Blacktail Rut Thread - Post updates here

[fishnfur]

Kids at school.  Wife at work.  Radar shows it's pissing rain and windy just west of town and looking like it's going to get worse.....  I had to talk myself into heading out for a few hours before I had to pick up kids from school, but the weather conditions couldn't be ignored.  Sucked it up, put on my rain gear and headed out for my second shower of the day.  Just for fun and because I was hoping for some up close action, I grabbed my Marlin 336 30-30 as I headed out the door.

Did a short mid-day hunt in South Ryderwood, pouring rain plus some pretty strong winds at times.  Could have been awesome, but it lived up to my normal experiences of hunting GMU 630 in nasty weather - no bucks responding to the foul conditions that I could tell.  Almost no rubs either - found one set of small rubs across the road from each other in DNR six or seven-year-old Red Alder reprod that buts up to big timber and mixed forest. There used to be a lot of fresh sign in this unit back when it was a three year old cut.  Now - pretty scarce. Himalayan Blackberry showed the most sign of browsing, and most of that was out near the county road access. 

Had a single mature doe walk out in front of me around 11:00 am, no kids in tow, no bucks following her, at least that I saw during the 10 minutes I waited in place.  She was not looking hot at all - only very relaxed.  Other than that, it was just cold and wet. 

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

Greatest thing about this job is hearing the stories and of course seeing some tremendous animals. Last few days the stories are telling the bucks are staying close to the does. Physical differences are being seen in their necks to for those being brought in for shoulder mounts. A typical mature buck will be 20”-21” (taxidermy measurement behind the ears at the narrowest part) pre rut. However hormonal changes caused by the rut get them bigger. Last 2 days I’m starting to see 22”-23” necks with swelling mid way down….good sign! Some masher bucks getting taken too, another good sign.
Get out there!! Seems to be a little earlier this year!

[SpicyTacos]

I'm wondering what the hell is going on where I live. I am not a seeing deer as much as I usually do. San Juan island disease has got some deer down dead.

[TheStovePipeKid]

I spent the day getting soaked and watching for falling limbs. Worked a few logging roads along some reprod and sat in a few sections of reprod. I finally got does on cameras again this past week. None appear to be hot. I'll be back out in the morning.

[fowl smacker]

Daughter's buck tonight was a little swollen and he was getting stinky.  Same with other Daughter's buck Wed.   Buck tonight was with 2 does.

[johnr060]

Shot a buck yesterday chasing 3 does at 11am. Also, saw a 2 point cruising tonight near the same area.

[wooltie]

I was in 418 lowlands all day in the timber and edges of cuts.  Didn't see any deer, just nooksack elk tracks and poop.  Very very faint random pairs of deer tracks.  Been exploring this area several days.

Time to cross off this spot and find a new area. 

Wish there was a reliable estimate of deer #s in lowland 418. 

[PolarBear]

I watched a monster 3x4 push a doe where the Delezene meets South Bank Rd out of Elma.

[kball4]

2 huge bucks on a military installation this morning watching the same doe, right next to the road.  Not fighting just standing there watching her, it is coming soon.

[HunterofWA]

Caught a nice buck on camera over the weekend. Haven't seen him before. Didn't get a great look at his neck, but he tore up a tree nearby.

Yesterday I hunted the morning anticipating that the wind + rain would be the ticket. Well, the rain didn't come till 12:00 and the wind wasn't as constant as I'd like. I ended up sneaking close to a doe and her fawn and watched them for a good 45 minutes, but then the wind switched and she walked away. Would have been a perfect setup if the bucks were chasing.

[Green Tree]

Went out yesterday evening saw a really nice buck with his nose to the ground following 2 does. The spot was about 700ft elevation. Missed the shot, I go down to verify the miss and he's standing there looks at me and continues raking a maple then back into the thicket he goes.

[Spuddieselwwu]

Any thoughts on starting to rattle/grunt a bit?  Not seeing a ton of action from bucks in my spots - plenty of does.

[TLEVIN40]

I was in a blind all day Saturday on Whidbey Island (10 Acres Private Land) and didn't see any rutting activities.

The game camera has recently caught bucks locking horns multiple times however.  Going to try again mid Nov.

[kramman]

Just watched the weather report. I would say you'll need to be in the woods Friday afternoon and Saturday a.m.. heavy rains starting this afternoon end Friday. Most blacktail deer movement I've ever seen was right when a major rain storm ended.The woods all of a sudden became alive with deer, and my brother harvested a mature 2x2 buck with a heavy body. Almost the size of mules we've shot in eastern wa.Goodluck to all.

[fishnfur]

Any thoughts on starting to rattle/grunt a bit?  Not seeing a ton of action from bucks in my spots - plenty of does.

If you're seeing doe, don't go anywhere.  Keep going back, day after day.  Stay well away but withing shooting distance.  When a doe gets hot, smaller bucks will often start chasing her around. She will only run from them but once the doe are really close to being fertile or are currently hot, the bigger bucks will come and find her, typically from the downwind side.  The scent must be hypnotizing.