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John's Journal... Entry 171, Day 5

ROAD MAP TO WHITETAIL RENDEZVOUSES

Road Maps 11 And 12

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bagging a deer can be relatively easy. All you have to do is have a deer in your sights, know that your scope is accurate, make a steady squeeze on the trigger and permit your bullet to do the rest. But finding a white-tailed deer often can be difficult, although it is the most-plentiful game animal in North America. Here's some routes to follow that will direct you to a whitetail rendezvous this winter.

ROAD MAP # 11: Locate the buck's line of scrapes and take a stand in the center of the scrape line or in the region between the scrapes and the feeding area.

Many articles have been written and much information is available on hunting deer during the mating season (the rut). One of the most- familiar guides to taking antlered whitetails in the rut has been scrape hunting. Scrapes are pawed-up places in the earth with a strong urine smell, hooked bushes and crushed leaves and twigs over the scrape that act like a stop sign for does ready to be bred. A doe will be in heat for 30 hours, and then come back in heat 28 days later. Bucks frequent these places to meet willing does during the rut. So scrapes are spots that bucks will return to meet does periodically. Oftentimes the freshness of the scrape will reveal the frequency with which a buck visits the scrape. One of the best methods to determine how fresh a scrape is, is to pick up a handful of the pawed-up earth and smell the earth. A strong urine smell will indicate a fresh scrape since a buck generally urinates in the scrape each time he checks it.

However, Dr. Ross Shelton of the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service believes that scrapes are not always sure bets for bucks. "Suppose a buck has a line of six scrapes, and the hunter takes a stand close to No. 3 scrape. Maybe when the buck comes to check his scrapes to see if a doe is close by he finds a female at scrape No. 6. The buck may spend all day with this doe, walking with her and waiting on her to stop so he can service her. Finally she stops on the second day. The buck stays with her until the third day, hoping she will permit him to breed her again. The hunter hasn't seen a deer that three days. Maybe on the fourth day the buck is back working his scrapes and stops at No. 1 scrape first and finds a doe. You can see that scrapes are not always a sure way to take a buck during the time you plan to hunt."

ROAD MAP # 12: Discover does during the rut and let them lead you to a buck.

Although scrape hunting can be productive, my friend Bit McCarty has found another route of hunting the rut that keeps him in close contact with deer and in many cases in shooting distance of a buck. "I hunt the does," McCarty says. "During the rut the buck is looking for does to breed. Often when he finds them they aren't ready to receive him. So like any anxious bridegroom, the buck waits to consummate the relationship. By moving through the woods close enough to a group of does to see them but far enough away for them hopefully not to see me, I have found plenty of bucks during the rut.

"If the buck is not with the does, he often will be standing 20 to 30 yards behind or to the side of them. Sometimes I will see does feeding in a field or a hardwood flat and catch a glimpse of horn in a fallen treetop or a patch of thick cover. The old buck may be bedded-down close to the does so he can watch his harem."

Utilizing all these road maps will not work in all locations. However, you should be on a straighter course to deer-hunting success and greatly increase your chances of bagging a buck this season by following this road map to whitetail rendezvouses.

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about ROAD MAP TO WHITETAIL RENDEZVOUSES ...

Day 1 - Finding Your Deer
Day 2 - Road Maps 3-5
Day 3 - Road Maps 6-8
Day 4 - Road Maps 9 and 10
Day 5 - Road Maps 11 and 12


John's Journal