I have been out spotting , and hunting , and have seen a few buck following close on a does heals. Some buck have swollen necks already , and seem to answer young buck grunts , or get alert when they hear it . Anyone else think maybe the new moon and cold weather last weeek triggered early rut?

The bucks are always ready but it isn' t until the does come into heat that the real rut starts. We' re still about a month away from that happening.

Yep, every year folks see them young bucks acting up and think the rut is on. It is a very rare occurance for a doe to be bred before november. More like november 5-10th.

Actually, my neighbor' s coworker shot a nice 9 pointer two nights ago. Its neck was swollen and it was chasing two does around a field for a good 30 minutes. I have also been seeing the first few scrapes of the year appearing on field edges and trail intersections. Is it possible that the rut is going to be a bit early this year? I always tend to follow that " two weeks after the second full moon following the autumnal equinox" theory. Today is a full moon but I am unsure if it is the second or the first since the autumnal equinox. If it is the second then that would put the start of the actual peak rutting stage in about two weeks.....a bit earlier than normal.

IMO it is very common for a small percentage of does to come into heat about 28 days before the Peak rut.

Ugggg - the old Moon theory

PHOTOPERIODISM all the way baby[&:]

Usually starts in early November, I finally found some rubs the other day no scrapes yet though.