2015 Rut thread....

[Bango skank]

Deer aren't quite rutting in SW washington in my area quite yet. Lots of  pre rut buck activity though. Saw a dandy buck horning a tree right before dark but was unable to close the distance from 520 yards to get a shot before he cruised off into the timber. Deer were very active this weekend but the bucks aren't following the does yet. Any day now.......

Uh oh, this guy said horning a tree!  Watch out, the terminology cops are going to gang up on you for not saying "antlering a tree"

[PolarBear]

Saw plenty of deer today but no big bucks or bucks worth shooting.  Found a 1/2 dozen rubs that are less than 24 hours old (they were not there yesterday).  All the deer that we saw happened within the last 2 hours of the day once the storm started to hit.  They were all in the timber and running like hell.

[huntingbaldguy]

Was in the blind for 7 hrs today and have the neck stiffness to prove it.  Didn't see my buck though.  He's playin hard to get.  He was there at 9:50am on Friday morning, while i was scouting for rifle elk with my buddy.

[JDHasty]

Was in the Kapowsin (west side) area today. Covered a lot of ground. Didn't see Nothing. Was windy as crap. Deer hunker down when it gets windy?

I have had very good days when it was blowing pretty hard.  I shot a n1ce buck on Oct 25 of last year - take a look at the weather site archives and it will validate what I say when I say I was going back and forth a foot in my tree stand. 

[lokidog]

Saw a huge buck before dark tonight.

This guy was on a doe last night in front of my trail camera, another biggie.

[PolarBear]

Saw a huuuuuuge 3 point on my way to work today that was standing with his nose in the air unaware that the rest of the world existed.  This was at noon thirty!

[fishnfur]

The pre-rut sure seems to vary area by area, region by region.  I've talked to several hunters who haven't seen a doe in days, much less a buck.  Very slow still in south Ryderwood.

The mature bucks should be starting to do some excursions by now in search of pockets of does, but nothing moved today where I sat in a nice corridor of trees (dividing two cuts) connecting two bigger units of mature second growth.  It was raining nicely - I thought it was going to be a good day.  No does when glassing reprod either.  I keep thinking the warm weather is allowing them to be more nocturnal than normal.   

The bucks that were visiting my back yard two weeks ago are ancient history.  Just a single doe and button buck coming in nightly.  I expect that in a week, that action will begin again, two-fold.

Sidenote:  Read an article in Whitetail Journal Mag. tonight.  It states that 90% of WT does make excursions, likely in search of bucks.  I wonder what the percentage is for BTs??  All the does I normally see on my Willipa Hills property seem to have disappeared.  The fawns are still there, but the mom's seem to have left after being there all the time for the last 11 months.

[Bango skank]

J7st checked some of the tcams on my property.  The usual bucks are still hanging around, but nothing that looks like rut activity.  Had a doe trying to lick up alfalfa scraps from my trailer in my driveway this afternoon, with one of her fawns still in tow.  The only thing my cameras told me was i have a really bad cougar problem, but i already knew that.  Hey rainshadow, you busy? got about 10 sepsrate instances of lions here in 3 months.  Big male, medium male, pair of juvies, and female with kittens.   

[cowboycraig]

Saw plenty of deer today but no big bucks or bucks worth shooting.  Found a 1/2 dozen rubs that are less than 24 hours old (they were not there yesterday).  All the deer that we saw happened within the last 2 hours of the day once the storm started to hit.  They were all in the timber and running like hell.

What part of the state?

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[PolarBear]

Wet side.  Vail to be more precise. 
My wife almost hit a buck and a doe today on old 99 just out of Tumwater.  The buck was pushing the doe across the road with his nose inches from her hoo hah!  My wife's words, not mine. 

[huntingbaldguy]

I guess even deer need foreplay.

[npaull]

Headed to some land I have access to on Whidbey this Thurs-Saturday... Hoping this bad weather will get things going.

Anyone see any signs of the rut on the islands yet?

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

The first week of season (modern firearm) we had hardly anything (bucks) rolling into my shop and what bucks were brought in were typical smaller,  average 18" necks on them with no signs of rut. HOWEVER, the last week just about every buck that has been brought it is showing signs of a pretty good rut starting or in swing. Took 3 bucks in the other day; very big Blacktails that were swollen up pretty good, shot in the middle of the day while chasing does (according to the hunters/shooters) and smelled of good rut aroma. Theories of how, when, why, and effects of the ruts are all so varied as everyone knows. But, if the indication of how the bucks are looking, the size of the ones now coming into my studio, and the stories I am hearing evening without prompting the question of "do you think they are rutting?", it appears the rut (at least the 1st rut)is kicking off. Go get em!! 

[lokidog]

Had a big bodied buck go by me yesterday while working at about 2 in the afternoon, I could smell him from about thirty feet away.

[kramman]

I walk around pt. Defiance park in tacoma, since last Monday bunch of new scrapes and just had a big 2pt. Walking down the road with no care in the world and 3 cars behind him, creating a traffic jam... I think even if the does aren't ready he was...