2012 Rut Topics

[umpiremark]

We too are 5 miles west of Necedah. My son and I hunted hard this past Sat & Sun and didn't see a deer. Near, far, nothing. We tried grunts. I even rattled a few times. Nothing. Except for coffee and some sammich's around noon-ish, we were in stands most of the daylight hours. No sightings at all.

All of our turnips (we only have 3 small 1/2 A plots on 120 acres) have been chewed down to nothing. Where we were getting 50-60 pics a week per plot, we're down to a scant few at night of a wandering doe/fawn. With the drought, we got the turnips in late and they grew short and very few bulbs. With the food gone, we're sure the does left for the next food sources and we've had no activity in a week.

Can't tell you what the status of the rut is on our property because with the does and fawns mostly gone, so are the bucks.

Too bad, we had such high hopes in October.

[ChuckNorris]

Our turnip crop failed due to the drought. I planted rye mid August and it has been a savior. Problem is our plot is very near our trailer site and therefore serves more as a wildlife viewing area and nocturnal feeding area. Of course while we were on stands in the woods this weekend 3 doe and a small buck were feeding in the field. Small buck followed them to and from but was not really harassing. Again status of the rut remains unknown.

Our acorn crop was very good this year. Because of this the deer were very predictable for the first couple weeks of bow season, which I really didn't hunt . Now the acorns are gone and the deer are still around but the pattern is hard to define. Hunting on our property has always been best in the late afternoon but this year the cameras confirm the deer are actually leaving in the afternoon instead of arriving.

We too are 5 miles west of Necedah. My son and I hunted hard this past Sat & Sun and didn't see a deer. Near, far, nothing. We tried grunts. I even rattled a few times. Nothing. Except for coffee and some sammich's around noon-ish, we were in stands most of the daylight hours. No sightings at all.

All of our turnips (we only have 3 small 1/2 A plots on 120 acres) have been chewed down to nothing. Where we were getting 50-60 pics a week per plot, we're down to a scant few at night of a wandering doe/fawn. With the drought, we got the turnips in late and they grew short and very few bulbs. With the food gone, we're sure the does left for the next food sources and we've had no activity in a week.

Can't tell you what the status of the rut is on our property because with the does and fawns mostly gone, so are the bucks.

Too bad, we had such high hopes in October.

[umpiremark]

Here's two trail cam pics from this past weekend ... a doe on the trail on the back end of the property and a doe in what's left of one of the turnip fields on the front part of the property. Look at their back leg hocks. As white as the snow around them.

You tell me if the rut has started, even.