Full Rut or Not Yet ???

[wallter]

What's everybody seeing? Hunted east of Brainerd saw 3 bucks and one doe. The doe was being trailed by a buck and the 8 point I shot had quite the swollen neck. I'd say in that area; it's on.

[Tippman]

I saw the bigger bucks with does and smaller bucks alone or with each other. Also single fawns. Looks to be going strong around St. Cloud area.

[vister]

yep

[vrodharley77]

We hunt SE metro and it is not on, all bucks were alone that we saw and does were together and no bucks following, but another group we talked to down in Red Wing said the bucks were runnning all over the place so I guess I am not sure..... anyone else hunt area 601???

[DeanoB]

well it's on down here, heard a buck fight in the woods, saw a doe alone, 1 buck saw her and chased her into the woods, 5 min later another buck came out and was right on her trail, and followed the trail exactly where the first buck chased her in at. Maybe not all does are hot, but some are. this would be 15-20 miles west and north of Rochester

[BobberTom]

Up by Fergus Falls, We didn't see it. alot of does, but not alot of chasing going on. Saw alot of sign though. Should be good next weekend.

[maros91]

Had a spike come cruising out of the brush making line right for my scent wick. Stopped at my wick and licked it for a couple of seconds, made a ground scrape underneath it and off he went. He was the only deer I seen all weekend. I hunt the Zimmerman area.

[Shack]

I think it has not started just as of yet, but Tues and Wend. could hold the key. I would say Pre.

Around Becker/Orrock.

[minniwinni91]

o it's on I had a 3pt walk by me nose to the ground had another buck walking behind me grunting the whole way following a doe then the buck I shot was nose to the ground rite where the doe walked.'

[surewood]

The rut is starting now should be full blown by the weekend. Between me and some friends we have witnesses four times where bucks were chasing does. The 8pt I shot was in rut to.

[jeff127]

In our party, one guy hunted in 601 and he just started seeing some chasing this morning(he missed a chance at a very large 10 pointer just at shooting time because it bolted from his 6 point deer decoy) but in 338/belle plain the rest of us on 2 different properties 10 miles apart saw dozens of does alone and some still with fawns with some smaller bucks still casually walking around browsing and eating in the fields....strange---scrapes are also still getting hit hard there too. I'll be back out there thurs. and fri.

jeff

[Quackaddict9]

i think some are in the rut and some are not. Our grop shot a nice 8 that had a skinny neck. A smaller 8 with somewhat swollen neck and another small 6 pt with skinny neck. I think it will change anytime soon!

[Steve Foss]

Up here it doesn't feel to me like the rut is going full swing. I've twice seen bucks ambling down roads after dark in the last three days, but I've set up in an area with lots of fresh scrapes and rubs and doe sign but haven't seen a single deer in daylight hours.

While length of the day/night seems to be a strong trigger for rut, cold also is, and we've just gotten a cold front through with snow, wind and colder temps, so I'm thinking things will ramp up in the next few days.

Just my thinking.

[smg04]

it's going strong down here around rochester, the buck i shot sunday morning came in chasing a doe, i pop'd off 5 shots (hit him twice) not more that 30sec later another buck came in grunting and snorting, he was fired up looking for a fight, both necks were pretty swollen, i would say its on in full force

[TrophyEyes]

In SE MN the does are being chased by small bucks, but the big boys haven't come out to play yet. I don't think it will be too long. I saw two eights and a Ten point this last weekend, but they were 2 1/2 year olds. I scared the crap out of one of the eight pointers after I shot the doe he was pushing. Consider it a real decoy. The 10 pt came in and sniffed her 35 minutes after I shot her. It was pretty cool. The 8pt wasn't scared either.

If anyone is wondering why I didn't shoot and 8 or 10, because they weren't mature enough. If you are not going to mount it, then shoot the doe. The meat is the same and you will become a better hunter to let them walk away and learn what their behavior is.

[The Donk]

Not much going on NW of Bemidji, 7 of us didn't see one chase in 3 days, and fawns are still with the does. I was pretty suprised! A few scrapes are starting to show up, however so maybe next weekend will be better.

[bigbucks]

In our area it's on pretty good, although only small bucks seen chasing or seen period for that matter. We killed 7 bucks in our party, yearlings & a couple of 2 year-olds, some had swollen necks, some did not. We didn't see any does with fawns, but we only saw 3-4 different does for 16 hunters, shot two of them. The only two fawns we saw, both does, were shot.

I did see a doe that still had a fawn with her while bowhunting Friday night & I talked to guys in other groups that saw does with fawns, but suprisingly most guys I talked to saw very few fawns. I did hear a pile of fawns were shot by the Carlos State Park hunters though.

[colonel42]

I hunt south of Hibbing and have not seen any sign of scrapes. Does and fawns still together. I did do some walking Sunday afternoon and was pretty disappointed in not seeing any. Then again with the weather we have had the last two days could start things up. I will be on stand tomorrow AM and hopefully things will have changed since the weekend. Usually there is a lot of shots in our area. That was true opening morning but even the evening was slow. Sunday the sun was already up before I heard the first shot and that was way off in the distance. Out of our group and another group that hunt this area there were only four deer shot the biggest being a 6 point. That is 21 guys. I know there are deer there I see them every night. One of the older hunters told me they are sitting on the hay fields. In fact he said they are bedding there too. He said he saw more deer on his field at home then he seen out in the woods. Only time will tell.

[RBuker]

From these replies and from what I'm hearing and seeing, I'd say the rut is just a bit late this year. This cold snap should have things kicking up a notch. I think this weekend may be full blast! I'll be there!

[james_walleye]

O the big boys in SE are going. Saturday morning with the season about 2 minutes old my friend shot a 150" 10-pointer that was "birddoggin" through a picked bean field and grunting like a pig. Another friend and his dad in the last 2 days shot a 155" 10-point and a 170" nontypical both coming through on the tails of does.

[TrophyEyes]

James, those are nice deer. We were in the Houston, Rushford area and it just wasn't quite there yet. The little guys were going crazy and they were rutting pretty hard, but the little bucks were still chasing mature does, which obviously means that the big bucks weren't running them off yet. This obviously can't be a blanket statement, but it is what we saw first hand with about 75 deer, 30 being bucks.

[SFBOY]

shot mine chasing a doe. jumped them off the logging road and they ran the woods going back the way i came from grunting like a pig. hustled back down the logging road to a straight part in the road. heard some crashing coming from the right. the doe jumped across the road and romeo came running after her, but didnt make it across. that deer was certainly in no need of viagra but i was the only one to see a buck chasing out of 9 guys north of hibbing.

[james_walleye]

I went out with a friend tonight. Just as he said "i bet we bump a deer on our way in the woods" a big boy jumps out of a gully with a doe. He was only about 40 yards away running up the sidehill, but we had no shot through the brush. We each only saw 1 young buck tonight. Both running does pretty hard.

And the deer my friends got all were very nice deer. Some day i'll get mine. Maybe tomorrow. The 150" 10 pointer my friend got, i have 2 pictures on my trail cam of him from around October 23. I thought that was pretty cool.