#2084938 - 09/24/10 09:19 PM
Hickman County Rut
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AUhunter
Spike
Registered: 09/19/10
Posts: 33
Loc: North Alabama
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I've been hunting Hickman County for the past 2 years - a lease around Bucksnort. I've mainly bowhunted on weekends starting late October and then gun hunted into December. I've seen several good bucks, mostly before Thanksgiving but have not seen the bucks in what I'd call heavy rut - no doe chasing, swollen necks, etc. Have I just missed it or what?
Thanks
Edited by AUhunter (09/24/10 09:30 PM)
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#2084951 - 09/24/10 09:27 PM
Re: Hickman County Rut
[Re: AUhunter]
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mossyhorns300
10 Point
Registered: 12/15/04
Posts: 3731
Loc: memphis, tn & savannah, tn
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Crappy, warm weather over the last couple of years hindered any daylight rutting activity from being seen, I think.
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#2084960 - 09/24/10 09:33 PM
Re: Hickman County Rut
[Re: mossyhorns300]
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AUhunter
Spike
Registered: 09/19/10
Posts: 33
Loc: North Alabama
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Well that would make sense and make me feel better. I've spent several days in the tree daylight to dark without much buck activity to show for it. Maybe this year will be better but judging by the temps this weekend I'm wondering if it will be more of the same....
Thanks for the response!
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#2085294 - 09/25/10 10:29 AM
Re: Hickman County Rut
[Re: AUhunter]
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Bone Collector
12 Point
Registered: 09/09/09
Posts: 6187
Loc: Murfreesboro, TN
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AU I don't hunt there much, but usually work in a late ML hunt or an early rifle hunt before Thanksgiving and last year on the last weekend of ML there was buck movement, but they were still together. They were starting to scrape and rub. We shot a 10 pt and his neck was swollen and he stunk pretty bad, but like I said we had seen him the PM before with another buck.
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#2085318 - 09/25/10 10:53 AM
Re: Hickman County Rut
[Re: Bone Collector]
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JCDEERMAN
14 Point
Registered: 07/19/08
Posts: 7673
Loc: NASHVILLE, TN
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Our place is in Hickman County past Bucksnort (Centerville). They are usually ruttin hard around Nov. 10-17. Then again in the start - mid December. It has gotten alot better the last several years while working in our management plan. But like others have mentioned, the temperatures the last couple of years in prime time have been waaaay to high for daylight movement. So much to a sense, that there were a couple of times the last 2 years that I didnt know if I was going to make it to a stand....Having bucks running and grunting towards me before daylight. This happened numerous times last year. I would be climbing my stand as quick as I could and as soon as I got to the top, the buck would be within 5 yards from the base of my tree (thinking I was another deer and was there to investigate). I've never even thought about being scared of a deer before, but it definately put chills down my spine. BUT as soon as it got light - we would see NOTHING! If the temperatures would cooperate at the right time, I guarantee you, you would have a whole new perspective on the rut in Hickman County.
Good luck!
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In God we trust
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#2087480 - 09/27/10 07:57 AM
Re: Hickman County Rut
[Re: JCDEERMAN]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59668
Loc: Nashville, TN
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Bucks necks don't "swell" for the rut. A buck's big neck in November is pure muscle, and the size of his neck is determined by his age--the older the buck the larger his neck gets as the rut approaches. If you aren't seeing any bucks with large necks in November, you aren't seeing any older bucks.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#2087513 - 09/27/10 08:09 AM
Re: Hickman County Rut
[Re: BSK]
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tndrbstr
16 Point
Registered: 10/06/05
Posts: 12157
Loc: knox co tn
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Bucks necks don't "swell" for the rut. A buck's big neck in November is pure muscle, and the size of his neck is determined by his age--the older the buck the larger his neck gets as the rut approaches. If you aren't seeing any bucks with large necks in November, you aren't seeing any older bucks.
 ,...maybe I am am not understanding your comment here... I thought that a bucks neck getting larger was largely due to increase in, and amount of, testosterone, that and along with increased working of the neck muscles thru rubbing and sparring that put on the majority of seasonal bulk...as far as the size of the neck in general,...I would think that any deer on avearge will have more muscle mass as it ages, even outside the rut... at least untill it starts to decline in health...
I am looking more at, in my mind, as the "rut" size as a % ratio (given a somewhat similar biological comparison) compared to the available mass prior to.......depends on what they start with...
Edited by tndrbstr (09/27/10 08:27 AM)
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#2087539 - 09/27/10 08:20 AM
Re: Hickman County Rut
[Re: tndrbstr]
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pastorbmp
10 Point
Registered: 01/16/06
Posts: 4259
Loc: Wartburg,TN
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BSK,
I figured the increase of testerone played into the swelling of a bucks neck. I know I last year I had trail cams of a buck in late Sept. with a little srawny neck, and then kill them him Nov. and his neck was huge. I attribute some of that to building up muscles rubbing trees, but figured the increased testerone contributed greatly to the increased muscle.
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#2087732 - 09/27/10 09:37 AM
Re: Hickman County Rut
[Re: pastorbmp]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59668
Loc: Nashville, TN
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Yes, it is muscle development due to testosterone increase (just like a body builder getting all 'roided up). But it isn't just "swelling" as some hunters think; it is true muscle.
Old bucks produce huge neck muscles, young bucks don't. The size of a buck's neck in late October and early November is THE best criterion for judging age.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#2087738 - 09/27/10 09:40 AM
Re: Hickman County Rut
[Re: BSK]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59668
Loc: Nashville, TN
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And by the way, the rut around Bucksnort is usually mid-November. However, last year it was so hot during the peak of the rut that little rutting activity occurred during daylight. The year before we saw a very strange early peak of daylight rutting. By Nov. 8 it was all over for daylight activity.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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