peakrut

My part of the country seems to be Nov3-8 for peak which makes sense because by the time I head to northern Wi a week or so later is seems to be done.
Their are some exceptions where it does run late.
Dates are towards the bottom of the page for each state.
See if you concur?

http://www.trmichels.com/RutDates.htm

huntnma

no disrespect to him, but he's soooo wrong about central florida....our rut is long over by jan. like he states...i would go with others experiences before i would go with this chart, at least for Florida.....

Dr Andy

Tony the dates you listed seem to me more like pre-rut. The past years it seems the peak of the rut was around the 11th of nov. lasting about a week.

Rob/PA Bowyer

Notice what he had down for PA:
Pennsylvania * Sept 9-Dec 23 Oct 16-Dec 16 Alt 2002


Now, that was taken from Alt in 2002....not updated and imagine...too many does and I would believe that then. The peak rut in PA is always the 15th of Nov give or take a few days. The chase phase will always be following the full moon around Halloween....it never changes but a day or two depending on weather.

GMMAT

Unless you take into consideration herd dynamics.....I wouldn't put too much emphasis on that chart.

just my opinion.

GregH

I did not read the article. The peak of the rut depends on what your definition of peak of the rut is.

To me, the peak of the rut is the peak breeding day(s) when the most does are bred. Where I hunt, the most breeding (peak) takes place from Nov. 17th - Nov. 23rd, give or take a couple of days. If you were to graph the breeding dates of the does in your area you'd have an irregular shaped bell curve with the top (peak) coinciding with these dates.

From my experience, the most rutting activity (chasing, tending and seeking), takes place before the peak breeding dates. This is the best hunting IMO. This usually happens in my areas between Nov. 4th - Nov. 12th.

Do not confuse the most activity with the peak breeding dates as when the most does are being bred usually means less activity seen by hunters.

So, is your definition for peak of the rut...

a) Most activity
or
b) Peak breeding dates

Never give up though, because you never know when you'll catch a real dandy between does when he's searching for another one.

I have a theory that in the early part of Nov., the real strong 3 1/2s and 4 1/2s are most visible chasing and seeking does. Sometimes before they are ready. It seems that the real monsters just hang back a bit and let these youngsters tire themselves out, while they wait untile the does are ready, then they come out and take the does from the younger guys with less effort. I usually do not see the truly huge bucks until mid-Nov. and later. Just my observations.

_Dan

GregH, that's gospel. The dates you give are completely accurate from what I had seen when I hunted in WI in the past. Now.....up here in Canada I would say add one week to those dates.

Here the NR season ends November 15th....its usually around the 8th or 10th that the chase phase really kicks in. By the time things are in really high gear here, I can't hunt anymore.

peakrut

GregH,

While ive been hunting up here in Wi I admit have not seen them breeding.
But when I lived in IL on Temple's land I always seen them breeding like crazy just right around Halloween. I was never able to hunt there but they allowed me to pretty much go where I wanted.
As for most activity usually last week of Oct and First week of Nov
here in K area.

Pupuchito

Hi huntnma,
New here. Was wondering what dates you think are the rut in central fl.
Thanks in advance,
Steve

gplant

From whatI have seen its normally last week in Oct first 2 weeks in Nov. Mich Thumb.