I was told that the leaves are going to fall earlier this year then normal and that its going to be a hard winter again. I cant speak about the buck chasing a doe though. Maybe he was confused with all of the leaves falling lol.
Some of the little guys are feeling their oats here, but that's pretty typical for this time of year.
The land I hunt is in Greenbrier, I got a few pictures of two 8 Points, guy that lives next to the land watched a 10 point cross the field once. They are out there somewhere.
Farmers Almanac is calling for the worst winter our area has seen in years. November snow possible for NC? We shall see.
I agree with Justin, especially the part about this being a perfect scenario. Last season the rut and pre-rut seemed to be one in the same. Didn't see bucks chasing until does were all ready to go and they were locked up and bedded down within days. These seasons where fall seems to come early, it seems as though that magic "window" stays open a little longer between when the big boys are up looking for some lovin and the ladies are ready to let it happen. And if all of this is bologna and the leaves falling has nothing to do with anything....at least I can see better!
Maybe not an early rut but maybe a more active pre rut. I am guessing the does will come into heat the same time but when was the last time any female had to wait for a male to be ready? Does may not be ready early but those bucks could be getting a worked up and just like a bar with no women fights could break out.
I shot my buck over a tinks mock scrape. 5 year old and saw a Booner and 6 other smaller bucks. All but one hit the scrapes. And fights going on all over the plot I was hunting. Pretty interesting for Oct 4
My crew and I were all thinking the same thing, it seems like everything is ahead of schedule this year. I hope if anything it just extends the rut and maybe we'll get lucky with more activity!
Down here in Alabama we run way behind y'all northern guys. Our trophy property is close to a WMA that was seeded with deer from IL and they still rut end of Nov in this area. I pulled videos off one of my cameras yesterday and on thur/fri i was getting bucks already sparring and a couple are starting to nose does around. course the does aint no where near ready so they are just pissed off lol.
There is something different this year. Tonight I observed a mature 10 point following a doe across an open picked bean field next to a road. It's early October not November (Right?)
Fall definitely seems to be ahead of schedule this year. Leaves are falling like crazy here and we just had our first big cold shot that blew quite a few down as well. Yesterday morning was my first sit and it was downright chilly with the wind. We have TONS of acorns this year and the deer are definitely taking advantage of them. However, I'm still getting mostly night pics of mature deer right now. Next week the weather is supposed to return to normal here, with temps in the 60's and high pressure.
I know a lot of the old guys around here are talking like everything will be early. With it getting down to low to mid 30's other night I'd say fall is definitely here at least. Was just talking to my grandfather today and he thinks we'll start seeing activity toward end of month. Of course he has lots of kinda out there theories but he's right about them a lot too. From what I've seen I really can't say having only been out once so far. We do have leaves falling but guess time will tell. I know last year there was very little rut activity.
I just posted this thread about a card pull from the other day. September 27th and had a buck doggin this doe HARD.....ALLL day. check it out! http://forums.bowhunting.com/bowhunting-talk/66473-fl-rut-kicking-off.html
JZ I took a doe yesterday morning and a six point was following it around...Some more does came into the woods shortly later and the buck started to chase those as well...Does are kicking off fawns and small bucks are chasing off little bucks as well. I haven't seen so much activity this early in a while..I know i will be in the stand tonight trying some grunts and rattling in hoping for a wall hanger...good luck out there people!!!
