pre rut - rut help
 

here in central louisiana our rut will start in about 3 weeks. I hunt on about 6,000 aces of public land. only about 5 hunters hunt it because it is archery only and pretty hard to hunt. anyway the area I hunt has a good number of does hanging around and only 1 small buck from what I can tell. do you think the does will stay when the rut kicks off and bring the big boys out to my location? the bigboys around here are in the 160-190 class. I really need one of these on my wall. any Ideas?

RE: pre rut - rut help
 

For pre-rut u might want to hunt buck sign such as rubs and scrape lines, if it is 6000 acres i am sure u can find some good buck sign. When the does really start to come into heat however i think it would be best to hunt the does. If u are in an area with a hott doe in it the big boys will find her. You have to think of a buck as "scouting" for does, what areas do u look for when u look for deer sign, edges, fingers, funnels, the bucks are doing the same thing, looking for does. Those are just the techniques i use and i hunt all public land, hope it helps

RE: pre rut - rut help
 

found buck rubs that go about 4ft. high on some small pines about 1 mile from all my does. hope he is comming my way:)

RE: pre rut - rut help
 

find a good spot where you have seen doe movement. hopefully a sopt with lots of it too. if the does are there now, the does will be there when rut starts. which means, the big guys will come out and be chasing through that area. we had a great rut in wisconsin here this year. i wasnt seing much for monsters on our land and then when rut hit, it was like BANG! i had does around my stand all year and then the big guys came during rut. unfortunately, i could get any in close enough to shoot. they would get 30 yeards from m and a doe would come by and they would chase. so, find a spot does are moving now and then stick to that area when rut hits and hopefully youll bag a biggin'. good luck and post pics if you knock one down.