It’s December And That’s The 2nd RUT!

Robert Hoague, Webmaster of Bowhunting.net

Over the years I’ve met lots of deerhunters who had plenty of advice and information. And as time passed I saw things happening in the deer woods that were different than I’d heard about. And, noticing that, I started playing off what I saw and learned, more often than what I’d been told or read.

I took pictures of this buck with a doe during the 2nd Rut back in late December of 2013. I nicknamed this buck Curved Horn. And he was still around in 2019.  

In the mid 80’s I felt I’d put things together pretty good and was a knowledgeable deer hunter (that hunted exclusively with my bow and arrow). Then, in 1987 I made a casual decision that turned out to be pivotal for what I knew about deer and deerhunting with a bow. I decided to bowhunt for the next 3 years for all of October, November and December. Every day.

I learned a lot about deer and their behavior, but the thing that struck me most was that much of the information hunters had shared with me, to help me out, was kind of like “old wives tales” sort of things. Their info was mostly incomplete snap-shots of somrthing they saw deer doing. And, also, so was much of what I had believed before hunting the first entire season.

So, to sum it up, after hunting deer every day for 3 months, for 3 years, I was reading out of a very different book of deer  knowledge. And what I’m gonna talk about today is my discovery of the 2nd rut.

What Is The 2nd Rut?

Every deerhunter knows about the “whitetail Peak Rut”. But NOT ALL the does in your area will be bred. First; the does that were not bred will come back into estrus in 24 to 28 days. Plus; there is entire group of does, and it is a sizeable group, that will also go into estrus. MORE COMING …