The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

Most hunters know that the RUT is the best time to harvest a great buck. So when hunters call about booking a great fall hunt with us, we are usually asked about it and when it is.

Well, that is a question that has several answers depending on what you call the rut. The standard answer is that the rut in the lowcountry of South Carolina starts around October 15th and runs through Thanksgiving. So without a doubt, hunting anytime during this period should ensure that you have a successful hunt. However you really have to break the rut down to several smaller periods to truly understand it and hunt it properly. And the three main sub-periods of the rut and how they effect the deer movement are as follows:

The Pre-Rut: (usually runs from early October until about the 20th)  This is the time period when the does are normally not at all interested in breading, however the bucks are starting to feel the primal urge to reproduce. Therefore the bucks start to move a lot more through out their core areas leaving their calling cards, rubs and scrapes, to let the does know they are there and ready. And all of this traveling and increased movement means that they are out and about more during daylight than before, making them more accessible to harvest.

However please note that this increased activity does not just start on day one, but is a gradual build up, meaning that the end of the pre-rut usually sees more activity than the beginning.

Breeding: (This usually starts around October 20th and runs through November 15th)  This is the time when the majority of the does go into heat and cause bucks, who would normally be very skittish during shooting hours, to run willy nilly through the woods either looking for a hot doe or chasing her in an effort to breed her. This can be one of the most exciting times to be in the woods for a lowcountry hunter as well as one of the best times to harvest a real wall hanger since bucks are now on the move at all hours of the day and night; they are also much more prone to leaving their core areas and ranging out into new areas looking for hot does, making them even more accessible to hunters since they are not as familiar with these new areas. However this can also be a tough time too since the bucks are often running instead of walking, making it much tougher to get your crosshairs on them before they are out of your shooting lane or range. So hunters must pay close attention and be ready to shoot at a moments notice once they see a doe coming since you just never know what could be behind her.

The Post Rut: (usually runs from mid- November until the end of the season) While many bucks will have been taken during the pre-rut and the breeding period, the post-rut still offers plenty of great opportunities to harvest a good buck. That is because during this time, a few does will still be coming into heat - some because they were not breed the first time around and others because they are early-maturing fawns who are coming into their first heat - causing the remaining bucks to really have to move around looking for these late breeding opportunities. This keeps a lot of bucks on their feet during shooting hours, meaning that they are still really susceptible to harvest.

Note that the post rut will not usually have the rampant movement that the breeding period did, however it is still a great time to be in the woods. We also find that a lot of the post rut activity is dependent on the weather - the colder it is, the better.

So as you can see, answering the question, “When is the South Carolina lowcountry rut” does not lend itself to a short, easy answer. However by knowing the different periods, hunters can make better predictions about when and how to hunt during the rut. And that should help them take home the buck of their dreams!

So give Becky a call now to see what rut-hunting openings we have during the time you have off. We look forward to hunting with YOU!

Keith and his nice 8 point

Since we didn’t get the Skinning Shed up and running until just a few weeks ago, I am working on going back and posting some of the great kills our guests had during this South Carolina deer season. In this post I would like to highlight a few of the harvests we had during the rut that ran from mid October until mid November.

Keith was down from New York right at the beginning of the rut, and he managed to kill his two does and one buck in one day over at Pleasant Hill Plantation! Check him out here with his nice 8 point that he killed during a morning hunt.

Walt and his 8 point

Walt was also down from New York, along with his buddy Crazy, and he also took a nice 8 point.

Tony and his young 7 point

We also hosted a couple of hunters that had yet to take their first deer, and we managed to get one of them a beautiful buck. Tony, down from West Virginia along with his father-in-law from Columbia, is pictured here with his young 7 point.

And I also want to spotlight Mel and his good 8 point that he killed right behind the lodge. He

Mel and his father with a good 8 point from behind the lodge

was down with his dad, and they had a fantastic time with us too…

I still have plenty of deer to go to catch up on all of the great deer we killed and the friends that hunted with us this past season. However I wasn’t always there when the deer were brought in, so if you have a picture of a deer or hog that you killed that we haven’t put up, please email it to me!

Jeff