2nd rut?

[CommonSense Guy]

The primary breeding period in MN takes place 5 days either side of the full moon. This year it was the 2nd. By the time the season much of the breeding was done. But not all of course. ONce the first doe comes into estrus that scent is what gets the bucks going crazy and chasing. Then a smaller number of deer will come into heat around the next full moon, which I think was the 30th.

Deer are generally bred by the full moon and born by the new moon. This makes them less likely to be taken by predators. Nature has a way of working things out. The breeding season farther north in Canada is later as their full moon is later. This means the fawns are born later in the year protecting them from the colder climate.

I think by this time in the year almost all breeding ativity is done. I would be stalking if I was hunting because the deer won't be moving much

[Code-Man]

I had about 12 deer in a field Sunday night. 10 in one area and about 100 yds away from them were 2. I did a spot and well the 10 busted me and to my amazement the other two didn't leave. Pulled up the glasses and it was a buck and doe. He never left her side so I'm thinking she may have been hot. Just what I saw

[Muskie456]

CommonSence,

The moon is full in MN the same time as Canada. Accually anywhere on the planet. The reason the rut is later in Canada is because of them dropping fawns in the spring. I believe there is a eight or nine day period that fawns can drop to survive. If they drop to early they fall prey to the eliments. If they are born too late they don't have enough time to get big enough to survive the winter. I believe something differant about how the moon effects the rut but won't go into it.

[HC Eye Hunter]

Some early doe fawns start there estrus in December which in turn kicks in the 2nd or even 3rd rut. I killed a nice 10pt tagging a fawn 2 years ago in december. Have you ever wondered why some of the does look the same size as the fawn? It is normally because there is only a year seperating them from birth. In high doe mortallity areas, have you ever wondered why you see alot of young does with only one fawn? It is normally because a fawn was bread and is not capable of having two fawns the following spring. Bucks will keep their racks as long as they can keep the testotrone up to breed and breeding will continue for a long time as does and fawns recipricate in breeding. The one thing that can stop the process is stress like a bad winter. If that hapopens the does and the fawns will naturally quit breeding for their own survival, the bucks will start dropping their racks and the breeding is over.

Right or wrong, this is my take on the subject after a lot of years of hunting and studying the whitetailed deer.

[vister]

well put HC. the rut, as so many people call it, refers to all parts of the whitetail breeding season. does tend to come into estrus at the same time, at least within 10 days of each other. however, if not bred, they will come in again in about a month, just like your girlfriend. doe fawns will likely to come around the second time around, but with a lot of does in the area, you could expect does to be in heat from early november, all the way through mid to late december, and even january.

if you want a good idea of when the doe came into heat, wait till spring and look for does to be out in the open with their youngins. most does wait two weeks after the birth to take the newborns out into the open. so if you see a new fawns out, go back 2 weeks in time to when they were born, then go back 7 months from there to determine when the doe was bred. whitetail gestation typically lasts 7 months.

for instance, you locate a doe with her little squirts june 1. chances are, they were born may 18th, meaning probably bred around oct 18th. just a little something to keep in mind when you have your trail cams out next spring. you can actually get a good idea when the breeding part of the rut takes place in your area!

[hockeybc69]

"for instance, you locate a doe with her little squirts june 1. chances are, they were born may 18th, meaning probably bred around oct 18th."

Oh come on. What is a "little squirt"???

Its hard enough to age a deer on the hoof thats an adult, and now you are saying you can age a fawn good enough to say it is "x" days old, therefore it must have been conceived on Oct 18th??

Laughable.......

[Gordie]

I just watched a speacial on the rut and the bucks ussally go into rut 10-12day after the full moon and the second rut will ussally take place about thirty day later so about 10-12 day after the next full moon which means the the does go into estrus just before the bucks start the rut or better yet he breeding

[Bear55]

"for instance, you locate a doe with her little squirts june 1. chances are, they were born may 18th, meaning probably bred around oct 18th."

Oh come on. What is a "little squirt"???

Its hard enough to age a deer on the hoof thats an adult, and now you are saying you can age a fawn good enough to say it is "x" days old, therefore it must have been conceived on Oct 18th??

Laughable.......

Its called an educated guess, he also backs it up with solid info, its really not that difficult to understand.

I've also never found any serious info in my area to give much credibility to moon phases affecting the rut. It may or may not have some affect but 15+ years of logging rutting activity and mature buck sightings leads me to a 7 days window which I believe is the peak of the chasing phase, followed shortly after by the breeding phase. This 7 day window can vary by a day or two but nothing like these wild swings that these moon phase people talk about. This really points to photoperiod as the major indicator for when the rut kicks off. With that said, does can and do get bread in Oct and there certainly is a 2nd rut when some does and fawns come into heat, however you need to have some luck on your side when finding these late season estrus does.

[vister]

i think you forgot the point. does tend to bring their youngins out into the open typically two weeks after they were born. i didnt say i can age a fawn! knowing this, if im glassing hay and bean fields every night, and i see does and yearlings and buck out there, and no fawns, then either they haven't been born, or are too young to venture out with ma. once you see fawns, you can assume they are around two weeks old. GET IT!? this is an easier way to find out when deer are breeding than anything you can read, watching the moon, or the deer for that matter. the only better way to know is to watch the deer breed!

to have this theory work, you have to actively be checking the fields for deer, knowing whether or not fawns are there.

only a stubborn person could find this inplausible

[Matt Breuer]

My dad, brother, and brother-in-law are all seeing bucks chasing right now in NW MN. I'm around Bemidji, and hunt in a 1 hour circle around town. I have seen 7 deer all muzzy season, not a single buck. To the guy who has seen over 100 deer this year, wow, impressive, this is the worst muzzy season I've ever seen. I hunted the Park Rapids area today and didn't see hide nor hair!

[Musky Buck]

That in itself is impressive Matt, 3 guys all seeing bucks chasing does during shooting light. Would've been hard for me to go to Park Rapids, I would've went NW of Bemidji and hunted with dad. Our Muzzy luck has been poor. 5 of us. 4 Different farms to choose from totaling about 1,200 acres and 12 years or so of Muzzy and we have seen 3 bucks and very few baldies. Nocturnalism rules. Even making drives we haven't rousted up a buck of any kind. It's a tough hunt even hunting land that don't get bow or rifle pressure, you'd think they'd be gold but there aren't no matter what trick or tactic we try. But, beats sitting on the couch and we get a few cracks at coyotes and fox at times. 2nd rut the jury is out in my area. My best guess is we were in maybe we still are in a good good buck population area leaving few unbred does, the best hope would be a doe fawn coming into heat but the buck will do his deed at night or so it seems.

[Matt Breuer]

Musky Buck, they're seeing them all on private land while scouting or driving around in farm country, and I never said anything about shooting light... Only one on public land, and it a blur scenario.

I hunted around PArk Rapids because I worked there on Tues. night. I scouted from PR back to Bemidji on my way home w/ little sign for my efforts.

[Musky Buck]

Right on Matt, gotcha. Good luck, stay warm !