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Rut Intensity

treerat

treerat

Active Member
Reading the other thread about deer numbers got me thinking... Are you guys seeing the increased “rut intensity” that some feel reduced doe numbers are suppose to bring? Through 2008, the few mature bucks I shot were pushing a doe hard, right past my stand. I encountered several others that came by too fast or could not be pulled away from the doe they were with.

In the last 3 years, if have only seen one buck chase a doe hard from the stand, and he looked like a 3.5 year old. My 2010 (Nov. 7) and 2011 (Nov. 6) bucks were loners in search of a doe and I would not have harvested either without the aid of my grunt call.

The lack of hard chasing by a buck leads me to believe the rut has been less intense, but those are only my observations. It could be impacted by weather or rut timing and vary by region or even by farm. Just curious to see what others have noticed.
 
I've hunted almost every day of "rut" for 15+ years now. The last THREE ruts have been the worst, by far, in my opinion. Something has changed. I have some THEORIES but that's all they are, theories. I personally think the ruts have gotten later in the year as well. I sure hope the ruts go back to how they were 5+ years ago, I used to love sitting all day and seeing crazy action non-stop. For the last 3 years, it's been close pointless sitting all day - except for removing 1 entrance & 1 exit from the day's hunt OR a major lucky cruiser. Not what it used to be.
 
Rut has been going downhill big time...sad to think...less does for them to actually chase and run around looking for maybe?
 
Was seeing a lot of rut activity yearly, before this year anyways. It was dead on my place, but I attribute that to all the acorns. Deer were spread out on all the white oak ridges and I was seeing them in different areas than usual.

Lot of chasing going on till November 10th which is usual. Then I see it pick up again around the 20th, seems a lot of mature bucks break free then and are seeking.
 
I had pretty good action.. the only thing I noticed different is that after scrapes were opened up in my area in october, they never once touched them again.. got a lot of pics of bucks just walking right over them.. I know once the rut gets going good they quit using them and usually open them back up in mid-late november... didn't happen this year.. still a lot of bucks around though
 
Sligh, and others, I would be curious to read your theories, I have some of my own too. :D Generally speaking, where we hunt, the last 2 ruts have been pretty uninspiring. I think I know what the primary factors are, but am much less certain as to how they relate to each other.

For starters, here are my top two thoughts, feel free to share yours too...

Warmer temps - I don't care how sexy you feel, it has to be hot running around the timbers with a coat of hair covering your whole body. :grin: I distinctly remember "rut hunts" where it was pretty chilly out there, high temps in the upper teens, lows low enough overnight that almost all water was frozen hard. I seriously cannot remember the last such hunt I had, during November that is, where I got cold. I have more than a few "rut memories" burned into my memory that involve seeing the animals breath, sometimes shooting 8 feet into the cold, crisp air, something that just didn't happen this year at all.

Moon phase- I don't care what it says in any almanac, etc, when it is so bright at night that it is essentially "light out" I see less daytime movement. Although I will say I think the bright nights do lead a to a bit more true midday movement, on balance, when it is bright all night long there are fewer stampedes during the daytime.

Additionally, we have 2 straight years of frequent punky wind directions, ESE, etc. Give me a NW wind any day!
 
Rut movement in a quick and easy summary. Most to least important factors.

1. Less deer = less movement (witnessed)
2. Waxing Moon, full moon, Waning during peak rut times.
3. warm weather/funky winds 10+ straight days of south winds in November this year. I have never seen that before.

That about sums it up for me! We will continue to see little activity during the rut if the #'s keep plummeting. There were definitely pockets of activity this year, but they were short lived and needed to be taken advantage of quickly. I think the seeking phase was earlier than anticipated for most guys this year and the guys that were out Oct 25th - Nov 5th did well. Alot of people take their vacations the 5th - 15th of November and unfortunately that was a pretty slow time for most this year (full moon on the 10th). Who knows though, I'm beginning to think it's all just a big crapshoot! :rolleyes: Not really, but it sure can make a guy turn grey at a young age.
 
I think temps have something to do with it and I'm sure moon phase. I remember in High School or early college there was the "El Nino" thing & it was really warm- crap year, I still remember how bad that year was. I will say, I did see quite a decent amount of chasing & looking BUT it was more from 2.5-4.5 year old bucks. Of course it was better on super cold days. I think it was like Nov 3 or 5 or something, really cold- pretty good day. Then a week or so later- SNOW- that was a good day too. But, it just never went crazy.
I'd guess it's some crazy combo of: warmer temps - global warming (not talking about political discussion here: man made or naturally occuring), WEATHER at time, moon phases, deer #'s, amount of mature bucks (age class structure), male/female ratios, etc. No one really has the absolute true answer BUT I'm sure above has some major bearing. Of course I'll be out regardless BUT it does make a guy think.
 
I only had 2 times this year where I was in stand and had some rutting action during the day. But, then again, I've never been fortunate enough to hunt a property that would be equal to when I hear some guys mention having action all day. It was warmer than normal and the moon was bright so I think that was a big factor. I don't buy into the fact that less does will equal a better rut. It may make some real short instances more intense as several bucks could be chasing the same doe, but once that hot doe is taken by one of those bucks, if theres not more does for the other bucks to chase....just doesn't make sense to me. I see it as the more does the more chasing you will see.
 
Every block of timber in iowa has a bow hunter sitting in it during November and that wasnt the case 15 years ago. Increased human pressure over the last decade is what I think is causing a downturn in daytime rut activity. Warm crappy weather doesn't help but mature deer know when the pressure is on them and they simply wait til night to resume rutting activities for the most part. The younger bucks haven't realized this yet, hence the reason why it seems all the rutting action / chasing these days is being performed by younger age class deer. They all eventually learn if they aren't killed first. My .02
 
impactarcher said:
Every block of timber in iowa has a bow hunter sitting in it during November and that wasnt the case 15 years ago. Increased human pressure over the last decade is what I think is causing a downturn in daytime rut activity. Warm crappy weather doesn't help but mature deer know when the pressure is on them and they simply wait til night to resume rutting activities for the most part. The younger bucks haven't realized this yet, hence the reason why it seems all the rutting action / chasing these days is being performed by younger age class deer. They all eventually learn if they aren't killed first. My .02
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That is a logical twist that seems pretty good.
 
Sligh1 said:
The last THREE ruts have been the worst, by far, in my opinion. Something has changed. Not what it used to be.
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Wow this is exactly how my two hunting buddies and I feel. We started hunting a new area in 2008 and the action was incredible. 09 wasnt near as good and the action seemed to be very somber, but then came 2010....dead. This year seemed to rival 2010 as I only had 2 days in late Nov. that showed signs of rutting action. A
After this mornings sit I'm up to 76 hours in the stands, I have put in a decent amount of time.
My thoughts are the lack of does. Waaay too many being shot and it seems as though people dont give a hoot, they just keep shooting doe after doe.
 
To reply to impact... even years ago, my area had wayy more bowhunters then, than there are now... Proof is the recruiting of young hunters, and the age of hunters. This year, I saw the least amount of hunters in the woods I have in a long time, and I saw very very minimal deer movement. Seemed like a day here and there was decent, but most of the time the bucks I always saw were grouped up. Does just arent out there like they used to be, so hence they have smaller bedding areas, and less bedding areas. The bucks dont have to move so far anymore because all of them are in one small area
 
impactarcher said:
Every block of timber in iowa has a bow hunter sitting in it during November and that wasnt the case 15 years ago. Increased human pressure over the last decade is what I think is causing a downturn in daytime rut activity. Warm crappy weather doesn't help but mature deer know when the pressure is on them and they simply wait til night to resume rutting activities for the most part. The younger bucks haven't realized this yet, hence the reason why it seems all the rutting action / chasing these days is being performed by younger age class deer. They all eventually learn if they aren't killed first. My .02
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This I totally agree with! Bowhunting has become so popular now and everybody takes their vacation around the same time and more and more guys sit all day. One other thing to keep in mind is that most the rutting activity that you are going to see is the two and three year olds the few older bucks that are around have played the game a few years they know to get that doe by herself away from the competition. This is why I keep telling myself to hunt harder in October:drink2:
 
I saw more daytime activity this year than I did in the last 5 years. I thought this years rut was awesome.
 
I saw more rutting activity during an all day sit on the Sunday of 1st shotgun season than I did all of November combined and I hunted almost a dozen all day sits through out the month. I talked to quite a few others in my area that had the same experience
 
We're experiencing much of the same as far as reduced numbers in Illinois. Sureshot, you shot your buck fairly early in Nov. didn't you?
The most daylight activity I saw was on Nov. 5 and then during Thanksgiving weekend, and I hunt pretty much every day. I don't do the all day sits because they have never been very exciting.
I have had good hunting in the past during full moon, but this year I really feel like the moon and warm temps ruined those early to mid Nov. days that are usually great.
 
I agree the last 2 years has been less exciting. But it is all about being in the right place at the right time. We all got the right time figured out, but with less deer population, the right places are getting harder to pinpoint at any given moment during the rut
 
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