Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Whitetail Deer Rut Peak time in Kansas?

I have a Kansas archery deer tag this year. It's time to pick the week I want to hunt, and I would like to optimize that time to coincide with the peak of the rut if possible.

Last year I hunted post-rut, with nothing but a lot of broken-horn bucks to choose from.

Any info on best times? Thanks

Here in southeast Nebraska, we usually think of peak rut as the week before rifle season. Seem to see the most activity then.

That would be last week of October, first week of November. I am maybe 45 miles north of the Kansas line, fwiw.

Bighorn-

I've archery hunted Kansas quite a bit - SE corner of the state.
While I've seen decent rutting activity at the beginning of November, I see more bucks roaming, traveling the creek bottoms and hedge rows quite a bit more during the middle of the November. I also think you're better off a little later on in that many of the larger bucks will travel into somewhat less familiar country looking for does. Pinchpoints and connecting hedgerows are dynamite. What I've found in KS is that deer are more apt to do what they're supposed to do. While still unpredictable, (uhhh, they ARE whitetails *L*) they seem to be a little more prone to travel predictable routes than some of the other states/provinces I've hunted - likely due to topography.

As you're well aware, the weather has a lot to do with deer activity. While it has nothing to do with the timing of the rut, it has EVERYTHING to do with deer activity and the frenzy cooler weather can bring. I've been there in the third week of November and had 80 degree temps and you'd swear there isn't a buck in the county.

I'm going to try something a little different this year in that I'm headed there for the week just prior to Halloween and, if I can't hang a tag on one then, I'm coming back in mid-November after a Manitoba hunt.

If I was looking for "the" optimal time for you, and it's JMO, I'd shun the first week of November, opting for the second or third week.

I've hunted the first week of December with a rifle and it was over then. The past three years, I've hunted the first week of November with a bow. The bucks are mostly walking and looking, but are very huntable. Cool weather makes or breaks the deal. To answer your question, probably around the 10th of November.

Nov 7th at 2:37 P.M.