There’s a doe which gives me hope. When I rattle antlers and/or do a doe bleat, she comes. She walks along slowly and stops occasionally, always presenting numerous shot opportunities as she checks out the area, looking for the source of the sounds.

In short, she does exactly what I hope a buck will do some fine day. In fact, I hope that soon one will be following her, because she’s a mature doe of good size. I’m thinking she’ll be among the first to go into her heat cycle. I’ve already shot a doe, so this one gets a pass each time.

We hunters call this magic period of the six-week archery season Hunting the Rut. I’ve been thinking about the rut for weeks, okay, obsessing about it, and then I got to wondering. Why is it called the rut?

I hadn’t given it much thought but figured it was a nickname given due to buck behavior during that time, specifically, making scrapes. They paw at the ground with their hooves, making long dented gouges in the forest floor.

Maybe people started calling it the rut because of those long ruts the bucks made in the ground as they created their scrapes, I reasoned.

Wrong. Technically, biologically, “rut” is a nickname for Reproductive Ungulate Time. An ungulate is a term for a hoofed animal, and in the wild all their breeding periods are called the rut. So next time you’re hanging around with your hunting buddies, tell them you’re looking forward to Reproductive Ungulate Time.

I am. We’ve all read numerous articles theorizing about the timing of the peak rut, and how numerous factors (heat, storms, wind, food sources, population demographics, etc.) have effect on the timing of the peak rut. I’ve read all that stuff too, over the years, and here’s what I’ve learned:

From now until the end of archery season, hunt as much as you can.

Hunt the does, which are continuing their daily routine. Their heat cycles will last only five days, with her breeding time only about 48 hours.

Bucks will be traveling to find the does, mostly checking bedding areas and ridges to make the most of their travels. Don’t dismiss your attention to scent control – there are few things worse than getting busted by a mature doe that had been coming your way with a buck in tow.

Have hope. I write for a magazine called Rack, produced by Buckmasters. All the articles in the magazine are about people who have shot very big bucks, with racks that score higher than 170.

There’s a question I always ask when I’m doing the interviews – Did you know that buck was in the area?

The majority of the time, I’d say 90 percent of the time, the answer is No.

So, hunt those does of hope, and keep the faith that a big one will be on the heels of that ungulate’s hooves.