However, on my property, that same rub line was void of buck or doe traffic during the actual rut. The area bucks had no time to revisit the line or freshen the scrapes along it, as they were too busy mating with does. Foolishly, I spent an additional two days sitting along the line until I realized that the bucks had moved on -- and so should I.

Interestingly, as is often the case, at the start of the post-rut, some area bucks returned to the rub line after the mating period had ended. My clue to their return were several fresh rubs, as well as a massive tree that had been horned -- perhaps an indication that "my" 8-pointer had survived his quick journey to wherever he had been. Once again, though, I was a little slow to recognize the change in venue, and I missed seeing the bruiser. Adapting to the movements of our local whitetails is a crucial part of developing a sound strategy.

WHERE TO CHOOSE A STAND LOCATION
The strategy decision that causes many of us the most indecision (and I am definitely including myself in the us category) is the mental anguish and somersaults involved with choosing a stand site. Once again, local factors will likely be the most important thing to consider.

My family and I live on a 29-acre tract, having bought the land in 1988. Since I can walk right out my back door and be in the woods, I have hunted this parcel more than any other properties that I either own or have access to. Over the years, I have killed 20 deer "behind the house," including several 8-pointers. One of several constants about the land is that the deer, year after year, have certain predictable travel patterns.

For example, every year at the start of the bow season, does and the occasional buck regularly meander through and feed in a mixed white and red oak hollow. The deer continue to use the hollow throughout the pre-rut period, only ceasing to do so in daytime after the leaves fall and the acorn supply has greatly decreased.

Before leaf fall, I set up along an old fencerow that leads through the heart of the hollow. And by doing so, I have killed a number of deer there with both bow and gun. However, once the leaves fall or the acorns disappear, I rarely view whitetails in the hollow. Years passed before I realized that the deer were still moving through my land, but they were doing so while traveling through a dense thicket that lies some 50 yards from the edge of the hollow.

Indeed, during the latter stages of the pre-rut and throughout the rut, the trail through that thicket receives intense deer movement. A buck that I shot during the rut last year, in fact, died just a few feet off that trail.

That trail continues to be a deer magnet all the way through the post-rut period until the end of the deer season as a whole. If I am buck hunting during any part of those two periods, it is that secluded pathway that offers me my greatest hope for success.

I strongly suspect that similar, predicable deer travel patterns exist on the land that you go afield on. In the pre-rut period, that hot trail might involve an overgrown fencerow between two wood lots or a line of oak trees that have yielded bountiful nut crops. During the rut, a prime tree line to hang a stand might be the one that runs along a creek bottom or extends to a bedding area. In the latter stages of the post-rut and recovery periods, the best site might be one that lies next to a late-season food source.

Again, hunters should think locally about the various foods available, possible travel paths throughout the various and long deer seasons, and the habits of the local deer herd members. Then and only then can we make logical decisions concerning where to position a stand.

KNOW WHERE THE DOES ARE
I have a good friend whose predominant big-buck strategy is to always know where the does are. During the early stages of the season and pre-rut, he doesn't even bother to consider where the bucks are. When he has a chance to arrow a doe, he generally does so, feeling that is part of the overall goal of wisely managing the deer herd.

By the latter stages of the pre-rut and throughout the rut, this same acquaintance refuses to kill does and targets big bucks exclusively. However, he still is single-minded about knowing where and when the does are using the property he hunts on. His reasoning is that the bucks will now show up soon, and he wants to be near does when such is the case.

During the later stages of the rut and throughout the recovery period until the end of the season, this friend once again concentrates only on the does. His feeling then is that any late rutting buck will show up to harass the does still waiting to be bred or any fawns that have entered estrus. And if no bucks appear at all, he still has an opportunity to take one last doe for the freezer.