on favorite for the peak of the rut. The only problem here is that it is very easy to spook a matriarchal doe, causing the family group to abandon the site for several days or a week.
9 BRING THEM ON A LINE If you prefer to bow-hunt from a tree stand, then consider using a drag-rag soaked in doe-in-heat urine, and cross the major entrance and exit trails on the way to your stand. Set up just outside the bedding area on the downwind side
of one of those trails, and remain alert.
10 GO TO THEM EARLY My favorite tactic is to wait for a cold front and then still-hunt the bedding area starting at first light. Rubber boots and a drag-rag soaked with estrous doe urine or a fox cover scent help keep my human odor to a minimum. As with feeding areas, be aware that a rutting buck can show up at any time, so circling back and forth and all around a bedding area is a good tactic. Of course, a doe bedding area is
also a hot spot for a well-concealed tree stand, too.
11 HUNT BREEDING PARTIES A rutting buck will often hound a doe until she beds in cover just outside the core bedding area. One year, I found nine bucks bedded with one doe in a goldenrod field adjacent to a prime bedding site. This time, however, I managed to arrow one of those bucks, a dandy 8-pointer.
Zenith 2. 5-10 x 56
Be prepared for some late nights.
A B C D E F G w/rail H K L w/rail M
mm / inch 95 / 3. 74 58 / 2. 28 51 / 2.01 50 / 1. 97 52 / 2.05 50 / 1. 97 30 / 1. 18 36 / 1. 42 43 / 1. 69 330 / 13 156 / 6. 14
Bucks and does respond to various vocalizations throughout the season, but even more so during the breeding season. I never step afield without a couple of grunt tubes in my jacket or fanny pack, and neither should you.
As the rut heats up bucks no longer respond to rattling sequences as readily as they did during the pre-rut. Nor can you depend on a response by mimicking a single contact grunt from another buck. However, if you let a mature rutting buck hear a long, drawn-out doe bleat, he might very well lower his head and charge your position!
If absolute maximum performance in minimal light is your goal, then look no further. You simply cannot buy a scope that provides better light transmission and clarity in near-darkness than our 2. 5-10 x 56.
It is id eal for hunting big game in the deepest, darkest timbe r, in miserable weather, at absolute last light… all th e conditions you find yourself in pursuing deer. Indee d, one of our customers took a very large, very angry African lion solely by the dim light of a barely funct ioning flashlight.
13 TRY YEARLING BUCK GRUNTS Try following up a doe-in-heat bleat with a five-second series of staccato-like grunts imitating a yearling buck. This ruse can sometimes convince a rutting buck that a hot doe is nearby keeping company with a young, amorous buck. An older and more mature buck will usually feel the need to investigate.
Winner of the prestigious international IF Design award for excellence in product design, the power of the Zenith 2. 5-10 x 56 comes in a remarkably compact package at just 13 inches in length.
It can make the difference between a perfect shot— or no shot at all.
Exit pupil (mm) Twilight factor
Field of view (m@100m, yd@ 100 yd)
Eye relief (mm/inches)
Central tube diameter (mm) Click adjustments (mm@100m)
Weight (grams/oz):
Non-illuminated
Illuminated
Reticles
Flashdot illuminated reticles
Reticle focal plane
7.0 – 14. 4
4. 2 – 15. 9
6. 7 – 21. 7
90 / 3. 55
30
10
14 USE LOST FAWN BLEATS If you see a mature doe with a racked buck in tow, and they are working their way past you just out of range, then try a lost fawn bleat to appeal to the doe’s maternal instincts. Follow it up with both a doe-in-heat bleat and a tending buck grunt. This strategy mimics those times when a doe abandons her fawn while being bred by a buck in attendance.
800.468.3450 info@schmidtbender.com www.schmidtbender.com
581 / 20. 50
610 / 21. 52
A1 / A4 / A7 / A9
FD1 / FD4 / FD7 / FD9
First
15 LATHER, THEN REPEAT Let’s say you spy a lone mature buck nearby obviously seeking out estrous does. He takes a few steps, sniffs the air and then the ground while looking intently all around. What would be
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