Thanksgiving weekend is a prime time to target the most mature bucks because they are actively searching for late-estrous does.

“Roger explained it perfectly. You know, he said that the the rut's winding down. And those big boys know it's just about over for another year and they're desperately searching for that next hot dough and they're covering a lot of territory doing that and they're on their feet in daylight searching ”

He advises hunters to adapt to current conditions rather than relying on past memories of a property.

“it's a lesson we all learn over and over, but to not hunt off of memories to just take what they give you and work with that instead of being like, I'm going to force this old program.”

Hunters with limited time should aggressively move through the woods to actively find the location of rutting activity rather than waiting for it in one spot.

“If you don't have a lot of time in the rut, if you don't have the luxury of sitting in a funnel area all day long or day after day I would recommend trying to literally walk around until you run into the deer.”

Setting up on perpendicular trails that intersect multiple travel routes into doe bedding areas can be more effective than hunting the downwind side.

“I've really started to key in more on that than necessarily the downwind side.”