I've finally seen some pre-rut sign, it was in Oakville at the PetroCan refinery.
Driving in I spotted a nice rack sticking out from a pine only 50m away, I pulled over and watched a beatifull typical 8 point walk out into the open, he was huge and his rack was at least 160" (to those saying "yeah right" I have a 126" hanging in my room and this one was MUCH bigger). I watched him for 10min before deciding it was time to get to work.
Later in the day I was working near the small pine where I spotted him and found that it was all rubbed up with branches snapped. I can see why big bucks use bigger trees because this this tree is so damaged it probably won't survive the winter.
I'm sure I'll find more rubs and some scrapes when I get to the camp tomorrow (got 2 weeks off <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>) but this is the first sign I've seen so far.
Good luck all, talk to you in a couple of weeks.
"guns aren't for killing people, guns are for killing dangerous and delicious animals"
- Homer Simpson