Pennsylvania Game News - November 2022 - 57

When working less familiar territory,
rutting bucks hound for does checking
air currents and the forest floor for scent.
Their maneuvers typically involve ample
ground cover: hemlock thickets, mountain
laurel and multiflora rose jungles, and
chop-offs. So, if you hunt in or near cover
deer are using, you're in position to take
local or visiting bucks. Just keep your
distance from bedding areas.
BUCK SIGNPOSTS
Some bowhunters bank too heavily
on scrape and rub lines to get close to
bucks. It's a strategy that works best in
mid-October. However, scrapes and rubs
can be more a product of repetition than
strategically placed territorial signposts.
And the closer bow season gets to November,
the less important rubs and scraps
become, because bucks start keying in
on estrous does.
That isn't to say scrapes and rubs don't
delineate buck travelways, just that they're
time sensitive. In November, I like to
consider them more as evidence of bucks
in a general area, rather than hotspots to
ambush.
Scrapes and rubs can attract other
bucks at this time, too. But too often, those
bucks aren't keepers. They're the ones
pushed aside by the big boys, and not the
ones that get you up at zero-dark-thirty to
hunt. Remember, too, some scrapes are
visited only after sunset, particularly those
along farm-field edges and in smaller
woodlots.
Figure bucks will be raiding bedding
and feeding areas as November opens and
will continue to do so into rifle season.
The peak of the rut in Pennsylvania is
Nov. 12 through 18, based on Game
Commission-Penn State telemetry studies.
When bucks find an estrous doe,
they'll mirror her movements. Although
NOVEMBER 2022
bucks might tend scrapes in late October
if local does aren't yet coming into heat,
they usually are canvassing the landscape
for does, using cover to mask their movements.
Fresh sign helps sort that out.
ZEROING IN
After locating scrapes and rubs, branch
out into adjacent areas and find where deer
sign is most abundant and the understory
provides cover. This is especially effective
when only the oaks and beech still hold
their leaves, because early leaf-drop is
over, reducing the chance falling leaves
will hide the sign you're seeking.
Too often when looking for an ambush
site, it's hard to find a climbable tree for
my stand, because active trails often are
ensconced in young forestland and thickets,
which provide excellent ground cover.
Usually, some tree presents what I want.
But if it doesn't, I move on.
Remember, it's not enough to be off
the ground, where elevation improves
your coverage of trails and helps to hide
you and your odor. You must blend in and
be tucked in. Otherwise, deer will bust
you. Maybe not all of them, but as many
bowhunters soon find out, it's often those
seasoned heavyweights we want that do.
Look at it like playing hide-and-seek and
not being hidden well enough on a landscape
bucks know intimately.
Older bucks are not smarter than hunters.
Nor are they lovesick pushovers.
But they stake their lives to their woods
smarts. And if you fail to respect their
shrewdness, don't expect to get close to
the big boys in bow season.
TRAIL SMARTS
When weighing whether to hunt a deer
trail, analyze your surroundings. Think
hard about whether deer would be where
you are in daylight. Is there enough cover?
57
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2022

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