I'm curious how many believe in the "second rut"? I believe some doe come into estrous later, but how many folks have actually witnessed what they would call second rut activity? Shouldn't this be taking place right about now if this is the case?
I believe In It and I think It (the 2nd rut) already happened around here. The buck I was hunting the last 2 years got shot across the road from where I hunt. He shot the buck on the 22nd of November just seconds after the buck bred a doe right In front of him. I believe most of the breeding went on around the 6th of November here and the doe's came Into estrus again around the 27th or so give or take a few days.
I think Schultzy is pretty close for dates here in Nebaska too. We saw hard chasing the first week of November but very little movement the second week, I assume that was the actual breeding period. I shot my buck during the second rut on the 23rd, that next weekend I still saw activity but definitely less. I was discussing with a guy a couple days ago what are the chances there might be a third breeding period this year with the first rut hitting so early. His opinion was that wouldn't happen, I guess time will tell.
I guess I don't even call It the 2nd rut (one could call It the 3rd period of the rut) but rather a doe coming Into estrus again that didn't get bred the 1st time around.
I've been getting some mature bucks moving during daylight the last couple of days take it for what its worth
Shot my best scoring buck on 12/9, dogging does. Saw the buck I took in '07, chasing does on 12/15 of '06. My thinking is this....Not all does come into estrous at the same exact time. So, they're spread out a while. I think the ones that aren't bred are equally spread out. Problem is, there's fewer of them the second time around. So, right place/right time/right doe - or you'll never see it happening.
I've always thought that the later does coming into estrous, were last springs fawns coming in for the first time. I may be wrong though.
Alot of factors involved. We will assume everyone knows the basics, Bucks will tag along for around 5 days and the Doe will be bred several times in a 24 hr period when she's ready to stand, if a doe is not bred, she will come back into heat in approximately 28 days up to 5 times. I've seen where does were in Heat in Northern Michigan as late as January. Thats the easy stuff. Buck to doe ratio is going to play a big part on how many does get bred, which is going to effect how many move into a second heat and so on. Also got to figure in the fact that older does will come into heat " up to a month " befor younger ones. So now age of the doe population is now also a factor. The list goes on. Back in early Nov the wife and I watched as the biggest doe of a group of nine, had seperated herself from the rest. I told her that that would be the first of the batch to get bred. A few days later she came in and told me Pistol Peat (150 class 10 pt with curled down R main beam) had showed and chased the big doe all around her, No shot offerd. Same thing the next day, no shot offerd. She had the big buck within 15 yards 2 days in a row and just could not get a shot. Third day they were no shows and I told her she probabily would not see them for 5 days, she killed a differnt buck on the 4th day so we will never know if they came back at all! I'll try and add some more later, but I got an appoinment at the VA clinic today.
I think you could call it the 2nd rut. When I hunted in Ill. where the deer population was very high, I'd see mature bucks nosing around the does and fawns in the evenings at a food source. This happened between Dec. 3rd through Dec. 10th. There was chasing going on with some nice bucks. Actually, it was during this time period that I'd see the biggest bucks of the season. One night I watched a 165 inch buck cut a small doe or fawn away from a sturdy 145 inch 10 pointer. Until that big boy showed up that 10 was the "man" in a field full of deer. Picked beans, Dec.5th. No resistance from the 10 either. I shot the big one the following year, he grossed 170+. Very cool. Anyway, from what I've seen, Dec. 3 - 10 (approx.) unbred does and fawns come in estrus. 2nd rut. Dec. 31 - Jan. 5 fawns coming in for the first time. 3rd rut. This is very faint compared to the first and second ruts so to speak. Unless you have a very high deer population or very few bucks per doe ratio, one may never notice the 2nd or 3rd "ruts".
Great article in Deer and Deer Hunting about the so called "2nd rut." He explains that there isn't such a thing as a "2nd Rut", its still just the rut. He gives an example of think of the rut as hot days in summer. In early to late August the days are generally pretty hot, similar to the 2nd week of November, but there are occasionally pretty hot days in September and October just like what we call the 2nd rut. The writer goes on to say that very few mature does go through November not being bred and the majority of fawns are actually bred in January than any other time. I personally have witnessed the most rutting activity on a mild day on December 13th.
