2019 Blacktail Early Season activity reports - anybody seeing bucks?

[Justdecent]

I hit it hard all weekend in Lewis county as well. Saturday morning was good but after that it has been miserably slow. I have seen one rub and zero signs of rutting activity. Should be changing any day now though.

[browney5er]

If you did you're pre season scouting you should be in the Deer. No the bucks aren't rutting no the bucks aren't gonna rut earlier this year. Some bucks live with in the doe groups that's why you see bucks running around with doe at all times of the year. The cooler temps are what is making deer move more during day light hours. Got over 16 cameras out and all have bucks in the day light hours. The bigger loner bucks are still in there holes they'll be moving looking for the chicks at the same time they do every single year. Not uncommon to find rubs this time of year or throughout September how else do they get the velvet off. Good luck everyone keep hunting and quit believing in folklore.


So could you drop some of your knowledge on us and tell us when the rut will start. I’m dead serious if you’ve spent 15 years of your life and claim to know when it starts then this is the perfect place for you to help out your fellow hunters. That way we can all mark that date on our calendars and be sure to be in the deer woods. I was under the assumption that many things contributed to when the rut starts I’m glad to here I can just target one date. Looking forward to hearing when that is.

[fishnfur]

Browney5er:  ??

I'm not sure if you're asking a serious question and messed it up by inserting it into the other quote.  It appears that way, but it could be you're teasing the previous input quoted.  I'll assume it is the former and explain it this way:

The best hunting should be in the first weeks of November, when the season is closed (that makes sense I hope).  That is just before the peak of the rut, when the majority of bucks are trying to find does in estrus and ready to breed.  Outside that time frame, the best legal hunting should be very good the last few days of this month and the four days of the late season, because estrus is an individual thing.  Some does come into heat earlier than others, which gets the bucks searching for the first sex encounter of the season.  Every day that goes by, your chances of seeing a buck cruising through the woods to find a doe goes up until the end of the month.  You cannot predict when that buck will be there, so you need to be out there as much as possible.  The more time you spend in the woods, the better your opportunity to see a buck.  But if your time is limited, the days mentioned earlier are the best of the season.  Maybe that helps.  (?)  Good luck out there!

[deerhunter_98520]

Just had a 2pt sniffin the pavement and didn't want to move and not a mile down the road had a small spike doin the same thing and just walked down the road. Didn't care I was there

[Okanagan]

Rut activity is neither on a precise timetable nor is it way early or late.  It is a pattern or bell curve of individual animals.  There will be individual outliers that are early or late but the majority will cluster in the middle, which is about the first and second week of November in Western WA.

Re individuals:  in most species, the males get interested in breeding long before the females, and stay interested longer than the females (who lose interest once bred).  That seems to be especially true of younger males.

By early to certainly mid-October some bucks will begin to act differently and less wary than they do the rest of the year.  Some will hang around to see what is walking through the woods (me) rather than sneak away before I see them.  By mid rut many will be walking around all day looking for receptive does and some will act absolutely stupid.  i.e.  In mid rut a mature big buck jumped off of the road into thick timber, then came right back, stuck his head into the road and looked at our vehicle as if to ask, “Are you a hot doe by any chance?”

By early to mid-October some will begin to come to calling sounds more than they do the rest of the year.  All of these less wary and more curious responses also carry over till after the rut for some bucks, hopeful for one last receptive female. 

So, the deer are out there all year.  Hunt them when you can.  As the rut approaches, as defined by actual breeding, bucks get more active and less wary, one at a time.  That's the one I hope to encounter.

On Oct. 17 I killed a mature blacktail, rut influenced IMO.  He heard me coming through brush into an open spot and was looking at me, but he waited in the open to get a good look rather than simply sneak away.  I attributed his less cautious action to a building rut drive, causing him to delay escape and check to see if I was a receptive female.  I could be wrong but the tag is filled.

[TriggerMike]

Browney5er:  ??

I'm not sure if you're asking a serious question and messed it up by inserting it into the other quote.  It appears that way, but it could be you're teasing the previous input quoted.  I'll assume it is the former and explain it this way:

The best hunting should be in the first weeks of November, when the season is closed (that makes sense I hope).  That is just before the peak of the rut, when the majority of bucks are trying to find does in estrus and ready to breed.  Outside that time frame, the best legal hunting should be very good the last few days of this month and the four days of the late season, because estrus is an individual thing.  Some does come into heat earlier than others, which gets the bucks searching for the first sex encounter of the season.  Every day that goes by, your chances of seeing a buck cruising through the woods to find a doe goes up until the end of the month.  You cannot predict when that buck will be there, so you need to be out there as much as possible.  The more time you spend in the woods, the better your opportunity to see a buck.  But if your time is limited, the days mentioned earlier are the best of the season. Maybe that helps.  (?)  Good luck out there!

  100% agree.

[fishnfur]

Just spent two days killing scotch broom in the cut I shot that earlier video in.  Did not see a single deer in there, which is really unusual.  I could hear them moving in the timber occasionally.  Sounded like some chasing going on, at least here and there, but nothing serious yet.

[elkrack]

Here’s a gig harbor stud! All swoll up

[kramman]

In the last week walking thru pt. Defiance in the a.m. I've seen a 4x3, 2 3x3s a 2x1 and a spike. The spike was chasing a doe and 1 of the 3s was falling does. I believe the bucks are ready... hadn't seen a buck all summer thru there. And the does are not in their regular spot.

[fishnfur]

The does may be hiding from the rowdy young bucks.  I'm not seeing them in their normal spots either   The few I've seen have not had their kids in tow, which makes you wonder just how close they are to being ready to breed.

[h20hunter]

Going to be a good weekend.  See you out there.

[emskou]

This guy showed up yesterday at 10:00am

[fishnfur]

I hate BT hunting in cold clear weather!  Sat in the box for 5.5 hours today, nothing moved till noon, when suddenly a willow bush was attacked at 170 yards out.  That got my blood pumping.  I glassed but could only see the back of the animal.  Since I'm in a firearm restricted area and I'm shooting a slug gun, I've got some time before anything serious needs to happen.  I put down the gun and shot a vid of the bush getting thrashed, and then glassed again.  Out comes a deer, and I'm thinking doe once I saw it.  Nope!  Just a small fat as hell little spike walking away with a lot of attitude.  That was the entire morning in five lines. 

Moved to my second cut, bumped two does coming in from the downwind side.  They seemed really relaxed, like no bucks had been bothering them. Sat three more hours glassing and waiting for action.  Two more doe came out at 5:30ish.  One was blowing and stomping, then jumping around.  Over and over again.  She was really causing a scene.  The other was just hiding behind her.  I could easily hear her blowing and jumping around at 100 yards away.  I've no idea what she was doing, but it may have been the same doe I saw the forkie chase around the perimeter of that cut last week.  She may have been trying to flush him out if he was hiding in the cut.  She eventually stomped her way down lower into the cut, probing through the dead ferns like she was looking for something.  I've never seen anything like it before, so I don't know what to make of it. 

[fishnfur]

I got sidetracked and forgot what my report really was.  Seems really slow.  No bucks moving.  Heard a shot at 0915 and one at 1015 that sounded like shots on deer.  That was it for the entire day!  Either no one is hunting or no one is seeing bucks.

[fishngamereaper]

Pretty slow...cold at night has them up and around. They are bedded up most of the day..and some bucks are on the prowl but the rut is not hot by any means...this weeks weather is not ideal for blacktail hunting unfortunately..