ktbearpaws

...than it has been in the past years?
Here in WV, usually by this time bucks are runnin everywhere.
But, this year there are very few scrapes. What ones there are, aren't kept up.
Rarely seen any deer in the daytime hours.
They just don't seam to be in full rut.
I heard a rumor that because of global warming , that ruts are pushed back later and later every year.
I noticed that the fawns were born late last year.
The weekend before bow season, Isaw a young fawn in a field, who still had faint spots that late in the year.
And I saw a young deer tring to nurse on a doe, just 2 days ago..
Has anyone heard this about the rut?

RDHunter

Yea it wasn't what I expected , didn't see any chasing at all although I didn't hear of any rumors.
I had doe's around my treestand though out the the season , even before the gun opener .
The deer (young buck's )and doe's just walked around as if nothing was going on , I was expecting to see the buck's nose to the doe's and being followed around non - stop.

devans850

It's crazy here in Florida. The bucks usually rut good around late January where I'm at, but I've seen bucks chasin does already. We usually don't have very cool weather until late January or February, but we have had consistent cool weather now for a couple of weeks. I guess that has something to do with the changes here.

JagMagMan

Yeah it has been a little slow for the first couple of weeks of gun season here too! While I believe that the rut cycle happens at about the same time every year, I also believe that what "we" see of the rut has a lot to do with the weather and moon cycle.This year we had hot weather and a full moon. Did that mean they rutted less? NO! But the daylight rutting activity was a lot less!
Another thing I am beginning to notice is that in a cycle year like this, the rut is more sporadic and prolonged, versus having a strong, noticable "peak!"
That does give us a little hope though! With the right conditions, there is no reason to give up! You may see fresh scrapes and rut activity ANY day!

hossdaniels

In NC, the rut was early this year, right at the first of November. Made for a good blackpowder week, but a slow rifle season so far.

walters444hunt

illinois rut was good tons of scrapes and normal deer movment but i also saw alot of does still with there fawns deer dont keep a calender, the start rutting when conditionss r right. illinois hade good weather pattern for nov. so the rut was normal timewise but seemed a little short might have a good 2nd rut in dec.