The Pre-rut of Deer Season

The Pre-rut
The Pre-rut of deer season usually starts a couple of months before rifle season. This is the time of year when deer are preparing to mate. This is also when the bucks start peeling the velvet off of their antlers, fighting for dominance, and making scrapes. The dominant bucks move around constantly this time of year so it is almost impossible to track their movements.

Hunting Bucks during the Pre-rut
During the Pre-rut, do not try to pattern them because they go somewhere different every day. Bucks can gain up to 100 lbs. during the Pre-rut, so how do they gain all of this weight. Bucks eat a lot of food during Pre-rut so the best place to hunt is over a food plot or a natural food source. The deer also make their mating calls this time of year. So a good deer call that can do a buck grunt and a doe bleat is the right call to use.