The Summer Surge: Use Warm-Weather Intel for Fall Success

July 28, 2025
By Steve Sherk

Once we consider summer time whitetails, we are inclined to all the time put our give attention to stock and antler progress. We watch bucks develop all summer time, and we often make our targets about harvesting those with the largest headgear. The key problem is that many people plan for many of our hunts to happen within the rut, and realizing the place a summer time buck goes to spend his rutting days in late October and November may be close to unattainable to strategize months upfront.

Nevertheless, by working path cameras year-round for almost a decade, I’ve come to be taught that there’s a small window of what I name “rutting motion” for many mature bucks throughout the late summer time months. A pre-game rutting tour, per say.

I go away most of my path cameras on the identical scrapes for twelve months a yr. Actually, I’ve a number of cameras that haven’t left particular rutting scrapes for so long as 5 years. Apart from changing batteries and swapping SD playing cards, I’ve by no means disconnected the straps from the tree. The information and intel I’ve gained by doing this has been astonishing. What I’ve discovered is that when bucks begin to develop testosterone throughout the latter summer time months, they have a tendency to go away their summer time areas for a brief time frame to go go to their rutting grounds. This often lasts for a few week, then they return again to their summer time properties.

SUMMER RUTTING SCRAPES

It’s no secret that the majority scrapes see deer exercise year-round, however mature bucks is not going to go to these rutting scrapes a lot outdoors of the rut. What I’ve discovered is that someplace between late July and late September, most older age class bucks will enterprise into their rutting areas and work these scrapes. The difficult half is that this scrape conduct is nowhere close to as severe as what you’ll see come mid-October, when bucks are always looking for scrapes and marking their territory. You may know of a dozen scrapes in a conventional rutting space that see big-buck motion each fall, but when a buck makes his manner by that space throughout the summer time, he’ll doubtless solely work one or two of these scrapes.

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Many hunters who run path cameras throughout the summer time argue with me about this principle being true. Many don’t consider the summer time rut tour is actual. The reality is it’s a must to run a whole lot of cameras to seize this motion and intel. If I do know of a half-dozen rut scrapes in a small space, I’ll place cameras on each one among them earlier than mid-July if I don’t have already got cameras there. This fashion, when bucks make their journey by that space later in the summertime, I’ll know what bucks can be in that space throughout the rut. By clustering these cameras, I’ll doubtless catch nearly each buck that has plans to make use of that space for breeding within the fall.

You don’t want to make use of scent to entice bucks to those scrapes in the summertime. Historic scrapes can be visited no matter scent use. I swear a mature buck locations his scent on a rutting scrape in the summertime to inform deer within the space that he can be there in October and November.

Not often will a buck really paw the bottom and urinate within the dust throughout the summer time months. The vast majority of the scent is pre-orbital, and it’s positioned on the licking department a part of the scrape. Nevertheless, if a buck makes this tour in late August or September, he’ll doubtless paw the scrape, urinate in it and in addition disperse scent on the licking department. The rationale behind this added scrape conduct is greater quantities of testosterone usually make bucks extra aggressive when working scrapes.

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Testosterone is a “trickling time bomb” within the physique of a male whitetail. Remember to word that I mentioned “trickling” and never “ticking.” Because of this as the times move and we get nearer to fall, testosterone ranges slowly enhance every day. By the point the breeding season arrives, the bomb goes off on account of most testosterone ranges. So late August and September scrape conduct is extra aggressive on account of these greater testosterone ranges.

I’ve additionally discovered that if one among these rutting scrapes is seeing a whole lot of consideration from does throughout the summer time, that’s doubtless the primary scrape a buck goes to test when he makes his shift into that space throughout the fall. That’s why it’s so vital to reap the benefits of gathering this intel. If a scrape continues to see doe exercise throughout the center of October, you may financial institution on that huge buck to return again and frequent that scrape when he seeks to breed in that space.

Most frequently, I’ll see bucks come again and test these scrapes throughout the first mid-October chilly entrance. You possibly can merely look ahead to a very good entrance to reach throughout the center of October and plan to see bucks that hit these scrapes for per week in the summertime with none latest intel; they simply present up. One problem I do see so much is that many mature bucks solely work these scrapes at night time till we get additional into the rut, particularly throughout hotter climate circumstances. However these October chilly fronts usually entice bucks to interrupt out of nocturnal patterns and work scrapes throughout sunlight hours.

SIGN-POSTS AND TRAVEL CORRIDORS

I see a whole lot of this late-summer exercise alongside journey corridors which have historic sign-post rubs. Bucks will take the identical routes throughout the late summer time in these areas that they plan to make use of within the rut. These are additionally nice areas to arrange a path digicam earlier than bucks make their mini-rut excursions.

There may be often an energetic deer path inside of those journey corridors that I are inclined to search for and place my digicam on. Additionally, don’t overlook putting a digicam on a sign-post rub earlier than bucks shed their velvet and begin to rub often. I’ve seen bucks scent and checkout sign-post rubs always of the yr. I additionally see does test them almost as a lot as bucks.

I’ve had nice luck putting purchasers that I information alongside these journey corridors throughout the rut that confirmed indicators of buck exercise for a brief interval on the finish of the summer time. This previous archery season, one of many largest bucks that one among my purchasers harvested was alongside a creek backside that the buck handed by throughout early August. My shopper hunted that journey hall on Nov. 5 and harvested that very same buck cruising by throughout late morning.

I had no latest intel of the buck utilizing that journey route. That was all based mostly on what I knew he did throughout his summer time rutting tour. I definitely can’t say we had the buck pegged; we had been getting a whole lot of different bucks on path digicam in that location the week prior. However, I had a very good hunch he was going to take that route once more sooner or later throughout the rut, and that’s precisely what occurred.

Creek backside journey corridors also can present you a great deal of rutting data in the summertime. Bucks like to cruise creek bottoms throughout the rut, and after they do make a move by their rut zones in the summertime, they spend fairly a little bit of time in creek bottoms as a result of abundance of water and cooler air.

Among the most great buck signal I’ve ever laid eyes on has been in creek bottoms. You possibly can all the time discover scrapes in creek bottoms. I get big bucks on path digicam each summer time in these bottoms, significantly by the month of August. Bucks search out creek bottoms throughout the rut when there’s heat temperatures, in order that they repeat that very same conduct in the summertime after they go on their rut excursions.

FINDING SUMMER RUT AREAS

Finding rutting areas shouldn’t be as straightforward because it sounds, particularly in case you are planning to hunt some new floor this fall. Generally rutting areas also can change from yr to yr. One factor I actually take note of in the summertime is mast crop availability; the place there’s meals there can be does. Or, in case you are looking agricultural land, you may financial institution on the place the crops can be within the fall.

This may sound loopy, however I swear that deer know the place the meals can be effectively earlier than mast crops like acorns and apples begin to drop to the bottom. I’ve usually questioned if they will scent them within the timber, or does Mom Nature have a manner of speaking with bucks to the place they should go upfront? I consider this as a result of I usually see mature bucks making their summer time rutting excursions in areas the place good mast crops had been nonetheless holding onto the tree limbs.

This previous season we had an incredible white oak acorn crop in components of Pennsylvania, and I had a number of mature bucks all of a sudden present up into these areas that had been loaded with acorns a month or two earlier than the acorns ever dropped. These bucks didn’t stick round for lengthy, both. They merely made their rutting tour and by no means returned till the autumn months arrived.

Once I find meals sources in the summertime, I hold a watch out for scrapes in these areas; not freshly used ones both. I attempt to search for overhanging limbs and seek for vertical licking branches. Since scrapes are hardly ever pawed up in the summertime, they don’t seem to be straightforward to see. The vertical department is the telling clue that there’s a scrape there.

I’ve seen scrapes within the fall and winter that had been ripped up as large as a automobile hood, after which by summer time they had been stuffed again in with weeds and grass. You’ll by no means discover them with out figuring out the licking department. I often zip-tie a brand new licking department to those scrapes to ensure it holds by the autumn months, however these scrapes are the place you’ll need to place cameras to catch bucks on their summer time rut excursions.

HISTORIC ENCOUNTERS

Loads of the massive bucks I’ve positioned by path cameras have been throughout the late summer time after they go into their rut areas. Within the huge woods, it may be laborious to find mature bucks with path cameras throughout the summertime. The woods are stuffed with inexperienced browse, and it’s extraordinarily laborious to slim down a sample at the moment of yr. Since I primarily give attention to putting path cameras on scrapes, my finest intel often comes later in the summertime.

One of many greatest deer I’ve ever hunted was one that basically taught me so much concerning the summer time rut tour. He lived in a younger clear-cut a lot of the summer time, and I seen he would depart for a brief time frame, often at the start of August. As soon as October arrived, he would vanish. After the primary yr he disappeared on me, I began putting path cameras on scrapes in different areas that had been inside one or two miles from his summer time vary.

With somewhat luck, I bought him on a path digicam in early August a few half-mile away from the clear-cut he lived in all summer time. Sadly, neither me nor my purchasers ever shot the buck, however we had a number of shut encounters in his rut space every season. I as soon as had him in entrance of me at 20 yards trailing a sizzling doe after I walked a shopper to his stand location. If I hadn’t already stuffed my buck tag two days prior, that buck would doubtless be on my wall right this moment.

Loads of the bucks we fail to reap are those that educate and permit us to kill bucks sooner or later. Getting that one early-August path digicam photograph was all it took for me to find his breeding grounds. That have additionally taught me easy methods to use that very same path digicam technique on studying the place different bucks will search out rut areas in the summertime.

Each summer time, I appear to get one step nearer to huge, mature bucks by profiting from each little bit of intel I can collect when bucks go on their summer time rut tour. By far, it’s probably the most thrilling time of the summer time for me, as I get to see what bucks can be utilizing sure areas for the upcoming rut. The historical past you construct with looking particular person bucks shouldn’t be carried out solely throughout looking season, it must be carried out throughout the summer time rut tour.

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