The Big Week

It is nearly here: the week of the whitetail rut that bowhunters and crossbow hunters have lobbied to have added to the autumn archery season. Next week is the big week.

In the past, the first two weeks of November have been the ones that archers have hoped would get wary bucks moving past their stands. However, archers have lamented that the week following these two weeks is the one when power-rack bucks that are rarely seen leave their security areas and are out looking for does to breed. "We could harvest some real trophy bucks if we could hunt the third week of November," more than one archer often told me.

Deer managers at the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) have listened to the archers' requests to allow the fall archery season to remain open during the third week of November. Next week will be the first time archers will have the opportunity to hunt at this time.

Archers' tactics might have to change. During the early archery season, hunters often like to set up near food sources where they have seen deer before the season. They place their stands along travel routes to and from feeding areas.

Later, as the rut begins, they move their stands to locations in the woods where they have found rub lines that bucks have made as the rut begins. In addition, bowhunters and crossbow hunters may place their stands near scrapes (patches of bare ground that bucks make to leave their scent and to let other deer know they're around). Some archers may even spray some scent in or near these scrapes. Some may even hang a bottle of scent above the scrape on a "licking branch" where they hope to attract a hormone-driven buck. All of these things are done to lure bucks into shooting range.

One enthusiastic archer recently told me that the third week of November might be a lot different. "We [archers] think the bucks might not be out checking the scrapes they have made. We anticipate that the bucks might just go prowling around the woods with their noses to the ground or up in the air, hoping to smell does that are ready to breed. Using some doe estrus scent might be helpful. What we are really hoping for is that bucks we nearly never see will be out and about, searching for willing does. We hope to harvest 'monster' bucks moving past our stands."

I hope that archers who get dandy bucks in their sights next week shoot straight and true.