RE: rut now in va.
Here is my take on this, it is known that does will continue to go into estrus every 28 days if they are not bred. I believe that there are so many deer in NOVA that not all of them are bred the first time or second time. I think the does are going into estrus as late as Jan. maybe even Feb because there is a supply of food that will support such late breeding and the bucks are not breeding them earlier in the year. Personally saw a fawn this year in Oct with spots on it and only weighed about 30 lbs. I also saw 5 bucks last Feb. that still had their antlers intact on both sides. They also exhibited rut behavior by scraping the ground and I watched two of them fighting very intensly for about 5-10 mins. This was onPresidents Day. This behavior showed me that there were does in the area that were still in estrus. I have read that bucks will lose their antlers due to the lack of testosterone levels in their bodies. If does were still in estrus then the bucks testosterone will still be present and they wont lose their antlers until later in the year. I also believe this why some guys in other areas of the state are seeing bucks drop their antlers in late Dec and Jan and thats because there are not as many does in the area and they have been bred already. I shot what I thought was a doe this year the weekend before Christmas this year and when I went to retrieve I was surprised that it was a buck that had already shed its antlers. I know this particular property doesn't hold as many deer as the place I have to hunt in Fairfax. This is why I believe I have never seen this behavior from bucks during that time of the year except for the NOVA area. I trully think this is because of the amount of the deer. I used to have permission to hunt in eastern Loundoun County near Dulles and also witnessed the second rut in mid Dec every year. It was not as intense and the primary rut but I definetely saw bucks running does, scraping, and rubbing trees. I believe this was also due to the fact to the amount of does on the property.
Just my take on it but curious to see what you guys think.