” he
said. “We look forward to the first heavy frost, which usually
hits sometime in November. Rainfall, compounded with the
lower elevation and soggy ground, can really dictate how
people hunt and where deer travel.
“I like hunting the rain much more than the heat, and a
cold rain is best”.
The Seminole and Gulf Coast deer can be hunted before
and after other seasons. Dr. Harry Jacobson knows these deer
well.
“Hunting the Gulf Coast and Seminole deer is very much
weather dependent,” Jacobson said. “Most important is heat
and humidity. For this reason, hunting is usually better in
early morning than late afternoons when weather is coolest.”
Incoming weather fronts may also entice a wary old buck to
get up and move a bit early in these regions.
Larry Weishuhn loves hunting the elusive Desert Coues
deer, and has harvested seven of the eight whitetail subgroups required for his Ultimate Whitetail Slam.
“Coues deer are similar to other whitetails in that their
movement is greatly impacted by weather conditions,” he
said. “They often feed and move before and after the passage
of a front, tend to feed at peak (solunar) activity times.
“Rutting Coues deer (usually late January in Mexico) tend
to move all day long without any great regard to weather and
temperature.”
With all the technology available to us hunters, closely
monitoring the weather and becoming a data-driven deer
hunter is easier than ever. I depend on ScoutLook to hunt with
the weather in mind, and I use their ScentCone wind map to
check the wind forecast at every stand. If you want to keep an
accurate log of every hunt, and capture all the weather data at
the time of every deer seen, you can use DeerLog App with
automatic weather capture. www.scoutlookweather.com.
The most important factor about weather is your attitude
towards it. Use a counter-intuitive measure when considering hunting: If it’s a bad day to go to the beach or a ball game
outside, or when you hear the forecast your first thought is
“Maybe I’ll just stay in bed,” then its likely just the kind of day
you want to be in the woods!
2 0 1 2 www.deeranddeerhunting.com