Peak Rut Lockdown Strategy

[mn_maverick66]

It's that time of the season where we hit the peak rut lockdown.  Most bucks start holding tight with their breeding does and people start to see less activity out of them.  I have it that phase hard in my area.  Still have been seeing some does and fawns but buck activity is minimal.  I like to hunt as close as I can to bedding areas and food sources during this phase.  This phase can be a good time to take a bruiser especially with the changing in weather.  What strategies do you typically use during this time of the year?

[bigbucks]

None that have worked...  I hunt where I see deer or sign that they're still there.  They often transition areas this time of year too.

[SmellEsox]

I think this phase of the rut is a myth.  If you have adequate deer numbers, some are going to be moving.

[O.T.C.]

When is the peak rut ? The first doe that was bred(and seen being bred) in my area was October 23rd ? 15 days before rifle season. I think they're more on survival mode then laying tight with does as I have bus drivers galore, paper route guys from midnight to daybreak and semi drivers and farmers I tap into what they're seeing and by November 9th none of them reported seeing a buck chasing a doe after that date as well as 40 some hunters or more I asked that direct question to. There's also a shortage of does to get bred in our areas so they got done in no time this season with that, or so it seems as the buck to doe ratio was skewed toward nearly more bucks then does. But I hear the question and it's just normal nocturnal behavior, when we're sleeping they are sniffing our stand areas and trails we use to get to and fro, I wouldn't walk around either in legal light as it's not cold enough or the grounds not covered at all and they have tons of fat stored already. Even on un-pressured ground they get nocturnal, neighbor 440 acres no 1 hunted it this season, he's seeing nothing by daylight and there's no pressure on that ground, checks his cattle AM and PM and is seeing nada. You have a few options, make a drive which most fear will ruin their stand sites but are you seeing anything anyway ? Try a grunt call, we grunted in a few bucks this season. and 3 light a match on one end jk have a good thanksgiving ! 

[O.T.C.]

Figured out 1 thing, pray for a weather change, saw 7 Sunday at 4:00 pm on a cloudy front coming afternoon, knew deer were in this swamp but hadn't seen any in the 10 previous sits counting rifle, boy were they cautious, 4 does and 3 fawns single file spaced out a bit. But every deer around has been disturbed a ton first by field hunters and then by us interior guys and it makes musket hunting really touchy and tough unless you have an ideal set up where deer bed, eat and drink and eat and bed completely on the soil you're hunting and even then it's no guarantee in legal light.