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Oak Duke: Examining the chasing phase of the whitetail rut

The whitetail rut’s chase phase – a time when bucks pursue does even though the female is not ready to breed – is an exciting time for deer hunters everywhere. (Photo by Oak Duke)

We call it the rut.
Many of us deer hunters wait, plan, dream, and pine for this time. It seems simple and is when we see the most bucks, not only hunting but on trail cams too. Bucks chase does for the most obvious of reasons, right? But as in many things in nature, once we peel back the layers of the onion, things are a bit more complex out there than first imagined.

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