I just talked to a friend in the U P of Michigan, and another down in Tennessee (I live in Indiana) and all of us have noticed strange rut this year. Here, the rut was so early that by the time firearms season opened on Nov.16th, all the scrapes had gone cold and were not being used. Also, I noticed that the bucks I was seeing from late Sept. to about a month ago had big necks, but now they are totally back to normal... According to my friends north and south, they are seeing the same thing.... and as some of you know, my game cam has confirmed that they are only moving by night... what say ye???

Not really that weird. The latest information seems to confirm peak rut starting at the new moon. It used to be thought it was triggered by the full moon.This year the new moon was on Nov 4th. Scraping will go pretty cold once the bucks are chasing the does. I know up north here we used to figure around Nov 15th, but new scientific info seems to indicate a firm link with the new moon as being the trigger for doe estrus.

bowhuntr

Ditto here in East Ky.
The last scrape any of us found worked was Nov.7
Any deer seen thru our gun season, had their hooves stepped on.

I could stand in the back yard at midnite with the Q beam and see 20-30 sets of eyes on the hillsides.

The latest and most scientific study on the rutting of deer has to do with the amount of light hours in the day and the rut is started by that entrance of light into the eye in a symplistic since...In other words the more daylight hours in the day causes the rut....I don't altogether understand it but it makes more since than most folklore, but also seems to parrell some folklore....It is an interresting study...

You'll hear all kinds of hocus pocus bullshit on the rut. The rut starts the same time every year and is the result of the length of day. Because its a constant.

You always hear things like the snow has really got them rutting and its just to damn warm this year for the rut. Bullshit. The weather today has nothing to do with whats important.What's important, is what the weather will be when newborn calves or fawns are dropped in the spring. Nature takes care of itself. If the rut could just start any time in september or november,you'd have offspring being born in the spring over an entire month and in the spring of the year a couple of weeks can mean the differance between two foot of snow or dry weather.The animals also have to be born early enough in the year,to mature enough by the time winter rolls around to survive.What you really have,is a couple weeks at most when the majority are born. You do have a few cases where animals are born late, due to being knocked up late in the rut,but these are few compared to the majority.

Weather does make animals more active during the rut. Cooler weather and even rain can make the elk rut heat up in the sense you'll see more bulls moving around,instead of wallowing. With whitetails and mulies,sub-zero weather seems to bring out more deer activity,since deer are searching for food. Even with these weather changes,the females of the species have to be in estrous and that's still dependant on the length of day.

I have to agree. The ruts have been screwy this year. During my deer hunt, the rut should have been just beginning. Nothing happening at all. The following season, two weeks later, friends were out and again, no rut activity. They only got a spindly forked horn. During the time I hunted, only a few spikes and forked horns were taken. I counted 12 deer hanging and there were at least 400 hunters, probably more. There wasn't a decent deer in sight, I don't care how far you kied in away from the roads.
A conversation with the local game warden turned out to be interesting. According to what he told me, the bull elk in the Prescott and Flagstaff areas had poor racks, and apparently there was no rut at all. Now we're talking strange rutting behavior or no rut at all across a wide span of this country. I know that range conditions and forest fires affected a large part of the best of Arizona's hunting country, and range conditions are mighty poor due to the drought as well. But weird ruts everywhere else?
It bodes poorly for any kind of a hunting season next year in Arizona, I'm afraid.
Paul B.

Damned El Ninyo

The rut starts at the same time every year, but weather conditions can affect the amount of movement. If a doe isn't bred, she will come into estrus 21 days later. If a lot of does are not bred the first time that they come into estrus, the rut could possibly be extended.

My opinion.

Rut takes place same time every year. Weather, hunting pressure, etc. might alter things a bit, but the rut still goes on. It has to do with the amount of daylight hours in a day, not much else.

I too live in IN, north central part of the state. Most of the breeding takes place 11/5 thru 11/20. Never changes, same every year.

Some years things just work out better than others.