The rut, movement and the weather...
The weather has been unusually warm where I hunt (Fingerlakes Region of NY) most of the fall (also across the country). A couple of times in October the temp fell and I anticipated the rut would be going full bore by 1st or 2nd week of November. Well here we are 3 weeks (almost 4) into November and the temps have stayed warm and the weather has been wet... it seems like the rut just hasn' t taken off yet. Am I having wishful thinking or is this it for the big rut of 2003 - across the country? I hunted opening day in NY on 11/17 (that was the coldest day in the last week and it was around 50 degrees)... today it is going be around 65 degrees... I hate to complain about warm weather this late into the year, but because of this I think the rut is on hold and the deer aren' t moving because they don' t have to go far to get to their food or water source. Anyone have any comments - when the temp goes down will the rut truly begin and will the deer truly start to move?
Wood Guy