Pre-rut reports

[Bear55]

Had a doe in close last night, buck grunting behind her but he never showed. It was so thick I could only see/shoot 20 yards but I sure wish I could have gotten a look at him. I think I heard more grunting this weekend then all of last season.

[muskiemanAD]

Bucks are chasing near Rochester! This guy was seen twice yesterday midday just not close along with 3 other smaller bucks!

[Cheetah]

DHost, the next couple weeks should be very good.

[slimngrizzly]

Its Prime time! The big bucks are on their feet and rockin!

[tunrevir]

Saw an eight last night nose to the ground. He was 40 yards out and I couldn't get him to respond to grunts or bleats. Had one grunting behind me and chasing but never got a look at him. This am I had a nubbin buck come in and sit at 10 yards for about 10 minutes, the rest of the woods was quiet. Sat from 1/2 hour before sunup to 11 without seeing another thing. Nubby came in at 830. Just in for lunch and then back out to another stand site for the evening. I'm hoping a little patch of woods between a corn field and an alfalfa field will be alive with activity tonight. Got a stand thats good with the SE wind so hopefully it will be a happy Halloween:)

Tunrevir~

[hunter322]

heres one my dads buddy had come through his back yard a couple days ago north of stillwater.

[muskiemanAD]

They are moving in the metro too! Just came down 394 from lunch and there is a big 8 or 10 dead...

[nwhunter]

Seeing a lot of movement in the Isabella area. I'm hoping this bodes well for this weekend, as I've got a large crew coming up on Thursday. Although we hunt about 50 miles west during rifle.

[DHost21]

DHost, the next couple weeks should be very good.

Thanks Cheetah! I have heard the rut goes basically throughout november I was just seeing what other people thought as well. Hopefully this weekend is good with the gun and then back out with the bow for a little bit the next week or so

[Archerysniper]

Some of my best rut hunting has been during the muzzleloader season.Actually most years this is when I see the most rut activity and close encounters with huge bucks. That's actually why I picked up muzzy hunting got sick of the big boys coming thru at 70 and 80 yards and have killed some really dandies the last few years Nov 29th-Dec 6th

[Bear55]

Lots of bucks hitting the ground the past few days, got the next 3 days off so hopefully I can score before the rifle opener, if not oh well I just get to extend my range. Good luck to everyone, heading out soon.

[DHost21]

Got out this morning and saw some decent rut activity from a couple small 1.5 year old bucks. One came right down the trail I walked in on nose to the ground. I put wind pro doe estrus powder on my boots and he came in and even sniffed the first step of the tree. Later around 9 I saw two does running across the swamp in someones backyard and then another 1.5 year old buck comes barreling out the swamp nose to the ground and pushed them around for about a half hour before we lost them. A really fun morning in the stand

[MUSKY18]

Sat in some oak woods on Saturday. Tons of scrapes in the area, had a good wind, but the luck of sitting on public land, about 430-5 a guy brought his two kids out to the woods and started walking around through them. Climbed down and decided to spend the rest of daylight looking around and scouting. Snuck up on two does, but they were quartering away hard and wasn't a good shot from 30 yds. Sat from noon til dark yesterday in the area where I saw the does. Had 3 does come in. Wanted to pop the big doe, but got picked off by one of the smaller does when I tried to draw. They didn't spook as I froze. Just wandered off casually. Kept looking for a buck to come following them, but never showed up.

[FISHINGURU]

Sat the last 2 mornings until noon and didn't see a single deer. Walked around a bit on my way back to the truck and didn't see much for sign yet. I think it's going to be a late rut this year in SE MN.

[james_walleye]

They are going here guru. My phone is littered with picturemail from the last week from around here. I'm a UPS driver and my co workers have been calling me with sightings of big guys chasing yesterday and today, most midday.

[CrewJones]

in souther Wis right now they are chasing Im seeing them in the fields off the hwy at least 10-15 small year old or 2 year old bucks dead everywhere on the road. Its moving north and fast. Gun opener for everyone should be good all week

[96trigger]

Things were a little bit better tonight. Had a little forky/basket cruise by tonight. He didn't respond to the grunt, which is OK, I just wanted a better look. Walking out from the stand tonight I heard deer running away from me. Surprisingly, it made me happy to hear it. The last week and a half I have had very minimal deer sightings and hadn't been kicking any out walking in or out. Maybe things are picking up again. Yesterday morning I saw a very big bodied deer 500 yards away, either cruising or kicked up by someone. I have no idea how big he was, I couldn't see the antlers as he was a long ways away, but he looked big. That was 9:00 a.m. I have Thursday off and plan on doing an all day sit.

[FISHINGURU]

I haven't seen many dead deer on the HWY in my area, normally when the chasing really picks up I'll be seeing the deer piled up on the sides of the roads and in the ditches.

I think the best is yet to come, if anyone believes in the moon theories the rutting moon is on the 10th this year.

Glad to see it's happening for some people, pretty soon it will be me!

Booner or Bust!

[tunrevir]

Sat yesterday from 1/2 hour before sunrise till 1130, bumped a deer on the way in, had a nubbin come in and stand under the tree, rattled in a basket six and saw a coyote. ran a few errands and got back on stand at 1, saw 4 does from 1-dark thirty. First doe was running hard with the wind for 60 yards, stopped, turned around and trotted back the way she came. Weird. No bucks, no hits and no errors I'll be back in stand in an hour for the am sit. Good luck today everyone!

Tunrevir~

[harvey lee]

The true hard run of the rut will not start for us hunting in North Dakota until probably the 11-14th of November.

I may see a few smaller bucks sniffing on the ground but in say 1.5 weeks, the game should be on hard.

I rarely ever see a good rut the first week of November. Mid Nov is when I like to sit all day but not until then.

[HNTNBUX]

Yesterday was a good day for me. I saw a buck following two does at sunrise then later watched two bucks sparring. In the evening I saw three individual does, two forks sparring, a six as wide as his ears and a decent ten. All were within 30 yards, to bad I could not see my pins when I drew back on the ten. One more try Friday morning before firearms season then off to a new to me woods and area of the state.

[psepuncher]

with corn being 95% harvested...

I hope to see something in the woods soon.

Also with the piz poor weather coming in Sunday.

I'm sitting all day Saturday if I have to.

I've seen lots of ground scrapes of good size but no big tree rubs to mention. Maybe Saturday is just what the Dr. orderd.

[frogtosser]

I saw afork and a six hanging out together last evening, the most they did was tickle their antlers together. The heavy rut is still at least a week off, not much for scrapes and nothing is responding to grunt calls. I did shoot a nice doe last night and she was all by herself. I sat all day the last 3 days and the only activity I saw from bucks was at 6 at night.

[james_walleye]

Full rut isnt a full week off down here SE. I wish i could show you guys the picturemails i've gotten and seen the past 3 days. The big bucks are going crazy around here. I sat with a spotting scope last night and only watched a single lone forkhorn eating acorns showing no rut activity at all but 2 friends in stand all day saw 4 bucks and 5 bucks a piece, each seeing 2 big dogs. 2 of those big buck sightings were between 11am-1pm. On the archery log i posted a pic of the buck my friend shot this morning.

[HunterLee]

It was like someone hit a switch here this morning, been out in the am and pm the last few days and finally today bucks were running, chasing and being dumb, my brother shot a 120+ 9pt this morning. Hope to get out in the am.