I'd been on my stand less than 10 minutes when I heard the sounds of several deer walking in my direction. I barely had time to grab my bow from its hanger when the first of those deer, a mature doe, walked into view. Several seconds later a fawn appeared, tagging along on the doe's trail. I detected movement behind the fawn and soon made out the form of another doe.

It was immediately apparent that the doe was paying a lot of attention to her backtrail. And I soon found out why. From a thicket just beyond the doe came a loud, guttural grunt

I didn't have to wait long to get a look at the buck responsible for the grunt. There was a bit of brush busting, and then a long-tined 9-pointer suddenly strolled out of the thicket. I could plainly see that the buck was somewhat interested in one of the antlerless deer. And as luck would have it, all three of those deer were walking straight toward my stand site!
One of the does and the fawn ended up walking right under my stand. But the other doe split off and passed by at a range of about five yards. I could see that the buck was going to follow the lone doe. I waited until the buck's head went behind a large oak before coming to full draw. The sight pin was already locked onto his vitals when he stepped out from behind the oak. The hit was darn near perfect. I recovered the 140-class whitetail after a short 50-yard trailing job.
PRE-BREEDING TACTICS
I arrowed the above-mentioned buck during the final stages of the pre-breeding period. Personally, I consider this to be one of the best times of all to ambush mature whitetails. There are several reasons for why I feel this way.
First of all, big bucks are still residing within their core areas during the pre-breeding period. Second, bucks relate very strongly to rub lines and scrapes at this time of year. And last, bucks become much more daylight active in the days leading up to the rut.

The benefits that hunters can realize from the aforementioned buck behavior traits should be obvious. To begin with, you can rest assured that a big buck you've targeted hasn't yet wandered away from his home turf in search of receptive does. What's more, the presence of rubs and scrapes can help you pinpoint exactly where big bucks prefer to walk when they travel about their home ranges. Most important, however, is the fact that a lot of this activity is going to occur during legal shooting hours.

But these aren't the only reasons why I so love to hunt for big bucks during the pre-breeding phase. In truth, a big reason why I prefer to hunt at this time is that one of my favorite strategies becomes quite effective. That strategy is calling. At no other time during the season are mature bucks so likely to respond positively to calling. In my book, there's nothing that quite compares to the thrill of using rattling antlers and/or grunt calls to successfully dupe a big buck.

It's a fact that mature bucks become more visible and much more aggressive during the final days of the pre-breeding phase. However, this doesn't mean that you can set up just anywhere in the woods and call in a trophy. The single biggest factor for achieving positive response rates to your calling efforts involves the location of your setups. Big bucks will respond positively to rattling and/or grunting only if the sounds are coming from a spot they feel 100 percent comfortable approaching.

Actually, it's not all that difficult to find big-buck "comfort zones." Rub lines and scrape areas are two perfect examples. For that matter, any spot that harbors a concentration of big buck sign could be considered a comfort zone. Remember that big bucks won't make repeated visits to a spot unless they feel absolutely safe doing so.

I grunted in and arrowed a dandy buck during the 2000 archery season. My stand site was situated along an active rub line, some 100 yards from a bedding area. I waited until the sun had slipped below the ridge and then let loose with three loud, aggressive grunts. A few minutes after putting the call away, I heard a deer walking toward me from the direction of the bedding area. To make a long story short, the 135-class whitetail ended up walking almost to the base of the tree where my stand was located. The shot was a piece of cake.

My experience last season pretty much sums up what it takes to successfully call in mature whitetails during the pre-breeding period. First of all, you must be set up in a spot that ensures a buck(s) will be able to hear your calling efforts. But just as importantly, your setup must be located in a spot that a buck feels safe approaching. It's that simple.

PEAK BREEDING TACTICS
The peak breeding period is by far the most popular among hunters. It can also be the most frustrating. Big bucks have gone from being somewhat patternable homebodies to being totally unpredictable wanderers. Just about the time that we think we've got a mature buck figured out, he disappears - only to reappear several miles away the next day. How the heck do you hunt an animal that behaves in such a way?
To be quite honest, I pretty much give up on hunting for a particular big buck during the peak of the rut. Instead, I try to put myself in the best possible positions for ambushing any big buck. The best way I've found to accomplish this task is by focusing my hunting efforts around concentrations of antlerless deer. More specifically, I like set up close to doe/fawn bedding areas, near feeding areas and along the routes antlerless deer use when traveling back and forth between the two places.

Over the past six years or so, I've dramatically increased the amount of time I spend hunting near open feeding areas during the peak breeding phase. I want to be quick to add, however, that I don't merely set up near just any feeding area and then hope for the best. I establish stand sites near the edges of those feeding areas that are playing host to the most antlerless deer feeding activity. But that's only part of my str by Greg Miller