What is the Chasing phase of the rut?

Updated October 20, 2026

Chasing is the fourth phase of the rut in StagSense, the last days before peak breeding, when bucks travel alone in search of does and does are on the move too.

When it happens

In StagSense, Chasing covers the 7 to 5 days before your area's peak. Where a source shows a wider breeding window, the phases stretch.

What deer are doing

By the rut, bucks travel alone. In a Texas study, bachelor groups had broken up and bucks were seen traveling on their own, and bucks are more likely to move into new areas in search of does during the rut.

Does are part of the action. In a South Carolina GPS study, does' home ranges were largest in the days around conception.

Bucks' trips outside their home range continue. In the Maryland GPS study, those trips ran from the weeks before breeding into the breeding period itself.

How hunters approach it

Take note when a doe shows up somewhere you do not usually see her. In the South Carolina study, a doe was most likely to be off her usual range the day before she conceived, which the researchers read as her advertising that she was ready to breed.

In StagSense

The rut phase card shows the phase you are in today and its intensity, free. Premium adds phase-based rut strategy: tactical guidance for every stage of the rut. See what each tier shows.