As I write this I am preparing to head for another day in the stand. With the exception of Sunday, I've been every day since Halloween. And even though there is more sign than I've ever seen as far as scrapes and rubs, the action has been very slow with minimal deer movement and these old bones are beginning to tire out. I'm sure hoping it breaks loose soon. Anyone else seeing little rutting action? Blessings........Pastorjim
It's slow in west central IL as well. I'm sure it's a bit location dependent, plus I don't have any large fields to overlook. But since Halloween I have seen 3 mature bucks, 2 in late evening and 1 in the morning. The one yesterday was chasing a doe about 4:15'ish. I'm seeing a lot more younger bucks this week than in the past and the does usually have one not far behind. But it seems like the mature bucks are still not cruising and more just intercepting the does on their travel routes. Haven't seen any real midday movement even by the younger guys, but it's getting close. The weather has been ideal, and maybe with this gradual warm up things will change up again. Can't really blame the moon or the heat right now.
Little ones are out chasing not so ready does but the big ones are staying nocturnal yet...scrapes are getting hit hard and new ones all over the place but the the activity on the cams is showing all night movement. Also the bucks are still feeding heavily, so taking all this into account, it says to me rut is very close but not quite here....however I have rattled in on decent 8pt and a couple little guys this past week, and some new nice 8pts(+ a 9pt) moved into the property while a couple regulars have left which also tells me rut is very near.
Have only seen two deer here in Alabama since opening day, and they were running across the road. Hopefully when the rut hits in January here that I'll see some good movement.
