You can hunt for one week, there are trail cams on the property which could be showing travel patterns,

Would you rather hunt stud bucks in "predictable"(lol) patterns, such as mid October,

or lay it all on the line and hunt the rut when the big boys can't control themselves, and that can mean, here today, gone tomorrow.

Which hunt would you rather spend a week on?

Pre-rut, because most everything you are describing is pre-rut. I like when they are running all over the place chasing, which is pre-rut. The HEART of rut I see far fewer.

Interesting dilemma. I've never been a fan of mid-October because it's the obvious transition time (upper midwest for context) as crops change, deer patterns change etc. And, at that time trail cams have proven over and over the bulk of the movement is night time only.

Now, if pre-rut includes the very last days of October/early November (for purposes of your direct question, we'll call this "late pre rut" *grins*) I'm picking that one over mid-October and the rut. Big bucks can be on their feet in daylight and in their core area. Find a hefty rub line, get the right wind, prepare thy mind and make it happen.

The rut can be boom or bust but it is nice to sit all day and possibly see activity at all hours. The downside, if the/a good one you're targeting is locked down with a doe, you're SOL for a couple of days. This time of year is also frustrating due to the erratic behavior of the baldies that are being persued.

Toss some warm weather in the mix and you'll wonder if there's a deer in the same county.

Ok,early to mid October here, is when deer are likely still in late summer patterns, and still living fairly routine lives,

By Halloween, the rut is kicking in, and the hormones are really starting to take control, the search and chase phase as you say, it's fun to hunt this, but the buck you've patterned that fall, may disappear while out looking for Mrs. November.

In this last week during daylight I've seen two bucks that leave you sleepless,

hence the post, Hunt when bucks could be patterned, or hunt when a buck from miles away could be on the move.

Gotchya. I'll vote early then.

I know it was an either/or question but I spotted a hole.

And that's when you will see the big boys hence give me pre rut...

I never find big big bucks all that predictable give me pre rut end of Oct/beginning of Nov. Ladies are his demise every time
Seeking phase prefered as once full blown chasing starts it's tuff to get a good shot archery hunting

I've numerous pictures of this guy thru Oct but it took him searching for doe to down him Friday 10/30

The few times that I have actually seen the deed done, chasing was involved. Maybe not to a great extent but the doe would be chased and then She would stop, kinda stretch out like She was going to urinate and the buck would just walk up on Her. One time the doe laid down and the buck kind stood guard for a little, then after a while he nudged her with his antlers and bred her again. He did this 4 times and then an automobile came down a nearby gravel road and spooked them off. He was a nice buck but not the biggest in the area, and I though maybe the activity would bring a bigger one to use my last tag on. I got quite a show. Another time I killed the buck right after he bred the doe. If the light had been better, the herd would have been benefited if I had killed him before breeding, as he was pretty much a cull. miles

dvd, nice buck 18" wide inside?

19" inside

Kenneth,

Do you have one or two no-brainer bedding areas in your hunting area?
If you can hunt the downwind side of that on the very edge, you might catch one of those guys scent-checking it. (After he's done with this first doe )

Dan, same deal with dad's buck two days ago. Numerous picts in the dark over the last month. We knew he'd show in the same spot in the daylight - just needed the right wind. Monday aft - out popped the devil.

Yep same/same
If they didn't think with their peckers we would not stand a chance

Pre rut by far for me.

Rut is the worst time to hunt. You might get lucky and find the hot doe with a few bucks around her, but they are so scattered and tend to hole up.

Pre rut is when the bucks run all over the place looking, but no does ready and thats by far the best coverage of movement.

I always laugh when all of a sudden the sightings go down and some of the guys say, hmmm rut is over... yeah, not, rut is full swing right now.... when you see em again its going to be post rut movement....

RE thinking with peckers, though the MOST reliable is pre, pre rut when they are summer plan, and not even thinking of does, just doing their daily routine, about the same time/places every day....
That fails about the first week or so of bowseason here. Its when everything I've watched all summer long, who goes here, there, what times, taht was written in stone most of the summer, goes out the window. Bucks go away not to be seen sometimes ever again, and sometimes you catch a glimpse now and then. Or they finally show up 2-3 months later coming back "home"

I've had a couple of big 8 points over the years, that I would have liked to shoot, just go away less than 5 days from opener, never to be seen until after season if then....

October is still summer here. "Pre-rut" is actually "the rut". As the first few does start coming in heat, frustrated bucks are moving around a lot, looking, scraping, and chasing does that aren't ready. When the rut peaks around three weeks later, about 30% of your does will be in heat at the same time. IMHO, the bucks are harder to kill at that point, because they either have a doe on lockdown in a thicket or they're running so hard that you can't stop them.

Really mature bucks don't get stupid during the rut, but it is still the best time to get lucky, as this is when all of the activity in deer places tends to displace them.

I hunt public land with a fair amount of pressure. My most important factor is the moon phase. When they can stay out all night I see less. Look at the moon phase and times on Dan's pictures. I prefer the nights with the least moon and then stay out almost all day. I must admit that I am not really a trophy hunter, though.

Round here, if I had to only pick one block of 7 days, it would be 11/11 til 11/18. Every year.

It is actually the chase phase I'm hunting, even though we call it rut.

Exactly, LOTS of people use the word RUT wrongly.

I could have picked better verbage,

Anyone in the midwest will understand these dates, October, and then the first 14 days of November.

Which would you prefer to hunt, the buck who should be in a predictable pattern, that would be October,

or the chase phase, where the buck you have on camera multiple times could simply head on out in search of tail, that would be the first 14 days of Nov.

that all depends on what the cameras are telling me... if nothing around worth a flip, nothing 5-6 yeras or older, then I'd hunt the pre rut portion when they run all over the place.

Right now folks at home here are wondering what happened because the rut shut down... Yeah right... azzholes are to stupid to realize it is the middle of the breeding portion right now... what they saw the last week or so was run around... come on ain't you ready YET??? portion...

Then when the first breeding is over and they start begging to find another willing breeder, miraculously it'll be "on" again and must have been bad weahter that "shut it down"

I'm amazed how stupid people are about things.

So if nothing on the camera, then obviously lets go to the portion where they run all over hte place and pray to get lucky(er)

You must have forgotten,

You have me on ignore.

I always blocked out Oct 27-Nov 9 as the best dates to hunt the pre-rut. Best circumstances for those dates are mornings, hunting scrapes lines after a rain at night. Bucks are anxious/aggressive and moving more than normal, and still pushing for pecking order. They want the scrapes to have their scent in it, so after a rain they freshen up the scrapes and scent check doe trails for the hot scent.

Scents work really well at those times and of course calls also. My best 4 bow kills were between Oct 29-Nov 14.

It seemed to me that the bigger bucks don't go chasing after does until later in the rut. They set up a core area, mark it well, defend it, and in the earlier breeding portion the dominant bucks have a full dance card. They don't have to move around to find does, the does follow the buck sign to find them in their core area. It's after the first round or two of breeding takes place that the dominant bucks have to move around to find hot does.

Best chance for a trophy bow hunter is the late pre-runt. Big buck movement drops off when breeding starts.

Seems like we've had this conversation before lol. BTW.... thats exactly what i did with Saturdays buck :-D was RIGHT in his core area according to the cameras