This is a special time of the year.
Every deer hunter is aware that this week and next will be the time when deer are most active. An entire year has passed since the last whitetail mating season. Old, big-antlered bucks that have remained nocturnal and rarely seen will be spotted here and there as they wander in search of a mate.
The other day, I took our old yellow lab, Tucker, up the hill for a walk. Three does fed among the white pines in my overgrown pasture, but across the road, it was a different story.
Over in the valley, four deer chased each other through the deep, green grass of the hayfield. One of the does was very close to estrus, and a pair of young, fork-horned bucks made their interest very obvious. One buck would chase the doe before the two rival males engaged in a little pushing-and-shoving match. Then it was round-and-round again for another game of chase.
I watched the little show for several minutes. The doe wasn't quite ready, even though her suitors had one thing on their minds. It reminded me of a similar event in an adjacent meadow about 20 years ago.
I stood in my driveway at about 10:30 one morning and watched a big, seven-point buck come out of the brush to chase a big doe back-and-forth across the field. In a few minutes, a larger buck came out of the old cemetery farther up the hill. With his chest out and antlers up high, he strutted into the midst of the chase.
Within moments, the two stags faced off. Antlers loudly clashed as hair and sod flew. I had seen many small pushing matches before, but nothing to rival the intensity of this fight for dominance and breeding rights. The doe stood off to the side and watched the big bucks fight over her, but she was soon wooed by a small, rag-horned buck that appeared to watch the commotion. While the big boys fought, the youngster sneaked in. After a few minutes, he walked away unscathed with the prize.
I love to hunt the rut. It usually happens during the archery season, when things are up close and personal. You can sit in a treestand and hear things you'll never hear any other time of the year, such as deer vocally calling to their mates.
I sat in my treestand along an old logging road in our lower woods one day. It was getting late in the afternoon and I could have almost taken a nap with the warm sun shining through the trees. But below me, I could hear the tending grunts of a whitetail buck.
The buck made that call over and over. I actually heard it many times that afternoon. I occasionally attempted to mimic the call and used a Primos Bleat Call to try to lure in the buck. That day, the buck was just too busy. A couple of small bucks wandered in to see who was making those calls, but the buck I wanted had the real thing in his sights. For the next week or so, things are just going to get hotter. It's the rut and for the hunter, it just doesn't get any better than that.
Rick Brockway writes a weekly outdoors column for The Daily Star. E-mail him at robrockway@hotmail.com.
