With the season nearing an end in many areas and as Winter progresses, food is getting harder to come by. (unless you live in a agriculture area) I would stick with the Does for a little longer. Some of them may not have been bred the first time around. Does that do not breed the first time will generally come back in heat approximately 28 days later.

This “secondary” rut can be better than the main rut just because there are fewer Does to be bred and the Bucks have to travel more to find the ones that are ready to breed.

If you’re seeing Does, I stay put. If you feel you need to move, then move back further from the fields and water toward a bedding area. Old Bucks do not like to walk out in the open.

Find the trails the Does are using to come and go from the fields and follow them back toward the bedding area. Look for trails that cross these. They’re probably be faint, so you’ll have to look hard. These trails are the ones that Bucks sometimes use to scent check fields for Does in heat.

Good Luck and keep me posted on how it goes.

@ Kyle

Good luck! Let me know if you get a chance at the Big One. Would love to see a picture of you and him together!!! =)

Don

It’s hard to say without seeing the place you’re hunting. IF the Deer are using the field to feed in, then I’d set up between there and the bedding area.

If the field is so grown up that they use it for a bedding area, I wouldn’t disturb it. Rather, I’d continue to hunt the trails leading out of the fields and into the woods. Find their food source and find out where they are leaving the field. Then set up just downwind. Many times, this will require the use of multiple tree stands.

Don

But it is a good idea! But, I think you’d have to place it well ahead of time for the deer to get use to it.

Hey, I guess we could always use that blaze orange construction fencing they sell down at Home Depot! Of course, everyone in the woods would know where you were hunting then! =)

Don