Take 2: The Two Best Weekends to Bow Hunt This Fall

Time is Valuable - Maximize Your Hunts on These Two Weekends

By: Pat Kolbe, Buck Fever Outdoors

Let’s face it. While we would all love to take off a month straight and hunt the entire month they often refer to as ‘Sweet November,’ it just isn’t a realistic possibility for 99% of us.

Work. Family. Birthday Parties. Family. Work. Anniversaries (wait, that’s your own fault!). We all have lots of commitments and obligations outside of hunting that potentially limit our time in the woods each whitetail season. 

When vacation time is tight and life pulls at us in other directions, we often succumb to being a weekend warrior in the fall. Well, which weekend — let’s make that two — can you count on to be the best this year? Which two weekends should you mark in permanent marker on the family calendar with the word that fuels your dreams, goals, and passion: "Hunting.”

I’m here to sell you on these two weekends as the Best Two Weekends of 2022 for you to kill a buck. At least, if I was schedule-trapped and only had two weekend options, these are the two weekends I would be grabbing that Sharpie for.

For the record, I’m including Friday into these weekend getaways. Whether you can swing taking a full day or half day of vacation, or maybe have to call in ‘sick’ with a case of Buck Fever… you can maximize your strapped weekend schedule by trying to extend the few open options you do have. 

Weekend of October 28-30

There is something about that last weekend in October. Not only does the air feel and smell different as the November cold approaches and leaves that have fallen start to decay… but bucks are starting to throw caution to the wind in search of those first estrus females. Testosterone is ramped up and the juice is starting to flow through the rut-filled veins of those deer with headgear. It’s almost akin to walking into a college town bar at 10 o’clock on a Saturday night. 

I find this late October time period, especially when paired with a cold front or cooler weather, that bucks are most susceptible to calling as well. Fresh scrapes and rubs can pop up each day. If you are a mobile hunter this can be a time to get some boots on the ground and capitalize by setting up immediately when you come across fresh sign.

For the most part I am targeting what I would refer to as ‘staging areas,’ or that subtle section just back in the timber between bedding and some preferred food sources. Get on the downwind side of some major trails as odds are you’ll have to get the does past you first before you can lay eyes on a trailing buck.

Weekend of November 11-13

I really think sometimes people go too bananas for the first ten days of November. Don’t get me wrong, I won’t miss that time period if I can help it, but I think it can burn red hot or be cold as ice when it comes to hunting action. 

Based on anecdotal evidence, I’ve struggled and had more ‘skunked’ sits where I don’t even see a deer during the first week of November. I’m convinced that there are more bucks locked down with does during the first week of November than any other time of year. Think about it — there are more does readily available during early November that haven’t been bred yet — so even if a buck does come out of lockdown it isn’t that hard for him to find another partner. Basically, it's easy for bucks to go from one doe to another during this early rut time period. 

Which brings me to the weekend of November 11-13. At this point, there is a solid portion of the doe population that has already been bred. Bucks are juiced up and have only one thing on their mind — find those last eligible does as they come into heat. In my opinion, there is no better time of year to catch a big buck, and maybe a few ‘transplant’ bucks from neighboring properties that you haven’t seen all year — in a love-drunk pursuit through the woods. 

This weekend I’m focusing on diving into my best spots in the timber on heavy traveled funnels leading into doe bedding areas or tight terrain funnels between multiple doe bedding locations. Doe bedding areas are the focus here, as those bucks will be on the move, scent checking for any available estrus does that haven’t yet been bred. It can happen at any time of day too — so don’t be afraid to log some long hours — maybe even all day on-stand. 

Hunt When you Can

There you have it - my choices for the two best weekends of bowhunting this fall: October 28-30 and November 11-13. As mentioned before, the reality is we have a lot going on in our lives and it comes down to hunting whenever you can, as much as you can… but if you get the chance, make sure you are in the whitetail woods these two weekends! Good luck this season!