When it comes to the rut, timing is everything

[Sailfish]

Just got this yesterday.
Its the latest adjustment to our rut dates from a 2 year FWC project.

Might be pretty tough if your on one of those counties that border a 4 month swing

[Ohio farms]

Very interesting data. Wish I had that for Ohio. Do you find it helpful?
(Hey, thanks for the heads-up on the exotic animals in Ohio)

[Sailfish]

Honestly......no.
Seems every piece of land you get on the landowner or locals have a different date.

[Sailfish]

I should say different timeframe.
My area on the map says November 3rd, I just got on a new piece of land last year, landowner tells me its always sometime in early Dec

[deerslayer333]

Hey Ohio Farms I'm living in Columbus,OH and was wondering if you saw what I saw last year concerning the rut. According to the rut calendar from D&DH the best times to hunt were from Nov.15 to Dec.4 because of the timing of the rutting moon so I planed my vacation accordingly and was very disappointed. The actual chasing phase really ramped up around here on Oct. 22nd which I beleive was the real catalyst for the rut since it was the actual second full moon after the autumn equinox in 2010 because I saw bucks chasing does in the city and surrounding areas I hunt and continued to see bucks standing over (tending) does from the road as I drove by them. By the time I started my two week vacation on Nov.15 I was observing that the rut was winding down if not almost over by then. I hunted hard those two weeks and saw very little activity and I came away with a doe. So I was just wondering if you remember when you started to notice bucks really chasing does last year. One thing I didn't understand about that rut prediction was why did they ignore the full moon the day after the autumn equinox and not count it as being the first of the two full moons? Was it because they couldn't beleive the rut would kick off in October as I beleived and witnessed that it did?

[Ohio farms]

Last year was actually the first year that I followed D&DH's predictions for the rut. My hunting buddy and I are both retired, so we are able to hunt most anytime we plan to. We decided to hunt hard Nov. 8-13. We hunted my farm and a private urban land that he had permission to hunt. His spot is a bottle neck woods that encompasses some 400 acres that snakes through suburbia...great spot. We started at my place and observed multiple scrapes but saw no movement. Two evenings for around 3-4 hours until dark.
Moved to his spot on the 11th and I shot 140 pt buck chasing a doe. Saw other bucks moving does that same day but never had a shot. It seemed that there was activity, but not as much as we had expected or hoped for. I had read that, for reasons I don't quite understand, last year's rut was spread out over a longer period of time than usual. (I think it had to do with moon phases...I'm sure someone here will know) This year is expected to be more intense over a shorter period of time. I have the luxury to hunt when I want to now, so it makes it easier to hit the rut than when I was working. I hope all of you get to enjoy that one day too. Good luck.

[Ohio farms]

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[Ohio farms]

Sorry, not sure how I did that 3 times.

[Woods Walker]

When it comes to the rut, the CORN HARVEST is everything! (Or at least it is here in Illinois!)

Look at it like this......the bucks go where the does are. If the corn is still up and the does are in the corn, then guess where the boys will be?

[Ohio farms]

You are so right about the corn being up. 6-7 years ago all the corn in our area was left standing during the gun season. By noon on opening day, the only thing left in the woods were hunters. Had to drive them out, which is hard to do in a big corn field.