QuanticoKidd

I forgot to say I filled out my Base Hunting Paper today the nice lady at the front desk said it will be 3 days to clear

Bike man

I do not want you to get the wrong impression. And pass around that I said range control opens and closes areas as they please because they do not. Range control for the most part opens and closes areas due to training requirements. As best as I know it is very rare that they manipulate what is open or closed, but they can make it happen. Time Stamps want every area open that can be made open. So there must be valid training scheduled to close an area. But the scheduling can be done in different way so that they can keep an area closed. And the closing of an area for the season need to have a documented justification for closing it. 25 years ago they closed 15A for the year so that someone from the German embassy could hunt there. At least that was the rumor. Officially on the books it was for some other reason like building a viewing stand/ bleacher to seat about 30 people. And there are people who can hunt in closed areas. And there are the 11B VIP hunts that are on the up and up. And I have heard from reliable sources that the game wardens have hunted in 9A, the impact area that is closed to every one. I want to stress that range control just does not open and close areas at a whim. It must be justified.

I was sure that the lady shot the buck in 5B. I am sure of it. Are you saying that she shot it in 5A and told every one that she got it in 5B. Your description of behind the gas tanks sounds like you have the correct story. My memory gets corrupt sometimes, but I am sure it was 5B and on the picture board as 5B.

Grizzl

I know..that's why I did the "poke" emotocon ...It was intended as an inside joke given the "ending" of the bike ride

the emoticons can be confusing

Bike man

As I said in an earlier post about 14B. The well maintained fields on the southern end bring in all of the deer and any buck would be easy pickings. That no bucks would get to 5 years old. And some people may be hunting 14B when it is closed. I am not sure how common that practice is.

About the rut. There is a moon connection and I tried hard to verify it. The correlation is very weak. Too week to use reliably. The rut happens most often in the first two week of November. Food and the health of the doe ( fat content) have the biggest role in when the rut happens. When there is a dry summer in combination with no acorns then look for the rut to be close to thanksgiving. Last year it was early starting in mid October due to the bumper acorn crop. I would not give the charts much credit.

Grizzl

I've noticed that rut activity varies from area to area "a little". they can be chasin on the east line and I hunt west and there is no activity...same moon phase..temp..light..but different activity so I tend to agree with Barry that LOCAL environment plays a big part..mast production..age/qty of does population..number of bucks in an area and how dense the population is (aka how far does a buck have to travel to herd up some hot does)

I aways set aside last week of October and the 1st 2 weeks of Nov and I gennerally hit the rut...I can think of only one time it was delayed and that was the Thanksgiving rut Barry reffered to.


In FLORIDA..the MAJOR RUT is ON in the south NOW..Oct 7 is the peak forcast for my zone and as late as February in the panhandle..

I have rut charts by geographic area USA and while up north there are substancial peaks and valley's..the further south more tropical climate the peaks flatten..no BIG rut cycle...

I do allot of fishing and I watch the moon over (12)/under(6) times and I do see more activity in both fishing and hunting with the position of the moon..my gps shows moon position at time lets me know an expected peak activity cycle.

QuanticoKidd

I totally understand Bike Man, I'm a very quiet person I would never spread rumors thats not my the type person I was just replying to some of the things you said and was laughing becuase I could see Qauntico doing some of those things not to say they do but I'm just saying. So no I would never spread rumors not my character

It might have been 5B I was pretty sure she told my family she shot it in 5A becuase we ran into the lady when she shot the 14B buck and she was telling them she just shot a big one a few days before either way it was in 5A or 5B I just remeber her saying something about a feild behind the gas tanks.

QuanticoKidd

Okay so when do you think the Rut will be this year being that we had a early rut last year and the rut is diffrient every year I think we are do for a intense rut meaning alot chasing and bucks moving we haven't had that for awhile and yes your right it vary's on Quantico becuase of food and pressure also hunting pressure I read was one of the highest depressors of rut movement I hunt Mainside PA's and the first two weeks of Nov always seem to be alot of bucks moving and chasing the gun areas seem to have depressed rut sightings I'm sure becuase of the more hunting pressure and people movment it receives plus Mainside is Bow Only so that is automatically better to me atleast

QuanticoKidd

I have always wanted to see a Opening Day Quantico Gun season intense rut but I been hunting there 10 years and have never seen that happens always falls first two weeks of Nov generally

Bike man

Hunting pressure has little to do with the rut. A cold snap seems to help it along and a heat wave seem to shut it down. I can not say that I am 100% correct, but from what I have put together, the rut can be short for a week where every thing shuts down after that or it can be stretched over many weeks and be somewhat mild. The health of the doe ( fat) and the spike in the food supply is what drives it. With the dry hot summer I would say that the deer are stressed a little. If there were no acorns and no grass to eat then I would say the rut would be in the 3rd week in November. There seems to be some acorns this year so this would move it forward to where it should be. That is the first two weeks in November. If the acorns are sporadic then I would expect the rut to be spread out over many weeks. In places like mainside where there is plenty of grass then I would always expect the rut to happen in the 1st two weeks of November every year regardless of acorns. It is hit and miss in predicting and I sometimes find that am not even close.

QuanticoKidd

Okay I understand the past 5 year's I have hunted it has been the first two weeks of Nov only once (last year) did I see a slow almost non exsistent rut other other then last year I have always seen pretty good rutting and chasing and seeking the first two weeks of Nov especially the Mature Bucks becuase I'm not worried about the young bucks I like to see the big Mature Smart bucks motodically seek a special doe and chase alittle but the most fun is to watch the young imamture bucks run all over the place very exciting