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Annual Rut Activity Thread

4K views 28 replies 24 participants last post by  One Horn 
#1 · (Edited)
Post pre-rut, rut, post-rut activity in your area. Make sure to include WMU and any other information you feel is relevant.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss what rut activity you see in YOUR area. By now, we all know just because doe's are in estrous in your woods, they may not be in someone else'es.

4A

Small rubs starting to appear, nothing large enough to get me excited. Scrapes opening in my hunting area's usual scrape locations. Seem to be tended regularly. Have not seen any chasing.
 
#8 ·
That giant scrape is a community scrape. The doe's and bucks hit it frequently. Think of it as a "sign-in" sheet at a party or meeting. At that time, it has nothing to do with rutting activity, but eventually it may turn into a "receptive doe check station" for the bucks in the area.
 
#3 ·
All of PA:

-Deer make scrapes year around
-the rut is a bell shaped curve. Somewhere in Penns woods there are doe's already being bred but most won't until November (just like every other year). I believe the peak is around Nov 10th.
-Hot weather does not shut down the rut
-Just because you aren't seeing any rutting activity doesn't mean 10 bucks aren't chasing a doe on the other side of the mtn.
-Just because you are around doe doesn't mean they are in heat and they might have already been bred.
 
#7 ·
Had a decent buck in the neighbor’s front lawn on the way to work this morning. First buck I have seen running around the neighborhood in months. Pretty good indication to me that the bucks are starting to travel more and changing their patterns. Noticed some scrapes opening up earlier this week and found a few real nice rubs. Also noticing a lot of bucks getting hit on the road this past week. Time for me to start hunting mornings because I think they are going to start getting back to bedding later and later .
 
#11 ·
It seems to me both personal observation and anecdotally, velvet shedding and the breaking up bachelor groups 1-2 weeks later than normal this year. Rubbing activity seems behind also. I am not sure if that's going to impact hunting the next few weeks or not. I am going to trust the scientists and think not, and things are going to blow up any day now. I am really glad the season doesn't go out until the 16th this year. It's absolute garbage those years we can't hunt past the 9th or 10th.
 
#21 ·
Not seeing anything in 1A that's getting me too interested yet. I don't position my cameras where I get many daylight pictures but I can tell from the time stamps if the deer are on their feet during shooting hours and where they're headed. This buck has been doing a lot of daytime cruising since Thursday. He's definitely all revved up with nowhere to go. I think he's only a 2 year old but he could be a 3. The way he's acting now I don't suspect he'll make it through the season without getting wacked. It could turn on overnight but from what I'm observing to this point I think we're still a good 2 weeks away from it breaking loose in 1A.
 

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#25 ·
Saw what I considered to be a decent seven point chasing does around this morning. Talked to guy at the farm I hunt and he saw one harassing does there on Saturday (might be the same buck). This is 5B. Buddy saw a few bucks in 4A on Saturday and said an 8 pt was chasing a group around. Seems like the younger ones are starting to get frisky.
 
#27 ·
From all the activity I saw over the weekend in 3C. I'm re-think my decision to hold off until the last two weeks.
Too much crap to do this week, but I'm definitely getting out there the end of next week. It seems like i'm missing out on something !
 
#28 ·
Had a small six come by yesterday with his nose down. Then a flock of birds. Then a small flock of small chicken size birds (re-nesters).
They were over there yelping and kee-keeing for about 15 min. Then I saw deer moving down from me. A while later see 3 deer running. A 14"-15" eight chased a doe around and under me at least 3 times. The doe lay on her side one time and put her hoof up at the buck. Never saw that before.
 
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