Chasing already? What do you think?
 

In the past week I've seen more bucks than I saw last year during the entire season. This evening I was sitting in the light rain hoping to see the big boy from yesterday. He didn't show, but at 6:15 a lone mature doe came walking down the trail (which was odd in itself), gave me a beautiful 15 yard shot, but I let her walk. About 15 minutes later, a six point came out of nowhere right under my tree and crossed her trail. He stopped put his nose to the ground and took off after her with his nose still to the ground. I would swear this buck was chasing this doe, but it's only the 6th of October. Mind you, I'm not complaining, but what's going on this year? Any ideas?

That year and a half old deer is going crazy wanting to get some, thats whats going on! :biggrin::biggrin:

i know rut activity in PA, even at the earliest, will not begin until the end of this month, with peak normally around halloween/first week of november...however, seeking will get going for me a few days before this, then the chasing and fun

i notice bucks that walk across trails of does, even when not in estrus, will stop and smell the roses, so to say, but i cannot believe she has come in yet, but you never know, we have a bunch of very young doe that come into their first estrus in december, and i have taken bucks in our rifle season in december, who are rutting hard

I find it hard to believe any doe could be in estrus this early also, but what the heck could be causing all of the buck sightings so early? I don't know. Maybe they've been there all along and I'm just finally learning how to really hunt.:s2:

That does sound odd. It's still too early here in SE Pa (5-D). Another week and a half or so and we'll see that chasing going on! I can't wait!!:barmy:

I had a small 8pt walk right under my stand and say shoot me Monday! He then made a scrape,pissed in it and made a rub right next to it. Then he walk by me again at 10 yards and said shoot me again. He walked up the hill and started to push some Doe's around eating acorns! The little guy's always flex their Beer muscles early. It sure is fun to watch!

Hatchet Jack

No chasing activity yet in MI. It usually gets good that last week of October and into the first couple weeks of November.

Nothing to do with "rutting", but I had a 6 point chasing a mature doe EVERYWHERE, last week.....lol.

Funny thing was....they were BOTH grunting up a storm as they ran 'round and 'round.

It's possible for sure. They say that estrous cycles follow a normal bell shaped curve, with the peak (in Ohio for instance), being right around the first week of November.

The peak of the curve sees the largest percentage of does coming into estrous near the peak of the rut.

Then as the curve goes away from the peak in both directions, smaller yet equal percentages of does come into estrous well before and after the peak.

So if we are to agree that there are a small amount of does that come into estrous in December (which I think most people would agree to this), then the curve predicts that a small amount of does will most likely be coming into estrous in October.

I forgot to mention the side that opposes the bell shaped curve idea, this other side of the deer biology house believes that estrous cycles are skewed towards the right, meaning:

The smallest percentage of does come into estrous early

The largest percentage of does come into estrous during November

The leftovers who either:
A. haven't come into estrous yet, or
B. were not bred during their first peak estrous, will come back into heat during December and possibly even into January.

This model seems more realistic to me.