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Thought on rut

So last night my busy shot a buck. Zero sign that he was rutting??? Late rut or what?

Hopefully it picks up tomorrow because that’s when my 8 day vacation starts lol

What rut? I seeing few rubs and scrapes and no bucks with the does on the lawns. No roadkill on the Pike nada. Typical each year in my area.

The rut is so hit or miss you just dont know in this state. I actually stopped wasting days off for it as I have never had great action. I'd rather spend my days off in other states where you actually see it and see more deer. Granted it the best opportunity to take a buck but if your looking for mature buck .........

So far we are seeing scrapes but no one has seen any chasing in our area. Does are around but so far just juvinial bucks milling with them.

I’m wondering if the buckdoe ratio is off here. If we have 8 does to 1 buck is their much of a rut?

I think that could be a part of it in some spots. He can only deal with one at a time and that locks him down for a few days . Then he has to find another . So in those places with low buck count it will drag on and some does will not get serviced this month.

Last friday i had a 5 pt chasing a doe back and forth. They ran by me 3 times. Little guy was grunting every 2 seconds and was never more than 30 or so yards behind her where ever she ran....fun to watch. Z-7.

We need a year or 2. Does only. Just my opinion

Yup Agree Bowhunter7 and Spike. Thats why I hate the second buck tag. You want rut you gotta have competiton. Probably would solve it but give us 5 or 6 years with just one buck tag and it will help.

It's a funny problem - at least in central western and western MA... We have low deer density, but probably a population which biased does. To a degree that's just normal biology... but you couple those things, and even if you have rutting going on, you wont see a lot of deer - because there are not a lot to see.

That said, I've seen some chasing in Z9 this year and certainly some bucks trolling. My buddy's buck was trailing a doe in Z5. For some reason there does seem to be less rut "sign" this year... but I've seen more "rutting" behavior than that past few years. On other social media I'm seeing a lot of talk of bucks trailing does grunting, chasing does etc, mostly Z11, a smidge 10... Point being... seems like deer are into it, but unless there are enough to consistently see them, we dont get to see it to often.

Haven't seen a doe get chased in years. And that was in RI.

I think were to used to watching TV shows were the ranch they are hunting has 100 deer on it. Here in real life the only rutting activity I would expect to see is the breading buck fallowing mature does back to their bedding area. most bucks have no expectation on breeding does this month, their is a hierarchy of bucks in a home range, and the breeding buck was decided a month ago when velvet came off. those subordinate bucks wont chase or fight much unless the breeding buck has been killed, or if they got pushed out of their home range, into another area and are not part of that hierarchy. Bucks that are breeding are very capable of making mistakes, how ever the mature does they are with don't make many mistakes. I would expect to see more young bucks chasing in next months breeding period where the younger does come into estrus, and a lot of bucks have already been killed or displaced. The research doesn't lie and road kill fawn birth records prove breeding is happening right now and more or less at the same time every year. Were in MA we are not on a ranch with 100 deer, and probably shouldn't expect to see a ton

Not a very intense rut, but definitely going on in Z-11. Bucks are cruising. (Cameras and stand sightings show)

Z9 is happening. The bucks are strolling for chicks!

With the weak acorns hit the greens! With the rut in full swing you have to find the girls, they’re near the greens. Give up on the hardwoods.

It was definitely on in NJ last week, all my buddies tagged out pretty much. When I went down there this past weekend for pheasant there were bucks running around everywhere and dead on the road. It is a good rut this year, this week into next should be when it hits up North. Stay at it boys! I wasn’t seeing much either than had two shooters come in last night making scrapes and shot one, which means they are still in pre rut.

Yesterday in Z2 i had chasing 10-15mim before last light. 6 does , 2 bucks in a field. Scrapes are being ignored in some spots and a 1/2 mile away the area is torn up with scrapes and rubs. Hit or miss. I also have scrapes that have been hit but the deer just peed, hit licking branch, and went on their way. Only reason I knew they were there was my their tracks and camera. The deer never actually scraped the ground. I believe its on.

No dead deer on highway. Here in z8/9. I hunt z8. No scrapes. Very little rubs. No sightings but 1 buck sat. Walked. Past me 55 yards out to far for a shot wasn’t confident so let walk to hopefully go breed a lady

Just saw two bucks on my way to work. One spike and one monster. The monster had a huge neck. Of course my bow was not with me it’s like they know when we are no threat. But I would say the rut is on.

I think the does are causing problems . . .

This guy and a few of his bud's have been swinging by, if only they would show when I was ready for them!

That there is funny! Good one.

What's neat is, I see a lot of deer back there where my kids play (only 2 of those are mine). Here is yesterday's doe, right after I shot her and where my daughter helped me find her.

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