A Dozen Rules To Hunt By

1) Putting a mature whitetail down is never as easy as it looks.

This first law applies to life in general, as much as to hunting whitetail deer.

2) Even where there are lots of big bucks, there aren't very many of 'em. "Old" is 5 1/2-years old and up, and the term "lots" is relative. You can bet on this: For every big buck that you know about on your happy hunting grounds, there's one (or more) you don't even know exists!

3) The best place to harvest a good buck is in a beanfield (oak patch, beet field, wheat field, clover patch jalapeno patch, alfalfa field, etc.) Simply put, look for good bucks where they eat.

4) The best place to harvest a great buck is right behind a doe's tail. Goes without saying!

5) The best place to rattle horns is where a hot doe has just passed. This is a lesson I should have learned the first time I ever rattled horns.

6) The moon matters. But don't stay out of the woods just because it was full last  night. The best time to go deer hunting is whenever you can. Some periods are better than others, but the deer are always out there.

7) A full moon moves whitetail activity later into the day. The best deer hunting weather is when, if it got any nicer, you could nap on your stand, if it got any worse, you couldn't stand it. The barometer counts most; they like it moving, either up or down, but steady high is better than steady low. Temperature matters little until it rises above a certain mark, and that mark varies widely from coast-to-coast and border-to-border. Light, steady rain or fog seems to stimulate movement--and so does a clearing sky after several days of dark, rainy weather.

8) Before and after the rut, hunt the bucks; during the rut, hunt the does. Most of the year, old bucks like their own company pretty well and hardly ever suffer much from lonesomeness, but when the rut starts, they get lonesome quick. Outside the rut, I hunt where the chance of seeing any deer is slim, knowing the one I do see, if any, may be the one that counts.

9) Given the choice between sun and wind, take sun every time. The wind can't be trusted and will betray you at a critical moment if you put too much stock in it. The sun, on the other hand, is dependable, and is always exactly where it's supposed to be at any moment of the day (or night). A buck that has to look into a low sun to see you, won't. I've walked right up to a bedded buck, across a bald-open clearing with no cover at all, except for the sun directly behind me.

10) A stand is the best bet for venison, but still-hunting is a lot more fun. Tougher, but more fun.

11) Scrapes are exciting, but fresh rubs hunted correctly will get you more bucks. The key word is "fresh." A fresh rub line is a 2-to-1 bet to produce a sighting of the maker the next day than any scrape.

12) The best deer gun is the one you shoot best. Bullet placement is everything, and rifles do not place bullets: hunters do. A well-placed .30-30 is thrice deadlier than a leg shot from a .300 magnum.