vmartin

i have heard that once every 4 years a rut will bea whole month early, i have never experienced this before but i may be close to one right now.

last week i saw 7 bucks within a mile ran over on i-70, 2 had their heads cut offso obviously at least one doe came into estrous. i gave my partner a warning to go and try a couple of extra hunts this week. this morning he went in and grunted a couple of times and a 170" buck stepped out of the woods at 100 yards but wouldn't come in. he then rattled and some does came from the opposite dirrection into the corn field and walked around. the buck still persisted in watching from the far treeline so he grunted twice more and that giant buck came sprinting at the does. the buck hearded the does streight out of the field like a bull elk. terry never got a shot but i believe this is going to be an odd year for the rut.

MOHUNTER1977

Deer go into the rut based on photoperiodism which is basically when there is less light in the day, which is pretty much the same time of the year. Sounds like the buck you saw was just cruising checking things out, kinda like us men when we first walk into a bar. I would say what you saw was a little pre-rut activity, because if you were rattling and the rut was fired up, He would have thought he could come steal a doe because 2 bucks were fighting or he could come dominate another buck because he heard him grunting chasing a doe. Look at the backs of the does legs, when those white glands turn kinda of a dark leather color that means she is ready to be bred and the rut is pretty much on. Try little light rattling notthat head banging stuff just 'tickle the tines" because the bucks are probably out sparring testing the other bucks in the area to see who they can dominate and how much competition they are gonna have Good Luck

crokit

this coincides perfectly to a theory I have used for years- at least twenty-, that the main rut kicks in during the second new moon following the fall equinox, hence the 4 year cycle. IE: four phases of the lunar cycle.

This is just a theory, based on decades of documentation I have accumulated.

Of course, like anything else, there are exceptions to this rule, but follow it, and be in the woods every available second Oct29-Nov 1, and you won't be disappointed!

vmartin

crokit: that is a very interesting imput, i would love to pick your brain sometime for some good theories.

this weekend i didn't have much time to hunt but the evening i did get out, i had many deer come out in the last 30 minutes. the firstdeer was supprisingly a big 150"+ buck. the way he came to the food source got me thinking, he was on a very fast pace walk and he came from a couple of different does. he may have been letting his guard down and hurrying to the food to look for more does.

what finally happened was that i was on the ground standing with a big crick between me and the buck, he and i had a long staredown at 60 yards for almost 20 minutes. the wind changed to my back and went streight to the buck the whole time. the sent lock was working, everyonce in a while he would lift his nose as he would catch a little here and there, i thought about shooting him in the neck at 60 yards but my better judgement got the best of me. he finally turned and jogged to some does up the river.

the next morning i went out to a different area, hunting out of a friends driveway which happens to be the main deer corridor. after shooting a doe, at sun up i walked to the top of the hill to see if there were any deer still coming from the foodsource. i saw a huge buck nosing the ground and running, he was only there for a minute as he ran off to the woods with his head up.

to me the deer sure seem pretty rutty, i don't know as i haven't seen a nose to tail yet.