Looking for Lady Love: Catch a buck that’s got his guard down

From late September through October, zero in on bucks that are looking for Lady Love.

Modern North Carolina hunters face different situations when it comes to preparing for and participating in pre-rut deer hunting.

Types of weapons allowed and where deer are likely to be in specific parts of the state when the green flag drops are two concerns.

Although the deer’s mating season actually extends across several months, many hunters believe the peak of the rut occupies only a week in early November. That’s not entirely accurate, but it’s correct that “pre-rut” hunting starts in late September and extends nearly through October.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission partitions the state into four major zones — east, central, northwest and west — sets up and staggers season dates supposedly to give everyone a shot at some “rut” hunting in various areas.

After a short archery season, the two-week Eastern muzzleloader hunting begins in late September, then gun season that starts in October and runs for 2 1/2 months.

Meanwhile, the rest of the state’s hunters are restricted to archery equipment until early November, except for the western mountains, where a two-week muzzleloader season arrives on Sept. 30, splitting the archery season to avoid incidental take of bears during the western bear season.

That means gun season for two-thirds of the state must wait a full month while eastern hunters blaze away. In any case, hunters won’t see major differences when comparing the timing of the pre-rut, whether it’s occurring at Beaufort, Randolph or Stokes counties.

“(The pre-rut) seemed to us to happen a little earlier in the east,” said Mike Seamster, a retired N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s biologist.

Seamster and fellow biologists Earl Gillis, Robbie Norville and David Rowe once hunted deer with bows during the pre-rut period, often at the Pungo section of the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.

“When we were bow hunting Pungo, we’d see bucks chasing does in early September and mid October, and that probably was their pre-rut,” Seamster said. “They were making scrapes and chasing does much earlier than we’d see (in the Piedmont).”

The nice thing about the pre-rut is no matter when it happens, it’s the best time to get a buck to come to a hunter’s stand.

“I started looking for signs the testosterone level in bucks is starting to rise,” Seamster said. “Of course, that’s triggered by the lengths of days. When (testosterone rises), we’d see a lot of pre-rut scraping. It was kind of like wild turkeys in spring when the male birds start gobbling way before the hens are ready.”

Seamster said he and his fellow biologists would look for rubs and scrapes during this time.

“We’d also look for roaming bucks looking for receptive does,” he said.

But Seamster said knowledgeable hunters shouldn’t wait for the peak of the rut to arrive, because bucks are more active before the peak, because they’re having to cover more ground looking for receptive does since there aren’t as many coming into estrus.

“I don’t think, from my experience, bucks are real vulnerable to rattling during the pre-rut,” he said. “I’ve tried it and only had success a few times. But I did combine it with grunting and had some good responses.”

Seamster said mimicking grunting — guttural sounds bucks make while chasing does — is perhaps the greatest lure in a deer hunter’s pre-rut bag of tricks.

A grunting buck obviously means a receptive doe is nearby, and whitetail biology being what it is, does are promiscuous. If a different suitor shows up, often they’ll accept his advances. In effect, bucks will try to steal does from each other, so any sound that indicates a receptive doe is in the area will draw a buck’s interest — sometimes more than one.

Often, fights break out between two suitors, so the sounds of grunting and clashing antlers also aren’t unusual. Fights between male deer often draw other bucks because when two males fight, a third might sneak into the arena and make off with the object of their attention.

“I remember the first time I heard a buck grunting; I tried to mimic his sounds, and he turned and came right to me,” Seamster said. “He was a 4-pointer. I think I rattled a little, too.

“But I think rattling works better when you have a really good buck-to-doe ratio, usually in states that limit buck harvests. But (North Carolina) has a high buck harvest, so rattling doesn’t seem to be as effective — unless a buck’s really receptive and feeling his oats.”

Seamster said he’s called in bucks mostly using rattling and grunt calls together.

Although most people think older bucks come to antler clashes and grunts, that’s not always the case. In fact, the majority of the time, Seamster said, it’s just the opposite.

“I was bow hunting at the (Caswell) Game Lands several years ago, and I heard a buck chasing a doe before daylight,” he said. “It went on for about 15 or 20 minutes. They’d come at me, then go out of my hearing before it got light enough to see. I started grunting at daylight and she must have given him the slip because that buck came right to me. He was a 4-pointer.”

Oddly enough, Seamster’s best chance to lure in a bigger buck required acute hearing skills and being able to interpret woods sounds.

“I’ve grunted in one real nice buck,” said Seamster, who was hunting with a bow. “I heard something on the next ridge and finally realized it was a buck rubbing a tree.”

Bucks will mark their territory during the pre-rut by using their antlers to gouge a tree’s trunk, often completely removing the outer layer of bark. But the sound isn’t loud.

“That was one of the few times I’d heard that,” he said. “I grunted, and a few minutes later, he came straight to the tree where I was sitting.”

Seamster said the buck covered about 150 yards before reaching his stand.

“I didn’t get him because when I drew, the arrow squeaked, the buck heard it, and he ran off,” he said.

Seamster said both instances occurred during October.

“In (the Piedmont), October seems to be when the most bucks are interested (in does), and you can call ’em in,” he said.

A deer hunter naturally might think setting up a stand near a rub or scrape would pay dividends, but Seamster said that’s not been his experience. He believes scrapes and rubs are good only for the general information that a buck is using an area.

“I’ve never had a lot of luck hunting around scrapes or rubs during the pre-rut,” he said. “As far as sitting on a scrape, I think when you see one, you’ve found a general area of (buck) activity. Active scrapes are sign posts a buck’s there somewhere. I have sat on them for a lot of hours, but it’s not like a buck is going to check them every two hours.”

Also, Seamster believes bucks create most of their scrapes at field edges at night.

“I try mostly to figure out travel lanes (for deer), especially coming out of a thicket or along a ridge,” he said. “Scrapes and rubs are a part of that. They tell me where a buck is (walking).”

A lifetime of hunting the rolling hills of Caswell County — public or private land — has shown Seamster that bucks like to travel along ridges that feature roadbeds or trails.

“People use the easiest lanes of travel, and critters do the same thing,” he said. “Deer won’t go up and over gullies when they can walk a ridge line, a road bed, go across a (ridge) saddle or walk in natural funnels.”

With acorns falling during September and many uneaten — along with unharvested corn and soybean crops —October food sources become focal points of activity.

“It’s a factor,” Seamster said, “because does are going to food sources, and the bucks are starting to feel (the mating urge) and follow them.”

So crop fields and the time of day whitetails visit them obviously play into the equation.

“I’ve hunted right on the edge of fields (of corn or soybeans) and well back in the woods,” Seamster said. “A lot depends on where bedding areas are.”

If deer are coming from a long distance to reach a food source, he may place his tree stand near a woods trail far from a field. If the distance from food to a bedding area is short, he may put his stand right beside beans, corn fields or acorn woods.

“A lot of times if I’m hunting in the afternoon I want a deer to come by my stand before it gets dark,” Seamster said, “so I’ll put my stand a good distance from the food.”

For example, if it’s a half-mile from a large, hardwoods plot to a bedding area, Seamster may place his stand a quarter-mile or farther from the falling acorns.

Oddly enough, his morning hunts near food sources often resemble his evening hunts.

“Food sources are hard to hunt in the morning, because deer already will be in a bean field, and if you’ve got to get to a stand on the side (of the field), you’ll run the deer out,” Seamster said.

The same applies to morning hunts around oaks where acorns, particularly white oaks, are falling.

The solution is to place a stand deeper in the woods near a trail and wait for whitetails to head to a bedding area after sunrise. And be ready with a bow or gun when a buck comes looking for his Lady Love.