Rut time

[Ghunt]

What time do blacktails start to rut? I'm planning to go out Oct 15-16 and 29-30...

[Skyvalhunter]

Best bet unless you have a special permit is Halloween weekend

[Ghunt]

Best bet unless you have a special permit is Halloween weekend

Yeah that's what I was thinking 

[Old Man Yager]

Last week of October, be in the woods as much as possible!! I got the week off.

[jackmaster]

Last week of October, be in the woods as much as possible!! I got the week off.

youll need most of that week just to target practice old man..

[JDHasty]

Best bet unless you have a special permit is Halloween weekend

True that!   And if it is raining sideways.... so much the better for me.  YMMV though.  Some of my buddies don't like to hunt when it is storming, but I do. 

[fishnfur]

What time do blacktails start to rut? I'm planning to go out Oct 15-16 and 29-30...

Between  9:30 - 10:00 AM.  Plan for one hour earlier once we go back to Standard Time.   

[jackmaster]

What time do blacktails start to rut? I'm planning to go out Oct 15-16 and 29-30...

Between  9:30 - 10:00 AM.  Plan for one hour earlier once we go back to Standard Time.   

[xwizard50]

With what we are seeing in southwest Washington, I would say it's beginning now.

[JDHasty]

What time do blacktails start to rut? I'm planning to go out Oct 15-16 and 29-30...

Between  9:30 - 10:00 AM.  Plan for one hour earlier once we go back to Standard Time.   

Not for this buckaroo. 

Give me the last ten minutes of shooting light in the worst storm after a week of good weather and I will spot you my stands for the other 23 hours and fifty minutes.  Again YMMV, but that's just me. 

For some perverse reason I love the time after the does and small bucks come in five minutes after sundown and sit and watch them come and go before the big bucks have made up their mind it is perfectly safe to come out and get shot.

Not that the other guys don't score, they do.  I guess that it may just be that I don't want anyone sitting around warm and dry when there is a deer to get the hide off and hung up in a driving rainstorm after the sun has gone down.  I'm kinda funny that way. 

All kidding aside... the mature bucks are out there (a biologist assured me that 40% of blacktails in any herd are bucks and 30% of those are mature bucks), just inside the cover, watching EVERY evening.  And one of them just might (probably will) show before the 30 minutes after official sundown when it is still legal to take him.  Just hope it is the one you wanted. 

Big blacktail bucks do show at other times, but they most often show just before shooting light has gone away. 

Or just after...  don't ask me how I know this, it's still burning me up twice this year.  Once the rut plays in though (like Halloween),  they will come out just a few minutes earlier, just to be there first. 

That's what I keep telling myself anyway after I passed on what would have been my personal best archery buck during archery season this year twice.  Still kicking myself while simultaneously congratulating myself.

But I am done shooting 4 1/2 year old bucks that will have mass to go with their height next year as fully developed mature bucks.  For me it is either a big buck or it will be a doe or a two point on the last five minutes of the last day of late season on my General Tag. 

I will take a doe on my second tag next weekend and with that and the elk we have in the freezer from last year it is either going to cost us a grand  for a shoulder mount or there are going to be a lot of lucky does and two points up until the last five minutes of the last day of Late Season.   

[Ghunt]

Thanks for all the info, hoping to get a buck this year. 

[JDHasty]

Thanks for all the info, hoping to get a buck this year. 

You will get there.  I started hunting for bucks and it hurt to pass on does and spikes and now I am after mature bucks and this year passed on a three point that had every thing except mass.  Probably a 4 1/2 year old that if he makes it through will be a great blacktail trophy next season.

I also had two good ones come in just a little too late during archery season.  Got a big goose egg last week during ML season hunting with my bow and that is when the second guessing my decision to let that three point walk really kicked in.  But, I am OK with that.

All we need for meat is one deer and I will take care of that on my second tag and hold my General Season tag until the bitter end if I don't get a big buck. 

I'm thinking I may continue with the bow right through the end of the season, but that may change and I may go with a slug gun or crossbow if I have something out there that I really want badly.

I have a MS tag this year.   

[washingtonhunter121]

Hunt That last weekend if you can especially that Monday for halloween. I also hope for wet stormy weather as well. Seems the last weekend and wet weather is the best time to catch a more mature buck showing his face during daylight hours!

[Ghunt]

Thanks for all the info, hoping to get a buck this year. 

You will get there.  I started hunting for bucks and it hurt to pass on does and spikes and now I am after mature bucks and this year passed on a three point that had every thing except mass.  Probably a 4 1/2 year old that if he makes it through will be a great blacktail trophy next season.

I also had two good ones come in just a little too late during archery season.  Got a big goose egg last week during ML season hunting with my bow and that is when the second guessing my decision to let that three point walk really kicked in.  But, I am OK with that.

All we need for meat is one deer and I will take care of that on my second tag and hold my General Season tag until the bitter end if I don't get a big buck. 

I'm thinking I may continue with the bow right through the end of the season, but that may change and I may go with a slug gun or crossbow if I have something out there that I really want badly.

I have a MS tag this year.

Yeah its my first time ever hunting. Don't care to much if I have to take a doe but a nice mature buck would be wonderful.

[jackmaster]

My favorite times are when it's as nasty as it can get or them mornings it's so cold and frozen that it looks like it snowed, after about 10 am those deer gotta get up and find a sunny spot to warm their bones, 3 of my biggest mature bucks have been taken on a blue bird frozen morning..

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Best bet unless you have a special permit is Halloween weekend

   We've killed a few this weekend through the years.

[fishnfur]

Best bet unless you have a special permit is Halloween weekend

   We've killed a few this weekend through the years.

......... but don't forget, nearly 50% of the deer harvest occurs during the four-day late season in November (according to the State).

[PolarBear]

My daughter drew the Skookumchuck Nov 1 - 16 buck tag.  Should be full on rut and a fun one for her.  She is not allowed to shoot anything under a big 3 point until she can use her tag and that is going to be tough for her since we already have 6, 2 point or better and a couple nice 3+ point bucks located. 

[nickrj11]

My daughter drew the Skookumchuck Nov 1 - 16 buck tag.  Should be full on rut and a fun one for her.  She is not allowed to shoot anything under a big 3 point until she can use her tag and that is going to be tough for her since we already have 6, 2 point or better and a couple nice 3+ point bucks located. 

I also drew that tag. Good luck to her! I will be the Black Ram 1500 cruising around up there.