NoVa rut??
 

Ok, did I blink and miss the rut? I live in the Lovettsville area and have seen no action. Bucks are still walking by themselves. No chasing. No scrapes. Its close to December and still nothing!

Any observation or opinions?

I hunt Fairfax and haven't seen a fresh scrape since October. I have found new rubs since that time. There are acorns everywhere and that has made it to difficult to pattern the deer consistently this year.

I think it was real early this year. Experts say the moon phase triggers the rut but I think this year the cooler temps did. In NOVA, pre-rut was 3rd-4th week in Oct., rut was prob. last part of last week in Oct into 1st week in Nov.

Looking back at my trail cam pics from this year, it looks like I had the heaviest buck activity around October 22 thru October 31st. After that, the larger bucks were few and far between.

May have the beginning of the secondary rut here shortly for the does that didnt get bread the first one. But I think it was a little earlier than years past.

I saw sporadic heavy and light rut action the last week of October through the second week of November. After that, it was like it turned off instantly. I'm not so convinced it is the acorns, but more than likely the very harsh winter with no food last year coupled with an expanding population of coyotes. They seem to be all over this year and all the scat I have seen has had deer hair in it. Just my observations. I killed a nice one at last light the first week of November and before I could get back to the truck to drag it out, the yotes were already yelping nearby. They did not get the deer but they knew there was a fresh deer kill in the area in a matter of minutes. We've had years past where there was an overabundance of acorns and never really affected the deer but the coyotes have not always been here.

bowhunt the early season and watch their behavior progress.
when you first start to see yearling does away from their mothers is when the rut starts.
they aren't away from their mothers because they are mature enough to be on their own, although they normally are. their estrous havin moms are being corralled and harassed by the biggest boys in the woods. thats the first rut. and all rifle hunters miss that. at least in my state anyways. the second rut is when does that were not sexually mature during the first rut come into sexual maturity at 1.5 years of age. which is a month give or take from the first rut. also does that were not bred during the first rut will come back into heat at this time.
it should be the same every year at your locality.
first rut is always last week of october for me here, might trickle over into nov1-3
second rut here is the first week of december. notice they are generally chasing smaller does at this time.

I've seen some rut action the past few weeks in the northern shenandoah valley. Bucks chasing does, some scrapes. No shooters, but thats the usual where I hunt. A few buddies in Haymarket area said chasing was going big time the first week of gun. They killed a few nice ones hot on does. Last week in WV where I hunt (hour west), they were chasing and lots of scrapes... until the big snow came. After that I'm not sure what was going on. Everything changed overnight.

I have not seen a scrape or rub this past season, but killed a nice 8 pt. in early muzzleloader an my son killed a bigger 8pt. in first week of rifle. Good acorn crop this year too. I tagged out.

Last year 2013, plenty of rubs, no acorns, killed 6pt. an had two tags left. That's why it called hunting....