gary870

Do all whitetail rut at pretty much the same exact time or can it be different by the herd,town or state? Some areas i notice many new rubs and few old ones but in a neighboring town i notice many old rubs but no fresh ones

one on one

usually different in regions, state,probably the reason for the old rubs are the bucks usually do this tolet off steam, so to speak, the deer rub the trees to build up their neck muscles and leave scent post for other bucks in the area.when the active scrapes go cold, get ready the rut is on.this is based on my opinon, i'm sure other hunters have similar opinons.hope this helps.

veener88

With our warm wather the rut seems to be a little latter this year witch is good for me since I doing shotgun and we start a lot latter then bow.

121553

I have kept a hunting journal over the past 5 yrs on activity that I experience. For the past 4 yrs the rut seems to peak out here the same week as thanksgiving as long as its cold and snow is on the ground but then 5 yrs ago it was mild and no snow at that time and ithappened after hunting season was over. Don't be fooled by buck rubs thinking the rut has started, usually the bucks are just preparing for battle prior to it.

Bobby

tucker610

Two schools of thought on the rut:

The same time each year - the impetus being the shortening of the days/photoperiod.

-or-

The moon phase in addition to the photoperiod. If I remember correctly, right at the beginning of the new moon. I could be wrong on that.

I tend to subscribe to the moon theory as it seems to be matching up in my area this year. I just started seeing seek and chase behavior in the past 3 days. Give me 15-20 more years and I will let ya know...

Night Owl

I just came back from hunting a for the first time ever at 9: 30am I saw two young bucks fighting and the winner mounted the doe it all lasted about ten minutes it was awesome it made my morning the weather is still n the 60's so I was suprised to see this when it was so warm out so I would say here in Illinois it usually starts the 2nd week in November

123stickem

Wow....your first hunt ever and you watched a buck mount a doe....I'm impressed. I have been hunting hard for twenty years and have never once seen a buck mount a doe. Consider yourself blessed.