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.
Thanks for clarifying. I knew that the rut is dependant on the does in that capacity, but the context of my post was contrast in behavior of young to mature bucks.
Alas, so here is my age old question.If one had 3 or 4 days to take off, when would be the best time to schedule those 3 or 4 days??