Bottom Hunter
Well-Known Member
Yesterday morning I came to the conclusion that the rut is not here yet, in my area of Haywood County. Why? I have no idea. When will it begin full bore? Again, I have no idea.
My reasoning is very simple. here's what I have seen.
Only one trip did I see any chasing at all and that was just one small four point and he was really getting after the doe very hard.
The rest of the trips have been very slow. One trip I saw five bucks, all simply walking around, none looking hard or in much of a hurry.
The doe sightings are down a little but yesterday morning I got the clue I needed to come to this conclusion...
I did not see a deer until 9:00. At that time, I saw a family group of deer, six antler-less( I know one was a button head and two were young does) feeding around with no antlered deer in sight. They came through and I waited for another hour to make sure that a buck may be trailing them and there was nothing behind them.
I've been hunting for almost 40 years and the FIRST sign I KNOW is a rut indicator is button heads and small does ALONE or at the least two young deer together without mom around. I have seen none of that, just family groups of three to five deer, sometimes even more, ALL antler-less. The antlered deer are just gone.
Heck, just last weekend I saw 12 antler-less deer together with no buck in tow....
I guess the rut is close here, maybe it will bust loose soon.
I usually trust my instincts and I think i am right this time, at least for the area I am hunting......no shots being fired around me except for a small seven point killed on saturday....
I love it when the chasing begins full bore, it's so exciting. I just have not seen that so far this season where I am.
good luck..!
My reasoning is very simple. here's what I have seen.
Only one trip did I see any chasing at all and that was just one small four point and he was really getting after the doe very hard.
The rest of the trips have been very slow. One trip I saw five bucks, all simply walking around, none looking hard or in much of a hurry.
The doe sightings are down a little but yesterday morning I got the clue I needed to come to this conclusion...
I did not see a deer until 9:00. At that time, I saw a family group of deer, six antler-less( I know one was a button head and two were young does) feeding around with no antlered deer in sight. They came through and I waited for another hour to make sure that a buck may be trailing them and there was nothing behind them.
I've been hunting for almost 40 years and the FIRST sign I KNOW is a rut indicator is button heads and small does ALONE or at the least two young deer together without mom around. I have seen none of that, just family groups of three to five deer, sometimes even more, ALL antler-less. The antlered deer are just gone.
Heck, just last weekend I saw 12 antler-less deer together with no buck in tow....
I guess the rut is close here, maybe it will bust loose soon.
I usually trust my instincts and I think i am right this time, at least for the area I am hunting......no shots being fired around me except for a small seven point killed on saturday....
I love it when the chasing begins full bore, it's so exciting. I just have not seen that so far this season where I am.
good luck..!
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