Rut is literally just around the corner at this point. The full moon is November 6th which will likely have the full blown rut this year for the first time in about 3 -4 years. Rather than just a trickle rut like we had over the past couple years. I think the main rut will likely occur between the 5th and the 10th of November. This will be when most of your main chasing will occur and/or breeding. That being said the next 5 days and the 10th of November until about the 20th are not bad times to be in the woods. Not all does go into estrus at the same time, some may be a little before the moon and many will be in the following days. Most of your breeding normally takes place 5 - 10 days after the full moon. Meaning most of it will occur from the 10th - 15th. However, most of your chasing occurs when bucks are building their harem's and this will occur right around the full moon and this is when most people catch bucks out cruising looking for new does. When the bucks start breeding their harem this is when they go on lock down in a safe bedding area, and they can be really hard to hunt. This will likely occur between the 7 - 17 of November.
I still like hunting as much as I can over that 2 - 3 week period because you never know how many does the buck has to mate and how long that will take, or how many bucks compared to does there are. So, this means when a buck is done with his harem he normally will go start looking for other does in heat, which is when you catch bucks outside their core area. Best time to be in the woods is then. The other thing is smaller bucks which may be bigger than what is in your hunting area get run out of areas by bigger bucks just before and during rut and a lot of times they will go looking for new areas and does and this is a great way to catch a new deer to your hunting area and get a shot. Remember just because they are smaller or less dominate in some area doesn't mean they aren't a trophy, sometimes smaller or older bucks run younger bigger deer off which any one of us would love to get a shot at. Always keep these things in mind when you pick your stand location. Rut is a great time to hunt travel areas between food and bedding where scrapes and rubs are. Never know what might walk by your stand!
Hopefully this helps when planning your hunting trips over the next week or two!
Good luck everyone during rut this year! We hope you share some good pictures of some bucks that are harvested and we look forward to hearing the stories that go along with the photo's!
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