all the talk

i have a few friends tha are really bent on the rut being kicked in already i know alot of poeple are seeing bucks feeling the urge and i have seen some acting goofy as well but dont think its really in full swing from what i have been seeing my one friends talking about putting some doe in heat scent out and decoy and all that and i said he was nuts a bit to soon so i told him i would ask around if anyone else is using scents and thinks its time

I saw bachelor groups of bucks last weekend in SD. But we also have some pretty good fightin’ going on trail cams also. Not just the runts anymore. Along with a few deer with broken tines already. So, I’m sure we are close, but not quite yet. Suppose to be rather warm this week, so I imagine this will calm the bucks a bit.

I have posted this in another thread but fits well here too!

Quote:

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The moment a buck sheds their velvet they are “ready” as their testosterone reaches the level and their velvet sheds. However, they know the does are not quite yet due to some “scent” missing in the air. With every passing day their testosterone continues to rise, they become more territorial and less tolerant of other bucks. With this cooler weather pattern we have been seeing it puts the bucks eagerness and readiness on the EDGE of breaking and it only takes one doe to become a lil ripe and it puts those bucks into OVERDRIVE. Those Mature Bucks know exactly what does come into estrous first. My second buck I ever harvested was taken on a similar type weather pattern as we are experiencing now. I shot him in early to mid October and his neck was full blown rut and he spent the entire morning chasing does and driving out any other buck in his area. This is what got him in trouble as I had a few forks below me and I grunted at him form 75 yards and without thinking twice he came to whoop some on a string before he made it 22 yards from my tree until a Easton Super Slam XX78 went through him.

I along with a few of my hunting buddies have been seeing a pattern for the past X years and have hypothesized a few things and every year I see more sign this is true. A few other people have posted about scents, calling, rattling, or decoying. I said I was not a big fan in the early season but come the first week of October it was a different story.

So bucks chasing or fighting in late September or early October maybe a lil different out of the norm perhaps, but far from unheard of or unseen. Just my $.02.

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To answer your question, no your buddy is not nuts IMO. However with that being said, it is no where even close to the peak of the rut right now. But using scents, calls, or decoys right now can pay big dividends and has worked many times during this time of the year!

WWGF, My answer above is generated from exactly what your signature is all about! Great quote/statement and oh so true.

The day I stop learning about/from this great intriguing animal, is the day I quit pursuing them!!

Seems to me the whole year has been ahead of what I think of as normal, why not the rut as well?
Don’t know, just what it seems.

I beleive that there is a little rut in october where maybe a few mature does are in heat, but Ive seen all these things happen early and late almost every year the last 15 ive bow hunted. Things seam to happen a little later in my area even then 20 miles a way. Even years when everyone thinks the rut is early I still see deer looking in December

It wouldn’t hurt to hit the horns a little, not too aggresive. I have had alot of bucks respond to rattleing in Oct. The biggest buck I have shot was in the third week of Oct. I ratteled him in and he stoped to smell the buck-nip drag I made walking in, he even was sniffing one of my tree pegs. I don’t know if doe estrus would be effictive yet, but I guess you never know.

If you watched the deer and deer hunting show they said this year the peak breading won’t be till late late november, but some does will come in late october. So with that being said should be a great season in that the bucks will be amped up and callable. Been out a little and seeing early sign on the ground in the woods normally don’t see till middle to late oct. Plus with all the crops coming out already things should be great, I hope. I personally wouldn’t use any scent or decoys till late oct like any other year. Will start hitting the horns a little earlier to see what type of response they give me though.

In chatting amongst fellow hunters at work, we all seem to think that this whole year, the seasons are 3 weeks ahead of schedule… so maybe the pre-rut is also…

Oct. 21st, 2008, me and a buddy watched a doe in his backyard with a huge 160″ 10 pointer. The doe walked off with this buck, 20 minutes later she came back under the apple tree with her back all ruffled up. The big 10 bred her. As soon as we near the 18th of Oct., its game on!

Craig…
I couldn’t agree more. Around the 16th of Oct is when it begins, teamed up w/ a cold front w/ temps in the low 20’s and you have a recipe for success.

The biggest bucks i have ever seen while hunting (Oct. 17th & 24th) were right in line w/ cold fronts and the biggest buck i ever shot (167″) was on Oct. 21st. IMO i would hunt the last 10 days of Oct. w/ a cold front over any other time of the year!!!

Be patient guys and they will begin to show their faces…. we hunters aren’t the only ones who are getting restless.

i hit the horns together this morning ten mins later had two fighting about 100 yards down wind of me. my guess is that they coming in to check things out down wind and ran into one another. they fought for about 3 mins. never got a good look at them but could tell one had some good horn on his head.
as for the scent. i know guys who start there drippers in late augs. they say they train there bucks to come in the day light. after what they have shot i the last few years.(4 bucks smallest being 154)my drippers have been out since sept.