The time we’ve been waiting for all year is here. We’ve enjoyed watching the steady ramp-up for the last several weeks, and now the game is on.

Yep … the rut is here, and the bucks are doing their crazy buck things. Where we were struggling to see them on the stand a few weeks ago, they’re now popping up everywhere and often in the most unexpected places and times. In other words, all bets are off in terms of predictability.

Volumes have been written and decade’s worth of video has been recorded trying to provide hunters with proven strategies to get the edge on mature bucks this time of year. Most of the advice is sound (although we’ve heard some pretty silly stuff on occasion), yet our experience draws one unshakeable conclusion, one tip to top all tips when it comes to hunting the rut … BE IN THE WOODS.

Here’s a case in point.

Three days ago, I was hunting with a crossbow on the ridge where I’ve gun-hunted for the last 20-plus years during the opening day of rifle season. It was an awesomely beautiful morning with temperatures in the upper 30s, a clear sky, mild westerly breeze, and squirrels bouncing merrily all around. I’d watched a couple does come in from one direction, followed by a 6-pointer coming from the direction 70% of the deer I’ve taken at that stand have come from, and then a couple more does entering from yet another direction.

My blind backs up to the side of the ridge with a near-vertical drop on the other side, and rare is the occasion when a deer pops up from that area. Around 11:30, I was considering heading back to camp for lunch when a deer came in from behind me on my left. It was a spike with little pinky-size antlers — just a little bitty deer that I instantly felt sorry for. It sounds silly, I know, but I always feel sorry for spikes during the rut. Their mommas have kicked them to the curb and the big boys don’t want them hanging around when there’s serious courting to be done. What’s a little fellow to do when no one wants to play?

Anyway, I’m watching this spike, thinking about a hot bowl of chili, when I hear some leaves crunching and rustling behind me. I knew it was a deer and figured it must be another small buck. A second later, an 8-point rack captures my immediate attention.

Here was a mature buck following a spike up and over the steep side of the ridge behind me for no other reason, I suppose, than that bucks can be expected to do the unexpected during the rut.

Not to question good fortune, I picked up my crossbow and made ready. The spike was moving on at a steady pace and the big guy also showed no sign of wanting to linger.

The evening before, I had refilled my Magnum Scrape-Dripper with Active Scrape, which hung over a mock scrap about 25 yards in front of my blind. I had also saturated a Quik-Wik with Special Golden Estrus at the same time and hung it on a nearby branch. When I got to my stand that morning, I gave the area around my blind several squirts of Golden Estrus Spray.

The wind was out of the southwest, which put the scent (the deer urine and my own scent) on an intercept course for the buck. As soon as he hit the scent stream, he stopped and looked in my direction.

Although I always wash my clothes in Scent Killer Gold detergent and try to spray down with Scent Eliminator before I head to the stand, I decided that morning to apply the Special Golden Estrus around my blind to possibly help as a cover scent in addition to its obvious attraction qualities.

Did the buck come to an abrupt halt because he smelled the full-spectrum (buck and doe urine) Active Scrape I’d refreshed the night before, the Special Golden Estrus-infused wick I’d hunt high on a branch for optimal scent dispersal, the scent I applied around my ground blind for cover, or did he smell me? Whatever it was, it delivered the desired results. When the buck stopped, I took my shot and it was game over.

The point we’re trying to make here is that the rut is not a time for hunters to go meekly into the woods. We have a two- to three-week window where the odds of encountering big bucks edge in our favor, and with most of us only having a few days or maybe even a few hours to hunt during this golden time, it’s incumbent upon us to pull out all the stops.

Since bucks are actively seeking does that are ready to breed, the math is simple:

• Concentrate your efforts where the does are. This means identifying and setting up at the entrances to their feeding and bedding areas, or the most-used travel routes in-between.
• Practice smart scent management always—not only to keep bucks from winding you, but also does. If you send does to flight, so go the bucks.
• A quality doe estrous scent, whether made from real urine or synthetic, should be the cornerstone of your scent arsenal for either luring in or stopping a buck.
• Adding a second scent to your setup can often help stall a buck. A multi-spectrum scent that includes both doe and buck urine, or a buck-only lure that’s heavy on tarsal scent, can present a challenge that piques the curiosity of a passing mature buck.
• When the prevailing or shifting winds do not cooperate with your setup, don’t be afraid to use deer scent around your stand as a cover.
• BE IN THE WOODS!

The rut is a short-lived wonder for deer hunters. Make the most of it by taking advantage of all the tools at your disposal. You can’t always predict where they’ll come from, where they’ll go, or what they’ll do when they’re within your shooting zone, but the above strategies have helped us on several occasions, and they may work well for you this year.

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