The big-buck hunting is just about to get good, really good. To confirm that a shooter buck you've been seeing is still in your woods, or to learn that a "new" buck has rolled in and is searching for does, look for 3 things: Tracks: Ordinary-looking tracks 2 to 2 ½” long tell you little (could be a buck or an adult doe). But a deep, splayed print 2½ to 3 1/2” long screams buck, although the size of his rack is anybody’s guess. Lots of big, fresh tracks in the mud in a small area indicate good buck activity in that area—move in and hunt that spot. Rubs: The buck that blazed the first big rubs you found back in mid-September might still be around—or he might be 2 miles away. [...]

Some really good buck hunters I know don’t hunt their best covers and stands until around Halloween and into November, as the rut starts rocking. Their strategy is sound—put no pressure on the bucks until there are moving more with their guard down, and especially in daylight. But I don’t believe that kind of thinking and approach are best for most guys. You’re busy, and you hunt when you can. If that happens to be now in early October, great. The woods are turning beautiful, there are fewer hunters roaming around than there will be in November, and there are good opportunities to get your buck. My friend Grant Woods, one of the premier whitetail scientists in the U.S. and [...]

In the book Deer Cameras: The Science of Scouting, Wisconsin bowhunter and QDMA member Todd Reabe reveals where he gets amazing daytime photos of monster bucks on his small, well-managed property. And day images are what you want, because that shows when and where you might arrow a whopper when he’s on his feet in shooting light. Todd stays away from field edges and instead aims his cameras into hidden pockets and strips of security cover. “Small funnels and bottlenecks of thick cover between feeding and bedding areas are the best spots for my cams,” he says. Look for these secret cam hotspots on aerial photos and then go in, ground scout and hang your cameras for images of big [...]

  Here are 4 places where you can’t go wrong hanging tree stands in the coming weeks. Break Lines: Look for linear strips where dark pine timber and/or hardwoods come together with brush, tall grass, second-growth saplings, etc. Deer love to walk and browse on these edges year-round; bucks rub and scrape like mad on the lines as the rut approaches. Oak Ridges. A narrow hogback with acorn trees within 100 yards of a corn or bean field is one of my favorite spots. Deer cut around points, ditches and gullies on the ridges; hang stands on or near these terrains to funnel bucks close for shots. Does and bucks eat acorns and browse in ridge thickets not only in the evenings, [...]