It is now Sept 24th and I have seen some really odd deer behavior. I saw 2 bucks today, still in velvet ( I'm in the north east).I have actually only seen 1 buck this year that was not in velvet and that was yesterday.
On mytrail cam pictures, I have several photos of Bucks and does together since August. I also noted that several of the does rear tarsals are already dark with one photo where they almost look black. I don't recall ever seeing deer with Tarsals that dark this early. And our season does not open for almost another month. I think we are in for an early rut this year.