by Larry Weishuhn, "Mr. Whitetail"
While most of the hunting seasons throughout much of North America have passed into the history books, there are a few states where there is still a chance to bag a 
whitetail. Thankfully the season continue at least for a few more days such as particularly in Texas (Managed Land Permit properties and late doe seasons) and Mexico (where some seasons last until February 4) and Alabama where seasons end the last day of January.
In southern Texas the area west of IH 37 and south of IH 10 some bucks are still chasing does, including some absolutely monstrous deer. I spent a little time the latter part of last week at the
Los Cazadores Deer Contest in Pearsall, Texas and while there several bucks were brought in that scored above 160. The largest I saw brought in to the contest likely gross scored in the low 180s. The bucks brought in looked like they had been through a rough rutting season and were quite run down.
While at the Los Cazadores store I talked to several hunters who seemed to think the rut was really winding down, evidenced by seeing several mature bucks and young bucks feeding together without much aggression being shown to each other.
Late the evening of the 4th of January I had a call from Benito Juarez who spends a considerable time hunting in Mexico, particularly south of Amistad Reservoir, which is formed by the Rio Grande between Texas and Mexico. “Traditionally our bucks have been running like crazy the first and second week of January. Seems they started a bit earlier this year, which I think was caused primarily by the fact range conditions were really tough during the spring and early summer, resulting in a very low fawn survival rate. Then late summer we got a lot of rain and the does fattened up quickly and as a result came into estrus a bit earlier this year. And even though that seemed to be the case our bucks are still chasing, even if there are that many does left unbred. This morning I watched 8 bucks chasing the same doe. That also leads me to believe there are only a few does left that have not been bred. Then too, what few does fawns we had that survived this summer grew up quickly because of great late summer and early fall rains, and those are now starting to have their first estrus, which seems to be bringing some of the older bucks out of the brush."
Addressing Mexico, I spoke with
Richard Petrini who I’ll be hunting Coues deer with the last of January, he said based on what he’s seeing in Sonora, the whitetail rut there will likely be in full swing starting about the 18
th to 20
th of January. I hope to find out for sure when I head that way. I’ll also be in Sonora then to hunt desert mule deer and am told by Richard and various wildlife biologists form Sonora that time period is also the best time to be in that part of Mexico for mule deer. Hopefully I’ll be able to confirm that.
Over in southern Alabama, known as the “Black Belt” things are starting to heat up regarding the rut. I spoke with Dennis Smith, a long time friend, and he told me he’s seeing more and more scrapes and these last few days has been able to rattle up some smaller bucks. I got the same report from Jim White, “Bucks are starting to move quite a bit. The peak of the rut in our area won’t likely happen until the last week of the month, but bucks are starting to move. Frankly, I prefer hunting the two weeks before the peak of the rut. That’s when I’ve had my best success on mature bucks, particularly those that I’ve been able to scout.”
For those of you who are no longer hunting. I would suggest this is a great time to start planning for your 2010 hunts, whether that includes scouting your home country, or looking for new country to pursue whitetails. If you’re looking at possibly going on a guided or outfitted hunt, be it for whitetails or other big game species let me suggest you take a look at
www.outfittersrating.com regarding some of the best outfitters in the world.
As this is being written I’m headed to the
Dallas Safari Club Convention, January 7 -10. In my opinion the Dallas Safari Club is one of the finest hunting/wildlife organizations in the world. They put their money where their mouth is, rather than paying a bunch of administrators. Another organization of which I am a great supporter of is the
Houston Safari Club. HSC has their convention January 15 – 17. They too are one of the best hunting organizations in the world. Speaking of organizations I also think it tremendously important that anyone who hunts, or loves our outdoor life to belong to the
National Rifle Association!
The whitetail seasons are winding down, much like the whitetail rut. But that doesn’t mean we should forget about whitetails and their needs and requirements. The most important time for whitetail bucks has approached or is approaching as they start to repair from the rigors of the rut…..