johndeer44

I live and hunt in central Ohio(clark county). Anyone know around what date the rut will kick in? I' ve seen bucks actually fighting pretty darn hard about a month ago.

J Pike

John, Last year was my first year hunting in Ohio, So some one else might be better suited to answer your question but here is my observations from last year. I arrived in SE. OH. on Oct 31st. I didnt see 1 dead buck during the hour and a half drive from the WVA. border to our destination, which had me a little worried that we were a little early. I spent the rest of that day and the next morning scouting and my scouting confirmed that the rut hadnt started yet, so I decided to hunt the bucks normal travel patterns from bedding to feeding and back to bedding. My first hunt was on the afternoon of Nov.1st when I arrived at my stand I was pleased to see a big fresh rub that was not there the day before when I was scouting, and I saw a shooter leave his bedding area and passed about 20 yards out of bow range, it was very very windy that eve. and even though I tried grunting and rattling to him I doubt he even heard it due to the very high winds. The next morning Nov 2nd I decided to hunt the same stand and when it got light out I was pleased once again to see a fresh breeding scrape directly behind my stand that was not there the eve before, and at 7:45 caught the same 8pt. heading for his bedding area but 20 yards out of bow range behind me this time instead of in front of me, It was still windy but not as bad as the day before, I made a couple of grunts and he turned and headed in My direction only to stop and start feeding on acorns once again after only a few feet, It took me 4 different grunting sequences to finally coax the buck in shooting range, not because he was nervous but because he was more interested in feeding on acorns than in my grunting or the scrapes I had made, he gave me a 28 yard shot and he expired within 12 yards, as soon as he was on the ground a smaller 8-pt. came running into see what all the comotion was about. That eve. after dropping my buddy off at his spot, I spent the rest of the eve. driving around and seen 2 1.5 year old bucks chasing doe' s about 2 miles apart from each other. On Suday Nov. 3rd my buddy had just got in his truck and was heading back when a huge buck walked right in front of his truck with his nose to the ground and didnt even care that he almost got nailed. We had to unexpectantly leave later that same afternoon and during the hour and a half drive to the OH. state line we counted 19 dead bucks and numerous other deer that we couldnt identify by the time we hit the state line, So by going by what I observed last year I was planning on arrviving this year on Nov. 1st or 2nd in order to give me a day or so to scout before things started really heating up which I think would happen about the 4th or 5th. But since I harvested my buck on the 2nd morning of bowseason this year I wont be able to hunt Ohio' s awesome rut this year and will have to settle for spending the rut here in PA. Good Luck, Pike

Carpn

Pike is dead on with those dates...The last 4 yrs I' ve shot 4 bucks from 125-140....They were shot on Oct 30th, Nov. 1st, Nov 4th and Nov 5th..The last few day in Oct. and the first week of Nov. is looking good..The bottom is supposed to drop on temps. the end of next week...Highs in the 40' s and lows in the 20' s...The deer are gonna be fired up...