That special feeling is nearly at full throttle in whitetail country. You know the one we’re talking about: when the wind shifts to the north and the temperatures begin to drop to feel more like winter than fall. As we inch our way closer to the rut remember to “drink no wine before its time”.
Our Rut Meter is still hanging at the 80% mark, and many of our rut trackers have been seeing soft indications of rutting activity, with many 1.5-, 2.5- and 3.5-year-old bucks actively seeking the first available does and having some daylight encounters. However, we still have some room to climb to calling “rut on”. Increased sightings of younger bucks sparring, harassing does, and crossing roads during daylight have been on the increase, but we have yet to see some true rut markers like mature buck daytime movement, though there has definitely been a spike in road-killed deer recently. Only about 20 to 30 percent of the doe population is coming into estrus at this very moment so mature buck activity will be on the increase on a daily basis.
Many hunters are under the impression that big deer only feed at night. While deer are primarily nocturnal, they can’t go all day without feeding. Food in November is still the number one element in the movement patterns of whitetails.
