curious...its interesting that the whitetail deer is one of the most hunted game animals and yet as hunters we really don't really understand what triggers the rut to occur. i mean, just in the few replies to my original post, we already have a few different theories as to what triggers the rut - amount of daylight, weather and the lunar cycle. maybe the rut is far too complex to associate the trigger to one specific event. maybe it is a multitude of events that must occur together in order to set off the rut. its been my experience that the rut does not occur at the same time every year. i always wondered why...i was always under the impression that the rut was caused by the amount of daylight (or lack thereof.) so, to me it would only be logical to assume that the lack of daylight would be the same year to year during the fall bow season, hence, the rut should occur the same time year after year. so, that really had me baffled...anyway, i was turned on to this book and decided to post the question here to see what others thought, especially specifically to the region they hunt. its interesting to see when the rut is occuring for different people. please keep the replies coming. this is great stuff!

(btw, i don't hunt by the moon either, i hunt anytime i can!)