Look for trees for stands at midday, when most does and bucks are bedded. A quiet, rainy day is perfect. Scout with the wind in your face or quartering over your shoulder to keep from spooking bedded deer. At a new stand site, be quiet. Don’t throw or bang steel or aluminum stands and steps around. If you’re hanging with a buddy, don’t talk or laugh loudly. Set up and sneak out of an area without alerting deer that might be bedded or walking nearby. Everybody looks for big, straight trees, but a hardwood that leans slightly back and toward your downwind side can be great. When you hang your stand on the ‘up’ or front side of the tree, [...]

In my 2022 moon-rut predictions that I posted to for Outdoor Life, I spoke about a study conducted at North Carolina State that I rely on when planning my hunts across North America each season. In that project, researchers attached GPS collars to does and bucks and tracked their movements throughout the 4 major moon phases. Their data showed that during a new moon, which this rut cycle rises on October 25 and wanes on the dark side through Halloween (zero to 47% daily illumination) deer move most actively at daylight, with movement decreasing noticeably the rest of the day. Halloween week, when bucks scrape like fiends and prowl for does not quite ready to breed, is one of my [...]

Once you fire an arrow and draw a deer's blood, it is your ethical duty to work until you find him. It might take you five minutes or five hours, but heed this advice most of the time the trail will end, happily, at your doe or buck. 1. See Buck Run After the thwack of the arrow, watch the deer run as far as you can see it. In thick woods, look for flashes of white as it darts through the trees. In open country, follow a buck as long as you can with your binoculars. At the spot where you lose the buck, pick a marker—big tree, rock, fence post, etc. Climb down from your stand, walk straight [...]