I'm having trouble discerning between the pre-rut and rut. First let me explain how the deer on my property are acting. With football and school Im a weekend warrior so my observations are based only on saturday and sunday hunts. Two weekends ago(10/10 and 10/11) On top of a few random scrapes, I found a scrape line with scrapes every 20-30 yards. The trail the scrapes are on is a fourwheeler trail that backs my property. The side thats not my property is thick planted pines(2-3 heavily used trails come out of these pines onto the path at the first scrape of the scrape line). The side that is mine is hardwoods that have good crop of acorns. The deer travel anywhere and everywhere through the hardwood, but the trails through the pines are defined. I have a gun stand on a logging road 120 yards from a baitpile(the baitpile is at the end of scrape line and the last scrape is about 20 yards from the pile)...(the fourwheeler trail the scrape line is on ends at the end of the logging trail which defines the corner of my property.) I have only seen does and small bucks and they all feed for a short time and then head down the scrape line not to be seen again. Whether or not they continue down the entire scrape line is unknown. Last weekend(10/17 and 10/18) Saw only a few does, but they all seemed real skittish. Saw several small bucks roaming all over the place. Scrapes are still being freshened nightly form the looks of them and saplings are being shredded from rubbing. Saw two spikes chasing each other. A button buck ran two young does off the cornpile, but didnt chase them jsut stayed and ate. A large bodied deer was seen in the morning darkness coming off the scrape line. With these observations, I would assume it's still the pre-rut. Im not sure when the first few does will come in and the rut will start and frankly I dont know how to know, exactly. How do you think the deer will be acting this coming weekend at this phase of the rut and how do you think the weather will effect them ? Thursday- high 80 low 57 mostly sunny with a cloudy night Friday- high 79 low 63 sunny showers through the night Saturday- high 78 low 47 sctd T-storms with clear skies at night Sunday- high 68 low 47 partly cloudy with clear skies at night Monday- high 67 low 48 partly cloudy with showers through the night followed by 3 more days of rainy weather
Everywhere varies for when the rut is, here in KS I've been told it's the 2nd full moon of the Fall Equinox. Which would put it on about November 3rd. I'm going to hunt from Halloween until the next weekend. Then I should miss it. Not sure for about where you are. If the weather is getting cooler I'd say the deer are just starting to move more. Maybe not the rut yet.
