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Peek of pre rut dates in Indiana

Just wondering in central Indiana what 5 days would be considered the peek of pre rut when the bucks are actively seeking but few if any does have come into estrus yet. Thanks, Art.

The rut tends to occur at the same times year in and year out. First couple weeks of November being the best. Now, whether you see a lot of activity has a lot to do with day time temps. Hot weather more rutting at night, cooler weather and you should see deer. Also, if the does out number the bucks by a big margin there's no need for them to run around due to lack of competition. Pray for cool temps and hunt the first or second week in November and you'll do ok. I like late October and the second rut in December. Hunting public like I do the rut doesn't always play out like it does on private, but it's always fun to be out. Good luck and hunt hard and you'll do fine.

For pre rut activity, I would hunt Nov 5-10 if I only had 5 days. If you have flexibility, align your five days with average or below average temps. I have had great days in the stand oct 28 to nov 15 depending on the year to observe pre rut cruising bucks.

For pre rut I'd be earlier than what these guys have said. I'd say the last week of October. Bucks are getting antsy at that time but the does are still not ready. This is when they are fighting, rubbing and checking their scrapes the most.

Rut starting in earnest the first week of nov with peak being nov 7-14. From the 14-21 you will still have good movement as well.

Typically burn the bulk of my vacation days as late in early archery season as possible. That said, several years of trail camera results indicate substantial daytime movement by mature bucks along scrape and rub lines during the last few days in October. The two best deer I saw last year showed up on Halloween evening. Planning to hunt the weekend of October 28th/29th this year....and start burning vacation days based on what I see...or don't see that weekend.

Oct 25 - Nov 15 is best for daytime buck movement, specifically any days during that window the temp is below 50, and the colder the better. The mature bucks do seem to get a little more active during the second half of that window and even beyond.

Varies from year to year, but for the specific 5 day period you're asking about, in an average year those 5 days from what I've seen would be roughly Nov 5-9.

Good hunting action though, can start anytime after Oct 25th, and I want to be on stand every day after that, if at all possible, especially during any cold snaps.

November 4th is a full moon.

Last year it was this date but unfortunately I was in a different stand. Usually I like the first week of November best.

Not sure about Indiana but a 100 miles west the World record was taken by Mel Johnson on 10/29/65. In my experience that day is the peak of the "PRE-rut"!

Go back and read LB's post. Rut hasn't changed in 2,000-years. What you see, has.

Mikewood, thats a stud, I hope he made it through the season. Hopefully you already have him on film this year. As I said the full moon is on 11/4, as long as daytime temps aren't high I imagine mid day and late evening are going to be most active.

Ohiohunter, I have pictures of him for the past 3 years but he never shows up on my place until mid October. This is the only daytime picture I have ever gotten of him. Saw him one evening two years ago as I walked to my stand. He was 40 yards off the edge of my yard and had a doe pinned down, we had a stare down for a few minutes, I shoot a longbow and front on at 40 yards is not an option. When the doe left he followed. I'll be watching for him come October. Here is a side view from the same sequence.

Fingers crossed we get to see him again.... with you holding his head up! Good luck.

Last weekend of bowseason is good.

Technically the first weekend through the second weekend of November is when the heavy chasing of the rut is.

Heavy pre rut movement is usually around the last weekend of October to Halloween. But mid October isn't too bad either with good location.

Thanks to all for your information, I personally believe peek of pre rut offers the best opportunity to kill the biggest bucks WITH A BOW because during pre-rut IMHO offers the best combination of visabillity and predictabllity VS rut and full rut when in my 30+ years of bow hunting experience they basically abandon rub lines and other predictable established travel routes in their pursuit of does. Every buck I have ever killed (20+) has been from the last five days of Oct to the first 14 of November. The only difference now is my the new job has but one major draw back VS my old one. Mt previous job allowed all the time off I needed to deer hunt, my new job doesn't and that is why I'm trying to narrow it down to less than a week. Thanks to all the great bow hunters here I now have the info I need.

Again thanks to all.

Mikewood, Now this is just my opinion which has been influenced by Bill Winke concerning that superb buck you posted. BW published an excellent article on only hunting strictly killable bucks. By that BW meant he had decided to hunt only those specific bucks that showed up on his trail cams with predictable regularity during legal shooting hours. He cited two B&C class bucks to prove his point. One of them a HUGE 180-190"+ estimated 10 pointer based on his recovered sheds, that BW over 3 or so years had acquired over 300+ trail cam pics of, but only (IIRC) 2-3 were during legal shooting hours. He also watched the field the trail cam showed he was feeding most often in dozens of times during preseason and again only saw the big buck during legal light 2x and then it literally was only the last few minuets of legal light. BW hunted that big hard for two years without ever seeing him. Conversely the other BC buck was so visable BW felt either he or a neighbor would almost certainly kill him, and in fact BW failed 2x when he should have killed the visible monster buck. The point of his article was no matter how big the buck he will no longer spacifically hunt a buck that he feels isn't killable. I don't know if the buck in your picture behaves like the one BW described in his article, but felt the example was worth noting. BW went on to give a detailed history of the one bucks (as well as others like it) behavior he observed over multiple years and BW like myself is of the opinion certain bucks personalities make them so cautious and move so little during daylight hours that the odds of a opportunity to have a chance to take them while bow hunting are so low as to make them for all intents and purposes un-killable.

On highly pressured lands, which means about all of Indiana, both public and private, and considering our 32 days of firearms hunting, 16 of which is centered on peak rut.....a "killable" buck usually means a dead buck by age 3 or sooner. Under those conditions, by definition, only the "un-killable" bucks would become mature. Of course there are rare exceptions where a daytime-traveling type of buck with great genetics gets super lucky and survives enough seasons to be a hawg. Which could be why we get a booner or two taken statewide every year.

I can say that in 30 years of springtime shed hunting, I've never found the dead head of an ancient buck who passed from old age. Bringing into question the notion of "un-killable" bucks.

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