When does the rut start?
 

when does the rut start??

The rut usually depends on your location. But for the most part the rut usually starts to kick in around that first week of November. What a magical week that is.

definitely depends on the area. Our rut in parts of Louisiana dont get going until early to mid-January. Ive read it has a lot to do with river stages. deer down here in certain part of the state cant drop fawns in May/June because of high water. Deer in the western half of the state (further from the Mississippi River and Atchafalaya Basin) rut a lot earlier in the year though. They dont have to worry about dropping fawns in flood water.

Rut hits around mid November here in Va. Its different in many areas mostly because of temp differences. Deer are triggered by the changes in daylenght. Everything that happens to them every year is based on an internal clock. So in a given place itll happen about the same time every year.

I have seen bucks starting to act goofy around the third week in Oct. around here. That is when I usually start pulling out my lures and calls. Bucks are ready to breed after the velvet is peeled.

:bash::bash::bash: Like someone said:D:D:D, several months ago, if your askin' for this year,it's later than last year:s4::s4:. Hunt when you can, as much as you can, especially 11/13-11/16 in our latitude.:popcorn:

I was wondering when this was coming, T.R. errrrrrrrrrrrr i mean K.W. Been to quiet lately.

As I stated before in an earlier post:
This year - the upcoming ‘09 season sees the Hunter’s Moon (the first full moon AFTER the harvest moon) on Oct. 7. Most years, the harvest moon rises on a September night.
But not this year.
The harvest moon, by definition, is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox (the first day of fall).
And this year the equinox falls on Sept. 23. The full moon in October is closer to the equinox than the September full moon, therefore, the October full moon is the harvest moon. And the hunter’s moon always follows the harvest moon.
Also, there should be good (better than normal for the first week of November) diurnal buck movement this year during the moon’s first quarter. And a greater tendency for daytime movement will head into the following week (full moon.) That’s when we will hear stories of some giant bucks being arrowed at noon.
Then, on the following weekend, hunters will be heard saying “the rut is on,” as the cycle reaches a climax of activity (Nov. 13).

Several years ago, I read an article in D&DH by Charles Alsheimer. I'm not going to repeat the entire article here but in essence he said the rut was broken down into three or four different phases. In the northern latitudes the initial stages of the rut, or what he calls the seeking phase, are triggered by a certain moon phase. The moon phase being the second full moon, called the hunters moon, that occurs after the first day of fall. Since that full moon doesn't occur at the same time every year, it makes sense to me that on certain years you would not see the activity at the same time you see it in other years. Thus you would think we didn't have as intense of a rut as we normally have. After I read the article, I also thought about past years and what I had observed in my own hunting experience. Then I went back and checked the moon phases for those past years, and I must say, many times the increase in deer activity and that moon phase did line up. I also checked on the dates when some record bucks were killed in relationship to that moon phase and there were a lot of similarities. I am not sure if all his conclusions are correct but since I read that article, I have watched closely the moon phase each year and I have to say that there is a noticable increase in deer activity about that time every year. You would have to read the entire article to completely understand what he was talking about but alot of his conclusions make sense to me. This year that second full moon, or hunters moon, occurs on November 2nd. So if Mr. Alsheimers conclusions hold true, you should begin to see a big increase in deer activity around Oct. 30th or so. I would suggest that you find that article in the archives of D&DH or google it and see for yourself what he was talking about.

Blessings.....Pastorjim

Halloween night; prerut is on!!

Another factor is nutrition, this is why in the south we typically associate the rut with the first good freeze. It is usually when the nutritional value of the plants drops to the lowest and it triggers the deer to reproduce before their bodies start depleting due to lack of nutrition throughout the winter. this is all very interesting that the harvest moon, hunters moon, and first hard freeze (in the south), all happen around the same time as the plants lose their nutritional values for us in texas. then due to some younger does (late born fawns) there will be a second rut usually about 2-3 weeks after the first lasting about a week, these does probably had not fully reached reproductive maturity for the first rut. This is just what ive learned over the years. happy hunting.