What's your favorite rut phase to hunt?

The one where I get to shoot all the does!

Our does really start hitting estrous somewhere around the 12 of November here. Around Thanksgiving is when I see the most daylight activity and movement of the big boys. Before that it seems the really big ones spent alot of there time locked down with hot does.

Seeking, chasing, or tending?

I like it before they start rutting. Easier to pattern them when they aren’t all worked up looking for does. So. Mine is before and after the rut.

Before the rut. They don't stink and taste better all fattened up

Definitely before. Hard to stop a buck hot on a does tail!!

Prerut seeking. One week before Halloween to a week after Bow
Postrut seeking. Thanksgiving thru the next 2 weeks. Rifle
If they aren't seeking then they are locked up with a lady
JMO

Seeking phase. Last week Oct/ first week Nov.

Awesome Shirt!!!!

Anytime I'm in a Stand, blind or Shooting house

Seeking in between hot does. A can call is absolute money.....

I like the earliest stages. Now, third week of October, is about when the bucks up here start. They aren’t all skanked out like they till be in three weeks or a month from now.

This right here. Absolutely love that time and you get to witness some crazy action

From my definition our bucks are seeking from tail end of October till at least January, chasing whenever doe is within 24 hrs of standing for breeding which can be from beginning of November until as late as March and tending can be same time frame. Our bucks can be seeking, chasing tending all within a 24 hour point from November until well after first of year.

Seeking!

All of em are up on their feet.

I agree. And for me the most likely time for a mature buck to be on his feet seeking during daylight hours is a week or two after what I call the peak of rut. Which is when things get all crazy. Around here during the peak of the rut most mature bucks are in lock down with a doe and don't have to spend much time seeking to find the next one. Pre rut the mature bucks are still pretty cautious about their seeking and do a lot of it after dark.

Seeking,normally Nov 1st to the 11th after that it's lock down time for about a week up here.

20,30,40 years ago, when bow season opened, I'd hunt balls to the walls from opening day till the last day.
Party hunting is legal in Mn and I loved doing so. Many hundreds of deer were killed making drives. Was SO MUCH FUN!.
Few can fathom having a string of 50+ deer following a trail in deep snow towards them at below zero temps and emptying a full quiver of arrows.




Brown/ down type of thing. Was so much fun and cherish those times very much.
Now days, I like to wait before climbing in a tree till bout the 3rd week of Oct to the 2nd week of Nov.
There is just something (I can't find the right word) that can happen in that time frame.
Magical maybe?

Ain't much more special to me then that time when the woods just " come alive".
The older I get, the more I don't enjoy sitting with my butt parked in a small treestand when it's cold n snowy.

For pure fun, Oct 25th through Nov 4thish time frame is hard to beat . Weather permitting.

Pretty much the same as Bucksnbears for me- I'll sit a mid-morning major on a cold front with the right wind in early October but will hunt every day from October 25th-November 12th. I prefer the pre-rut seeking phase, I've also noticed that 4-1/2's that haven't been on camera since dispersal start to cruise their summer range, albeit sometimes only 1 day, sitting on a scrape line before they are abandoned can be a deadly strategy. Good Luck everyone!