early rut?

[wtnhunt]

Read some interesting articles online suggesting peak estrous cycling of does will be about a week earlier than normal this year. Soooo, predictions thoughts on when peak rutting activity will be this fall where you are hunting?

[Rhino]

Haven't read the recent articles you have. Ones I've read in the past that suggested an earlier estrous were based on an earlier date for the full moon referred to as the rutting moon (which is Oct. 27th this year). I'm one that tends to believe peak estrus is about the same time every year depending on where you hunt and is based more on photoperiod than anything else. For that reason I stick with whatever the the dates have been historically for where I hunt.

With that said...we all know the seeking phase occurs before the breeding phase so we know we want to be in the woods before peak estrus occurs. In MO I like to maximize my time in the a stand during the last week of October through the end of 3rd week of November to better my odds at seeing mature bucks on the move. It's a fact...all the does don't come into estrus at the same time too. I'll certainly hunt outside those dates in MO but we all know the odds are better at encountering mature bucks during the rutting phases than outside of them.

The estrus cycling for MS deer is a lot different than most of the rest of the country. In a nutshell...it's weird. The historical average breeding dates vary in MS from the 1st week of December in the NW part of the state to the 1st week of February in the SE part of the state. Where I hunt in MS the average breeding date is around the end of December.

[wtnhunt]

Oh I agree with you Al. The peak rut here has typically been around the third week of November in the past. I have tried looking at fawns birthing in the past. You are absolutely right, seen does drop fawns anywhere from May to July here, so it can be pretty broad. Unfortunately this year only seen one fawn on cameras and not physically laid my eyes on any that were not roadkill. Getting plenty of pics of does. I think a good number of the late does that cycle here are that years fawns. I have seen a buck mount a doe in February here before, doe was a prior years fawn. Afraid predation may have taken a higher than usual toll on fawn survival. Plenty of pics of yotes within minutes of does on my cameras, yotes have been hunting them.

I have not read Alsheimers forecast for this year, but his predictions were partially what the basis was off of for one article that was suggesting he predicted a week early. Here is one that does not ask a fee to read http://wiredtohunt.com/2015/05/13/20...hitetail-deer/. I was looking for rut predictions when I ran across that one. Looking to see what the "pros" think in regards to whether it will be a concentrated hard rut or a drawn out lingering rut.

[Rhino]

Just my $0.02 William...but I believe the rut being drawn out or lingering as you say (sometimes referred to as a trickle rut) is based on the health of the deer herd in a given area more than anything else. All else being equal during the rut (weather conditions, etc.), the healthier the deer herd, the more pronounced the rutting action will be.

[Ravin R10 man]

With Al on this one; Rut is based off Photoperiod, dont see why that will change unless Earth gets knocked off it's axis. First week to ten days of November, we should becrankin up here

[arrow32]

Around the week of Thanksgiving like every year around here is when I feel ill see the most activity due to the rut. Last year during the first week of gun season most of the bucks I saw were pushing doe.