Climbing to my stand that mid-October afternoon, I hoped for nothing more than to see the mature 8-pointer I had set up on. I was hunting close to his bedding area, trying my best to outsmart him before the October lull kicked in.

Seeing the doe approaching fast, my first thought was that she was spooked by another hunter. I was tucked back in a large chunk of timber, but one is never truly safe from the actions of others when sitting on public lands.

To my surprise, the mature doe trotted over to the scrape, squatted and deposited her urine right in the middle. Standing there, fanning her tail side to side, her repeated glances over her shoulder told me this wasn’t done yet. 

Tensing as I heard the buck approaching, I believed this could indeed be it. Unfortunately, the buck was a young spike. Stopping behind her, he stamped his front hoof to get her to run. I did my best to will her to remain, believing this would certainly draw the big guy out of his bedding area. 

Finally, the spike’s mock charge sent her in motion. For the next 10 minutes, I watched the spike chase her around the upwind side of the bigger buck’s bedding area. Although another young buck eventually joined the chase, I began believing that Mr. Big either wasn’t home or just wasn’t interested. After all, it seemed apparent the doe was putting on this act just for him.

A random glance over my shoulder proved I was wrong. There, standing motionless at the edge of the swamp was the buck I was after. The problem was the chasing activity was occurring to the right side of my stand, and I was set up for a shot on the left. Sure, I could shoot that direction, but not 60 yards, which is precisely how far away he stood from my tree.

I won’t pretend to know how long he’d been there before I spotted him, and he didn’t remain still for long. The first time the doe led the youngsters back toward him, the big buck picked up the chase. With his attentions now secured, the doe led the merry band to some unknown destination. Unfortunately, my stand wasn’t anywhere along their path. Two full hours before dark, the action was already over for the day.

Returning the next afternoon, I found the area tore up with fresh buck sign. Three new scrapes had been opened around the one that previously existed, and several saplings had been shredded. 

I again saw the two youngsters, along with a 2½-year-old 10-pointer that I’d been seeing regularly on a clear-cut about a mile away. Each buck lingered in the area, working the older scrape and adding some new sign of their own. However, the big 8-pointer didn’t show. In fact, while the area became a hotbed for young buck activity over the next few days, I never saw the big buck again. 

The mere idea of mid-October breeding action in the upper Midwest is hard for some hunters to comprehend. After all, for many years we’ve been conditioned to believe that breeding activity fits nicely into a neat little 10- to 14-day window in November. This article will challenge that notion. I’m thoroughly convinced that October’s mini-rut is real.

Seeing is Believing

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s dangerous at best for hunters to come to firm conclusions on whitetail behaviors based on a handful of experiences we have in the deer woods. Still, we are also short-sighted to ignore them.

The afternoon hunt that began this piece was just one example of breeding related behaviors in mid-October. In my 32 years of bow-hunting, I’ve had eerily similarly scenes play out three other times. In each case, it was a mature doe, looking to be in peak health that appeared to be actively seeking a dominant buck.   

Another commonality was that I witnessed all four urinating in either an existing scrape or in the depression of a primary scrape that had yet to be opened that year. Each displayed the body language of being at or near estrus. Ironically, outside of this mini-rut period, I’ve only witnessed does urinating in scrapes three other times. One of those does was obviously in estrus; the others didn’t appear to be.

Through first- and second-hand encounters, working as a consultant for outfitters exposes me to the experiences of many of their hunters. Every outfitter I’ve spoken to on this subject has had experiences similar to mine. By adding them into the mix, I can weigh the experiences of literally thousands of hunters. That becomes a sampling that can be taken seriously.

Tom Indrebo, along with his wife Laurie, owns a very successful outfitting operation in my own home state of Wisconsin. He has very strong opinions on this subject. 

“I have no doubt that there’s a breeding period that occurs in October,” Indrebo said emphatically. “However, it’s spotty and only a small percentage of does get bred, and they’re the really healthy ones. But it is real.”

He agrees that it appears to be the does that initially seek out the mature bucks during this period. After that, there’s a brief explosion of activity in the area, most likely due to the estrous scent left behind. 

“The really good part is that it draws the really big bucks out,” Indrebo said. “Our hunters have close encounters with big bucks every year during this time, and we’ve been able to put some real good ones on the ground. Heck, Ken Shane shot a huge Booner eight years ago during this window. (Shane’s buck scored 186 6/8, which tied it for the state’s top spot for typicals in the Pope and Young record book).

“Our trail cameras also pick up bucks during the day that were nocturnal before Oct. 12,” Indrebo added. “After a few days, they go back to living at night until the end of October. If you play it right, that brief period in between can be a good time to get a great buck.”

Cashing In on the Action

Hunting the mini-rut can be great, but, to be brutally honest, outside of looking for extremely healthy, mature does, I have no clue how to predict where and when an early estrous doe will appear. That makes setting up on them very difficult. Still, that primary scrape tucked back in the cover of the woods is usually worth a sit or two.

Mature bucks are finely tuned breeding machines. Their past experiences clue them into available action. This spurt puts them on the alert that breeding opportunities are out there … if they can be in the right place at the right time. That is something hunters can take advantage of if they’re on their toes.

That’s exactly what Eugene Mancl did when bow-hunting with Butch Fox in Buffalo County, Wis. As Eugene crawled to his stand on Oct. 12, he was anticipating how the afternoon would unfold. His stand was just down from a ridge top. Thick brush surrounded the top’s narrow finger of CRP, dotted with several heavily producing apple trees. His hope was to intercept deer movement coming up from the bottom to feed on the isolated candy crop.

An hour before dark, Mancl saw a giant buck walking the edge of the CRP. As the brute approached, Eugene’s heart rate kicked it up a gear. Hitting the apple tree, the buck raked the licking branch of an impressive scrape. With the buck shaking the tree so hard that apples rained to the ground, Mancl drew his grunt tube to his lips and released several tending grunts.

That got the big boy’s attention. The buck did an about-face and approached the edge of the CRP and peered through the tangle of vines. The buck was still a good 45 yards out, and with no chance of slipping an arrow through the tangle anyway, Eugene slipped a hand in his pocket and flipped his Primos can call.

“That really got his attention,” Mancl said. “He came running straight for the tree to find the hot doe. At 12 yards, he hit my track. I had walked through a cow pasture on the way in and purposefully stepped in cow pies. When he hit it, he froze, and I shot him.”

So much for the old theory that early October is no good for rutting activity. For years we were taught not to try hunting techniques geared for the rut until just before, during and after the breeding phase. As Eugene’s experience shows, I’ve come to believe mature bucks are ripe for these tactics as early as the second week of October. The positive experiences I’ve had with estrous calls, scents and decoys have convinced me that taking a proactive approach during this time can pay huge dividends.

Conclusion

Over the years, I have discussed the whitetail’s early breeding behavior tendencies with top biologists like John Ozoga and Dr. Karl Miller. Their general consensus is that a few prime does do enter estrus early each year. Adding that information to the experiences of thousands of hunters makes me a firm believer in October’s mini-rut. 

Although that knowledge alone won’t skyrocket hunting success rates, it just might provide you the confidence needed to lure that truly dominant buck into bow range this fall. Pull that off, and you’ll be a believer, too.

— Steve Bartylla is an accomplished whitetail hunter and veteran outdoor writer from Wisconsin. For infomation on how to obtain his new book, Bowhunting Tactics That Deliver Trophies, send an e-mail to bowwriter@yahoo.com.

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