New to Deer Hunting

[Scattergun2570]

Small game hunter since I am 9..never really got into deer. I am curious about the whole rut thing. How do you know if the rut is goin on,other than witnessing bucks with their noses up a does butt?

[Tony204ing]

They dont have to have thier noses up a does but.Just the fact that you start seeing more bucks than normal is a good indication.I always say that the best way to tell the rut is goin on without entering the woods is bucks are laying all over the sides of the roads.

[skipper34]

Depending on which part of the country you live and hunt, and at what latitude, the whitetail rut will always occur on or very close to the same time each year. It is the does that govern when the rut starts, not the bucks. The rut is triggered by photoperiod, in other words, the amount of daylight that passes through the retina of the eye and triggers the hormones which put the does in heat. Weather has nothing to do with rut timing. The moon phase has very little to do with it. In my state of Michigan, I can count on the does coming into heat on or a day or two before or after November 6. The week that this date falls on will have every buck in the woods on its feet and looking for and chasing hot does. This is when I spend the entire day from before dawn until after dark in my stand. Most of the bucks I have taken have come between the hours of 11 am and 3 pm during this time.

[Tenpoint]

One way to tell is when the bucks are chasing the does. I remember sitting in a blind last season and a total of about 12 deer came in to a feeder. The dominant buck was chasing off all of the younger bucks and then chasing the does around trying to get close.

Best Regards,
Mike Moraine