The Rut is On!
By Glen Wunderlich
Charter Member Professional Outdoor Media Association
We hunters spend a lot of time preparing for the inevitable whitetail rut – that time of the season in which deer drop their guard for the sake of perpetuating their species. Nothing else seems to matter, as they bypass delectable food plots, aim their noses forward like a jet fighter and press on regardless of consequences.
Although the bucks’ main breeding period may be weeks off, the action has already picked up, and this cooler weather we are now experiencing should propel them into a deeper frenzy.
This past week I took a stand high above a productive patch of turnips, where the deer have trimmed the foliage to boot-top level. Setting up shop for an afternoon session over an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of fresh greens can be a rewarding experience, as food plots begin to lure does before dusk. And, the females then lure the bucks into the neighborhood.
Within a half hour after climbing into my perch, several does began work on the huge salad bar and chomped leaves as large as pie plates. They chewed the green leaves into large wads, that when swallowed appeared as sizeable, descending balls in their lengthy throats; they were dining in broad daylight – seemingly without a care.
And, then a rather large white-racked adult buck poked his nose into the open-air bonanza. 
The bruiser snatched up some greens and chomped away until an entire plant was forced down his throat. But, that wasn’t all that was on his plate this afternoon.
With some fast food in his belly, he now fixed his sights on some elusive four-legged dessert. I held onto my video camera as long as I dared and reached for my crossbow several times as the circus came nearby. However, the big fella came to the outer limits of my ethical range, but never hesitated in his lustful ways. I know my limitations and held off as the buck carried on. He would vanish and reappear with his nose being moistened by his over-active tongue as he tuned his nostrils on the go.
Being my first session afield this archery season, I quickly learned that I had forgotten to consider a few tangible necessities: a grunt call and a decoy. I did my best to imitate some guttural semblance of a deer’s grunt, when the buck was marching away. He turned to look a couple of times, but without the visual to coincide with the sound, he disregarded my fruitless solicitations.
I shared some pictures of the excitement with my friend, Joe, who promptly showed up the next afternoon. Joe took a stand favorable with the prevailing wind, but we were not able to communicate, because someone forgot to check the batteries in our radios.
When Joe returned, he explained that while he was scanning the terrain for deer with his binoculars, that same buck I had seen the afternoon before, was staring him in the eyes at 20 yards. It was as if the whitetail buck popped up from the ground! Let me just say it didn’t work out when Joe made his move.
It only gets better, as bucks are feeling the involuntary call to reproduce. And, that should be a hunter’s call to action, because the rut is on!
