With barely enough light to pick up the buck in my scope, it was now or never. Intense rain pelted the forest as darkness started consuming the deer. Still, I could make out the shape of his antlers, and saw they spanned just beyond his ears -- a good buck for the area I was hunting.

Jeremy Toman arrowed this 150-inch non-typical blacktail as it was migrating from higher elevations in November. Photo by Scott Haugen.

I'd been hunting hard every day for nearly three weeks, and this was the first good crack I had at a mature buck.

In the rifle's recoil I lost sight of the deer. In the thundering downpour I failed to hear the sound of the bullet finding its mark. When I reached where the buck was standing, blood was clearly evident despite the rain. After a short tracking job, I was soon admiring a nice 4x4.

It was mid-November, and I held a special-draw rifle tag for a low-elevation hunt in Oregon's Willamette Valley. When I shot the buck he was alone. In fact, every buck I saw during that hunting period was alone. When I field dressed the buck, his stomach was packed with food.

In a drainage near where I hunted -- no more than two miles as the crow flies -- a couple of buddies filled their tags with ease. The bucks in their area were rutting hard, and they saw mature bucks each day. The stomachs of the bucks they killed were empty, signifying a devotion to the rut.

THE BLACKTAIL RUT
I've been fortunate to hunt numerous deer species across our great country, and honestly believe the blacktail rut is the least understood of all North American deer ruts. That's no surprise to blacktail fanatics, who'll agree patterning a blacktail buck, even during the rut, can be next to impossible.

This is because of several factors, not the least of which is a lack of funding and time spent on studying blacktail behavior. To be fair, the diverse, brushy, rugged and ever-changing habitat Columbia blacktails call home make it tough to gain a comprehensive understanding of how and why they behave the way they do.

One thing is certain, however: November is prime time for hunters targeting blacktails during the rut. Knowing how deer behave now is key to success.

Whether hunting deer on a general-season rifle tag, a special youth license, a limited-draw rifle hunt or during the late muzzleloader or archery seasons, November marks a time of great change in blacktail behavior.

Generally speaking, early November is a time of pre-rut, followed by peak rut in the middle of the month and culminating in post-rut at the end of the month.

Mind you, there's no set rule as to when a blacktail rut begins and ends. In areas I hunted 30 years ago, the blacktail rut peaked around Thanksgiving. Now, in those exact areas, bucks are rutting hard by the end of the first week of November. Shifts in rut timings like this are common in some blacktail habitats, while other regions see the rut coming and going like clockwork, year after year.

Pre-Rut Tactics
Devoting time to your hunting area, year in and year out, will teach you a great deal about the blacktail rut.

Traditionally, mid-October to the first week of November marks the time of pre-rut in most blacktails' areas. This is when bucks are cruising for does, checking out their competition and still feeding. A big buck's behavior can be reclusive at this time, but he will make mistakes, especially if does enter into early estrus or the buck densities are high.