My buddy called me today and told me that i need to come home for the weekend and to hunt my good stands because of this "two day rut" approaching. I find myself to be a very knowledgeable hunter and avid researcher of hunting tactics but have never once come upon this topic. Apparently the mature does in the area come in to estrus for this one to two day span just to let bucks know that breeding season is right around the corner. Has anyone seen, read, or heard of anything about this? To me i think that bucks are going to start hunkering down here between early season movement and rut and go nocturnal for a while or as some call it the october lull. nor have i ever seen chasing this early in my woods or bucks looking like they were cruising. So i am not going to go and burn my good stands over a hunch.. any info is helpful thanks guys.
never heard or seen anything in my neck of the woods to make me believe that to be true. Is it possible? yep. Though I've never seen any proof of this in 8 years of bowhunting.
well he told me it was the 11th through the 13th and i had a buck follow the scent from a buck bomb right in this morning and i drilled him at 22 yards.. maybe a coincidence all that matters is the bucks on the ground haha.
Congrats on the buck! I have never heard of anything like that. Science tells us that the length of daylight hours dictates the rut and as the hormonal changes take place, bucks get more active. Bucks are capable of breeding anytime after they shed their velvet up until they drop their antlers and will start checking areas where does hang out well before any breeding takes place. I don't believe a doe can go in and out of estrus in a three day period, but I'm no biologist. Pictures are helpful, let's see some! :D
OK. I am going to maybe sound crazy, but I'm gonna say it anyways. I have actually seen something like this on a couple occasions. It was around the 13th-15th of Oct. when I saw it happen. I have witnessed mature bucks chasing mature does for only a couple days. I don't know why this is, but I have heard about a tiny little window of opportunity to kill a mature buck during this time frame because of the matriarch doe coming into heat. Now granted, I have only seen it a few times in about 10 years of bowhunting. I'm not saying it is like a full blown rut, but when I saw it the bucks were acting awfully stupid and chasing the does in broad daylight. I'd say if you could happen to get lucky and find a big doe at this time that you may get lucky enough to make something happen.
That's pretty much the very beginning of the actual rut. Oct. 29th . This is when the bucks will start cruising searching for those early does. Some does will go into estrus early, but this has nothing to with this "pre-rut" mentioned.
The weather the huge fronts that are probably movin thu your area getting the deer up on there feet going to carbs or moving from one bedding zone to another zone...
Mature does come into heat first. One reason why I do not shoot a mature doe early season where I hunt. I would take a skipper before the wise mature doe but thats just me.
Personally, I have seen this a couple times in 15 years of bow hunting. I don't know much about it nor have I read any information on it.
I"ll have to call BS because does come into heat on an irregular basis. I just had a doe that dropped a fawn at the beginning of Sept. Which means she came into heat around March or april. Just goes to show that they come in anytime. It's just like dogs. Some *****es come in when it turns cold, some when the daylight cuts way back, some when others come in first, and some later than all the others.
Crazy as it sounds I'm a knew believer of this theory first hand experience last night. In my area bucks have been very quiet moving some at night. Not very many rubs or scrapes around. Started seeing more bucks in investigating does the past couple of days. last night had does in and around me as its getting dark I could see a big body deer chasing a doe around. as it's getting dark the big bodied deer is chasing deer around out of my range then i caught a glimpse of him on top of a knoll and could see a rack. to dark and to far out for me to take a shot. I will be back there tonight in hopes i get him. pulled my camera card on my way out and I have pics of a nice 8 point investigating the area. His does not have a killer rack but his body is big I would put money on it he goes over 180 lbs dressed. Trophy for me! pretty sure this is the nice buck that escaped me last year. Last year I seen him prerut then he disapeared after never seeing him again until after hunting season.
I don't know what happens above the Mason Dixon but here the rut is strung out for 4 or 5 months. I have seen bucks dogging does in 80 degree heat on the first of October and have seen them chase into February. I had two fawns in the backyard last month that were the size of my beagle. They had to have been born in August. With a gestation period of seven months that would put the breeding in late January or February. Countrygunner, I think that you are wrong there. A doe will come back into heat every 28 days until she is bred.
