The Whitetail Rut?

VirginiaCoyote

VirginiaCoyote

New member
I need a lot of help on this one everyone; all replies will be GREATLY appreciated!! I live in the Southwestern portion of Virginia. I know that the rut is the most important part of deer season. How can I ACCURATELY predict the phases of the rut and when it will be? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif Thanks everyone.

Aaron
 
Your state fish and game commision will have the past rut cycles for you to look at. The historical stuff works pretty good. There are a lot of signs, but its pretty similar across the nation as a 2 week period before the main rut where a lot of immature does will go into heat(pre rut), you will notice that a lot of your mature does will be in heat in the actual rut. Not always, but ususally. Also, a bucks neck will swell up when he is hot on the does, and his tarsal glands will be flat black. For me its just a feel when i am in the field as to how the deer behave, and knowing what the historical patterns tell me, so i know how to rattle effectively. Field time is a big factor as to whether or not the does in your area are in heat. The buck behavior is the biggest, as they will begin to assert their dominance on the younger ones, trying to win over the does. Watch them first, and you will learn the most.
 
Quote:
How can I ACCURATELY predict the phases of the rut and when it will be?



This is almost impossible to do for several reasons.

1. While the phases are consistant in order (Pre-rut, rut, and post-rut), all bucks are not in the same phase at the same time. In other words, one buck might be in "full rut" while another is in "post rut".

What mainy fail to realize is that the DOES actually determine the rut. When does come into estrous, then the bucks go into rut, and all does do not come in at the same time. Additionally, when a doe is not bred during her first cycle, then she will come in again in about 28 days.

While there is generally a "peak" period of say a week or so, the rut may be so prolonged that it is difficult to accurately identify the peak period.

The buck/doe ratio has a whole lot to do with how "high" the peak is. If the ratio is skewed sharply towards does, then the rut will be much more spread out and difficult to determine, as will be evident in the spring when newborn fawn can be seen from May-August as is the case in much of the south.

Photoperiod likely has more to do with the "timing" of does coming into estrous than the moon phase or weather.
 
YH, you worded that a whole lot better than me, It helps to be a biologist huh! To make my answer sound a little better...

By watching the bucks, i was refering to the fact that the does determine the rut, and you can tell a lot about the rut by watching them, as a hot doe shows very few signs to all but the most experienced people. The bucks can smell them, and they are a lot easier to learn from for a hunter without a lot of field time.

Oh, i second the moon phase stuff, that really doesnt mean as much as what people used to think it did.
 
Back
Top