Last September we posted that in a fall like 2021 with two “rutting moons”—October 20 and the second was November 19—the pump was primed for a classic “trickle rut” in the whitetail woods. We predicted that some adult does would cue off the first full moon and come into estrous in late October while other does would cue off the November full moon and be ready to breed in mid-to-late November. In between those full moons and time frames you would see ebbs and flows of rutting activity. Testimonials After the 2021 bow season Big Daddy wrote to us via Messenger:  Mike, last year you predicted a good rut after the full moon in October. Here in northern Pennsylvania, you [...]

Digital image One November Russ Van Zoeren hunted a public tract in Kansas for a week. For the first five days, the temperature was in the 70s, and the deer movement was predictably slow. But then one night, storms and a cold front crashed in. The mercury plummeted into the 30s, and a northwest wind shook the trees. Next morning at 8:15, a buck prowled out of the long, dense cedar thicket that Russ had been watching all week. The deer ripped a scrape and walked, grunting, beneath Russ’ stand. His arrow was true. At just under 200 pounds dressed, the animal was on the light side for a mature Kansas buck. But there was nothing light about [...]