I’ve keyed these 6 setups to the 3 different stages of the rut you’ll be hunting this fall.  Whether the big bucks are feeding, rubbing, scraping or chasing the does, we’ll put you in the hot seat. All that’s left is making the shot, and that is up to you. PRE-RUT: The River Strip One September morning my buddy Dan Jones climbed into a tree stand he’d set 50 yards off a river in northern Montana. The south wind was perfect, blowing out of an alfalfa field 100 yards to the south, wafting through the narrow timber strip and pushing his scent across the deep river where no deer would approach. Around 7:30 Dan saw movement on a trail 150 [...]

Hang a tree stand on the closest elevated hardwood ridge near a corn or bean field. Most of the deer that come and go to the feed will cut across that ridge somewhere, often in or on the edge of thick green cover. I've seen it happen dozens of times each season. Set up downwind of the heaviest doe trail you can find, with rubs and scrapes nearby. Good for either morning or afternoon. Rutting bucks love to troll across an old pasture or weed field that connects crops and a woodlot. It’s a natural pinch point. Set a tree stand just back in the woods where the buck will stage and look for does, and move back to bed [...]