I live in norther illinois and i haven't noticed a strong rut this year. What's other places looking like? Given I can only hunt weekends due to college it has still been slow. I've had some nice bucks on camera but all of them during the night. Two weeks ago I saw a small 110" chasing a doe and this weekend I brought in a 120" 8 with some doe urine. Other than that I haven't seen much of anything. Are you guys having a slow rut too? I'll upload some pics I got later today.
The first week in November here in Jersey saw a lot of small bucks chasing but it has been slow since the 12th. I saw one decent buck last week and desert since!! It has been kind of a strange year here!
The rut has definitely been strange this year. A combination of bad weather (warm and windy), a screwed up lunar table, and a summer outbreak of ehd, the rut had been very subdued. I have had 2 days of what i would call good hunting this year....overall it has been very slow Sent from my C5170 using Tapatalk
I am also in Northern IL and have seen very little movement. My cam is getting lots of pics, but most are outside of shooting hours. The only buck I've seen during shooting light is a tall 6 point, but I've been letting him walk. If I don't see anything else this week I may have to resort to a new plan: meat in the freezer!
I am kind of confused here on the rut in Central Iowa. Saw some little bucks chasing does the first week of November. I also saw a broken 8pt chasing hard two weekends ago and then just yesterday I saw another little buck chasing a doe yesterday. Don't really know whats going on other than a long seeking and chasing stage. I have not had any deer respond to any calls at all.
Been an odd year in Mid Michigan and Mid Wisconsin for me also. Rut seemed to start early with a bunch of young bucks chasing in Mid October, but slowed down towards the end of the month. I'm blaming the moon; I never put much faith in the moon stuff but with all these clear moonlit nights I'm seeing all kinds of overnight activity on my cams but not much going on during daylight - until I saw a couple of monsters chasing does Saturday and Sunday in the middle of the day while I was driving. Looks like it's picking up now; heard a lot of guys were seeing bucks on their feet over the weekend.
Im in Northern IL as well. Things were good from Nov 7-10 and then action halted quickly. Saw a nice 160s NonTypical chasing a doe on the 7th. Another guy I know shot him the next afternoon around 3 PM but was alone and not with a doe. Be interesting to see if action will continue to pick up this week heading into gun season. I think Lockdown happended this past week but may continue to pick up again this week.
Late and short rut here. Haven't seen much activity and people are saying it's winding down. Gun season's next weekend, so I hope to get another bow kill in before then!
The Rut..nothing confusing there. No rhyme or reason brother..it's the crazyness of the season. Hope your luck turns around..and deer..hard to figure at times.
I have noticed that ones opinion on the rut changes immediately after a buck is killed. My rut was slow until the day I shot my buck, thus it was a good rut. My buddy hasn't shot a buck in 5 years. He always says the rut is slow, go figure. Not the case for everyone but something I have noticed with the guys I know.
As far as deer movement goes this is the worst year I can remember in the last ten. This year I have taken a mature doe and my biggest buck ever 138.75". Still, one of the worst iowa ruts I can remember.
i dont doubt that there are slower years than others. A friend of mine this year was complaining how the rut was slow and he only saw a spike chasing. Then he shot a nice buck on the 11th and I heard him tell someone on the phone the rut was great and the movement was pretty good. That could be just him being a blowhard but it wasnt an isolated incident to just him. For me personally I cant say that it was any better or worse than the last few years. I saw several good to very good bucks and was fortunate enough to take a good one. I think it can very greatly from county to county or even farm to farm in some places.
It's really starting to heat up here. 8 days ago when I killed my buck, I'm pretty sure he was seeking. He was headed straight for a doe bedding area about 200yd away from where I shot him. Now doe are running out in traffic all over the place. I figure the chase must be on. I'm hoping Thanksgiving and the couple days following will be really hot! It's looking good!
Oh ok. I didn't know what you meant. I have been seeing big bucks the past week looking for hot does so hopefully something will happen this Thursday before I head home for Thanksgiving Break!
I had great days on November 4th and 5th, I think I must have found an early hot doe, because the 4th I saw two big mature bucks, an 8 and a 9 pointer, and several 2-3 yo bucks, all chasing, fighting, making rubs, one of the big 8s went off with the doe. The fifth was more of the same, saw probably 8 does being chased, but no older bucks. Then things were real windy and I saw almost no action until this past week when mornings started to heat up again. The scrapes have been getting hit hard, but i think theyre maybe going cooler just these last few days. Lots of movement at night, and I think hunting pressure has pushed them deeper into the woods at this point in my region- midcoast maine.
I saw early rut signs from young bucks, like the 4 pointers, chasing almost a month ago. Then we had a 2 week period where I barely saw a single deer. Then just this past week it's finally picking back up and I am seeing the 2.5 and almost shooter bucks starting to chase and come into my grunt calls. I'm hoping the mature ones are starting to show themselves.
Terrible for me here at Fort Leonard Wood MO. I saw an 8 pointer 25 yeards away walk right past my code blue estrous and totally ignore my buck roar. I'm a new bowhunter so I don't have alot to gauge of of however, my friends say this is a strange rut compared to seasons past here.
