Actually in a sense- the moon is a deer's aphordisiac. The decreasingamount of light (photoperiodism) taken in through a deer's eye tirggers a sensory receptor in the brain telling them it is time to exhibit breeding behavior and in fact breed. Which bring me to my next point about the rutting moon and it's effect ona buck's testosteron level. I said that generally a buck's testosterone level will peak around November 1st each year, because this is usually within a 4-5 day span of the full moon. The full moon essentially throws the bucks into overdrive.

Also- you are right about putting a hot doe in front of a buck. As soon as a buck sheds his velvet he is capable of breeding a doe and will do so if a hot doe is availalbe. Again, you are right about the does coming into heat in October- it is a very small percentage. Still, they do come into estrous and behave just the same as they would in November. A mature buck, with his senses more defined than a young buck is able to locate the hot doe and breed her very quickly and doesn't have to work so hard to do it, this is why it may not seem as itense.

Remember- the rut is broken down into three phases (I believe) the seek, chase and breeding. However, all three phases overlap each other. There are does that have already been bred, there is a buck cruising a doe bedding area right now scent-checking their estrous levels and there is also a buck in hot pursuit of a hot doe as we speak now. Like I said on the blog, it's a marathon, not a sprint and understanding the components that make it a marathon are why it is so darn fun to hunt