I have been looking at forecasts for the first week of Nov. Looks like a warm up? My question is with rut more than likely being in do you think that will stop alot of the movement with the warmer temps? Will they become more nocturnal? Should I hunt close to water? I am fairly new at bowhunting and just wondered what everyone thought?!?! Thanks and good luck fellas!
I am far from an expert, but I think during the rut, you can throw out the moon phases, temp, barometric pressure, etc... A hot doe will likely trump any of these. I think that will be a good week to be in stand. Rut + Cold front ( like the expected weekend forecast ) is just a bonus!
Hi- I am no expert either but I've keep a journal with over 20 years of bowhunting Ohio and use that data for predicting deer movement. One thing that definitely impacts rut activity (deer movement)
is warm weather. My stats clearly show that when the barometer climbs, chase activity stops. I equate it to that by this time of year the deer have their winter fur and they physically can't look for, and pursue each other.
Trperk can u share some more of your data? When's best barometric pressure and any other u r willing to pass along! I deffinately would be interested in reading!
Hey MjH- unfortunately I didn't track barometric pressure and it's literally a bound journal so hard to publish. I do track; location, date, temp, wind (direction and MPH), moon phase and of course the results. Some interesting trends over the 20 years are: shot 12 bucks on Nov 11 and 12, 8 of which were between 11am and 330pm. Temp was between 20 and 40 degrees. Wind was calm to 15mph. On the flip side the worse deer activity was during warm and/or windy days. Sitting in you stand during light rain seems also to be productive.
I know this is a lot of stuff you'd read in a article but for me it reinforces the conditions and time of day to be in your stand when the rut is on!
Well I agree that the warm weather will cause most rut activities to happen in the dark.
But the most rut activity I've ever seen was Nov 12, 09. I watched 4 bucks chase a doe that morning. As the day the day went along the Temps went up. I was down to my t-shirt telling myself to just go no deer are moving. Well had a buck come by out of range trailing the doe but in the wrong direction. Not long after that I hear the crunching of leaves coming my way. I let go of that arrow at 12 noon. I forget the temp but it was in the 70's.
When it comes to the rut all bets are off.
If you have hot does in the area it's on.
Hey MjH- unfortunately I didn't track barometric pressure and it's literally a bound journal so hard to publish. I do track; location, date, temp, wind (direction and MPH), moon phase and of course the results. Some interesting trends over the 20 years are: shot 12 bucks on Nov 11 and 12, 8 of which were between 11am and 330pm. Temp was between 20 and 40 degrees. Wind was calm to 15mph. On the flip side the worse deer activity was during warm and/or windy days. Sitting in you stand during light rain seems also to be productive.
I know this is a lot of stuff you'd read in a article but for me it reinforces the conditions and time of day to be in your stand when the rut is on!
I Agree with gonehunting45, the rut never stops with the bucks or does because of warm temp. if that were the case deer would never breed in places like Texas. It may cause bucks to chase more at night then in the heat of the day and cause a trickle rut like last year in my area. If there is a hot doe out there the bucks will be chasing and it will depend on her if everyone is moving or bedding not the weather. This weekend calls for a mix of snow and rain on Sat. high of 39. and sunny and a high of 45 on Sun. They will be moving this weekend.
Buck's in Texas don't have the winter coats like in OH! I am not saying that deer don't rut when it's warm, what I am saying is that deer activity declines when it's unseasonably warm whether the rut is on or not.
Like gonehunting45, I've arrowed bucks during the rut when it's 70 degrees. I've just shoot a lot more, and seen more activity, when the temperatures are right.
I just looked again at the weather for where I am going.....Calling for highs in the upper 50's and lows in the high 30's....Hope it will work out for me!!
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