September can be a mystical time in the whitetail world as the gentle, velvet crowned bucks of summer begin their transition towards the establishment of their hierarchy among the herd. If you have hunted during the earlier fall months, namely September, you have probably witnessed this in varying degrees...from the light pushing and tickling of the now hard tines between two young bucks to the more serious but short-lived lockup and crash of bone between two mature male whitetail bucks.

This September has been, by all accounts, well beyond normal here on the Milk River as far as the numerous whitetail are concerned. This is said not only according to my own experiences, but based on what other outfitters and hunters are saying as well.

 Take Taylor Fitzpatrick’s hunt here on the Milk River as a great example. Here’s a younger, highly energetic and full of go fella from Winchester, Kentucky. He joined us here at Cottonwood Whitetails Outfitters (406.367.5258) during the first week in September. It had been a tough week of hunting as the winds wouldn’t vary from one direction for several straight days as well as being in the nineties for most of the hunt. We had been seeing a good amount of deer on several of the hunts, but had a hard time getting one within bow range.

On his fourth day of the hunt I had gotten Taylor to his perimeter stand very early, 3:30 a.m. to be exact, because I had to take a buddy to an early morning flight out of the airport. Shooting light was a good two hours away, occurring about 6:30. But half an hour after he got situated in his stand, he started seeing deer under his stand! Keep in mind we had nearly a full moon....as a matter of fact we didn’t need any flashlights and I actually found a shed lying on the ground getting to one of the stands...honest, it is the only shed I have ever found at night! Visibility was obviously good.

 Taylor had estimated one of the bucks to be around 150 or so inches, as he walked past and then back through well before light. As the early morning sun started to shed some shooting light on the alfalfa field, Taylor began to see several deer and a few bucks. About a half hour after shooting light, Taylor noticed a shooter about 60 or more yards out in the field from his setup.

He decided to give a few shorts grunts on his Primos Rubberneck grunt call...in response the buck stiffed-necked a look towards him and "...came on a string" according to Taylor. Right to within a short bow shot....at which point Taylor made great shot on the nice, chocolate horned beast. The deer ran about 90 yards and tipped over dead. Shortly thereafter, another 4x4 buck, still in velvet, attempted to show the dead buck who was boss as he attempted to roll the dead buck and punched his carpeted rack square into the side of the dead buck! That is pretty darn aggressive for the first week in September!

Taylor’s buck will go around 130" or a little better I am guessing, his best buck to date. Taylor pulled a rabbit out of his hat on that one, as more seasoned hunters usually would not have tried to grunt that early in the season...good job Taylor!

 

Mike Hanback touched on this subject on one of his blogs. We both think that as the bucks sort out the hierarchy in the herd at this time, the have a surge of aggressiveness (testosterone?), making them respond to a grunting tactic. About 60% of the bucks were out of velvet at this time. It is worth noting that Taylor witnessed some hard fighting between bucks of all ages.

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Matt Thorsen of Rhinelander, Wisconsin grunted this buck in on his last day of the hunt around the third week in September. This mature 5x5 stopped in his tracks at 60 yards out, turned with some serious stiff front legs towards Matt and came to "...get a chunk of whatever the hell grunted at him!" says Matt. He did, as a very solid Muzzy moment ended the buck’s days within seconds of the arrow’s impact.

Even though the buck was several hundred yards away when I clicked the picture with noe tripod, you can still recognize him.  

Matt had passed up a 5x5 pushing the 160" inch mark hoping to get a shot at the legit booner behind him on his first day of the hunt. The big 5x5 passed under his stand less the 15 yards as the booner did what bigger bucks do and turned out of range of Matt’s bow. This buck he grunted in was a nice finish to a fun week of hunting. His buddy, Corey, has some ridiculous heart-breaking stories from that week involving some big racked bucks, but that will have to be another day.

Bottom line....don’t be afraid to try some fresh new tactics even if it goes against what most think to be the right way or when to do it. Carry a grunt call, even in early September! Maybe next early season it will pay off for you too.