ORIGINAL: Rob/PA Bowyer
ORIGINAL: chazspot
What confuses me is seeing mating ritual behavior (chasing, sparring) from young bucks, but not from mature bucks around this time of year. I assume the real rut is centered on mature bucks altering their behavior for the sake of mating.
Absolutely not, the "RUT" is defined when 90% of the doe population is in estrous not when bucks change their routine. Bucks change their routine when the does are in, not vise versa. Remember the "rut" is determined/defined by the does not the bucks.
That being said, Oct 21 is the date that is coined for the begining of the "hard" pre-rut leading into the 15th of Nov which is "peak" rut, give or take a few days.
So yes, the Pre-rut would be defined as starting now.
Well, today's Oct, 20th, sounds like we're right on schedule!
