What time of year does the rut start in the midwest (I'm in Wisconsin), and when do you start using rattling, bleats, scents, etc?

depends on the year but you can ususally figure that the last week of October and first week of november them Rutting hard in north west wisconsin. At least where I hunt in Dunn county.

The first TWO weeks of November are, usually the best where I hunt!

I start Oct. 20th'ish and go until end of Nov. I am already seeing rubs and scrapes here in Illinois.

last ywo years in Illinois seems that the action starts around Nov.6th and just gets better thru mid november

I agree 100 percent with solocam, these are my favorite dates as well.......look for scrapes in the timber and hunt them in the evening if you can get to them without spookin any deer. I always start this on the 20th and it is my favorite pattern for big deer........Then I start hunting trails around the 1st of Nov lookin for cruzin deer. After the 15th its a free for all, just be in a tree all you can till Dec 1st!

Ive been doing some walking here in the Suburbs of Chicago and have already seen a bunch of scrapes and rubs. This is the earliest I have ever seen them too. 3 different areas and scrapes and rubs at each spot. Im with all of the above. You'll get some deer going into Estrus in Mid October but once the end of October hits its game on!

I'D say it is real close. The past two nites I saw two different bucks freshen scrapes on the edge of the field I hunt on. Rattling and grunting, as well as some scents are what I am doing here in N/W WI.

I go as often as I can from opening day. I don't do much good usually until the last week of Oct. That's when I start to grunt and rattle. From then to Dec is the best in Northeast Missouri where I hunt. The deer are just starting the prerut stage here.

Good luck,

Spudrow from MO

been seeing both rubs and scraps. Not to hard but their there. My plan is to start rattleing and so on this weekend or monday when i hunt again.