Rut Reports

[hockeybc69]

Hunted in 223 the last 2 days.... No sign of anything going here yet. No deer and no scrapes, rubs or anything.

Gotta be soon! Hopefully in the morning I see some life.

[eyeguy 54]

good scrapes around here, good rubs for a couple weeks.

[engfish]

Between Thursday evening and Friday morning, I counted 4 new scrapes--two were very large and 3 new rubs on a trail that is 150 yards long. Two of the rubs were on cedar trees that were 6" or more in diameter. I'd say the big boy I saw on Wednesday night is marking his turf at night, but he's not making any daytime appearances with all of the slugs flying around Zone 341.

Based on the amount of shooting, the harvest will be good in Zone 3 this fall.

[dave12341234]

Well, woke up this morning to sleet/drizzle. sleeping in this morning til it stops. Last night I found a fresh scrape 20 yards beyond my stand, pops up in the same spot every year. no deer though.

[FISHINGURU]

Friend of mine is out looking for a buck he shot, says "it's the biggest buck I've ever seen".

[PropsterII]

Does he need help?

[eyeslayer20]

Hunted Sunday night after work and so I didn't want to take the risk of bumping anything by my stands so I slipped in my groundblind and saw 7 does with no bucks. Then I sat all day yesterday during pretty good but wet conditions and so no deer which i thought was odd. Checked my trial camera this morning and there was a nice shooter 10 pointer at my one stand at 4:50 pm Sunday, isn't that the way it usually goes.

[Musky Buck]

I wish that is how it goes, my area is so overloaded with hunters, Sunday and Monday I never heard a shot but knew the masses were out in force and they shoot anything, it doesn't take long to realize nothing is moving or you'd hear the shooting, go get that 10 he'll be back.

[hockeybc69]

Hunted 223 again today. No rutting or hot movement at all on the 5 deer I saw.

[james_walleye]

I got out this afternoon and finally saw some antlers. About 330 a had a young 10 pointer at 15 yards. Man was it tempting to let it fly.....but I'm sure it was a 2 year old and should be a dandy next year. Then about sunset I had about a 110-115" 8 pointer at 30 yards. Again....so tempting but again a 2 year old. If it comes to it I'll put a doe in the freezer soon. Hopefully this afternoon is a good sign of things to come. It was good to see some nice antlers and felt good to let them walk.

[tracker x-2]

I think we should all post what zone or at least county where hunting in to better interpret each others sightings..

over the weekend in 338 our party of four seen over a dozen does and only one scenario of a buck chasing. I think this weekend (Sunday) will be excellent.

[james_walleye]

I was in olmsted county.....

[CrewJones]

223 punched the ticket on a nice 9 pointer, only deer i have seen since last friday. I was worried about passing on small bucks but this guy finally came on just put the pop up stand up 45 min before i shot this deer, he stinks like rut

[archerystud]

I'm in 291.

[hockeybc69]

Well, no visual activty this AM.... However, checked a trail cam and a 2.5 yo 8 pt walked by it at 10am yesterday....

[nbadger23]

I'm in 343. No deer Monday p.m or Tuesday a.m. I did see two fawns this morning who bedded down near me for over an hour. I was surprised I got out of there w/o spooking them.

[bigbucks]

Rattled a nice 10 I think in Thursday night to 35-40 yards. Just wasn't clear & he wouldn't come closer. Passed on a nice 2 year-old 8 ptr that morning & had a close encounter with a little forky or 6 ptr while scouting about mid day. Saw nothing on Friday but in scouting, putting up a ladder stand, & moving a blind found about 15 new scrapes on two properties & 20+ rubs in one little area at my Dad's place.

The weekend was pretty quiet for me personally, saw one fawn & one small buck on Saturday. Finally saw some deer again last night with my son right at dark, a doe & 3 fawns I'm sure, as it's a group I've seen a lot, but we could never id the doe. He said, Dad I don't want to shoot a little one. I said why not, you've never shot a deer? Well MAYBE if it comes closer, it didn't.

[FishingWebGuy]

Sat this evening in areas 601. 1 2 yr old 8 casually strolled through at sunset within 15 yards but nothing else.

[MUSKY18]

Hunted down in 218 (5 miles south of Belgrade) this morning. Had a nice doe and her fawn come through about 7:45. They were moving along pretty good and didn't stick around long. Ranged them at 60 yards. Clip they were moving, thought maybe a buck might have been pushing them, but nothing. Rubs all over in the swamp area I was sitting, but no bucks. Heard a few shots here and there, but nothing to write home about.

[lichen fox]

Up here in 264 it's just gettin rollin...up to mon. had been seeing lots of doe's, fawns and smaller bucks, a few scrapes and rubs, tue. saw 8 deer...had a small buck check out a fawn on a food plot...wed. sat in the same spot...had that same small buck chasing a nice doe really hard...then came another doe from a different direction with a "little bigger" buck right on her tail...saw an additional 3 does and 4 fawns after that and just at dark something big came out but it was so dark that I couldn't tell if it was a buck or doe even with the binocs!! this morning 5 fresh scrapes in that immediate area and at least 4 new rubs!

[PropsterII]

Many of these reports coincide with what I was seeing. I predict next 5-7 days should be pretty good for movement of mature bucks hopefully latter search phase and chase phase, then we'll probably get into more of the actual breeding. Of course some areas guys are already reporting having seen some of this happening. All the variation is due to population density, buck/doe ratio, age of the herd, human pressure (i.e. gun season), food and a number of other factors, but in general I'd like to think that things will bust loose some time in the next couple days to a week. Just wish it weren't going to be quite so windy. And I can do without thunderstorms too

[nbadger23]

Two sets of does with a fawn this morning. They came from opposite directions and kind of "met up" with each other and both turned around and went the other way.

It's starting to get to be a bit of a grind as I haven't seen horns since Sunday.

I've taken a look twice at moving one of my stands where I've seen the most buck activity but I just can't get a good feel of where to move it and the wind has been all over the place lately it seems.

Prop - I hope you're right. I have a feeling I've got some does holding bucks down right now and once those deer are bred they'll be off looking again, at least that's the hope.

[hockeybc69]

Hunted every morning and evening this week. Havent seen a buck yet. Only saw deer on one sit so far.

Area 223

However, I am limited to 2 stands, so thats not helping much at this point I dont think.

[nonteepical]

the first week of november the entire state should be expierencing pre rut activity chasing, scraping, searching ect. I honestly think we don't have a million deer in this state, a good indicator of deer population unfortunatly is road kill, and i haven't seen hardly any accross the state the past few years. i mainly travel from the cities to duluth and dakotas to wisconsin, and only get to s.e mn. about twice a year. the second you drive into wisc. dead deer everywhere, get back into mn. and theres nothing i don't know how they get their numbers but i think they're way off.

[FishingWebGuy]

Good point on road kill. I too barely see any in MN but we travel through WI a lot and the shoulders are covered in road kill. Maybe MN is really quick at clean up