The Cold or maybe the Hot Truth about the South Texas Rut and some good techniques to ensure a successful hunt by David E. Newman Jr.

The South Texas Rut can be confusing at best. This geographical area does not have true seasons of the year. It could very well be 90 degrees Christmas morning, which can make the Rut very difficult to predict. To do this and make your hunt more successful you really need some insight on a few determining factors: Weather, Locations in the field, and some Simple Hunting Techniques.



Weather and the Rut come hand in hand. This means that even the first South Texas cool front can bring a doe into estrus. Amount of daylight hours does not play a huge role in the Rut, due to the rapid temperature changes in this geographical area. It could be 95 degrees today and 65 the next and then back up to 90 for a week before the next cool shot. Deer seem to get frisky when it gets cool just like your pet dog. Have you ever noticed that good ole Fido gets really excited and hyperactive when the temperature falls? Therefore, many times the Rut starts in early September and does not end until late December, but it is in spurts.



Due to the erratic conditions, the hunter needs to be a little erratic on sight choice from the early season on. Deer do not stay in one place here. There is just too much open range and smell travels on the South Texas wind like wild fire. Hunters need to start early in mapping there locations and spend a lot of time in the field searching for those ever popular scrapes and rubs. Once found, if starting early enough, one can revisit the sights often. Deer will get used to your scent and find it just as a smell in the environment.



Odors are an easy fix. Popular scent cover products will work, but local vegetation works just as well. Dove weed, milkweed, and ragweed are great cover scents. Rutting deer rely on scent more than any other sense that they have. Boy and let me tell you when 2 mature bucks find each other in what each considers his territory the fur and dirt and grass and brush fly. All of these scents are thrown like caution to the wind. So when using rattling and grunt calling you want to be very vigorous in banging on the surrounding environment; i.e. ground, brush, grass, etc.. Toss these same scents up and watch the results, you will be amazed.



Make sure that your position in your desired shooting lane is upwind of your target area. Remember to always be safe, and watch the weather. For it is the weather that drives the Rut in South Texas.





Article Source: The Cold or maybe the Hot Truth about the South Texas Rut and some good techniques to ensure a successful hunt