SWThomas

Are you guys still seeing rutting activity in your parts of VA. Some of the harvested does here have milk so I know they're breeding I just haven't been seeing any chasing and have had no response to rattling. What say you?

thomaswh23

I have seen little to no rutting activity in Northern VA. Very few rubs and zero scrapes. I have seen a big 9, an 8 and a couple of smaller bucks while in the tree but they show no interest. I had a big 9 come in and bed down yesterday at 945a about 75 yds away. At 1115a he was still there. I grunted at him, snort wheezed and rattled. He couldn't have cared less. He would glance in my direction but never moved. I finally was able to sneak out of tree at 1230p without spooking him so I could get home.

VAhuntr

I think we are having a trickle rut in my part of the state. Some people report typical rutting behavior while others report no action what so ever. Saw a buck and doe feeding in an open field 150 yards from a main road at 1030 hrs this morning. Matt Knox stated that in years when their is a poor mast crop the deer tend to rut late...so maybe that is what is happening.

DROX

Rutting action? Whats that? Normally, bucks are running with the does by this time of the year, but not this year! I've seen one scrape and a few rubs. No chasing, no nothing. I was beginning to think it was just bad timing on my part. Maybe this cold weather will change things!

VA5326

Agreed on the trickle rut. I've seen it hot and cold. Best recommendation as I've said before, food sources are a premium this year. If you find one, hunt it.... Hard.

SWThomas

Why not shoot him? Bow hunting?

thomaswh23

The area I am hunting is bow only. Now that the leaves are all gone I have had to climb up to about 25-30ft to stay hidden. Between that and the cold weather it is really tough to bow hunt this time of year.

VAhuntr

You are right about that. My hunting lease and other main hunting property has been some tough hunting this year. There are mature oak bottoms, a mix of mature oak and loblolly pine ridges and 8 to 9 year old cutovers with 10 to 15 foot loblolly pine. Lots of cover and browse in the cutovers and you can see where they are traveling in and out of them. Problem is they seem to be only coming out of the cutovers at night and then they head back in at first light.

SWThomas

The properties I hunt has gone cold since the open of gun season when the club started running dogs. I pretty much gotta hit it hard during muzzleloader because once the dogs run through all the deer go nocturnal.

thomaswh23

I had a basket rack 8 and a very nice 11 come in this morning together feeding. They were not aggressive at all towards each other and they were feeding. It reminded me of seeing bucks in September.

The 11 had his last meal this morning.