Mistake: Giving Up After Peak Rut Subsides
In Wisconsin, peak rut occurs well into gun season. With gun season, there are more hunters out in the woods than during the early and late bow seasons. After gun
season many hunters hang up there hunting equipment until next season, but there is reasons to keep on hunting even though the rut activity has quieted down. Just hold on, it’s not over yet.
In fact, hunting the post rut period can be just as good of a time to hunt big bucks because this is when bucks go back to focusing on feeding and getting their rest. Exactly 28-30 days after the peak rut period there will be a second coming of the rut. Not as intense as the peak rut, but there is enough significant activity to warrant sticking it out. Use your calls but not as intensely as you did for peak rut. I stick to just using the tending grunt and doe bleat calls during this time of year.
With December moving in, so comes the colder weather. When temperatures drop deer become active to stay warm and feed. It’s important for the whitetails survival to build up there fat storage for the long cold winter ahead. When temperatures get
really cold, like in the single-digits cold, deer will feed more often both during night and day. Watch the weather closely. If there is a storm moving in, be out there just before and right after it comes through, because the deer are sure to
come out to feed.
