What is the Post Rut phase of the rut?

Updated October 20, 2026

Post Rut is the sixth phase of the rut in StagSense, from about one to three weeks after the peak, when breeding tails off and bucks are worn down but still on the move.

When it happens

In StagSense, Post Rut covers the 5 to 21 days after your area's peak. Where a source shows a wider breeding window, the phases stretch. In a Texas field study, researchers counted the post-rut as the month from 15 to 45 days after the local average conception date.

What deer are doing

Bucks come out of the rut depleted. Researchers at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute write that bucks eat little during the rut and live largely on fat reserves, can lose a large share of their body weight, and finish exhausted and in poor condition.

In south Texas radio-collar studies, adult bucks were most likely to die of natural causes in the post-rut.

Mature bucks are not done. Texas researchers report that after the rut most young and middle-aged bucks go back to traveling in bachelor groups, while mature bucks are still chasing and scent-checking does.

Bucks keep moving. In an Oklahoma GPS study, bucks still covered close to 4 miles a day after the rut; during the rut they moved only about 20% more.

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.