early in

I'd LOVE to know what's going on, or not, with the rut here in SE Pa? I have been doing dark to dark hunts (12 hrs)pretty muchevery day since Oct 16th, and have only seen about 7 deer! I am NOT seeing the rut activity that I normally see the last week of Oct, first week of Nov. My last 3 sits produced NO deer sightings. I really have NEVER experienced this before in my hunting career![&o]
Is it the warm temps, and the rut activity is going on at night? Or is it the this is a late rut, and we are just in the very first stages? I'm open for thoughts on this VERY IMPORTANT issue.What are my other Pa hunting buds seeing?

mofireman

Can't speak on Pensylvania considering I've never been there, but I was surprised when I went to check trail cams yesterday and did not have one picture on either camera. I've hadtwo cameras out and neither one had a picture to offer. They are both placed in spots where deer typically cross constantly, so I didn't understand it. This is the first time ever that this has been the case.

It's also been in the low to mid 70's here recently too, so I don't really know how much that has impacted deer movement. Cooler temps are inbound though.

HuntingBry

From what I've personally seen it's only been the younger bucks engaging in any kind of rutting activity. I've seen some 1.5/2.5 year olds doing some chasing, but the couple of older bucks I've seen have been leaving the does alone.

Now a buddy of mine saw a bunch of bucks chasing when he was out the other night, but it sounds like only one of them was even 2.5. Another buddy had 3 bucks chase a doe through his yard last night, but couldn't tell how big they were.

I think if a doe is hot, she is going to get some attention. Otherwise the heavy chasing hasn't begun as far as I can see.

Fletch

I have been out every morning this week saw 2 little bucks and one shooter the little bucks had there noses down, but can't say i see any chasing. My personal opinion is it's going to be a late rut this year, I think next week should be good.

NJ/PAbwhunter

Hey early,
Last week when we had some morning tempsdown in the 30's I saw much more deer activity than this past week with the warm temps. That being said, I still had some incredible buck encounters this week with some really good bucks coming in close. I saw 2 larger bucks on tuesday evening that I had not seen before, and last night I saw a large buck stuck like glue to a doe.I think we need a good cold snap to help it along. Just my observations.
DW

Dopler

The western elk rut was 7 to 10 days behind this year, the leaves are late falling--this whitetailrut is a good week late this year--the warm weather certainly has not helped.The cold front moving into the midwest thisweekend is going to be the start of good action in my opinion. I'm excited about going out on Saturday morning as long as the wind stays in check.

Deleted User

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3stone

Guys, Nothing to be concerned about. If you follow the writings of Charles Alsheimer (http://charliealsheimer.com/ca/default.htm), the author of Hunting WHitetails by the Moon, then you would know that he is predicting a late rut this year. Things should start picking up this Sunday. This will be one of the latest ruts in 20 years because the Rutting Moon was so late in the calender year.

I exchange emails with him each year (very nice guy) and here is what he told me...

Brett,

The rutting moon hits (full moon) on November 13th this year. The best week will be 11/15 to 22nd. If you only have one week to choose then take the last set of date have. Early November should be flat this year.

Charlie

So get ready.... the woods are about to explode!

Here si the book that I use to plan my trips...

http://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Whitetails-Moon-Charles-Alsheimer/dp/0873418131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225988934& amp;sr=1-1

MGH_PA

We in PA don't have the luxury of time. Our season ends on the 15th.[:@]

I'm also seeing limited chasing here in Northcentral, PA. A decent 1.5 or 2.5 6 I've seen twice now, but that's about it. I do know Ben and Rob were seeing big boys chasing in the Hughesville area which is just SE of me, so it's spotty.

rybohunter

D to D since Oct 16th, you are hardcore. I just finished a 6 day stint, that wears on a ya. My observations over the last 6 days are that things are very spotty and isolated ruttung activity wise.(actually seeing deer, chasing etc)But the rub/scrape sign seems normal to ahead of schedule. Go figure?