Due to the TWRA hating the county I hunt in I cant shoot a doe until the 26th. How should I go about hunting for a buck? My dad always has luck calling way before the rut but what about after? I couldn't tell you when our rut was because it changes every year and happens off and on a few times a season. By the way there are no food plots or anything like that where I hunt. Thanks in advance!

food source,food source,food source.....find out what they are eating and hunt the avalible food.....and have fun

Find the food! Or at least how they are getting to and from the food!

Around here with the high doe to buck ratio, there are always a lot of unbred does gradually declining in number up into Febuary.  The bucks will roam a lot in December and January, though it's usually at night.  You can find one every now and then though.

It will become easier to answer this question once the snow starts to fall (I dont know where you are, it hasn't here in easter Iowa yet). Follow the fresh tracks and set up an ambush.. I love to spot and stalk in the snow..

Matt,
I am a TN Man thru and thru but I tell ya, we don't know how bad we got it here in TN compared to the Midwest !!! Don't believe me, go hunt a state like ILL, IA, OH, KY, etc, etc. We see more deer in a week there than 2-3 seasons in TN.

My son shot a doe today and her milk bag was full and it is DECEMBER ! We have hunted hard and seen little sign, no chasing, no response to rattling, etc, etc. We really do not have a rut to speak of most years here. Buck to doe ratios are still way out of whack. Throw in a total mast failure this year and it is tough hunting for sure.

We adjusted, left our normal spots that are acorn flats, and are hunting honeysuckle and any other green food sources like fairly new clearcuts. Every deer we have seen this year had solid green in their stomachs, no acorns. As others have advised you Matt.... Food> Does> BUCKS ! Good luck my friend we need all the luck we can get here.

I have shot does here in NC in December with milk.....too many does in our area......no real rut, the bucks do not have to look too hard at all.....if only we could get the politicians out of the DNR and get the biologists in.....hunt the food sources HARD !!!!!  

Just down on our land this morning, not hunting. Lots of fresh sign and some renewed rutting action. Rubs and scrapes. Full moon coming on and things look the same as a month ago here. The late rut is on in Northern Nova Scotia.
This is the late bow season week with rifle all done. It was a beautiful sunny/cloudy, warm(for Dec. 5)day. Moon overhead mid dayish. I think a little fight sound might have drawn the rutter in.