Article by: Todd Bumgardner, Packmule Training Co.

I’m sitting at a marble counter on a comfortable chair, typing this article on my laptop. It’s mid-October, a Sunday. It’s cloudy and the wind’s picking up outside. It’s supposed to storm all night. That’s my reality. But in my mind, I can see my headlamp on the mountain laurel in the pitch black of an early November morning. There’s crisp air on my skin as I hike into my stand in a t-shirt. A grouse flushes in front of me, and my heart bounces in a 360 around my rib cage before it tries to launch through the top of my skull. I catch the fast flutter of wings as it darts across the trail in front of me. Pausing for composure and a deep breath, I walk on, hoping today is the day the thick 10 I’ve been watching all year walks within range of my stand.

My perch in the oak is set more than an hour before daylight. Maybe overzealous, but I don’t want to take any chances. If the buck doesn’t show, it’ll be well after dark until I climb down. I plan to do the same thing tomorrow and the next day. The day after that will look much the same, should I not send a well-placed arrow in the meantime. 

And I know the cumulative effect of all the “meantime.” Should the arrow not fly, and the days keep marching on, the tension could build in my body and in my mind. I know that if I don’t take care of each, I will wind myself into knots that consume my mindset. As the body tightens, so tightens the mind. So, I do what’s necessary to keep myself loose — each morning on the drive in, while I sit in the stand, at the end of the day, before my head hits the pillow. It allows me to hunt the rut, and that thick 10, the way that I want.

I’m back at the marble counter. The wind’s picked up more, and it’s brought with it a confession. I am not a top-caliber deer hunter. I did not kill that thick 10. 

But I am a man who loves to hunt, who also has an education in psychology and human physiology. I know what it takes to keep the mind and the body right and ready to perform in an instant, while most of your time is spent waiting. I know what it takes to keep from winding yourself into knots.

I’ll tell you how to do that so that you manage your body and mind well during the whitetail rut. Because I know you’ve seen the same picture I painted in those first few paragraphs. I know you have your own thick 10.

Let’s help you get him killed. 

First, Understand the Demands

You can’t strategize without clearly listing what you’re up against. Yes, you know you’ll spend long days in the stand. Yes, you know you might go days without seeing a deer, let alone the one(s) you want to kill. But we need to clearly define what those long sits and all the waiting does to you mentally and physically. It’s not just the time in the stand, it’s what happens while you’re there.

Mentally, you’re taxed by several factors. You can’t move all that much. It’s (hopefully) cold. And deer are wild critters. They don’t move where you want them to just because you want them to be there. Hours become days of doing nothing more than staring at trees and cursing squirrels. When we think in terms of hours and days, it seems that time is the thing taxing your mind. It isn’t.

You’ve done plenty of things for hours, maybe days, at a time without them taxing your mind. The difference between those things and a sit during the rut is engagement and reinforcement. A person perceives time differently when there’s plenty of feedback to occupy the mind. I’ll illustrate the point with a personal example, using spin fishing for smallmouth bass vs fly fishing for trout.

If the bass are biting, you’ll have a real hard time getting me off the water. I’ll cast from sun up to after sun down if there’s a bite on — even if I’m only catching little guys. However, I lose interest in a hurry if there’s no bite. Contrast that with fly fishing. I will fly fish all day without even the hint of a take. I like fighting bass more than I like fighting trout. So, why do I bail so early on bass but push through during fruitless days on trout streams? It’s the engagement. Casting a fly rod requires focus. It’s easy to zone out while spin fishing. Zone out while your fly line’s overhead and you’ll have a mess on your hands. More than that, I find it fun to maintain the casting rhythm. I’ll look up from a drift to check my phone and realize it’s noon, and I’ve just spent the morning not eating or drinking. Casting, drifting, and watching a fly is reinforcing and engaging. An engaged mind doesn’t mind the time. So, it’s not the time you have to manage during long days in the stand, it’s what you do with your mind as the time passes.

What taxes you mentally is much the same as what taxes you physically — sitting still for long periods and the cold. 

The hardest movement in the world for your brain and body to manage isn’t a movement at all — it’s lack of movement. You move more than you realize. It’s just that you don’t notice it until not moving is necessary for success. Long sits with minimal movement take a big toll on your joints — especially your hips, spine, and shoulders. It stiffens them. Then, you feel the nag in whichever joints are troublesome, and a cycle ensues. Your body steals energy from your mind. Your focus is pulled from the external world of scrapes, rubs, and doe movement to whatever the hell is going on with your shoulder. The stiffening continues, making it harder to stay still while also wearing more and more on your mental state. If you don’t care for your body, it will degenerate as the rut goes on, taking your mind with it.

Mostly, what you’re combating is stillness. The stillness in the woods and the stillness of your body. Really, it shouldn’t be combat at all. It’s best to lean into it. That starts with giving yourself the foundation to lean from.

Your Rut Foundation: Taking Care of Yourself

This section is mostly about mitigation. I know your sleep won’t be perfect during the rut, but we have to talk about it. I know what it’s like to not want to piss all the time when you’re in the stand, but we have to talk about hydration. I’m aware that part of the rut’s appeal is a well-stocked pack of treestand snacks, but we have to talk about nutrition. Sleep, hydration, and nutrition won’t be perfect during the rut; they don’t have to be. But you must at least pay attention to each if you want to give yourself the best chance of keeping your body together and your head on straight while you wait for your buck.

It’ll be tough to get a full night’s rest every night of the rut if you’re hunting it hard. I’m also aware that life has obligations outside of hunting. However, getting as much good sleep as possible goes a long way towards maintaining your mental state. Since quantity is likely out of the picture, you’ll have to do your best to step up the quality. There are a few little things that will go a long way towards helping you rest. 

Turn your brain off by writing down anything you’re stewing over from the day or any plans you have for the next day. That way you know they’ll be waiting for you in the morning and you don’t have to carry them in your mind.

Take a warm shower a little while before laying down. The warm water causes reactive cooling that lowers your core body temperature, helping you to sleep.

Along with the reactive cooling, keep your room temperature relatively cool. Set the thermostat in the mid- to high-60s if you can. I understand that married folks might need to do some spousal negotiations to make this happen. But it’ll help the both of you. Blame it on me; I’ll take the heat for you.

And you need to drink water, unless you want your body and joints to feel even worse. Even minor dehydration impairs your cognitive abilities. That’s right. Two-percent dehydration and your thinking is already worse. Get 16 to 20 ounces of water in you when you wake up. You can sip on some coffee after that. Then keep drinking throughout the day in your stand. Don’t hyperfocus on it and drive yourself nuts. But make the conscious effort to drink throughout the day.

Between deer season and duck season, I understand the appeal of hunting snacks. For years, we made my buddy Brett’s dad eat a Nutter Butter as soon as we sat down in the duckblind. It was for good luck, of course. Cakes, candies, and cocoa are all nice bits of comfort during long sits. I won’t tell you not to have some along with you. But I will say that keeping your blood sugar steady throughout the day is the best thing to do for your focus. Decent nutrition is also huge for getting your body through two weeks of hard hunting.

Get the best possible breakfast in you each morning. Eat it before you leave the house or eat it in the stand. Whichever works for you. But make sure it has at least 30 grams of protein, some food fat, and a slow digesting carbohydrate like oatmeal. Snack on mostly protein and fat throughout the day. This will keep your blood sugar stable. If you want to work in a cake or some candy, just make sure you have some protein with it so your blood sugar doesn’t skyrocket then tank. Then, eat a well-composed dinner each night — a good protein source, veggies, and a decent carb, such as potatoes or rice.

Sleep, hydration, and nutrition lay your physiological foundation at all times. They become even more important during high-stress periods like the whitetail rut. Each bit of advice I just gave is simple and easy. Take it all.

With the physiological foundation laid, let’s talk about the specific mental and physical needs during the whitetail rut, and what to do about them.

Mental Necessities to Maintain Your Mindset During the Whitetail Rut

We know one of the big things we’re mentally up against, long sits without a lot of stimulation. But there’s another big bugaboo we need to mind — self-imposed pressure. There’s one thing we can do to make a big impact on both. That’s taking perspective.

You’re out there to enjoy yourself. Everyone’s going to eat — you’re not killing a buck to feed the village. And, as much as this might sting your ego, at the end of the day, you’re the only person who truly cares whether or not you kill a buck. It helps to remember all that before you allow the pressure of wanting to kill to tie your brain into 100 overhand knots. You might think all the tension is helping, but it isn’t. All it’s doing is sucking the fun out of your hunting. If you want to keep your head on straight throughout the rut, remember that fun is a lot more sustainable than force.

Once you have your perspective locked in, you can use a handful of games and mental skills to manage your mind during your time in the stand. 

We’ll stick with the focus theme. One of the best ways to maintain your focus is to not control it at all times. Let your mind drift; let it take a break. I promise, you’ll snap right back in when that buck shows up. I’m not saying get caught with your pants down. Set up your environment so it’s easy to snap back in when necessary. But don’t force yourself to focus at all times. It’s just going to wear you down.

Then, play with your focus. Zoom in on little details, zoom out to see as much as possible. Look at the bark on the next tree. Check out the grooves and the details. Then zoom out to see how many of those trees are around you. This is just an example of something to play with. But zooming in and zooming out helps manage your focus while also giving you the engagement and reinforcement we chatted about.

Time chunking is also a great strategy for managing long sits. Example — breaking your hunting area into quadrants and shifting focus between each every so often. You can also time chunk by planning snacks and meals throughout the day. Another strategy is to focus on moving a part of your body, as much as is possible and prudent, for a set amount of time and at set intervals. Spend five minutes moving your ankles around. At the top of the next hour, spend five minutes moving your hips around, and so on.

Rehearsal is another good use of your mental energy in the stand. In your mind, walk yourself through different scenarios. Picture a buck coming from one direction and all of the possible shot opportunities. Have him surprise you and imagine him coming in a way that didn’t plan for. How do you respond? Here’s the thing, mental rehearsal doesn’t just fill the time, it also improves performance. There’s good science to back it. Spending some time in your imagination might just make the difference when it’s time to send an arrow.

This list is not exhaustive, it is a series of examples. There are many other useful mental skills and mental games you can use to keep your head on straight in the stand. However, these ones will serve you well when you use them.

Physical Necessities to Maintain Your Body During the Whitetail Rut

We laid your physiological foundation. Now, we’ll talk about direct joint care. Besides, sleep, hydration, and nutrition, directly caring for your joints will have the biggest impact on you feeling good in the stand. I have a joint solution for you that literally takes 1 minute and 23 seconds.

Below is my morning CARs routine. I’ve done it every morning for 12 years:

Morning CARs Routine

CARs stands for Controlled Articular Rotations. It’s a fancy way of saying joint circles. You do them with a little bit of tension, and they expand your range of motion while making your joints feel good.

Let’s return to the final sentence of the first paragraph. “...literally takes 1 minute and 23 seconds.” No matter how rut feverish you are, you have 1 minute and 23 seconds. You could do the routine as soon as you pop up in the morning. You could do it while your coffee brews. You could do it when you step out of your truck, before you gear up to walk in. You have time. Those 83 seconds will pay big dividends during the weeks of the rut.

Keeping movement to a minimum is often necessary in the stand. But I want you to move as much as possible. Shift your posture. Arch your back and round your back. Roll your shoulders. Roll your neck. Move your hips as much as you can. Move your ankles as much as you can. Building all of this into your time chunking strategy fights the stiffness brought on by all-day sits. If nothing else, at least shift your posture.

Also, workout as much as possible. I know the focus is on getting in the stand and getting your buck killed. But if you’re not hunting every day, at least get some short mobility and strength workouts in on non-hunting days. Even 15 minutes of work is productive for keeping your body and your might right while also maintaining your fitness so you can transition back into training after the rut.

WIth the mental and physical necessities covered, there’s one more thing to chat about before we close this out.

You Don’t Have to Hunt Every Day

During one of the first podcasts Beau and I ever recorded, he shared some advice his dad gave to him one year during deer season. From what I remember of the story, the pressure was accumulating. It was getting to Beau. His dad told him to take the next day off hunting. He told him to wait until the conditions were good, then go back in. I think that’s some of the best hunting advice ever given.

There’s nothing to prove. If your mind’s not right, and you’re not enjoying yourself, there’s no sense in parking your ass in the stand. Give yourself a minute if you need it, and be honest with yourself about needing it when you do. Then take the damn day off.

Whitetail Rut Self-Management

I hope you find yourself in the woods on a crisp November morning before the sky cracks and before the birds sing. While you’re on your way into the stand, I hope you remember why you’re there. And I hope you do the little things outlined in this article to keep your body and mind right during the whitetail rut.

 

For Rut hunting tactics in the big woods and the mountains, check out the East Meets West Hunt Podcast

About the author: Todd Bumgardner is the head coach and founder of Packmule Training Co. He grew up hunting and playing sports in Central Pennsylvania. He went on to play college football and earn a master's degree in Exercise Science. He's been a strength and conditioning coach for the past 17 years, working with everyone from youth athletes and everyday folks to NFL veterans. Along with running the ship at HPPM, Todd also co-owns and operates Beyond Strength, a training gym in Northern Virginia, and is a human performance coach for a tier 1 unit. He travels all across North America to hunt.