Rut activiity is kicking in

[Sharpie1]

I have been out since season opened , last two weeks a lot of bucks running does. Have a lot more bucks showing up on camera. I have had several opportunities to shoot marginal buck . However I did pass on them . Hope to not regret this action on my part.

[smokin_aces]

I haven't seen anything in this part yet. The bucks are just now splitting up. I wish this warm weather would go away tho

[BIGHUNTOH]

Definetly picking up here. I walk every night after work around 5 till dark and found three new woods scrapes and ten field edge scrapes. And the bucks are def responding to my grunts.

[whodey1966]

The seeking phase of the rut will end next week, weather looks good, be in your stands! IMO, the seeking phase is the best time to be in the woods!

[mrbb]

they were doing real well 5-6 days ago, then it got warm here and its like no action now at all, seeing bucks and does feeding not a care about each other
where as a week ago the doe's were being bothered a lot by both young and older bucks

need these dam temps to drop again, 64 degree at dark tonight, thats just too warm if you ask me for a good rut

[SSpengSS]

I've had bucks of all sizes chasing does actively since weekend two of the season. It's been exciting to say the least. The last couple years I've noticed a significant, inconsistant pattern with the activity of my deer. No build up any more it seems. Very interesting and somewhat concerning.

To take that a step further, the solunar calendar has been nearly spot on...just as I'm coming to find that after 3 years of paying attention to this I am convinced that this is one of the most reliable determining factors on how I choose the particular way I hunt on any given day.

[blackbeard]

Tell us more SSpengSS?

[SSpengSS]

Whatcha want me to tell you more about blackbeard?

[so.OH_bowhunter2]

Last weekend, there were 6 fresh ground scrapes on my walk to my stand. This week, all scrapes have went cold. They are all covered up, and there are no new scrapes. I did see a couple new rubs that got me really excited.

[southeasternohiobowhunter]

down here in southeastern ohio there hasn't been much rut activity. a few scrapes here and there. i've seen several doe groups, but no bucks to be seen around them. the big bucks still seem to be nocturnal. it's not just me, people all over the area are experiencing the same things. the bucks i have seen while hunting seemed to just be staging/browsing around waiting for dark to get to a feeding spot. i did see a 140 class buck, but he was moving like 5 feet every 10 minutes, and didn't get into range before dark. but hey we all know its coming, so lets just be patient... (:

[spatrick]

I've seen one young buck chasing a doe Tuesday evening. I have seen plenty of scrapes and no rubs. Have not seen any mature bucks just on trail cam in the dark mostly am.

[Doc148]

So a decent 8 point on 3the does friday the 26th. Heard him grunting on my way in to the stand. I would say the rut is picking up. It was only a few degrees cooler that day. Now with the rain and wind from this storm. I don't know how I am gonna get in the woods without getting busted. Gonna give it a try end of the week!

[BowGuy2]

How have u seen scrapes but no rubs? U see rubs pretty much all year around and which is a great deer sign but also very common I like most can sit in our treestand and can't count out 10-15 rub trees. Maybe ur mistaken rub and scrape. Rub it on the tree and scrape is on the ground

[spatrick]

To bowguy 2, they are scrapes. There is not one tree with a rub, but I'm gettin plenty of mature bucks on my trail cams.

[heelbilly]

This is an excerpt from my kill story of my buck yesterday:

At about 9:30 I decided I had enough getting tossed around like a ship at sea and was going to climb on down. I stood up and turned to start packing up and I saw a big body deer over where the doe and fawns were browsing. I checked it out through the binos and thought he looked like a shooter. I tried to grunt at him, but I guess with the wind he couldn't hear. So I hit the rattle bag...that got his attention. He looped around a deadfall and my backstop for shooting my gun..hit my entry trail (Tinks 69 drag) and came down the trail I walked in on. He beat his head in every piece of brush or tree he passed. He actually had some limbs get hung up in his antlers which was pretty cool. He made 2 scrapes on his way down the trail (100yds tops). He stopped to rub a cypress sapling at 35yds so I drew while he was pre-occupied. He made his way down the trail just as I had.

My trail cam pics revealed an increase in deer activity to the mock scrape I created 2 weeks ago, including several pics of bigger bucks than the one I killed. I would say after Sandy has her fun, it should make it a good time to be in the woods. The deer were starting to get wound up yesterday in Batavia.

[In The Stand2012]

This is an excerpt from my kill story of my buck yesterday:

At about 9:30 I decided I had enough getting tossed around like a ship at sea and was going to climb on down. I stood up and turned to start packing up and I saw a big body deer over where the doe and fawns were browsing. I checked it out through the binos and thought he looked like a shooter. I tried to grunt at him, but I guess with the wind he couldn't hear. So I hit the rattle bag...that got his attention. He looped around a deadfall and my backstop for shooting my gun..hit my entry trail (Tinks 69 drag) and came down the trail I walked in on. He beat his head in every piece of brush or tree he passed. He actually had some limbs get hung up in his antlers which was pretty cool. He made 2 scrapes on his way down the trail (100yds tops). He stopped to rub a cypress sapling at 35yds so I drew while he was pre-occupied. He made his way down the trail just as I had.

My trail cam pics revealed an increase in deer activity to the mock scrape I created 2 weeks ago, including several pics of bigger bucks than the one I killed. I would say after Sandy has her fun, it should make it a good time to be in the woods. The deer were starting to get wound up yesterday in Batavia.

Great to hear an awesome story of success with the wacko weather! Just goes to show there out there movin around! Congrats.

[blackbeard]

Whatcha want me to tell you more about blackbeard?

More about the solunar table and how you use it, do you just hunt when it says is the best time, is it that simple I guess?

[southeasternohiobowhunter]

is the solunar table just like the farmers almanac for fishing? just tells you the best times to fish, and the poor times...can't wait for the weekend guys! i've got a feeling there will be some nice bucks tagged (:

[erparr]

Hunted tonight and had a 140's class buck I've seen several times chase a doe hard for about 30 mins. tonight... I have decided to pass on this deer, but its exciting to see things are heating up... Ive hunted pretty much straight through this nasty weather spotting and stalking a lot of deer, but they're not doing much to say the least. In this type of weather I have had a lot of success spotting and stalking the ground is wet and quiet and its easy to put the wind in your face and cover some ground, I only do this in areas I am not intending on hunting hard so as not to disturb things. The small bucks are really starting to push the does and i am seeing a ton of fresh scrapes. I think as soon as the weather makes a change at this point it will be on!

[SSpengSS]

Blackbeard...sorry it's taken me forever to get back to you, brother! I've got a 1-week old newborn boy and a 2-year old boy so needless to say I've got my hands full as of late.

Solunar tables indicate peak wildlife movement periods predicted by lunar phases. Here's a quick link that explains it:

http://www.solunar.com/the_solunar_theory.aspx

It's important to note that the phases need to be cross-referenced according to your particular location and weather patterns. I quickly do this with an app on my smartphone, called iHunt Journal. I believe I started a thread about it last year. Anyways, below is a screenshot of the app that lets you see how easy it is:

9364

It lets you see moonphase, weather, and shooting light and sunrise/sunset. Obviously, you can see the major and minor movement periods as well, which are specifically calculated by location and weather. 5 stars is good...1 star is bad. These have been so consistant it is silly. I consider this first if I question hunting on a particular day/time. Don't get me wrong, I don't hesitate to go out when there is only 1 star or movement time isnt during normal peak hunting hours....I'm a believer that you need to be out there if you want to kill a big boy, but I've noticed such a big difference in hunting productivity when I follow the solunar predictions that I can't deny it and truly believe they are more accurrate than not. I do believe weather trumps all, but this is a close second. If you can be out when a coldfront is about to blow through and there is 5 star major movement predicted in that timeframe, I can almost guarantee you will see lots of deer!

Take that with a grain of salt, but I'd encourage everyone just to take note of it and see if you have the same consistant experience I have.

Good luck!

[apostledon]

but your bottom dollar its kickin in Nov1 three bucks in less than an hour cruisin today, had to was my clothes busted twice!

[bds9]

but your bottom dollar its kickin in Nov1 three bucks in less than an hour cruisin today, had to was my clothes busted twice!

Any Mature bucks? I'm so glad its november! I can't wait to get in a tree!!

[belcikmj]

Out at my buddy's in the south west corner of Ohio, driving up tonight saw a doe on the edge of a field, backed up and turned the lights behind her. There was a big old 160" buck following her! Can't wait to see what this weekend holds!

[deerguy10]

Blackbeard...sorry it's taken me forever to get back to you, brother! I've got a 1-week old newborn boy and a 2-year old boy so needless to say I've got my hands full as of late.

Solunar tables indicate peak wildlife movement periods predicted by lunar phases. Here's a quick link that explains it:

http://www.solunar.com/the_solunar_theory.aspx

It's important to note that the phases need to be cross-referenced according to your particular location and weather patterns. I quickly do this with an app on my smartphone, called iHunt Journal. I believe I started a thread about it last year. Anyways, below is a screenshot of the app that lets you see how easy it is:

9364

It lets you see moonphase, weather, and shooting light and sunrise/sunset. Obviously, you can see the major and minor movement periods as well, which are specifically calculated by location and weather. 5 stars is good...1 star is bad. These have been so consistant it is silly. I consider this first if I question hunting on a particular day/time. Don't get me wrong, I don't hesitate to go out when there is only 1 star or movement time isnt during normal peak hunting hours....I'm a believer that you need to be out there if you want to kill a big boy, but I've noticed such a big difference in hunting productivity when I follow the solunar predictions that I can't deny it and truly believe they are more accurrate than not. I do believe weather trumps all, but this is a close second. If you can be out when a coldfront is about to blow through and there is 5 star major movement predicted in that timeframe, I can almost guarantee you will see lots of deer!

Take that with a grain of salt, but I'd encourage everyone just to take note of it and see if you have the same consistant experience I have.

Good luck!

I couldn't agree more with what was said here! For the past 2 years I have started to really pay attention to all of the conditions for any given hunt (especially moon phases) and record everything into a note book... and of all the factors that seem to control daytime deer movement my results show that weather is number one and moon phase is a close second...

that being said there is some times when the weather and moon phase may not be the best and i have recorded high deer movement... and also the other way around, with conditions perfect and no deer movemment... but these instances are few and far between...


also, just wanted to add... As i pulled into the shop that i work out of in Hudson on thursday afternoon, i noticed one of our guys doing some work in the lot with a bobcat skid steer. as i was checking out what he was doing, a buck ran across the lot maybe 10 yds behind the skid steer while it was running... i parked my truck and flagged the guy in the machine to walk with me and as we went to check out where the buck had gone, he came running up on us, stopped at 5 yds, checked us out, then tore off through the CRP at the back of the prop. and chased 2 does in circles for 10 minutes or so until they all moved on... he was a 2 1/2 yr. old...
anyway... the are getting stupid and in my estimation IT'S ON! as soon as i get out of work i will be parked in a treestand all weekend!

Best of luck guys!

[apostledon]

Any Mature bucks? I'm so glad its november! I can't wait to get in a tree!!

10pt went about 140s, 8pt might have went 120