Rut???? What's the deal???

[panfried]

My buddy and i hunted 9 of the first 11 days of Novemeber. Prior to this we had been seeing lots of scrapes and rubs and even a little chasing on the day i shot mine. (10/25)It looked as if the rut would be a good one this year. Weather seemd to be cooperating along with everything else. The first 4 days we saw alot of bucks cruising and ended up seeing 4 good shooters on 2 days of hunting. (11/3 and 11/4) Now this last week we hunted 11/7 through 11/10. All day everyday. The action was horrible. No chasing, no mature bucks, barely any deer at all. We hunt in the SE metro where there is no Gun pressure nor is there any Bow pressure for that matter. The weather got a little warm but not extreme. Any thoughts???? Has anyone else been experiencing a very slow rut???

[kklund]

the bucks are locked down with does......

[ironrangegemneye]

Up near Hibbing I think the rut is in full swing where I hunt. I got my 8 pointer Wednesday morning. A doe came flying out of the woods with him hot on her tracks. The whole time he was chasing her, all I could hear was him constantly grunting at her. When i got down from the stand to go check him out, I happened to look at the woods where they came out, about 75 yards away. All I saw was a tail flagging away from me.....my guess is that it was another buck who was watching on the edge of the swamp and woods. We have seen 3 or 4 different bucks chasing does this past week.

[archerystud]

I think for the deer this weather is kind of extreme. Remember they are now in those winter coats that they will use to survive the -20 (and worse) temps. I haven't seen too many people walking around in parkas over the last week. This is inhibiting the deer's daytime movement.

Also, I think we are getting into the time where there are too many does in estrous. It's easy for them to find a ready doe now and they don't have to work at it.

If you have a spot with very little pressure then see what it's like in about another week or around Thanksgiving. I think there will be less available estrous does and the bucks will need to "cruise" more to find them.

Just my $.02 worth.

[B. Amish]

My buddy and i hunted 9 of the first 11 days of Novemeber. Prior to this we had been seeing lots of scrapes and rubs and even a little chasing on the day i shot mine. (10/25)It looked as if the rut would be a good one this year. Weather seemd to be cooperating along with everything else. The first 4 days we saw alot of bucks cruising and ended up seeing 4 good shooters on 2 days of hunting. (11/3 and 11/4) Now this last week we hunted 11/7 through 11/10. All day everyday. The action was horrible. No chasing, no mature bucks, barely any deer at all. We hunt in the SE metro where there is no Gun pressure nor is there any Bow pressure for that matter. The weather got a little warm but not extreme. Any thoughts???? Has anyone else been experiencing a very slow rut???

it sounds to me like you described the typical MN rut. scrapes, then chasing, then lock down when they find a receptive doe.

[96trigger]

Lock down and temps shut it down in my area. Saw some bucks cruising, but it was very sporadic. Not like past years where if you saw does, a buck WAS going to show up. Now he might show up, he might not.

[skolfoppa]

Spent the past week on the north shore. All signs indicated pre-rut. I didn't see one doe being followed. Scrapes and rubs were refreshed daily. The bucks were still receptive to scrape scents with rattling. The deal is... cold weather ushers in the rut and its been one of the warmest Novembers on record. Hopefully next week things will cool down. Skol.

[96trigger]

Shot a doe today at 10:40 AM she was being hounded by a buck. SEMN. Very quiet for the last weekend of the first season down here, didn't hear many shots. The deer didn't seem to want to start to move until 9:00

[FISHINGURU]

i'm glad gun hunting is over around here after today, let the deer calm down for a few days and with some cooler temps i'll be back on them like donkey kong!!