7 Tips for Hunting the Whitetail Rut Lockdown Phase

The whitetail rut receives more marketing hype than the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Despite this red-carpet treatment, one shortcoming exists in this glorious period of the whitetail hunting season. It’s referred to by many as the whitetail rut lockdown phase, which is the peak breeding period of the rut.

This period lasts approximately two weeks. Yet, it creates a conundrum for hunters. Bucks change patterns, drop off the radar, and isolate themselves when they do hook up with an estrus doe. Even with these hitches, peak breeding still has many advantages, and the lockdown should not be overlooked. Instead of grumbling, consider these strategies to win the lockdown battle.

The Lockdown: A Half-Truth

Although whitetail bucks often go missing as breeding spikes, the traditional response that they are in “lockdown” does not hold water in its straightforward definition. At hunting camp, you likely heard that a buck snatches an estrus doe and takes her to the Lost Trail Motel and stays in room 17 for a 24- to 48-hour hookup. First, most research reduces the time the two spend together to 24 hours or less and maybe as little as half that time. And do they actually lock down?

GPS tracking data suggests that instead of ordering room service in a quaint hollow for those 12 to 24 hours, sweethearts continue moving, browsing, and chasing. Yes, they do bed and rest from time to time, but most studies show that movement does not stop. Instead, bucks wander farther, stray from home territories and visit doe groups in surrounding areas. They leave their home territories for hours or days to return on occasion as breeding persists.

When they do find a likely partner, they might also fall out of the public view by staying clear of deer populations to avoid the commotion or competition of brethren bucks. Leaving territories and trying to avoid the crowd leads to this lockdown look. Regardless, the buck you saw on trail camera for two months prior has suddenly gone rogue and that causes you to consider your next anxious move.

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1. Find the Does

Your next move might not require a move at all if you have scouted well. During the breeding or lockdown phase, bucks relentlessly search for estrus females. Hunting near large concentrations of does just makes sense during the breeding phase. Like the pre-rut phase days prior, bucks nose around does then and are guaranteed to visit large densities of females during the big breeding event.

2. Hunt the Downwind Sides

Keep in mind that during the breeding phase, bucks become highly efficient. Instead of boldly walking across a field, they might skirt the downwind edges or inside corners to scent-confirm any estrus females. Placing a stand on the downwind corner of a field, downwind of a trail, might be a winning move.

3. Find a Love Nest

You do have another option and whether you make it your main play or a backup, consider looking for a buck love nest. Once bucks find a doe, do they want to parade it through a crowd of potential suitors, or spend more time alone? When things get serious, most bucks prefer a little alone time.

By scouting, firsthand or HuntStand aided, you can isolate areas that deer might use for a bit of closed-door time. This me time equates to a lockdown disappearance, although as noted, most research shows the pair simply do not lock down for long. Inventory all secluded settings deer might escape to for isolation. Think in terms of privacy, but not too far from food sources and water. This might be the overgrown pig lot behind an abandoned barn, a pasture of waist-high native grass, a cattail slough, or a thicket deep in an oak draw.

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4. Find a Drifter

By scouting and setting up stands or blinds near highly visited food plots, agricultural fields or the routes in between, you stand a high chance of meeting up with a home territory buck. He might leave for a few days, but whitetails have a habit of returning home between estrus seeking. Stay the course as long as the does continue visiting your site.

Best of all, the drifter theory works in both directions. Your target buck might take a hiatus from the area, but a neighboring buck might suddenly appear to check out the female goods, thus expanding the selection of bucks to shop from.

5. Deploy a Decoy

Surprisingly, during my Great Plains hunts it is not at all uncommon to see bucks wooing a doe in the middle of a winter wheat field, an overgrazed cattle pasture, or in a ditch along a major highway. Nothing surprises me during the rut. The real point to take home is preparedness. Have these hookup haunts pre-scouted and preset with treestands or blinds. Although the chase might begin on a food plot, you can bet as estrus peaks and the female wishes to breed, any veteran buck will move the action undercover. Your preparedness gives you options to hunt these areas as the rut spikes.

A prime example of hunting hookup haunts occurred on a hunt where suddenly, food plot action disappeared, and my mind went numb trying to locate the action. A small reservoir in the middle of a sunflower field grabbed my attention and I hung a treestand on the water’s edge. Sure enough, a pair of whitetails filtered from the crops in obvious lovesick fashion. The buck swung in to investigate my decoy and my arrow hit home. The doe was freed up to find another suitor.

6. Do Nothing

The do-nothing approach has worked for me on more than one occasion. One season, a brawny, mature whitetail slipped by me on numerous occasions during the pre-rut and finally disappeared when does began coming into estrus. Instead of looking elsewhere, I stayed the course and continued a vigilant watch over a brush pocket adjacent to a hayfield the buck fed on in the early fall. One blustery morning, I heard grunting and to my shock, the big buck was back and pushing a doe right past my stand in the brush. When he vanished behind a cloak of willows, I grunted. Seconds later he charged right over for a 15-yard shot with my bow. Being stubborn in my wait paid off.

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7. Be a Team Player

Sharing is caring and one of the best things to share during the lockdown is information with your hunting partners and neighbors. By passing along information via trail camera images and personal sightings, it helps everyone track bucks. HuntStand’s Trail Camera Management feature excels in this area to organize your army of image takers. Plus, image sharing widens your perspective on what really occurs during the lockdown. The only reasons to not share might be not having a good relationship with neighbors or potentially having the new world record traipsing on your property. Otherwise, you gain more than you lose if you share details during the lockdown.

Remember, you likely will not keep a rutting buck on the property you manage. Bucks wander during the rut and knowing your A lister is on the neighbor’s gives you opportunity to plan accordingly. If he stays across the fence, you might want to focus on another buck until he returns. And if by chance a neighbor harvests a buck that was living on your property, it is a benefit to know that buck can be removed from your hit list, thus freeing you to hunt a backup buck.

A couple seasons back, I arrowed a mature whitetail and took the rack over to the neighbors to share my celebration. He immediately recognized the buck and said thanks. He had planned to hunt that buck that very evening and now he could change his plans instead of waiting for a ghost to appear.

The peak of the breeding phase or lockdown as some refer to it, has its trials and tribulations. Nevertheless, it still provides a great opportunity for rut success by tweaking your tactics.

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