From 2015 to current, I have successfully taken a white-tailed buck in Alberta every deer season. Using a rifle in November even challenging myself with a compound bow for a couple of them. I’ve managed to get the job done.
Throughout the same period, I’ve consumed a lot of information from all media sources on these spectacular creatures. Things like timing the rut, weather conditions and the activity of the animals, food sources, and moon phases. Most of this info is coming from the USA, typically places that do not have similar conditions as Alberta. This made the learning process in a way more confusing to the adult-onset buck hunter I’ve become.
It has become a personal quest to align these concepts collected and test them to against the realities I experience. Compiling my trail camera data, scouting and hunting these critters I have formulated my own opinions on the white tail rut.
This blog will be a multipart series of observations I’ve made in the white tail woods, with acquired experience and updates as I learn more about the most hunted big game animal in North America.
Timing the rut:
From the last 8 hunting seasons, I’ve witnessed peak whitetail rut action in Alberta. Outside of one outlier, all my bucks were taken due to the distraction of the does in estrus. Six have been taken between the 19th and 23rd of November, with heavy rutting activity. I’ve heard bucks grunt at does, 5 yards from my tree stand while silently drawing back my bow to take my quarry. To watching my 2020 buck mount a doe, bread her and than receive a 6.5mm cartridge in his heart. There seems to be a high increase in rut like activities around those dates in Central Alberta.
The outlier was a hunt with my father-in-law in a blizzard and the opportunity to have a both our general tags filled the same night. Making for great memories and a long night of knife work.
I don’t exclusively hunt my perceived dates of the rut, thankfully because this past 2023 season I took my highest scoring buck on the 5th. With bucks fighting across the fence line and using a grunt tube to drag this Alberta monarch from entering the tree line, the rut seemed to be in full swing earlier in the month. To read more about this hunt you can find my first published article in the winter issue of “Big Buck Magazine”.
All that being said, If I were to take time off work to fill the tag, I would opt for time around the back half of November in Alberta.
That's some great information Luke -thanks for sharing! My dates are pretty close to the ones you mention as well. I always swear by November 18 being the best day to be out for whitetails. A few days before and a few days after are always pretty exciting as well! I've also noticed it doesn't matter if it's +16 like it was this past November or -30 bucks move on those days. Pic below is from the +16 day this past November 18.
Geoff Dorward (DOA- Dorward Outdoor Adventures)