pre-rut

[kpp]

Anyone been in the woods and seen any scrapes or rubs yet?

[Jeremiah Johnson]

i saw 2 scrapes in houston county last weekend, none up here in bemidji

[harvey lee]

I have been seeing scrapes and rubs for 2 weeks in North Dakota.

[Jim Hudson]

The little bucks are on a tear up in my neck of the woods. And the occasional bigger boy is starting to roam, still mostly under the cover of darkness though. The little guys are getting a lil dumb though. They always come to the dance early!!

[Outdoors_guy]

The morning of Saturday the 14th seen a fork a four and a six pointer sparring 25 yards from me for about 20 minutes. Seems that the 4 pointer won and the other 2 deer left that area. Saturday night in a different spot was putting up a camera and all of a sudden a 8 pointer comes hauling @$$ out of the cornfield not to be out done a huge 12 pointer was not far behind chasing his scronny @$$ off of his territory. The 12 came running out the corn with his head down and all his hair was sticking up on his body. I know that because he ran within touching distance of me and then stopped 10 feet from me. Didn't even see me or look at me. He stood there for about 5-10 seconds and then took off again after the littler deer. My bow was on the ground and had i been in my stand i would of had the most perfect shot. Hopefully see him again. I think the rut is starting in my area.

[KatoMike]

Was in my stand late Sunday afternoon (Oct. 15) and there were about half a dozen scrapes below the stand. Saw one solid rub on my walk into the stand. Didn't see any deer while in the stand though (only about a million squirrels)...

[David Frank]

I've been seeing scrapes and rubs around Aberdeen, SD for a while now. Saw 2 small bucks sparring a couple nights ago, and this morning had a small 4 x 4 come in to investigate some rattling. He was mine had I decided I wanted him, but still holding out for mister big.

An interesting side note: When the small buck tried crossing a fence this morning, he didn't quite make it all the way over. I've seen deer hit the top wire before and rattle the heck out of a fence, but this guy got completely hung upside down! He got caught right in the crease between the hind quarters and the trunk of his body. After a few minutes of watching him struggle to get off the fence, I was exiting my blind to get into position for a shot to end his suffering when he finally worked his way free and hobbled off on 3 legs. I have heard many stories about an injury to one side resulting in a non-typical rack the following year. I will be interested to see what happens with this guy next year. Something you don't see every day. Thought it would be an interesting story for everyone.

Dave Frank

[rattlem'up]

down here south of Spring Valley right by the minnesota/Iowa border there are scrapes, rubs everywhere. There alreay well into the rut down here. Wittnessed quite a few bucks fighting and working scrape lines and chasin da girls. Just keep on looking around boys. There out there. I've also wittnessed rutting activity in central MN as well as around the Pine River area.

[BuckRuttinFool]

I have a hard time believing that the deer anywhere in Minnesota are in rut already, especially very southern Minnesota.....they may be starting pre rut but definatly not in full rut.

[rattlem'up]

well they've been in pre-rut for about 2 weeks that ive seen

[BuckRuttinFool]

rattle em you said they were well into the rut not pre rut.....I can see the pre rut but not the actual rut

[kpp]

AH HA I was out today and finally found some scrapes. Also found one about 125 yards from the new stand i put up. It's gonna be a rough two weeks trying to get to sleep now, but i can live with that knowing mr big might be roaming by on opening morning. Good Luck All.

[Johnny_Namakan]

Since June I've been going out to the deer-cam changing film every two weeks. I had a line of about 10 ground scrapes every 20 feet at my stand location about 4-5 weeks ago. This is in northern Saint Louis County. I was out their last weekend and the scrapes were all covered in leaves and didn't appear to have been worked for a week or so. Not sure what the deal is with those scrapes but they show up in the same spot every year for the past seven or eight years. Might be from the does and not the bucks. I'll be out there again tomorrow and plan on checking around the stand. 12 days from today and I'll be at the shack. These next two weeks are going to feel like forever. I try not to think too much about hunting, just so that the time goes by faster.

[eagle_3464]

Was out Wednesday evening and saw a fork with one side freshly broken off. It appeared he still had dried blood from the sparring. Once in the field he chased a couple of does.

[doser]

My brother shot a six pointer tonight. It came in chasing three doe and he said it was grunting the whole way. He also had a doe decoy out and said he locked into that so it is starting to heat up.