HANKFAN

My vacation starts Monday and I am off the entire month of November which is great except for the weather forcast here in West Virginia. From Nov 1st-Nov 7th the lows are supposed to be in the 50' s and the high' s in the low 70' s. I don' t think that I have ever seen 70 degree weather in November. So my question is will this warm weather really suppress the daylight rutting activity. I normally start hunting on Nov 1st and hunt virtually every day of the month daylight till dark. However if it' s 70 degrees I have a feeling that I will probably see zero mid day activity even during the rut. Any suggestions on the best way to hunt this warm weather?

Bowhuntrey

70 degrees? sounds kinda nippy to me...still in the low to mid 80s here. i would have to say that you wont shoot anything if you DONT hunt...maybe focus a little towards a water source, especially a hidden one. the bucks WILL chase the does, even if they are a littl warm...you know how those bucks get. And i am sure they will be a bit thirsty after all of that running in the heat!

antlergetter

Brian,

I think 70 should be fine.... I dont think it' ll pose a real problem........While im posting anyway, ill just let you know you' ll pretty much have the hollow to yourself this fall.....Im logging timber now and i only have weekends off so i wont get to hunt near as much!! On the other hand you wouldnt believe some of the nice deer that walk striaght thru our worksite, they dont even pay attention to us or the machines!! I already have permission from the boss man to take a couple once gun season opens.....This should be very interesting. By the way....I know someone will ask, so ill just let you guys know that its all perfectly legal, we are WAY back in the timber and are on private land, I plan on walking over the hill about 100 yards from the job site and wait for one of the nice deer that come thru every morning on my lunch break.

Len in Maryland

If warm weather affected the rut, would we expect there to be deer in the southern states?????

bobcat 10

warm wheather does affect the rut here in tennessee.but the big bucks do pass thru on a warm day to get a whif of a doe in heat when it is steal warm.bucks cannot resist a doe in heat.good luck on your hunt .the warm wheather effects movement makes deer move late but you might get lucky and get a buck in the middle of the day.

go deep hunt hard.

Rob/PA Bowyer

I agree, I' ve seen the warmer weather affect rut....sure it still happens, but deer will and do bed during the hotter part of the day and you' ll see more activity early morn or late afternoon into the night.....so yes, it certainly affects the rut....at least during daylight hours.

HANKFAN

Thanks for all the replies. Hopefully I will still see some rutting action at first light and right at dark even if the weather is warm. Maybe I will even get lucky and have a good cold front move in during the first part of November!!!!

RacHunter

This is just a theory, I have been thinking about this...

I' m not sure the weather really effects or causes a doe to come in heat.
I do think a cold snap really effects the bucks because they are all wound up and ready to breed and a cold snap seems to make them even more ready to breed. I think the bucks are much more affected but the weather than the does.

If you think about it the bucks wait all year to breed and they have to wait on the does, so as it turns colder the bucks have to be thinking " is it time yet" LOL

Just a thought...

Buckshot

A lot of it has to do with the humidity also, a few years ago in WV during the last week of bow season the first 3 days were highs in the 50' s and lows in the upper 20' s and there were buck every where, come wednesday a warm front moved in and the temp went up to high 60' s but so did the humidity it was down right steamy. Buck activity went to nothing, on the last day of bow, the humidity dropped and whammo bucks galore. I know I hate it when its hot and humid and seems the deer do too.

HANKFAN

RacHunter- I am not doubting that the rut will occur in hot weather but my observations have been in the past that years the weather is warm during the rut I see very little daylight rutting activity. With warm weather I feel that most rutting activity is done at night. I guess I will just focus most of my time on the first few hours of the morning and hope for the best but man I hate not staying on stand all day during the rut!!! I just can' t justify sittting on stand all day when the temps are in the 70' s!!!![:@]