Rate the rut...

[dogdoc]

How would you guys rate the rut in your area this year. I would say that it was fair in Oklahoma this year. I saw a few does being chased and bucks with their noses to the ground but not an outstanding rut. Definetely better than last year. Overall in my area I would say average.

How about your area?
todd

[MichiganHuntr1]

It was quick.
It seemed like it was dull for a long time, a couple days of heavy action, then more dullness.
Below average here.

[Hillbilly]

Didn't see any bucks chasing does at all. At night I would spotlight my field and see bucks bedding without does. The does would be in the corn fields or bean fields.

The rut was the worse in my area. No wonder I didn't get much chances at a buck

[Swamphunter]

Everything sucked in NY this year. Season was too warm, deer sightings were down....the whole thing sucked.

[horst]

Id say it was a bust, started off good, lotta little bucks chasing does but by the time the bg ones started playing it turned hot and everything shut down seemed like.wasnt the worst one I ever seen but pretty close

[wtnhunt]

Well Todd, there was and has been no evidence of any rutting activity here at least not around our property this year. It is very normal for us to see bucks chase does across the back yard the 3rd and 4th week of November here during the time that is normally the rut. As a matter of fact, this is the first year in probably 5 that we have not witnessed any buck chasing activity during the day in the back yard.

The temps averaging a minimum of 15 degrees above average early on in the fall and the extreme wet in the fall after the record setting dry summer, I am certain has had something to do with the activity here. I am pretty sure that the weather has had a significant negative effect.

I have seen very few rubs and scrapes as where normally I would have seen several by now. One spot in particular along the river there are rubs every year, and have not seen a single one in there this year. Last year by this time had watched a minimum of a dozen different bucks, saw some chasing does and had killed one chasing a doe early on in November. Have seen I think a total of 4 bucks this year and not seen a single buck with any does this year.

Also last year on the way to town by this time had seen 7 dead deer killed along the road coming from this same field. This year just one. From my understanding rutting activity is a huge factor in deer collisions. Having seen the big drop in deer hit along the road between here and town I would have to say they have just not been as active as they normally would be.

[Chrud]

Here is what I had posted at the North American Whitetail Forums.
_______________

Location Information
State - Wisconsin
County - Southeast Langlade County
Deer Management Unit - 43

Rut Activity Information
My brother and I began hunting some new land midway through the 2004 early bow season in Wisconsin. It is his mother-in-law's land. It is some great land, about 155 acres with 40 acres of lumber company land along one edge. It's a great mix of woodland and open country. The woods is mainly oaks and maples, with other species also. There is one small field and one huge field, which is broken up into three parts, that is rented out. It has soybeans planted in it this year. A lot of open land also, grown up with tall grasses like golden rod.

We noticed several rubs and scrapes mid to late October. The brunt of the rut activity was mainly from October 25 to November 20 or so. That was when most of the sign was there. The bucks weren't really chasing does until about November 8 up until about mid November, about the 15th. There were still a few small bucks chasing up until the 20th of November though.

The buck sign was incredible. There were a lot of scrapes. The edges of the fields were worked up real good. Mock scrapes seemed to work real well. I have never seen buck rubs like I've seen this year. Big trees, little trees, bushes...they seemed to rub anything they could get their antlers on.

Three spots really stick out in my mind of where the rubs were.
- One was near the small field, which borders the road. The woods itself isn't very thick, but in that northwest corner, there is a little bit of brush, along with tall grass that boarders the field. It looks like the deer have a highway coming from the field back into that grass and into the woods. All along the edge of that particular field and in that small section of woods there are a lot of rubs. Big rubs on big trees and rubs that have completely knocked over some small saplings.
- The second was along the bottom of a ridge of oak trees. It's lined with some small saplings and bushes. It seems like that is one bucks territory. About a 30' circle is rubbed up real good. Some aren't big, but one rub is good size. There are also a few scrapes there.
- The final spot is the one that I remember the most, I walked through it the first time during a two-man drive. It's a big hold on the northwest corner of the eastern most part of the divided field. It's sort of a junk hole, with a few old pieces of farm equipment. It's rocky with some trees, both mature and young. That hole, along with a tall, grassy finger (with trees also) dividing up two of the three sections of the field is torn up with rubs. No scrapes, but rubs and rubs and more rubs. In a 10' circle, there are about a dozen small trees, probably 3" or so in diameter. All of them are rubbed up real good. This is obviously a big boy, possibly the 140" 9-pointer my brother has seen.

We didn't really see bucks chasing does a lot. The night my brother saw the big 9, it was with a doe. During the gun opener (November 20), I had a small spike chase a doe by me. We saw more bucks with does casually, rather than chasing them hard.

The rut should have been in peak a few days earlier, usually around November 4 or November 5. It was a warm stretch and I think that held the bucks up a bit before they started in big time. Especially driving around, November 8 to November 10 seemed like the primetime for bucks chasing does. The rut was pretty much the normal time, but I think it started just a tad bit late.

Rut Activity Information Conclusion
The 2004 rut in my area was an easy 8 or 9 on a 10 scale. We didn't get a chance to put in the time we wanted to scouting, that'll happen over the winter. We didn't see a great abundance of bucks, a 140" 9-pointer, a what would have been 140" 8-pointer (half-rack buck, could have been hit by a car, limping pretty bad) along with a 6 or 7-pointer and a palmated 5-pointer along with a few other smaller bucks. As far as the quality of deer we saw it was great. The sign was incredible. Next year we have all this information to go by, plus a lot of off-season scouting. I can't wait. Even though we didn't have a successful kill, we had an awesome 2004 rut. As far as sign and potential for the future, 2005 looks like it could be an awesome hunting season.

[Tominator]

Slow to kick in, but once it did, it was pretty good. We started seeing chasing pretty late, probably around November 5th or so. We usually see pre-rut stuff around the last week of October.

I saw bucks running does as early as November 5th and as late as November 20th, with the peak around the 8th and 9th.

(I actually kept records this year)

[outdoorgirl]

I ALSO AGREE WITH SWAMPHUNTER....NOT A GOOD YEAR...TO WARM.

[buckbuster11]

I would say slightly below average..not even close to last years thats for sure. It seemed like everything was late this year here also, and I never really noticed a real "peak" in the rut. It just seemed kind of flat the whole way through.

[plannerman]

Was there a rut this year? More like a prom night - one shot and over.

[NY911Bowhunter]

Ditto Swampy

[buckee]

The rut here was on time, a bit weak this year. The secondary rut seemed stronger.
Quite different from last year, where it was on and off again, every other day or week.

[billygoat]

Sauk Co. WI
Rut appeared to kick in around late October 25th.... No heavy scrapes and rub lines IMO were weak... Several hard days of rut during first weak of Nov, but by the 10th... seemed like most had slowed significantly... overall I would say the rut was disturbed by unusual weather patterns and a moon cycle that was interuptted by significant cloud cover.

[VermontHunter]

In my opinion here in Northern Vermont I saw no activity that a rut was even on...the deer movement was almost NILL...I hope next season brings on better things...