Observations on the rut in PA

[Everyday Hunter]

I took my nephew deer spotting tonight and we saw a nice buck chasing a doe around in circles in a cut cornfield. They were about 150 yards away. He seemed pretty relentless. The rut is on in northern PA.

Anyone have any other observations from Pennsylvania?

Steve

[Bowtechian]

In talking to some farmers & from what I've seen, it seems the mature bucks aren't doing any major chasing in my area yet. I'm hoping that changes this week when the temps. start to drop again.

[Everyday Hunter]

ORIGINAL: Bowtechian

In talking to some farmers & from what I've seen, it seems the mature bucks aren't doing any major chasing in my area yet. I'm hoping that changes this week when the temps. start to drop again.

I think high daytime temperatures have shifted most deer activity to nighttime. Night is the only time I've seen deer moving. We have only until Saturday, so let's hope something changes soon!

Steve

[tedo123]

I think the rut is real spotty. My best friend shoot 126" 10 pioht on 11/7/09 the hawks were still white and the neck wasn't swollen no muskey smell,but I've been seeing some bucks chaseing.I've been in the woods every day for the last 2 week of archery and I think prime rut is going to be week after achery is over.

[danesdad]

I didn't see any evidence of chasing all season. A couple of small bucks looked to be seeking, but I never saw a chase per se. I think a lot of rutting activity took place at night because the whole season was warm. Most days, towards the end, were in the mid fifties. I was hoping for about ten degrees colder than that.

[BlountArrow]

The rut really sucked for me this year...spotty sounds like a good word to describe it.  I'm from TN but took off the whole first week of November after advice from local pro-shop...I hunt in South West PA (about as far South West as you can get).  I saw a buck or two every day, a couple that would have never had a chance at surviving back home if one of the local TN hunters around here saw him.  However, I saw absolutely no chasing activity, never saw what I consider a shooter buck, and I even had (2) different bucks walk right past mock scrapes and doe estrous wicks without even the slightest hesitation.  A guy that lives on the property I hunt, hunted the next week (2nd week of Nov) and it get hot and he didn't see crap.  He was pretty discouraged and ready to give up.  I'd just like to know when the hell the rut happened? did SouthWest PA really ever have a full blown rut this year? is it happening now that the season is closed for a while or what?  Oh well, I'll be back to hunt Nov 30th and Dec 1st.  Maybe dumb luck will allow me to see a shooter.

[Everyday Hunter]

ORIGINAL: BlountArrow
.... I'm from TN but took off the whole first week of November after advice from local pro-shop...I hunt in South West PA (about as far South West as you can get).  I saw a buck or two every day, a couple that would have never had a chance at surviving back home....

I'll be down in southwest PA on December 7 and 8 with an antlerless tag, but if I don't tag a buck here at home, maybe I'll get one of those big ones that part of the state is famous for.

Steve

[danesdad]

Either the rut was very subdued this year, or the bulk of it took place at night or after archery season closed.

[TeamHammer]

we had the same situations you guys did. there seemed to be spurts of increased activity in the last couple weeks of archery but nothing hardcore. we did hunt in southern ohio this year from nov 7-14, the daytime temps were high, but we still saw a good amount of activity, most of was durring the midday hours. Still was nothing to write home about. This past week in rifle season, we did find and open scrape.. through the icy snow. That really made us question what was going on and we also had a guy hunting up near state college that saw a buck, hot after a doe. Spotty is def a good word to describe what we saw of the rut for the 2009 campaign.

[avidbowhunter]

The rut was off because of no more doe to mate with!!!!