Rut

[LakeoftheWoods]

Anyone notice if the bucks are in rut yet? Around here it doesn't seem like it. I haven't seen much for sign around my area. I'm thinking its too warm.

[MUSKY18]

The rut is on! Should only intensify from here for the next week.

Warmth really doesn't have that much to do with the rut, it is triggered more off of the amount of daylight than temp.

[LakeoftheWoods]

oh? I didn't realize that, I always thought it revolved around the tempuratures. good to know.

[MUSKY18]

The rut is primarily caused by the amount of daylight. The decrease in light triggers a buck to increase testosterone production. The lessening Daylight also causes Does to produce more estrogen and progesterone, causing them to come into estrus. This will not happen if a doe is still nursing fawns.

[TRZ II]

Fawns will also have very tender and tasty meat when the rut begins this time of year!

[InTheNorthwoods]

The rut is on! Should only intensify from here for the next week.

Warmth really doesn't have that much to do with the rut, it is triggered more off of the amount of daylight than temp.

Warmth has everything to do with the rut as it pertains to hunting. Okay, not everything, but a profound impact. When the temps are high during the daytime, I strongly believe that deer movement and rutting activity is pushed to cooler time periods - i.e. after dark.

As to the rut, it in itself is not a singular, defineable event. The "rut" is a combination of behaviors and factors that come together to be defined as a whole as the "rut". However, determining rut activity, or the onset of the rut, is not really defineable as there are so many subparts that lead into one another (i.e. shedding velvet, buck dispersement, increase in testosterone in bucks, bucks becoming territorial and establishing dominance, does going into heat, seeking behavior, breeding behavior, does going into heat a second time, etc.). Each of these subparts can be impacted by environmental and herd conditions, and consequently subparts of the rut may be less pronounced or variable in different areas. I.e., in areas with alot of does compared to bucks, there may be less visible "seeking" behavior and less visible buck sign as those bucks are going to be spending a majority of their time tending and breeding does. Basically, my point is that it is hard to say the "rut is on" based on any single factor, however, there may be indicators that people see in their areas that make them "feel" like the rut is on.

As a whole, however, I would agree that the onset of most of these deer behaviors are primarily influenced by photoperiodism.

[wayzata]

I am just wondering about all of this sent stuff when the rut is on. It is my first year going out and one of the thing I bought was some Doe Estrous, how would you guys use it? Where? If there is anything else I need to know please let me know.

Thanks

[harvey lee]

oh? I didn't realize that, I always thought it revolved around the tempuratures. good to know.

Length of light a day has everything to do with turning on the rut. I am speaking of the rut in regards to the bucks pushing hard 24/7 for breeding. Not a few bucks making a scrape or sniffing on the ground.

Temps do effect how the bucks will run as the warmer temps will push them to chase at night in the cooler temps.

I personally do not get excited about the rut until the bucks are running all day and chasing or looking for does in heat. That's when one can have bucks running all day long if they are hunting an area with a larger doe population. The bucks will find the hot does.

I have seen it where the bucks were running hard and then a heat wave came in and one could not hardly find a buck until the temps cooled off. They just run at night.

[harvey lee]

I am just wondering about all of this sent stuff when the rut is on. It is my first year going out and one of the thing I bought was some Doe Estrous, how would you guys use it? Where? If there is anything else I need to know please let me know.

Thanks

I personally use it once in approx 40 years of deer hunting archery, gun and muzzleloader.

If you get located in the woods where there are numerous does, the bucks will be around.

I would make sure wherever you put the juice that your scent will not go in the same direction as the doe in heat. many ways to apply the juice. The one year I used it, I put some juice on cotton balls and put them in one area and hunted off to the side so my scent wopuld not interfere with the doe in heat scent.

If you were to google how to use, I am sure you could find ton's of articles on the net.

I am sure others will chime in that have used this stuff alot. I have found that I have never really needed it to whack a buck if I have done my scouting and again, locate myself in a area with does.

[HNTNBUX]

If you are talking about firearms I would only use it as a drag rag. That being said I used scent twice this year and had not used it for five years. I don't plan on using it much and it is more of an impulse buy.

[Fever]

Rut and temp.... these two are not directly coorilated. Rut and day light are. It is simple biology as the rut is regulated by hormones and reproductive hormones like testosterone and estrogen - hormone activity is regulated by the deer's circadian rithums which is controled by the hypothalamus and pituitary. It amazes me how so many people think it is temp related. If this was the case the whitetails in Mexico could not or would not go into rut as the avg low temp is in the upper 40's - 50's with normal highs in the 80's-100's. The temp affects activity level, specifically activity level during daylight (warmer times) vs evening hours. I guess indirectly light hours and angle of light effect temp so the light does regulate both... just the temp has very little i anything to do with when the rut occurs.

[InTheNorthwoods]

Rut and temp.... these two are not directly coorilated. Rut and day light are. It is simple biology as the rut is regulated by hormones and reproductive hormones like testosterone and estrogen - hormone activity is regulated by the deer's circadian rithums which is controled by the hypothalamus and pituitary. It amazes me how so many people think it is temp related. If this was the case the whitetails in Mexico could not or would not go into rut as the avg low temp is in the upper 40's - 50's with normal highs in the 80's-100's. The temp affects activity level, specifically activity level during daylight (warmer times) vs evening hours. I guess indirectly light hours and angle of light effect temp so the light does regulate both... just the temp has very little i anything to do with when the rut occurs.

If this is directed at my post, I think you need to go back and re-read what I had to say. I concur that "the rut" is triggered by photoperiodism (i.e. the length of day). What I said is that as far as deer hunting and movement is concerned, the temperature has a profound impact on the observed rut related movement. When it is abnormally hot in this region, deer movement - chasing, seeking, etc. is going to be confined to cooler times of the day. My post also addressed that "the rut" is not a singular event - it is a combination of deer behavior's that are all, in some way or another, related to triggering a deer's instincts that leads to a change in behavior. These changes (linked to hormones and chemical balance - i.e. hardening of antlers, testosterone spikes, beginning of estrous cycle) are likely all caused, or triggered by, the change in the length of day. But on the same note, it is short sighted to believe that photoperiodism is the only thing that affects deer (or "rut") behavior, as "the rut" is not a singular behavior. For example, commonly accepted observable "rut behaviors" such as the amount of rubs, scrapes, fighting, chasing behavior, daytime movement, etc. can all be influenced by factors other than day length - such as temperature, herd structure (buck/doe ratio, mature bucks v. young bucks), total deer numbers, food sources or food availability, etc.

I think one of the biggest issues with the initial question about the "rut", and when the "rut" starts is; What is the "rut"?

[MUSKY18]

We are all "right" so to speak. North Woods has just broken down all the differen areas that complete the whole of what the rut is and how the various parts come together.

I do believe, tho, that the only real effect weather has on the rut is when and how deer move. As stated, if its warm they will be more apt to move during the night/cool hours. Herd size is also another factor, because lets be honest, will a buck need to cruise the woods when there are 10 does very close to him. Of course not.