dogdoc Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 How would you guys rate the rut in your area this year. I would say that it was fair in Oklahoma this year. I saw a few does being chased and bucks with their noses to the ground but not an outstanding rut. Definetely better than last year. Overall in my area I would say average. How about your area? todd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichiganHuntr1 Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... It was quick. It seemed like it was dull for a long time, a couple days of heavy action, then more dullness. Below average here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... Didn't see any bucks chasing does at all. At night I would spotlight my field and see bucks bedding without does. The does would be in the corn fields or bean fields. The rut was the worse in my area. No wonder I didn't get much chances at a buck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swamphunter Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... Everything sucked in NY this year. Season was too warm, deer sightings were down....the whole thing sucked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horst Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... Id say it was a bust, started off good, lotta little bucks chasing does but by the time the bg ones started playing it turned hot and everything shut down seemed like.wasnt the worst one I ever seen but pretty close Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... Well Todd, there was and has been no evidence of any rutting activity here at least not around our property this year. It is very normal for us to see bucks chase does across the back yard the 3rd and 4th week of November here during the time that is normally the rut. As a matter of fact, this is the first year in probably 5 that we have not witnessed any buck chasing activity during the day in the back yard. The temps averaging a minimum of 15 degrees above average early on in the fall and the extreme wet in the fall after the record setting dry summer, I am certain has had something to do with the activity here. I am pretty sure that the weather has had a significant negative effect. I have seen very few rubs and scrapes as where normally I would have seen several by now. One spot in particular along the river there are rubs every year, and have not seen a single one in there this year. Last year by this time had watched a minimum of a dozen different bucks, saw some chasing does and had killed one chasing a doe early on in November. Have seen I think a total of 4 bucks this year and not seen a single buck with any does this year. Also last year on the way to town by this time had seen 7 dead deer killed along the road coming from this same field. This year just one. From my understanding rutting activity is a huge factor in deer collisions. Having seen the big drop in deer hit along the road between here and town I would have to say they have just not been as active as they normally would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrud Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... Here is what I had posted at the North American Whitetail Forums. _______________ Location Information State - Wisconsin County - Southeast Langlade County Deer Management Unit - 43 Rut Activity Information My brother and I began hunting some new land midway through the 2004 early bow season in Wisconsin. It is his mother-in-law's land. It is some great land, about 155 acres with 40 acres of lumber company land along one edge. It's a great mix of woodland and open country. The woods is mainly oaks and maples, with other species also. There is one small field and one huge field, which is broken up into three parts, that is rented out. It has soybeans planted in it this year. A lot of open land also, grown up with tall grasses like golden rod. We noticed several rubs and scrapes mid to late October. The brunt of the rut activity was mainly from October 25 to November 20 or so. That was when most of the sign was there. The bucks weren't really chasing does until about November 8 up until about mid November, about the 15th. There were still a few small bucks chasing up until the 20th of November though. The buck sign was incredible. There were a lot of scrapes. The edges of the fields were worked up real good. Mock scrapes seemed to work real well. I have never seen buck rubs like I've seen this year. Big trees, little trees, bushes...they seemed to rub anything they could get their antlers on. Three spots really stick out in my mind of where the rubs were. - One was near the small field, which borders the road. The woods itself isn't very thick, but in that northwest corner, there is a little bit of brush, along with tall grass that boarders the field. It looks like the deer have a highway coming from the field back into that grass and into the woods. All along the edge of that particular field and in that small section of woods there are a lot of rubs. Big rubs on big trees and rubs that have completely knocked over some small saplings. - The second was along the bottom of a ridge of oak trees. It's lined with some small saplings and bushes. It seems like that is one bucks territory. About a 30' circle is rubbed up real good. Some aren't big, but one rub is good size. There are also a few scrapes there. - The final spot is the one that I remember the most, I walked through it the first time during a two-man drive. It's a big hold on the northwest corner of the eastern most part of the divided field. It's sort of a junk hole, with a few old pieces of farm equipment. It's rocky with some trees, both mature and young. That hole, along with a tall, grassy finger (with trees also) dividing up two of the three sections of the field is torn up with rubs. No scrapes, but rubs and rubs and more rubs. In a 10' circle, there are about a dozen small trees, probably 3" or so in diameter. All of them are rubbed up real good. This is obviously a big boy, possibly the 140" 9-pointer my brother has seen. We didn't really see bucks chasing does a lot. The night my brother saw the big 9, it was with a doe. During the gun opener (November 20), I had a small spike chase a doe by me. We saw more bucks with does casually, rather than chasing them hard. The rut should have been in peak a few days earlier, usually around November 4 or November 5. It was a warm stretch and I think that held the bucks up a bit before they started in big time. Especially driving around, November 8 to November 10 seemed like the primetime for bucks chasing does. The rut was pretty much the normal time, but I think it started just a tad bit late. Rut Activity Information Conclusion The 2004 rut in my area was an easy 8 or 9 on a 10 scale. We didn't get a chance to put in the time we wanted to scouting, that'll happen over the winter. We didn't see a great abundance of bucks, a 140" 9-pointer, a what would have been 140" 8-pointer (half-rack buck, could have been hit by a car, limping pretty bad) along with a 6 or 7-pointer and a palmated 5-pointer along with a few other smaller bucks. As far as the quality of deer we saw it was great. The sign was incredible. Next year we have all this information to go by, plus a lot of off-season scouting. I can't wait. Even though we didn't have a successful kill, we had an awesome 2004 rut. As far as sign and potential for the future, 2005 looks like it could be an awesome hunting season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... Slow to kick in, but once it did, it was pretty good. We started seeing chasing pretty late, probably around November 5th or so. We usually see pre-rut stuff around the last week of October. I saw bucks running does as early as November 5th and as late as November 20th, with the peak around the 8th and 9th. (I actually kept records this year) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest outdoorgirl Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... I ALSO AGREE WITH SWAMPHUNTER....NOT A GOOD YEAR...TO WARM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckbuster11 Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... I would say slightly below average..not even close to last years thats for sure. It seemed like everything was late this year here also, and I never really noticed a real "peak" in the rut. It just seemed kind of flat the whole way through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plannerman Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... Was there a rut this year? More like a prom night - one shot and over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NY911Bowhunter Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... Ditto Swampy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckee Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... The rut here was on time, a bit weak this year. The secondary rut seemed stronger. Quite different from last year, where it was on and off again, every other day or week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billygoat Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... Sauk Co. WI Rut appeared to kick in around late October 25th.... No heavy scrapes and rub lines IMO were weak... Several hard days of rut during first weak of Nov, but by the 10th... seemed like most had slowed significantly... overall I would say the rut was disturbed by unusual weather patterns and a moon cycle that was interuptted by significant cloud cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Re: Rate the rut... In my opinion here in Northern Vermont I saw no activity that a rut was even on...the deer movement was almost NILL...I hope next season brings on better things... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Re: Rate the rut... Second week of Nov. we saw a good rut here, most of the activity was nocturnal thanks to the "T" zone and earn a buck crap. Even as late as Nov.23rd I saw a doe get bred. After gun season we had bucks chasing hot (late) does. Actually the 11 pt I killed with my bow was one of them. Secondary rut was hard to tell, but I had that 11 pt's harem under me at the time he came in to check on them.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billygoat Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Re: Rate the rut... Martin... Second rut seemed to still be going during the second week in December... I watched a young buck work a small herd of does one afternoon... then, several days later, I saw two nice buck on a hot doe... I would expect to start seeing antlers on the ground in the next month....!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam16 Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Re: Rate the rut... I dont know what you guys are talking about, i had the most active rut in my 5 year hunting career. the week of about november 9-november 16 seemed to be the peak for me. While hunting i saw at least one buck cruising per sitting. There was a streak of 4 days where i had a very nice buck walk within 60 yards of my stand looking for does, but no shots.. Had one at 15 yards 5 minutes after shooting light. So anyways, the night of november 13th we went spotlighting for like a half hour and saw 4 monster bucks and a couple other nice ones chasing deos. Was an awesome rut, still no deer for me though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest deldeer Posted January 2, 2005 Report Share Posted January 2, 2005 Re: Rate the rut... the rut around here seemed to be very,very weak!!!....way too warm, seemed like most of the action happened long after sun down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smo Posted January 2, 2005 Report Share Posted January 2, 2005 Re: Rate the rut... Was the most active rut I have ever seen. Started the first week of Nov. and ended the 2nd week of Nov.. I think it was due to the fact that we have got the buck to doe ratio closer in the past couple of years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUDRUNNER Posted January 3, 2005 Report Share Posted January 3, 2005 Re: Rate the rut... NOT BAD HERE.IT SEEMED PRETTY MUCH ON TIME WITH YEARS IN THE PAST.FIRST AND SECOND WEEK IN NOVEMBER IS WHEN I SAW THE MOST ACTIVITY. ON A SCALE OF 1-10 I WOULD SAY IT WAS A 7 OR 8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntn4bucks Posted January 3, 2005 Report Share Posted January 3, 2005 Re: Rate the rut... Believe it or not but our rut is just now getting started...rut activity is picking up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted January 3, 2005 Report Share Posted January 3, 2005 Re: Rate the rut... Our primary rut was beginning to wind down when it warmed up the middle of last week. When it warmed up they shut down daytime rutting activity. The 1st good rutting activity I saw was on 12/16. It was very good for about 2 weeks. One of the better ones we've had down here in several years. Last year it was almost as good and the secondary rut was pretty good too. I hope that is true this year too. Our secondary rut should start getting cranked up around the weekend of the January 15th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Washi Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 Re: Rate the rut... In our area it was HOT HOT HOT. I have never seen so many bucks moving around. The only bad part is that later there were lots of bucks with busted up racks, usually don't see that very much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan_Til_I_Die Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 Re: Rate the rut... The rut was about normal in west Texas, but the weather to hunt it was awful. It rained a bunch and was foggy almost every day. The deer were moving but you couldn't see them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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