Secondary Blacktail Rut?

[fishnfur]

BTW - 19 - 21 days was the cycle found by researchers in WA back in the 40s.  That is an average, and unless you know when a doe last went into heat, the number is less meaningful.  The average BT doe peak estrus (on the bell curve - as Bone pointed out) is somewhere around 7 - 10 Nov.  The next, possibly third cycle kicked in a a few days ago and is somewhere near peak (for un-bred does) right now.  28 day cycle is quoted by a lot of writers, but there are no statistics to support those numbers. 

[kodiak 907]

Quite possibly the main reason BT bucks are running around trying to breed does 'out of the rut' is because there aren't enough does to breed.
I think my reply need s whole new thread though.

Around the area I hunt, this seems to be the case this year. Every doe has 2-3 bucks in the immediate area.

In my mind, the  (observed) buck to doe ratio is skewed for two reasons: 

  - Lack of hunting pressure has allowed the buck to doe ratio to reach near equal proportions - 1/1.  It will likely never go higher than one to one.  Unbred does in the first couple of estrus periods (low buck to doe ratio) tend to produce buck offspring as a compensatory mechanism that should produce more bucks for the population.  Sounds like you're pretty close to max bucks per doe.

- Bucks are attracted to the increased activity and scent that a doe experiences just prior to her fertility phase.  A buck won't hang with a doe if she's not showing signs of getting hot, they go find one that is.  When there's a high buck to doe ratio, it makes sense to me that multiple bucks all hang with the hottie who's close to giving it up.  All the pregnant and in-between estrus period does are being boring and just sitting around at home.  Sounds like high school, huh?

Definitely agree, lots of large chunks of private ground helps to keep the numbers up also. The long tails are starting to show up on all my cams. The bucks must be better at eluding because all I find is doe cat kills.