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Old 06-26-2004 | 04:03 AM
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shed33
Nontypical Buck
 
Joined: Feb 2003
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From: Northern Idaho's Panhandle
Default RE: is the moon the whitetail rut trigger?

Phermones released in the estrus urine from a doe only have a life of about 6-9 minutes, so even if the estrus urine is bottled, the phermones don't survive. Your just getting the urine, not the live phermones. It's these phermones that are truely the key to attracting bucks. A buck knows shes ready and must be bred once he smells these specific estrus phermones. The day a doe comes into heat is specific to that doe and is triggered by photoperiodism which is truely the only constant varaible in the rutting equation. This in turn allows veteran bucks to "date" certain does and consequently know right when to show up in their area to breed them. This is a great way to pattern specific bucks, if you know the does he targets and the dates of which the doe comes into heat. Once his business is finished he will then move on to another doe area to check up on other does that he knows their specific estrus days.

As far as the moon goes, from what I have read and observed in the wild, it simply can sway one way or the other daytime "rutting activity". Photoperiodism triggers the doe estrus cycle and no matter what the moon is doing if she is eminating these phermones, bucks are going to be in tow.

This buck below is a classic example of a a buck showing up on a doe I had been watching on a specfic day and every year for the past 3 years after the 25th of November, she has mature bucks show up in her area, just like clockwork. Notice the gouge mark in this bucks throat from fighting.

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