So after having gone out west for the first time this year, and thinking about potential trips/locations for next year, I am trying to rationalize my way through deer rut timing.
Having hunted the southern half of MN my whole life, my opinion that the best time to be in the woods here and see mature bucks on their feet chasing is the first week of November. No doubt in my mind for MN. The text message pictures of big bucks killed by friends, and friends friends always peaks around November 4. The most pre-rut fighting and young bucks pushing around does really seems to come on around October 25, and carry to the point around Halloween when you start to see the bigger deer up during the day which pushes in spurts into mid November with bucks seemingly intermittently disappearing when they lock down with a doe. This is what we all look for, is the older bucks to get dumb, and show themselves during shooting hours. The bucks that survive will then sometimes become more visible again from November 25 or so and maybe into the beginning of December do I see a mature buck seemingly chasing again. Presumably this "second rut" that gets talked about. It is a real thing I think.
Now, when seeking guidance from those on this sight and others I talked to about hunting in MT the almost unanimous consensus was get as close to the last week of November as you can. Based on this, we did SE MT November 14-22 this year and saw rutting activity from both whitetails and mule deer. The biggest mule deer we saw were still at night, but they were definitely chasing. The whitetails seemed to be active, with many bucks out in the open pushing around and tending does. I can't say it looked like post rut, but I also can't say it was peak. We did see bucks bedded during the day, away from does, and it was 60 degrees at times.
Where we hunted in MT is north of where I live in SE MN, but is essentially between where I grew up and where our family deer camp is. I buy that deer further south rut later than further north, but do they rut later the further west you go too. Does it have something to do with timing of spring, more snow, wanting to drop fawns later, elevation, what?
The consensus also seems to be that mule deer rut later, but I swear on an Eastman's clip they said the opposite.
My struggle is when to plan vacation to go. It is very consistent that you guys that hunt the west a lot prefer that last week of November, but that seems to hold true from northern ID to southern CO. How can that be?
We are considering going back to SE MT or trying a black hills hunt in NE WY next year. I'm worried that we will be shooting ourselves in the foot if we go say from November 7-13 instead of 12-20 or something. Or would we be even better off going the week of thanksgiving? We will be hunting public land/BMAs so in my mind there is some factor of getting to a buck before someone else kills him, because you can't put your tag on a buck someone else did the week before. The other side of that is the bucks won't be showing themselves or moving through the stuff we can hunt until we get into the latter half of November.
Am I wrong in thinking that the first week of November in NE WY will have good chasing just like it does at the exact same latitude 9 hours east? I'm having a hard time convincing myself either way. A huge part of it is going, and seeing what we see, but other things can mess with single trips like weather, hunting pressure, etc.
Seeking the opinions and expertise of the eastmans crew.
Having hunted the southern half of MN my whole life, my opinion that the best time to be in the woods here and see mature bucks on their feet chasing is the first week of November. No doubt in my mind for MN. The text message pictures of big bucks killed by friends, and friends friends always peaks around November 4. The most pre-rut fighting and young bucks pushing around does really seems to come on around October 25, and carry to the point around Halloween when you start to see the bigger deer up during the day which pushes in spurts into mid November with bucks seemingly intermittently disappearing when they lock down with a doe. This is what we all look for, is the older bucks to get dumb, and show themselves during shooting hours. The bucks that survive will then sometimes become more visible again from November 25 or so and maybe into the beginning of December do I see a mature buck seemingly chasing again. Presumably this "second rut" that gets talked about. It is a real thing I think.
Now, when seeking guidance from those on this sight and others I talked to about hunting in MT the almost unanimous consensus was get as close to the last week of November as you can. Based on this, we did SE MT November 14-22 this year and saw rutting activity from both whitetails and mule deer. The biggest mule deer we saw were still at night, but they were definitely chasing. The whitetails seemed to be active, with many bucks out in the open pushing around and tending does. I can't say it looked like post rut, but I also can't say it was peak. We did see bucks bedded during the day, away from does, and it was 60 degrees at times.
Where we hunted in MT is north of where I live in SE MN, but is essentially between where I grew up and where our family deer camp is. I buy that deer further south rut later than further north, but do they rut later the further west you go too. Does it have something to do with timing of spring, more snow, wanting to drop fawns later, elevation, what?
The consensus also seems to be that mule deer rut later, but I swear on an Eastman's clip they said the opposite.
My struggle is when to plan vacation to go. It is very consistent that you guys that hunt the west a lot prefer that last week of November, but that seems to hold true from northern ID to southern CO. How can that be?
We are considering going back to SE MT or trying a black hills hunt in NE WY next year. I'm worried that we will be shooting ourselves in the foot if we go say from November 7-13 instead of 12-20 or something. Or would we be even better off going the week of thanksgiving? We will be hunting public land/BMAs so in my mind there is some factor of getting to a buck before someone else kills him, because you can't put your tag on a buck someone else did the week before. The other side of that is the bucks won't be showing themselves or moving through the stuff we can hunt until we get into the latter half of November.
Am I wrong in thinking that the first week of November in NE WY will have good chasing just like it does at the exact same latitude 9 hours east? I'm having a hard time convincing myself either way. A huge part of it is going, and seeing what we see, but other things can mess with single trips like weather, hunting pressure, etc.
Seeking the opinions and expertise of the eastmans crew.
