Whitetail Watch with Bill Winke

It can be very tempting to rush right to your best spots when the season opens, especially if you had some daylight trail camera photos of a good buck in that area during the past few weeks. But, be careful. There is a change in behavior that happens at this time every year. Bucks that were daylight active throughout most of September stop coming out in the open, or possibl kwhunting kwwhitetail

We had a chance to get out and hunt the cold front yesterday on opening day. There was some decent movement back in the timber, and the forecast calls for another cold front this weekend. However, the most effective strategy now is also the riskiest. Many bucks are still not moving out in the open during daylight. Hunting them where they're living means potentially educating and spooking them. It

This week's cold front didn't deliver quite the results we were hoping for, but the best hunting of the season is yet to come. With the bucks shifting their ranges again, it is a good idea to base your strategy on what you are seeing now versus what you were seeing even earlier this month. The bucks will be where the does are as the rut closes in, so if you can pattern the does, that will give you

The season is ramping up. Buck behavior will increasingly be dictated by the rut phase versus the weather in the coming weeks. Now it is time to begin hunting mornings. Near bedding areas in the mornings and near active scrapes close to field edges for the afternoons are great places to start. This is the time we look forward to all season. Enjoy it and good luck.

This coming week will feature one of the most useful behavior events of the season - when the first doe comes into estrus in the area where the buck you are hunting lives. Things really break loose when that happens. Most years we see this occur between roughly October 30 and November 3. Let's keep this simple: the bucks are physically hunting does so if you do the same thing you are much mor

The best days of the rut are upon us. Historically, November 7th - plus or minus a couple of days - has been my favorite day to hunt. Bucks are out searching for does as the number in estrus climbs. Use this to your advantage by focusing on funnels and doe bedding areas. Now is the time to sit all day, hunt your best spots, and pull out all of the stops. Deer tend to move best when it is under 5

As the number of does in estrus reaches it's peak, the amount of buck activity seems to drop. This phenomenon is annual and not dependent on weather conditions. Bucks have to travel shorter distances to find does, so they are less visible. This can make for some challenging, frustrating days in the woods. Your best bet is to hunt where the does are in hopes of a hot one coming past. This increase

We tend to romanticize the rut as a non-stop parade of daylight, mature buck activity. However, that isn't always - or usually - the case. In reality, there are only about four really good days a year, and they are difficult to predict. For those of us left with tags to fill, the coming weekend/into next week has a lot of potential to produce that last good day. You can expect to see bucks and do

The primary rut has run its course in much of the whitetail's range. While there may still be a few bucks cruising and looking for does in the mornings, most of the action will head back toward food, especially with the forecast we have for this coming weekend - a sharp cold front. This presents a couple of challenges. How do you get out of these locations in the evenings without spooking deer? W

I am not sure why there is any debate about whether there is a second cycle to the rut. Biologists have stated that it exists for decades and I have seen it in some form most years. The real questions are how strong this rut is and how best to hunt it. Those are the questions I tackle in this episode. Good luck and stay warm!

This is my last Whitetail Watch update for this year (We will keep producing the Bowhunting Whitetails series until the season ends, however). All the behavior from here on out will be very similar to what we are seeing now. The main strategy now is to find what they are feeding on and then patiently wait until the deer start hitting their food sources in daylight. Then if you aren't able to