(Published October 22, 2026)
Gary Miller
gary@outdoortruths.org
My favorite time of the year starts right now! It begins on Halloween and goes for about 6 weeks. In deer hunting terms these few weeks involve the pre-rut, rut, post-rut, and secondary rut. Each of these periods offers some exciting times to be in the woods. And if one is limited in the amount of days he or she can hunt, concentrating on this window of opportunity will provide the best chances to bring home a trophy. In years past I couldn't wait for opening day. I was not only looking for meat to put in the freezer, I also thought that one big buck might just show up anytime. Therefore my "window of opportunity" started the end of September and ran through January.
