2014 rut reports

[shawnv]

Seems slow from most I talk too. Will we still see the "classic" rut that was predicted????

 

[dipper]

i think its gonna heat up next week, getting damn cold! At this point, what rut???

 

[gwm]

Saw 22 last night. Five were bucks including a 3.5 year old 8 pt. A couple of the smaller bucks were chasing but nothing hard.

Sat a different spot this morning and didn't see a thing.

 

[dipper]

It's on in central wi. Saw about 8-14 antlerless. Had a 6 point chasing, then about a 130"er takes over. By the time they got to me it was too dark to shoot anyway. I had to watch with binos cause it was so dark, but he shoved his face up there and she just stood there. Than the one, the two, the deer sex time. Best action I had all year.

 

[CrazyEd]

My friend and I spent all day Thursday and all day Friday in the woods at our place in central Wisconsin, as did one of our neighbors. It was not "On" in our area, at least not those 2 days. Saw lots of bucks just wondering around seeking, including one mature stud 8 pointer. They were not not responding to grunts or rattles. We didn't really see much chasing at all which was odd because the weather seemed right for it. I don't know if the winds had them hunkered down or what. I can't hunt anymore this weekend, but hopefully I can get after it next weekend for a day before gun.

 

[dipper]

Ed-they are breeding and doing everything they do, it just isn't obvious. I havent seen much either, than bam, out of no where they are doing it.
I always go back to my experiences in Iowa. One guy will see 20 bucks ripping it up crazy with does. Breeding, chasing, fighting, classic rutting to the max. Another guy a 40 away will watch a 150 prime buck bed down all day, and act like it's September. Not a rut care in the world!
A lot of the breeding happens at night, especially the piss pounded areas of wi.
That buck breeding that doe never came out with her. He found her on the field when the 6 was chasing her. If you look at the other thread I have detailing the hunt, the hot doe was bedded within a couple acre bedding area, and he didn't act on her till they made it to the field. Dogs barking at them, kids playing outside 200 yards away, etc.
Makes you rethink all the conditioning the magazine articles have lead us to believe.

 

[dipper]

Had a upper 120s 10 strolling at 0930. He looked beat.

 

[dipper]

Upper 130s 10 dogging across a wide open field, tounge damn near dragging on the ground, this morning. The first decent looking shooter I've seen all season! The older bucks are acting like the young ones have the last couple weeks.

 

[CrazyEd]

Same report from our farm for the last 2 days. Things continue to be VERY slow. Hopefully our neighbors cut their corn soon i'm sure it's holding tons and tons of deer, maybe that and the bomb cyclone will get the deer moving a bit more.

No shortage of epic deer sign though. Always nice to find large oak trees all rubbed up or huge pieces of ground all tore up.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Now that is a scape!

 

[CrazyEd]

Now that is a scape!

Once we found it, the first thing I did was hang a camera over it. Hopefully it's still seeing plenty of action.

 

[non-pro-archer]

Same report from our farm for the last 2 days. Things continue to be VERY slow. Hopefully our neighbors cut their corn soon i'm sure it's holding tons and tons of deer, maybe that and the bomb cyclone will get the deer moving a bit more.

No shortage of epic deer sign though. Always nice to find large oak trees all rubbed up or huge pieces of ground all tore up.

That's more like a deer wallow than a scrape

 

[dipper]

Wtf-I have never seen of anything like. Is that natural? Is it just dirt, or are the deer actually turning that up?

 

[huthut]

I have been hunting pretty hard the last week mix or mornings and nights. I have seen some new bucks but lots of does with fawns yet. The big bucks in our area are showing up in our secluded food plots right at dark. The rut will pick up. Not sure how the artic blast will effect the rut this year. I know it will effect the hunters!!!

 

[tooln]

Once we found it, the first thing I did was hang a camera over it. Hopefully it's still seeing plenty of action.

Can't wait to see what you get for pictures.

 

[West Branch]

Same report from our farm for the last 2 days. Things continue to be VERY slow. Hopefully our neighbors cut their corn soon i'm sure it's holding tons and tons of deer, maybe that and the bomb cyclone will get the deer moving a bit more.

No shortage of epic deer sign though. Always nice to find large oak trees all rubbed up or huge pieces of ground all tore up.

My first thought was it was where a couple bucks were fighting. Good action there!

 

[CrazyEd]

Wtf-I have never seen of anything like. Is that natural? Is it just dirt, or are the deer actually turning that up?

Deer are tearing it up, all fresh and the Oak in the middle is all rubbed up. We will see what the cam shows I will check it Saturday or gun opener.

 

[West Branch]

I have not seen any rubs and we only have a couple scrapes. A lot less than last year.

Based on trail cameras it looks like most activity for bucks running around at our place was the 5th - 7th. One fork covered a lot of ground on the 7th, showing up at one camera starting at around 10:30 am, then almost 1/2 mile south at about 2:00 and back again to the north camera at about 5:00.

Big fella was on camera on the 4th, 5th, and 6th, all at night. Probably was cruising our main woods during the day though.

 

[CrazyEd]

Here's another closer look at the tore up ground, also a bit more in focus. Fresh tracks and it there was steady rain a few hours earlier. I will get a better picture of this area assuming it's not under snow. It's in the bottom of a big hallow.

And another real nice rub on a big cedar.

 

[shawnv]

Saw some rutting activity this weekend, it's been sort of a tickle rut again. Maybe this is the new norm and maybe the changing weather patterns have something to do with it.