Pre rut, rut, post rut dates for washington?

[aman]

Is there a general consensus on this for deer in state of washington? specifically i'm concerned with blacktails on the west coast.

[jeffitz]

Blackies usually rut hardest duting Westside rifle elk season -that being said last season where we hunted there was good action during Late Buck - it varies from year to year usually

[kball4]

In my observations the rut starts the last week of October-mid November.

[meatwhack]

Just start paying attention to when you see newly born fawns drop in the area you hunt. Go back 200 days from when the majority drop and that’s the peak of the breeding portion of the rut.

[fishnfur]

All good answers.  Here's an article that describes the phases of the rut (whitetail) and how to hunt during each of the phases.  The dates are reasonable approximations to those of Blacktails, though we often see/hear that some regional variations occur based on elevation and some other sort of geographic voodoo.  When it's hot and heavy in one location, it may be completely dead in another.  The important thing is to recognize what is going on where you hunt.

https://www.realtree.com/deer-hunting/articles/how-to-hunt-the-phases-of-the-rut

[Skyvalhunter]

very tough to nail down an exact date per location as was mentioned. You will see guys in the fall telling about their area being hot and heavy while others saying its quite the opposite.

[The scout]

All good and correct answers. I will throw out some dates for my area. Starts about oct. 25th-November 15th. The best where it seems every black tail in the woods is rutting is nov.1st- 10th but I have seen bucks here rutting into mid November. Just on a random hot doe.

[fish vacuum]

To complicate things, people just refer to "rutting" without specifying pre rut, rut, post rut.
I'd say there's a general increase in buck activity that starts the last few days of October and goes through the third week of November.

[fishnfur]

......but don't overlook the fact that in many years there is a burst of bucks showing themselves in the broad daylight of rural neighborhoods between about 12 and 16 Oct., then they disappear for about 10 - 14 days.  My theory is that they are reacting to the early (first) estrus that some does experience in early to mid-Oct.

[Mallardmasher]

Last season, I saw bucks and big bucks, fighting and tending to doe's well into Dec. with the hottest period being around thanksgiving. Weird year

[Eli346]

From Halloween on is the main part of the rut for blacktails. I don't know how many Halloween bucks are shot every year but if you're not out on that day with a tag it is your loss.