Just asking. LOTS of hunters call pre-rut the entire time from season opener to the actual rut... some dudes call it the 2 weeks just before rut.. and the actual rut... that goes all over the place too. GR8 might have thought I was trying to go somewhere I wasn't.. which always cracks me up about peeps trying to interpret what another is thinking. Wasn't implying anything GR8.. just wanted to know what JM was asking. Getting back to the Q.. I think it depends on the property solely.. but for your Q.. I'll take the scraping and heavy sign phases of just before the actual rut (as by my definition).. for taking a whitetail buck.. and again.. the second heavy sign phase just after peak rut.
I think it really depends on the area.... What is there for cover, what are the food sources, level of human activity, etc. I've seen some spots that have pretty good early season hunting, where the deer can be pretty predictable (which is probably my next favorite time to hunt - next to the various stages of the rut). However, I've also seen some pretty good late season hunting too - you just need to right setup....
For my mId-MO lease, it's definately August/September. I have mostly crop land and some wooded area. It's easy to see the runway's leaving the neighbors wood lots and entering my fields. What is making it hard to pattern this year is that it's all planted in corn. I like beans much better especially from a scouting perspective. That said, putting it all together with the appropriate amount of luck to be on the right trail at the right time on openning day is as easy as most make it sound.
Here in W.V. it is hard to pattern any deer I.M.O, because our season comes in so late they are sorta off there feeding patterns but just starting to get into the rut, and it his hard to pattern deer in the late season do to the lack of food ( which i plan on changing this year ), but if i had to pick one I would have to go with pre-rut!
No probs Duke..I didn't interpret anything in FACT if you'ld have actually read my post (No Interpretation was necessary ) I said I only read the original question (by JM), when I wrote my answer.
I remember me and Chris hunting an opening weekend on the creek bottoms over behind the Dotiki Washer plant. I held my hand flat and just pushed it into my leg and killed 16 mosquitos at one time, it could be ruff at times.
