The Whitetail Rut: Best Tree Stand Locations

Ah, the one time of the year that whitetails actively seek love. It’s a period frustrated bucks have been waiting for, and most of them aren’t about to miss it. However, if hunters use the wrong tactics and stand locations, they will miss the bucks.

THE RUT

The Rut Funnel: Deer usually travel the path of least resistance. Funnels allow deer to easily navigate from A to B without crossing over or through adjacent obstacles that are difficult to traverse. During the rut, when whitetail bucks are covering more ground, these can be excellent spots to intercept cruising bucks.

The Sensical Crossing: Certain terrain types discourage or prohibit deer from crossing. Other times, deer merely establish a good point of crossing that is adopted by the herd. Some of these locations include bluffs, rivers, ditches, fences, walls of vegetation and more. Crossings that are likely to be used during daylight quickly become solid stand locations.

The Best Doe Bedding: Bucks and does sometimes bed in the same areas, but generally they are segregated. During the rut, doe bedding areas become more attractive to bucks. They move from one doe group or family to the next in search of receptive females, making these doe bedding areas solid options for the rut.

The Best Buck Bedding: Just because it’s the rut doesn’t mean bucks won’t continue to use their preferred bedrooms. Uber-mature bucks commonly rut and move only at night, and if they aren’t with an estrus doe, they’ll return to their proven sanctuary of bedding cover. So, don’t overlook the best buck bedding in an area just because it’s the rut. Deer will still be there.

The Weird Rut Spot: The rut is a time when deer do things they don’t throughout the rest of the year. This includes inhabiting areas that are virtually void of deer at other times. There’s a rhyme to the reason, though. Mature bucks understand the rut, and they commonly push does to oddball spots to get estrus females away from competing bucks. Spots that check this box include brush piles, fence rows, small pockets of timber deer usually avoid and more.

Early Season: Best Tree Stand Locations

Pre-Rut: Best Tree Stand Locations

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