RUT HUNTING PROS AND CONS

November 15th, 2023 

By: Alex Comstock (@whitetail_dna)

Sweet November here and that means it’s the time of year that everyone dreams about – hunting the rut. Hunting the rut gets more excitement from hunters than any other time of the year and for good reason. But, there are some downsides to hunting the rut as well and in today’s blog we’re going to cover some of my top pros and cons of the month of November when it comes to chasing whitetails during the rut.

Pros

Deer Move More

One of my favorite parts of hunting the rut is you simply get to see more deer. Unlike earlier in the year during September and October when deer typically only move early in the mornings and late in the evenings, during the rut you may have your best hours of the day smack dab in the middle of the day. Granted, deer could be moving better in the morning or evening on any given day, but it’s the fact of the matter that deer move more and throughout the day that excites me.

It gives you, the hunter an opportunity that may not be there at any other time of the year. Let’s say for example, with work or family obligations that you only have a few hours in the middle of the day free. Go hunt it! If you can only get out from 11am-3pm on any given day and the calendar reads November, go put some time in. November is all about being in the tree as much as possible and if you can take advantage of the fact that a big buck could roll through at any given time, your odds of success will no doubt go up.

You Never Know What Can Happen

The next pro that I wanted to cover was the fact that you never know what can happen. It’s cliché and largely what excites so many people about being in a tree in November. Even if you have no mature bucks on your property, or no target bucks to go after, if you’re in a tree during the rut, literally a buck from five miles away could walk by you at any second. There’s no other time of the year where bucks are covering ground like this. If you fall into the category of not having any target bucks to go after, situate yourself on the downwind side of a doe bedding area, or in some type of pinch or funnel that makes sense as a travel route for bucks to take cruising and looking for does.

It Allows You To Be Aggressive

The last pro I want to cover that I really like is it gives you a unique opportunity to get really aggressive with your hunting style. Between hunting bedding areas, marginal winds, etc. you can really push it. It’s the one time of year a mature buck is going to let his guard down even just a little bit and that can be all the advantage you need to send an arrow or bullet at him.

Cons

Unpredictable

There are two main cons that come to the forefront of my mind as it pertains to cons and hunting the rut. The first one is that deer movement can be very unpredictable, and this is most often a drawback for those of you that are indeed targeting a specific buck. If you’re after a certain buck or two, in my opinion, the rut isn’t the best time to kill him, unless he’s quite the homebody. A great example of this is WhitetailDNA team member Garrett Otteson has been hunting a giant buck this year that we don’t have any history with. As I write this on November 3 rd , with every day that goes by, Garrett is getting more and more worried about his chances of putting him down, because he doesn’t know how wide and far the buck will travel during the rut. It not only will make it harder for Garrett to have any kind of pattern on him, but it will also make the buck more susceptible to other hunters, which we’re going to talk about in the next section.

Hunter Pressure

Deer hunters love the rut, which often times leads to more pressure in the woods during the month of November. Additionally, many states have their gun season in November, which significantly adds more people out there. Again, if you’re someone targeting a specific buck or hunt public land, expect to see more people out there during the rut and plan accordingly. A lot of people take their vacation the first week or two of November as well. A couple things you can do is get to public parking lots early, hunt weekdays if you can and look for areas where you can access using a kayak or something like that. During the rut, if you can get into an unpressured area within a larger pressured area, you may find the hot spot.

Conclusion

Hunting the rut and the month of November can be unlike anything else. It’s overall the most exciting time of the year and can provide many opportunities. Just like anything else though, there are always a couple drawbacks, and if you can navigate them successfully, you never know what could happen during the month of November.