My brother and I were talking about the following question last week. Can food availability influence when does enter estrous? Reason I ask is simple. I am one the "moon guys" when it comes to the timing of the rut. Having read Alsheimer's research many times over and applied it to the rutting activity on our property the last 3-4 years I am sold on the fact that the moon plays a major role in the rut. This year, however, was completely different. The full moon fell on the night of November 2 this year. Which should have made for the "classic rut." This was definitely not the case. I didn't witness any signs or rutting activity or observe any sign, even among the yearling bucks, till the last week of November, when it appeared we jumped immediately into the chase phase. This year on our property was a horrible year as far as hard and soft mast (we actually lack a lot of soft mast, but what generally produces, did not this year). When 255acres of the 265sc. you hunt is timber, you rely heavily on natural mast. This year has been miserable in that regards. Which provoked the question in the beginning of the post. If there is a lack of available food, wouldn't it put added stress on the herd as a whole, particularly the does, causing them to cycle later? I'm curious to hear everyone's take. Regardless I think it makes for good discussion.
No. If the lack of food was that severe, nutritional issues above ovulation would have developed. The moon has an effect on the hormone cycle of the doe, but only a minor influence. Whitetails are seasonally polyestrous. The Spring and Fall Equinox has the only DIRECT effect on their hormone cycle, as the change in amount of daylight triggers physiological responses and the secretion of FSH and LH hormones(reproductive hormones). The testosterone increase in bucks is also due to this. I can get into detail about this, if you would like ? The amount of food will directly effect the amount of energy, so maybe from a HUNTERS perspective the rut was slow or came about late, etc. etc. Food and weather do not dictate at which portion of the year a doe will come in, but, weather and energy will dictate how "active" the breeding phase is. If it's hot, the deer will do the bulk of their moving/cruising at night, naturally. If they lack energy from low food source, movement will be more docile. Also, keep in mind- if YOUR property was lacking food, the deer have little reason to spend time there. They may have traveled elsewhere in search of a consistent food source, and if the doe moved, bucks followed.
Thanks for the info DT. Your reasoning definitely makes sense and it's my rut philosophy as well. What I've never thought of, however, was the energy level among the herd you mentioned. What really triggered this thought was the lack of stupidity the young bucks were displaying well into November. I remember watching 2 different yearling bucks be in the presence of does between the 15-20th (something like that) of November, and the way they acted you thought it was August 1st. The thought just entered my mind one day about the lack of food causing does to cycle late so I thought I'd see what everyone thought. Thanks again for your informative help!
I realize this thread is over a month old, but I wanted to bring it back up again because of some interesting information I found in the latest Deer and Deer Hunting. A tidbit in the Deer Browse, CJ Willand writes, "Research has found that the availability of mast can delay the rut. A Georgia study found that 78% of does were bred before Dec. 1, when there was mast abundance vs. 29% breeding during a mast failure." Again, just thought it was interesting and wanted to share it with everybody... and maybe stroke my own ego while I'm at it.:p
In my area of mo. we had some late frost that wiped out most of are mast crops on my farms so most deer are forced to use the fields for food and most of my ground is 90 % crop fields. it was so hot here when the season opened on sept 15 i went to the lake instead of burning my best spots up with overhunting. chasing started for me about the 27 of oct and the rut kicked in around the the 4th of nov and ran strong until rain set in on nov 15 and slowed most of the action unless a weather front came in and there would be movement two days before the front hit. i did not see anything buck action during the so-called second rut , i think i just missed being on stand the days the deer got moving also hunting after the trees drops the folage here is hard hunting with the few trees we have anyway the deer just run from the woodlots when you approach to your stands. but i agree if you dont have crops for the does they wont stay around and without the does you arn't going to keep the bucks either.
