It may seem a little morbid but one of the biggest signs I look for to signal the beginning of the rut is the increased sighting of dead deer by the road. Locally I've seen a sudden increase of dead deer by the roads. All but one has been does, the one buck was a spike. I did see one cow horn alive next to the interstate. Not sure if this is the doe groups breaking up in preparation for rut or does running off their young'uns. Usually this happens much closer to the rut though. Local biologists are saying it's due to deer looking for food. Not sure of that, there's a huge acorn crop this year. Anyone else seeing more roadside deer?