Because of the crazy weather patterns we've been experiencing in many parts of the country during the past few years, the rut has been anything but easy to define. In fact, I wrote a column about that very subject in the May/June 2006 issue ("Hiding In Plain Sight"). During the 2004 season in Georgia, warm weather and a bumper crop of acorns played havoc with deer hunters during the normal rutting period in November. Because the deer apparently stayed in the woods close to the food source, sightings and buck harvest figures were way down. Hunters complained bitterly to the state DNR because they thought an increase in the doe harvest had reduced the herd. That wasn't the case at all. The following year, things pretty much got back to normal and a record harvest of Pope & Young bucks was recorded because many of those bucks that remained invisible in 2004 were much more visible in 2005.

What can we do to tip the odds a bit when weather conditions are unseasonably warm like they have been during the past few seasons? First of all, by late October and early November the deer have grown their thick winter coats and bucks are certainly not going to be out chasing does during the day if it's 70 degrees outside. Instead, they're going to be holed up with a doe in a safe place for most of the day. Most activity will take place in the morning, when it's cool. Be there. Get to your stand well before daylight and make sure you don't spook any feeding deer as you go in. Under these conditions, it might be necessary to get to your spot a good two hours before daylight. Hunt as close to bedding areas and sanctuaries as is safe. That way, when the deer do move, you'll be apt to see them. Hunt near water sources. If the deer do move during the afternoon, chances are they'll go to water before they do anything else.

Lastly, trying to rattle or call in a mature buck seldom works well under these conditions, because the big boys are probably already with does. You may call in a bunch of small bucks, but mature bucks are not going to leave their lady friends.

Shortly after my fruitless trip to Illinois during the first week of November in 2005, I heard about another great buck that was taken close to where I was hunting. On the afternoon of October 29, Dr. Chuck Conner of North Carolina was set-up in a tree stand not far from a small lake. Chuck was hunting in Pike County with Sam Moore at Illinois' Finest Outfitters and Sam had just put up the stand Chuck was in the evening before because one of his guides had seen a big buck in the area. Late that afternoon several deer came in to drink, and within moments, a monster buck appeared at the water as well. Chuck made a perfect thirty-yard shot on the 21-point brute. Chucks trophy scored 2035⁄8 nontypical points.

If you're hunting in mid-November and the weather is unseasonably hot, my good friend and expert bowhunter Steve Bartylla of Wisconsin has this advice: "Go take a nap in the afternoon, so that you'll be well rested for the morning hunt." That's probably pretty good advice in most cases, but I bet Chuck Conner is awfully glad he was not napping!