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The Rut is on


Baron

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Every word or phrase is "made up" but most elude to something that is real. There are in fact stages of the rut and when relating those stages there must be wording to explain. The pre-rut relates to the stage of the rut when a doe begins its estrus cycle releasing pheromones into the air, this is when you begin to see the bachelor groups of bucks breaking up, you see where bucks are marking territory with rubs on trees, young bucks begin sparring, and young bucks will drive the doe crazy trying to run up behind them and scent check them. Generally speaking in deep east Texas the pre-rut activity begins early to mid-October and lasts a couple weeks until the "peak of the rut". As the estrus cycle progresses the pheromones changes slightly in complexity and become stronger when this happens you are in the peak of the rut. During the peak of the rut larger bucks have selected a doe that is in full estrus and will stick with her until she is "cooperative", you will see does that have patches of hair on their backs that is brushed toward their heads. Once the buck breeds with the doe he will be off to find another and this is the best time of the year (in my opinion) to harvest a mature buck. This will be the only time that an "old" buck will do stupid things. For reasons I cannot explain the peak of the rut commonly happens (in deep east Texas) late to mid Novemeber and seems to always correlate with a strong cold front or full moon. I am always in a deer stand on the day the first artic front blows in of deer season and have had the best luck on those days. The third phase is the post rut. During post rut you will see very "poor" or skinny bucks, they will be looking for nourishment so making sure that you have plenty of greenery (oats, wheat, clovers, ect..) is very important. The final stage of the rut is the "secondary rut". This is the time when does that did not get breed in the initial estrus cylce will cycle again. Rutting activity is not normally near as heavy during this time.

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I've seen two monster bucks already. Unfortunately both were on the wrong side of the fence. The second one was without a doubt the largest free range buck I have seen in my life and I have been hunting for over 40 years. Even at 400 yds there was no doubt.

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Bustin' up stills and stuff, huh? Plus, Doomer doesnt like tag soup!

Yeah yeah yeah yeah. I know that's right. Chased one out the woods yesterday in the dark on the way out of the woods. They are up some in the days cause of the cold-front right?

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  • 2 weeks later...

First rut is winding down in East Texas. Man we seen a lot of deer during the first two weeks. I have to say that after 4 years under the new antler restrictions that there has really been a difference in the overall quality of deer around where we hunt.

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First rut is winding down in East Texas. Man we seen a lot of deer during the first two weeks. I have to say that after 4 years under the new antler restrictions that there has really been a difference in the overall quality of deer around where we hunt.

 

I have seen a lot of does and bucks, but I haven't seen any together or any bucks trailing does at all this season ....

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I have seen a lot of does and bucks, but I haven't seen any together or any bucks trailing does at all this season ....

I hit & killed a 4 point hot on the trail of two does that I narrowly missed on my way to work @ about 6:30 AM in late September. Exactly, almost one week to the Minute; 6 24 AM the following Monday, I hit & killed a doe about 2 miles from where I hit the first deer! Two in a week!
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