I saw a nice sized buck on sunday morning all by itslef and i also talked to some of my other friends who said they have seen good sized bucks running by themselves. I hunt in MO and was wondering if everyone thinks that the bucks are starting to postrut and search for those last remaining does, or is it all coincidence that bucks happened to be by themselves? If it is post rut would you reccomend rattling this weekend? thanks for the help.

I'd be more inclined to think it was prerut, the search stage, Peak rut hasn't happened here in the northern hemisphere so I'd doubt MO is ahead of us.

What has been your observances up til now?

like i said i saw that one nice buck by himself on sunday morning. I also saw two scrub bucks saturday morning and then sunday afternoon i saw 3 does running together buckless. Thats what ive seen, and like i said, my friends have also seen a few bucks by themselves.

Ive been hunting in Mo pretty much daily for 3 weeks, and have been seeing lots of bucks the last week or so alone, and lots of does alone and with fawns as well. I saw a ton of hard chasing late in the week, and the weekend of Nov 4th and 5th,. I did notice two little bucks dogging a doe around on Saturday morning the 11th on the rifle opener, but all the rest have been alone, Im thinking they are breeding now around here, as the activity has really dropped off the last 5 or 6 days and the bucks im seeing arent with does or chasing them either. Yesterday morning I was watching a large crp type field, and saw three pairs of does, and does with fawns, I also saw 4 different bucks come through the area, and none of the bucks were trailing or even acting like they could smell a doe, and three of them came in to a grunt call and buck growl, but none responded to doe grunts or the can. Well, these are just my observations, good luck.

definalty not post rut here in wi. Id say if your seing bucks on their own then there proly in between does and serching for the next victim.

The bucks have been breading recepitve does here in Kansas. The one I have been hunting was locked on to a doe for 2 days following 10 feet behind her. He finally must of did the deed becauseI seen him the other day by himself. Trust me, there is no telling what buck you might see in your area. They are going to be on the move looking for some new dates. I'm going to be on stand all weekend long.