Virginia Mike

On my properties the bucks have disappeared this week. I guess this is the Lull that you hear about before the Rut kicks in. Does anyone have any stratagies for this period to get on Bucks? I am going out Saturdays Opener anyway, but seeing some of the bucks that are around would be great.

Maryland_Whitetail

Full moon. Rut isn't for another 40 days or so.

deernutz

Once the velvet comes off they start their pecking order. Buck groups start to thin out. Good Luck!

Night Crawler

and really, yes it is the start of the rut. the velvet comes off, they start using there ramming trails, scrapes start poppin up. you have to switch from their summer feeding pattern to there territorial pattern. these are all things leading up to peak rut 40 days from now and the whitetail breeding cycle is way more advanced than the first 2 weeks in Nov they just go around screwin like bunnies. don't know how big an area you hunt but several of your bucks could have moved 2-300 acres away.