JoeyG

Cody, I have read your blog. You have compiled a lot of great information. Anyone needing information on the rut could definatley gain from reading it.
Weare in our seeking phase. Bucks are roaming thier territories and are monitoring the doe herds. They may not be chasing them to reproduce, but they are locating them. The bucks will nudge them around this time of year.Mainly because the does want nothing to do with them.
The cooler weather may not control the time of the rut, but will intensify all deer activity. This cooler weather will definatley make a buck work his area a little harder, because he knows the time is near. I have a hard time believing a buckhas adate where his testosterone level peaks. If you put a hot doe in front of a buck right now he will chase and/or breed her. I also believe it is a very small percentage of does that go into estrous in early october. It seems in my area that all the does hit it together, then theones that arenot bred go into heat a second time.

RockinChair

Actually in a sense- the moon is a deer's aphordisiac. The decreasingamount of light (photoperiodism) taken in through a deer's eye tirggers a sensory receptor in the brain telling them it is time to exhibit breeding behavior and in fact breed. Which bring me to my next point about the rutting moon and it's effect ona buck's testosteron level. I said that generally a buck's testosterone level will peak around November 1st each year, because this is usually within a 4-5 day span of the full moon. The full moon essentially throws the bucks into overdrive.

Also- you are right about putting a hot doe in front of a buck. As soon as a buck sheds his velvet he is capable of breeding a doe and will do so if a hot doe is availalbe. Again, you are right about the does coming into heat in October- it is a very small percentage. Still, they do come into estrous and behave just the same as they would in November. A mature buck, with his senses more defined than a young buck is able to locate the hot doe and breed her very quickly and doesn't have to work so hard to do it, this is why it may not seem as itense.

Remember- the rut is broken down into three phases (I believe) the seek, chase and breeding. However, all three phases overlap each other. There are does that have already been bred, there is a buck cruising a doe bedding area right now scent-checking their estrous levels and there is also a buck in hot pursuit of a hot doe as we speak now. Like I said on the blog, it's a marathon, not a sprint and understanding the components that make it a marathon are why it is so darn fun to hunt

wahoohunter

delete

HoytSpeed

What do you have to do to become Mossy Oak pro staff?

JoeyG

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flips2

Went out this morning (fri 10-24-08) and had my best day in the field so far this year. Still didn't shoot a deer but did see more today than all year. Saw 7 does and 1 buck (6-8 pointer) with them. He had his nose to the ground sniffing along but not running or dogging them. Just following along. That was about 8:45am. Hunting ing Clifton (nova), cloudy, high 40's to low 50's, and very little wind(0-5 mph). The bonus of the day was that I did have gobbler with about 8-9" beard come by my stand. He saw me move and skirted around my treestand. I did get a 30 yard shot on him but shot right underneath him. First time I have seen any turkeys in Fairfax County, at least while hunting.

UFunny2

Hunted yesterday evening (10/23), saw 20 does and one spike. Spike was alone munching on acorns and paid no attention to 7 does 50 yards away. One really cool interesting thing I saw was an old doe square up to a fox. Fox just cruised through and freaked out all the squirrels. It headed towards the doe and she got up on her hind legs. Fox took off real quick. Never seen anything like that, if was one of those ....wish I had a camera things.

ChesapeakeHunter

I went out on wed 21st to a spot that i always see a handful of does at and the was no buck activity anywhere. I was back there today and had three scrapes within 15 ft of my stand. It seems to be heating up

DaRookie

Yesterday morning I a big racked 6 came trolling around in addition to a little 4-point who threw out a couple grunts along the way.

Haven't seen much in the way of horns so far this year, so this seems to be a good sign.

JoeyG

My friend rattled in 2 bucks today. First was 5 pt he let walk, then a nice 6 that justbegged to be his first bow buck.
He was covered in scars and had some fresh gashes on his shoulder. His ear was also tore up from a recent fight.
Hopefully tomorow my luck will change. Looks like I will be hunting in the rain [:'(].