Bowhunting In November: Bucks Change Fast

A highlight of November Bowhunts for whitetail Bucks involves hunting during the Does breeding season and it’s a busy and changing time of year for bucks. The Whitetail Rut starts after the bucks new antlers mineralize and harden and the velvet falls away. That practice coincides with decreasing day length (photoperiod) and it generates increases in the bucks testosterone levels.

Bucks begin rubbing their antlers against saplings and brush, which deposits scent from their preorbital glands (along the eyes), and spreads scent from their forehead, and nose, as well as saliva from their mouth. These scent deposits tell other deer “Here I am.”

Bucks also begin sparing with other area bucks to establish hierarchies. As their  testosterone levels rise in the days preceding peak rutting action, their confrontations can turn into fierce battles.

As breeding activity approaches, bucks start making scrapes by pawing leaf litter and other debris to expose the soil. This process includes urinating in the soil. They also squeeze their hind legs together causing urine to run down their tarsal glands, leaving their unique scent at the site. A scrape regularly includes an overhead licking branch that bucks lick and chew, depositing scent much as they do while creating rubs. Does also visit scrapes and deposit their own scent, announcing their presence to would-be suitors.

The actual timing of the whitetail rut varies. Whitetails live from southern Canada to northern portions of South America. The rut’s timing is predictable and consistent from Canada to northern and midwestern portions of the United States, with most breeding occurring during a three-week timeframe from late October to mid-November. That breeding window ensures fawns are born in spring – after the snow melts – when does can find ample food for gestation’s later stages. That schedule also maximizes the fawns’ time to feed and grow before the fierceness of  their first winter.

Peak breeding varies more widely in Southern states, where the climate is less severe. Peak breeding times vary widely, typically occurring in August for parts of South Carolina, October in east Texas and southeast Georgia, and into February for southernmost parts of Florida and Texas.

An article from the Quality Deer Management Association explains more about the rut’s timing.

About 10 days before the first does enter estrus, testosterone-crazed bucks are eagerly seeking receptive does. That’s when you’ll often see bucks out and about any time of day.

Does seem to have at least two breeding strategies. Some stick tight to their core areas. They know these places well, which helps them evade predators. Many does remain inside or near their core areas throughout the rut, expecting wandering bucks to find them. For reasons we might never understand, some does make brief excursions of a up  to 3 miles to look for bucks as they go into heat. That strategy might increase genetic fitness by ensuring an influx of different genetics into the herd. After a day or so on their walkabout, does return home.

Mature does enter estrus first. A doe is only in estrus for about 24 -50 hours, but she smells “in heat” to a buck about 24 hours earlier. When a buck crosses the scent of a doe in heat, it tracks her down and stays with her relentlessly, no matter how hard she tries to hide in thick brush or under deadfalls. If rival bucks try to pursue this doe, the buck works hard to drive them away. The doe eventually reaches the peak of her estrous cycle, and lets the buck breed her. Copulation takes place several times during that 24-hour window.

During this peak breeding time, a buck might try to push the doe into an open area or field where it can watch for rival bucks and keep the doe to himself. Once the doe no longer smells right, the buck leaves her to find another doe.

Given the choice, a doe prefers to breed with a mature buck. A buck’s physiology prevents it from devoting much energy to its antlers until it reaches its maximum body size at about age 5. As such, large antlers are true advertisements of fitness. Even so, the first buck to find the receptive doe ends up breeding her because the “king” can’t be everywhere.

Many bucks — not just dominant bucks — try to breed does. That’s especially true in herds where does far outnumber bucks. The mature buck simply has too many does to breed, which lets yearling bucks (18 months old) get in on the breeding. In fact, it’s common for one doe to give birth to twin fawns from different sires.

Does that aren’t bred cycle back into estrus about 28 days later. When hunters speak of the “second rut,” they’re talking about the period when does recycle into heat and create a second breeding window, but it’s more subtle than the peak rut. Still, it happens, especially in areas with ample food and surplus doe fawns entering their first breeding season. A doe might keep recycling every 28 days until she breeds, but that’s unusual