Brandon Butler poses with a big, old Missouri archery buck.
Submitted photo
It’s bad time to be driving on country roads at night, but a great time to be a Midwestern whitetail deer hunter, because the chasing phase of the rut is on. Reports from across the region all include tales of bucks in hot pursuit. Old, elusive bucks are showing themselves in the daylight, and quite a few are taking rides in truck beds. If you can locate an active scrape line, you should hunt over it all day or anytime of the day you can be in the woods. There is no telling when a buck is going to show up.
Archery hunters are enjoying the action as the rut kicks into full gear. If you’ve never bow hunted, consider crossbows are now legal in most states. The next couple of weeks are what we’ve waited all year for. The coming cold spell with a new moon seems will further set the does off with bucks in pursuit.
The bucks are chasing. This is the time of year we look forward to most as hunters. If you can find a good funnel, those travel corridors are where I’d recommend setting up. Bucks are going to be running through there all day.
Bucks are moving in the daylight in pursuit of does. The best action is still likely to be at dawn and dusk, but you can realistically see a buck on his feet at any time of the day right now. Focus on travel corridors. Be in those funnels. Hunt around scrapes. Make sure you set up so your wind is blowing away from where you expect the deer to pass by. Anytime you can hunt is a good time to hunt right now. They’re fighting, seeking and chasing. Now is the time you’ve been waiting for.
In the continued evolution of hunting technology, cellular trail cameras have changed the game. Having real time photos texted to your phone allows you to monitor deer behavior day by day. This continuous stream of data lets armchair deer researchers observe behavior of deer from the same location for an extended amount of time. When your phone dings announcing another picture, if it’s a lone doe, you can bet another picture of the buck trailing her is about to show up.
I have already taken advantage of this year’s rut. I was able to punch my Missouri archery tag on a great old buck I had a lot of history with. I didn’t expect him to show when he did, but I am thankful for the encounter and was proud to end my archery season early on a great buck.
We referred to this buck as “The Short 10,” because he’d been around awhile. He was at least 5 ½ years old. I have pictures of him beginning in 2021. He was always wide but had short tines. Last year, he put on good mass but stayed short. This year, his right side shot up and his mass increased even more. I didn’t weigh him, but I wish I would have. I’m guessing a dressed weight close to 250 pounds. This buck was the size of a small mule. He would have been a contender in any of the big buck contests back in the day when winning relied on weight. I miss those contests.
A couple of years ago, I bought a Redneck Blind and set it up on my central Missouri property. I still prefer to be in a treestand. Out in the elements. Cold, gray days 20-feet up oak trees. I covet them. But sometimes, the comfort of these fancy box blinds is too much to resist.
I went to the blind because I didn’t expect to shoot a buck. I was more interested in observing rut behavior than I was punching my tag. But when the Short 10 burst on the scene, and there I sat in my comfy chair, with my bow on one side of me, my release on the other and a cup of coffee in hand, I thought no way I pull this off. Thankfully, he was rutted crazed out of his mind. Standing in a picked bean field, mouth open, chest heaving. Trying to figure out where she went.
Buck fever like I had not experienced in years, maybe 20 years, gripped me. I mean, I panicked and scrambled like I was a beginning bowhunter again. Ultimately, I pulled it off and put an arrow through him at 25 yards. The Short 10 is being mounted by Scenic Rivers Taxidermy in Salem, Missouri, and proudly hung in the shop on the property from which he came.
See you down the trail…
Brandon Butler writes an outdoors column for The Republic. Send comments to [email protected]. For more Driftwood Outdoors, check out the podcast on www.driftwoodoutdoors.com or anywhere podcasts are streamed.
