Blacktail Rut?

[hunt4life]

Been up behind locked gates all weekend couldn't even glass up a doe!! Pretty sad last weekend seen all sorts of does no bucks!! Too nice of a weekend I'm thinking

[PolarBear]

My daughter and I spent the entire day working one  rub line to the next. Rattling, calling, scenting you name it  Absolutely nothing until almost dark and all we saw was a doe with a last years fawn with her. We sat on her until dark hoping she had a boyfriend but the fact that she was still with a fawn tells me that she isn’t close to being ready to breed. So far this has been the worst deer season that I can remember. 

[fishnfur]

Worked my way into the spot I saw a couple bucks last week just before first light today.   All quiet, so I sat on a break below a bench and glassed the next bench down below me while leaning against a log and pretty well hidden in the trees.  10 minutes pass and a ghost deer suddenly appears out of nowhere at 20 feet just left and above me, arriving without a even a whisper.  My brain is about to explode as I quickly try to determine if it has antlers.  I don't need to glass, I can see plain as day that sadly, it is a doe.

She stops 15 feet above me and almost completely downwind  - I can't believe she's still standing there. (I was expecting down thermals when I went in, but it was so warm out, the 5 mph prevailing SW breeze was the only wind.)  I'm glassing frantically hoping there's a buck on her tail, occasionally checking her to see if she's nervous or watching some hidden suitor behind her.  Needless to say, she was alone. 

After about three minutes of her standing still, doing God knows what just above me, just for fun, I look over my shoulder and give her a tiny wave with my hand.  Her eyes double in size, her ears perk up and stand erect.  I go back to glassing for bucks and, as expected, about 3 seconds later she apparently worked up the nerve and took the one more step she needed to get my wind and smell my humanness.  She blows loudly and makes a noisy bounding retreat encompassing most of the hillside before exiting the area.  All good fun for me, but despite the misty conditions and a strong feeling that today was the day I'd notch my tag, that encounter was the highlight of the day.

The forest floor did have significant and deep deer tracks in many areas indicating running, rapid turning, screeching halts, etc. suggesting to me that there's quite a bit of chasing going on, though likely all happening at night.  Not good news for the coming two days.

[PolarBear]

It has been too bright at night. All the fresh tracks that I have been seeing have been made at night. The fog was a booger today. 

[fishngamereaper]

  lots of new rubs...tracks from overnight. Torn up ground from sparing....all going on at night. They are running so hard at night they are sleeping the day away....

[PolarBear]

lots of new rubs...tracks from overnight. Torn up ground from sparing....all going on at night. They are running so hard at night they are sleeping the day away....

Yep

[fishnfur]

Oh yeah, I forgot.  Heard only four shots this morning by noon - (one sounded like it might have been in Oregon as it was well south), as compared to 17 shots by 10:00 AM on the 22nd.  Hunter numbers seem way down in 530 today - pretty quiet on the roads.  Even the road hunters are saving their gas for the late season.

Edit:  If that bust of activity around the 22nd indicated the first estrous phase, (which typically does not result in pregnancy in does) and you believe that the estrous cycle is the often stated 28 days, then the next estrous cycle and burst of buck rutting activity would occur around the 17th of November - right in the middle of Late Buck.  I use the 19 - 23 day cycle (average 21 days) determined in a WA State study back in the 1940s, which if that is the case, places the main rut phase a full week earlier, around the 10th of November -     Sounds about right, huh Bobcat?

[bobcat]

Yep! November 10th is about right. From my trail camera's, I think most all the breeding was over by about November 14th. After that, photos dropped to almost nothing.

[wooltie]

Been hunting Whatcom county since Thursday.  Not seeing anything during the day.  Went further back, up a little higher, ran into more cat poop than deer poop.  And no bear poop.  Did see some huge buck tracks though.

[Turner89]

I agree that this is a slow year. I've seen some deer, but not near as many as years past. Last year was the best year I can remember. The low rub activity kind of bothers me. That just tells me there isn't as many bucks this year.
 We'll see what happens in the best 2 days of the season. Hopefully not fighting the fog.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[deerhunter_98520]

Found a spot that had 5 different sets of bucks tracks following doe tracks last night and drive in here this morning to cruise through at first light and already seen 2 bucks walking the road acting stupid in the headlights

[180-GRAIN]

Yesterday was the first time I have seen bucks in the daylight at my place this year. Nice forky with 2 does at about 8am. He was not acting stupid at all and just wanted to eat apples. Then 2 spikes came in together at around 6pm.

[JDHasty]

I am a little skewed toward full on rut starting a little earlier, like last weekend.  But I hunted Sept Archery pretty hard and then a couple weekends of the ML season w/my bow and then I host a few guys for Mod Season so... I had only shot pheasants one day until last week. 

I suggested that the guys coming out for Mod Season wait until last weekend and they didn't wait, and were pretty well shut out the opening weekend (I got a fat doe w/my bow, but I had been out and had them pretty well figured out). They made up for it last weekend, but had to travel every day because I was bird shooting and not hosting deer hunters. 

I am taking Monday and Tuesday off and will hunt deer again from about noon Sunday after bird shooting, through Tuesday evening. 

I kinda' think the best BT hunting is from about the 20th of Oct for about a week, but more of the guys whose opinion I really respect think it's Halloween that is best.

I'm confident, we'll see what happens. 

I feel an obligation to my dogs to get them out on birds as much as I can and am satisfied with my choices.  If I don't close the deal on a nice buck this next week I will lay off until December.   

Decided to go to work today and tomorrow.  I talked to quite a few people who were out yesterday and nothing much is moving during the day.  I didn't bother going out yesterday. 

Seasonal allergies made it such that I was coughing up a storm.   Even on the best day I couldn't get w/in a hundred yards of any buck I would be interested in shooting the way I am right now.  Until we get a good freeze mold and mildew spores will continue to take a toll. 

I will pick it back up next month.  It has been my experience that once BTs are in their winter coat they just don't move much during the day in weather like this. 

[predatorG]

stay hidden and be downwind of where you expect them to come from.  Also, expect that they will circle you and try to get downwind to see who/what you are - not always, but more so than not.

Hunted up in Kitsap today.  No rubs or rutting activity apparent at all out past Purdy.  Dead in the woods - no action on a scent wick.  Missed  a long shot with my slug gun on a buck that stood up in a cut at 10:30.  Heard maybe four other shots all day.

That's because there's no deer in Kitsap... we've done our best to make that common knowledge by now 

[predatorG]

I'm praying that this relative lack of activity means a late rut, and some good action during archery season! Fingers are crossed.