With waterfowl, fall turkey, upland game and archery seasons in full swing, there’s been plenty of opportunity to get out and about this autumn. But the majority of Maine hunters have been whiling away the weeks waiting for the main attraction. The regular firearms season for deer runs a generous four weeks and each week offers a different set of opportunities.

During the first week, the deer have experienced relatively little disturbance, except for that from upland hunters and a scant few bowhunters. The deer are still in a fairly routine pattern of moving to and from feeding and bedding cover. If you’ve done your scouting, you may be the first to intercept them.

But their behavior will change rapidly as more hunters enter the woods and the guns start popping. If you live in an area with heavy hunting pressure, this may be your best chance to bag a buck or a doe.

Week 2 is often characterized by the first real frenzied rut. Until now, bucks have been opening and tending scrapes and gradually increasing their travels in search of a mate. As the first does start coming into estrus, however, those bucks redouble their efforts. A whiff of estrus causes a surge of testosterone and suddenly the bucks are moving about much more during daylight hours, offering patient hunters higher odds for a decent rack. It’s often younger bucks that are the first to fall. Mature bucks seem to be biding their time. Experience has taught them to wait for better odds before exposing themselves to potential danger.

Both the unlucky and the experienced hunters enter Week 3 with renewed enthusiasm. Extensive empirical research has shown that Maine’s peak breeding period is Nov. 17-23 for mature does, followed a week later by yearling does. Now all ages of bucks are on their feet. Individual bucks may disappear for a day or so when tied up with a receptive doe, but will be searching for another once the tryst is completed.

If it hasn’t happened yet, odds are also better that the first flecks of snow will fall. This offers hunters a chance to ply the ages-old tactic of tracking a big buck. The snow also makes it easier to determine where those elusive deer have been hiding out, and makes it harder for them to continue doing so.

If you haven’t filled your tag by the fourth week, don’t worry. Peak breeding may be over but the big bucks are now on their feet and as receptive does become harder to find, those randy males wander farther and wider. Back when he ran the Maine Antler and Skull Trophy Club, Dick Arsenault picked week four as the best to bag a big buck, based on the records. Statistics also show a fair number of hunters who have been holding out for a buck are finally ready to cash in their doe tags.

The woods can seem a desolate, deserted place on the last day of deer season. Most of the hunters and, it seems, most of the deer are gone. Varying temperatures and conditions are replaced with a deep, enduring cold and the wind rattles what few leaves remain stubbornly attached to their stems. Hope remains until the final minutes tick away, and if you still haven’t succeeded, there’s always muzzleloader season.

Bob Humphrey is a freelance writer and registered Maine guide who lives in Pownal. He can be reached at:

bhunt@maine.rr.com

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