Official 2013 Rut Kickoff Thread

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UTGrad

UTGrad

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Ok folks I'm going to go ahead and start this thread I do every year. Its only a few weeks away until the time all of us Tennessee deer hunters love to be in the woods...THE RUT!!

Tell us what you are seeing and where you are at.
 
Tipton County. Still not sure if it's related to rut activity or not but, when I was in the stand this morning I had a doe run in like she was on fire and she stopped right under my stand for a minute and she was breathing real heavy. She was also looking back towards where she came in at. Maybe it was just dogs chasing her but I didnt hear any barking or anything.

If it would have been November instead of October I would have swore a buck was chasing her. I didnt shoot her just cause I wanted to see what else was behind her. That was the only deer I saw from daylight to 10 a.m.

Nice thread by the way UT Grad.
I havent seen any scrapes and only two rubs to speak of.
 
Rut will be wide open when muzzleloader opens in smith/ jackson counties. Usually going strong by the 15th. That being said trailcam pics showed a dramatic increase on oct. 14,15 of this year. Young bucks starting to mess with does a little. Older deer not moving so much yet. Its coming and gonna be an awesome year!!
 
Found first scrapes walking in this evening. Saw 10 doe and 1 small buck. Could hear another buck grunting and chasing doe on other side of field but it was too dark to see...
 
hoyt30 said:
Rut will be wide open when muzzleloader opens in smith/ jackson counties. Usually going strong by the 15th. That being said trailcam pics showed a dramatic increase on oct. 14,15 of this year. Young bucks starting to mess with does a little. Older deer not moving so much yet. Its coming and gonna be an awesome year!!
Click to expand...

A local that hunts on our lease in Marshall County swears the rut is going to come early in that area. He's been seeing scraps, rubs the buck he killed had smelly tarsals.
 
Awesome! Love this thread cause it gets me fired up. Nothing better than talking about the rut on the night of the first frost of the season.
 
2 bucks pushing does hard this morning in Wayne county. One was a 4pt and the other was a big 8 or 10pt. He kept one doe isolated from the others and was running her hard.
 
Finally saw first shooter of the year this evening,and seemed to be cruising.Lots of rubs and scrapes for the past two weeks.No chasing here yet.
 
Thanksgiving week and the week after is when the mature bucks are up and cruising is Somerville (fayette county). If it's cold during muzzleloader, there is a great chance of killing one as well.
 
Judging from what i know about Rutherford County, and past ruts, on my land it will be here around the time ML opens (cruising/seeking phase) and about the time Gun opens they will be chasing on my property. then around thanksgiving they will be in peak breeding.
 
Trail-cam pics of bucks chasing does all over in food plots. Older bucks hitting scrapes pretty hard. Older bucks sparring in scrapes and in food plots almost nightly. But also still seeing large groups of bucks in food plots.
 
Bucks traveling in bachelor groups still but mKing lots of rubs and scrapes right now. SW Putnam co. Usually start seeing chasing first weekend of novemeber, believe my peak breeding to be right around opening- end of nov.
 
Scrapes & rubs showing up daily in southern Wayne/Hardin. Pics this weekend of young buck chasing doe. Also got lots of pics of young bucks still hanging together.
 

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