Rut 2008

[Legacy]

for the past six years ive kept a hunting journal documenting my hunts. i include wind, temp, weather, stand location, day, and time spent in the field. i make notes of what i saw and when i saw it, for example deer sightings, food sources (including mast production), rubs, scrapes, etc. I thought it would be a good idea for us lou members to share some of our observations in the woods for 2008 focusing on the rut timing and activity.

[FX]

We could come up with a format such as:

DATE OF HUNT:

TIME OF DAY:

DMU/LOCATION:

TEMP:

WIND DIRECTION:

ACTIVITY:

ETC... Just a thought.

Shawn

[Legacy]

yes i like the format

[Gene Shenk]

10/18&19

Area 9H

Food Source's available - standing corn, (food plots chicory, clover, turnips) &Beech Nuts

Weather below avg Temps heavy frost in the mornings

Deer activity limited to a few sightings but did see one buck bumping some does. Also seen allot more mid day activity than usual for this time of year probable due to the temps.

Deer Sign more scrapes than usual for this time of the year, normal amount of rubs (1 very good rub line on some big trees I hope I get to see him)

I think the best 4 days may happen a little bit sooner this year I think next week could be very hot if the temps stay low.

[Legacy]

October 23

5:00 pm

DMU 8a

45 degrees

east wind 10mph

witness a half racked 6 pt (broken right beam) aggresively chasing a doe.

[FX]

sorry it's late!

10/22

5:45pm

DMU-8G

Wind North @ 15mph

drizzle at 40 degrees

6 pointer walked by with nose to ground - no response to grunts or bleats. New area to me so unsure of scrape and rub activity.

Shawn

[momay4000]

10/23/08

DMU - 8F (Town of Ontario)

2:30 PM

Temp - 45-50 degress; sunny and clear

Wind NNW <5mph

Activity - hunting ground blind, saw 7 total doe at same time interval, one spike, all deer nose to ground on way to food source, all following same trail. Took largest doe at 2:30 PM. Area loaded with rubs, but only one scrape. Spike seemed interested in doe, i.e. sniffing their "arses", etc.

DMU - 8F (Town of Wolcott)

6:00 AM hunt

Temp - below avg. roughly 31 degrees on way in; cloudy early, then sunny

Wind - calm

Activity - no deer seen. Good rub line, nothing new. Two scrapes. Very little deer activity opening week. No bucks yet....

- Chris

[Legacy]

November 1, 2008

DMU- 9H (town of Covington)

temp high 45 low 41

NNE wind 5-10 mph cloudy

time on stand - 6:05-10:30 am

one of the best days ive ever had in the deer woods (well without shooting one). deer were on their feet and very active through out the morning. 5 min didnt go by today without deer around me. 3 different bucks , 2- 1.5 year olds and 1 -2.5 year old 8pt chasing does for the entire morning. saw the 8 pt 4 times today and one of those times i watch him beat up a small tree. fairly active scrape line 20 yards from my stand with a series of 5 scrapes along main run. one of the 1.5 year old bucks (6/7 pt) worked 3 out 5 scrapes. its only a matter of time before it all breaks loose.

[Billy V]

November 1, 2008

DMU- 7H (Lansing, NY)

Temp high 58 low 47

NNW wind 5-10mph

Time on stand - 6:45-10:30 am

A really warm start to the day (58 at 6:00am) led to not a lot of deer movement first thing. Once the front came through at about 9am and the temps dropped the deer began to move. I had a 1.5 yr old spike come from dead down wind of me and walk directly under my stand (good to know my scent control measures are working!). I also saw a different 1.5 yr old spike and a 2.5 yr old 6 point come out of the pine thicket behind me. Neither of them seemed at all interested in any of my grunts. Both fed slowly past me and the 6 point bedded down about 50 yards from me. Also had a mature doe come in that I would've taken had she not completely busted me as I tried to get my bow off of the hanger. I saw a few more does feeding down at the other end of the power line. All activity was between 9-9:30 am. Needed some colder weather today.

[seasquirrel]

Have not seen much rutting activity here yet. Have not seen a scrape yet. A couple of days on either side of Holloween usually has some great doe chasing going on. Seems to be a little late this year. Should be a bunch more bucks taken during the gun season this year due to the earlier opener. Should be right about peak of the rut.

[momay4000]

Nov. 2nd, 2008

Location: 8F - Town of Wolcott

Time: 2:00 PM til dusk

Wind: SE, light <5mph

Activity: only saw one doe and about 20 turkeys, lots and lots of rut activity - several nice scrapes (one area had three areas scraped with lots of droppings), multiple rubs (20-30 trees over approximately a 5 acre area, one tree was a maple 8 inches in diameter and same trees which were rubbed over last few years). Seems like the rut is in full force where we are hunting.....

- Chris

[momay4000]

November 1st, 2008

Location - 8F - Town of Ontario (behind my house)

Time - 6 til 9 AM

Wind - calm

Temp - cold, likely less than 32 deg.

Activity - one small 4 pointer, no doe...one new scrape and one new rub (actually one of my ornamental maples I planted last year). Used Tinks for first time today, but small buck didn't seem interested.

[Legacy]

November 3, 2008

DMU 8A (town of hamlin)

Temp H 63 L 47

south wind 5mph partly cloudy

time on stand 3pm- dusk

Had a 4pt buck come out into field about 4pm and work 2 scrapes along western face of woods. at 4:30pm he was joined by a 2.5 year old 8pt (maybe 90" class) and he worked 3 scrapes on north face of woods. the 4pt approached the 8pt and they sparred for about 30 mins in the field (they just seemed like they were playing).

[biglew1995]

been hunting in Hopewell and Rush. Havn't seen any sign of RUT yet. Saw two bucks the other night each by themselves just walking around. no does with them and they weren't even sniffing the ground.

Took one big doe last thursday in hopewell she was all alone. Have seen scrapes and rubs but that's about it.

[Billy V]

November 9, 2008

DMU- 7H (Lansing, NY)

Temp high 42 low 38

NW Wind 5mph

Time on stand - 6:00-12:30 am

It's on like Donkey Kong down here. Deer were moving all over the place. I saw several big bucks chasing does today. I had to see at least 40 deer today and 9 of them were bucks, 4 of which would have to go to the taxidermists if I shot them. It was like Disneyland today! Just wish I could've sealed the deal on the big 10 pointer that I missed. Tons of scrapes and rubs, but none of the deer responded at all to my grunts.

[ray koziatek]

today, went hunting ,found good spot rattled ,big buck came in and i shot it . done till gun season RATTLE,RATTLE,RATTLE NOW brought in 5 bucks today same tree pretty cool ,them boys are fiesty now!!!!!!!!

[skipper19]

Hey Ray, that Cabelas big game is a great video game, Huh...Ok at least there is a trophy room...let's see it,...