Im just gonna throw this out there but I think of the prerut as when the bucks start establishing there territory and you start seeing signs like rub lines and scrapes. In different parts of the country it occurs at slightly different times but here in the midwest my deffinition would fall in the 2nd week of Oct. approximately and run until the end of Oct. I see young bucks starting to chase does that arent yet in cycle around Halloween. The rut falls into place approx late 1st week to 2nd week Nov. and lasts a week up to 2 weeks. Then the post rut runs up until the 2nd week of Dec.During our shotgun season the first week of Dec. most of the bucks we saw were with does and my dad witnessed some love in the air with the buck he got and a doe.