Rut Reports

[PropsterII]

Does he need help?

[eyeslayer20]

Hunted Sunday night after work and so I didn't want to take the risk of bumping anything by my stands so I slipped in my groundblind and saw 7 does with no bucks. Then I sat all day yesterday during pretty good but wet conditions and so no deer which i thought was odd. Checked my trial camera this morning and there was a nice shooter 10 pointer at my one stand at 4:50 pm Sunday, isn't that the way it usually goes.

[Musky Buck]

I wish that is how it goes, my area is so overloaded with hunters, Sunday and Monday I never heard a shot but knew the masses were out in force and they shoot anything, it doesn't take long to realize nothing is moving or you'd hear the shooting, go get that 10 he'll be back.

[hockeybc69]

Hunted 223 again today. No rutting or hot movement at all on the 5 deer I saw.

[james_walleye]

I got out this afternoon and finally saw some antlers. About 330 a had a young 10 pointer at 15 yards. Man was it tempting to let it fly.....but I'm sure it was a 2 year old and should be a dandy next year. Then about sunset I had about a 110-115" 8 pointer at 30 yards. Again....so tempting but again a 2 year old. If it comes to it I'll put a doe in the freezer soon. Hopefully this afternoon is a good sign of things to come. It was good to see some nice antlers and felt good to let them walk.

[tracker x-2]

I think we should all post what zone or at least county where hunting in to better interpret each others sightings..

over the weekend in 338 our party of four seen over a dozen does and only one scenario of a buck chasing. I think this weekend (Sunday) will be excellent.

[james_walleye]

I was in olmsted county.....

[CrewJones]

223 punched the ticket on a nice 9 pointer, only deer i have seen since last friday. I was worried about passing on small bucks but this guy finally came on just put the pop up stand up 45 min before i shot this deer, he stinks like rut

[archerystud]

I'm in 291.

[hockeybc69]

Well, no visual activty this AM.... However, checked a trail cam and a 2.5 yo 8 pt walked by it at 10am yesterday....

[nbadger23]

I'm in 343. No deer Monday p.m or Tuesday a.m. I did see two fawns this morning who bedded down near me for over an hour. I was surprised I got out of there w/o spooking them.

[bigbucks]

Rattled a nice 10 I think in Thursday night to 35-40 yards. Just wasn't clear & he wouldn't come closer. Passed on a nice 2 year-old 8 ptr that morning & had a close encounter with a little forky or 6 ptr while scouting about mid day. Saw nothing on Friday but in scouting, putting up a ladder stand, & moving a blind found about 15 new scrapes on two properties & 20+ rubs in one little area at my Dad's place.

The weekend was pretty quiet for me personally, saw one fawn & one small buck on Saturday. Finally saw some deer again last night with my son right at dark, a doe & 3 fawns I'm sure, as it's a group I've seen a lot, but we could never id the doe. He said, Dad I don't want to shoot a little one. I said why not, you've never shot a deer? Well MAYBE if it comes closer, it didn't.

[FishingWebGuy]

Sat this evening in areas 601. 1 2 yr old 8 casually strolled through at sunset within 15 yards but nothing else.

[MUSKY18]

Hunted down in 218 (5 miles south of Belgrade) this morning. Had a nice doe and her fawn come through about 7:45. They were moving along pretty good and didn't stick around long. Ranged them at 60 yards. Clip they were moving, thought maybe a buck might have been pushing them, but nothing. Rubs all over in the swamp area I was sitting, but no bucks. Heard a few shots here and there, but nothing to write home about.

[lichen fox]

Up here in 264 it's just gettin rollin...up to mon. had been seeing lots of doe's, fawns and smaller bucks, a few scrapes and rubs, tue. saw 8 deer...had a small buck check out a fawn on a food plot...wed. sat in the same spot...had that same small buck chasing a nice doe really hard...then came another doe from a different direction with a "little bigger" buck right on her tail...saw an additional 3 does and 4 fawns after that and just at dark something big came out but it was so dark that I couldn't tell if it was a buck or doe even with the binocs!! this morning 5 fresh scrapes in that immediate area and at least 4 new rubs!

[PropsterII]

Many of these reports coincide with what I was seeing. I predict next 5-7 days should be pretty good for movement of mature bucks hopefully latter search phase and chase phase, then we'll probably get into more of the actual breeding. Of course some areas guys are already reporting having seen some of this happening. All the variation is due to population density, buck/doe ratio, age of the herd, human pressure (i.e. gun season), food and a number of other factors, but in general I'd like to think that things will bust loose some time in the next couple days to a week. Just wish it weren't going to be quite so windy. And I can do without thunderstorms too

[nbadger23]

Two sets of does with a fawn this morning. They came from opposite directions and kind of "met up" with each other and both turned around and went the other way.

It's starting to get to be a bit of a grind as I haven't seen horns since Sunday.

I've taken a look twice at moving one of my stands where I've seen the most buck activity but I just can't get a good feel of where to move it and the wind has been all over the place lately it seems.

Prop - I hope you're right. I have a feeling I've got some does holding bucks down right now and once those deer are bred they'll be off looking again, at least that's the hope.

[hockeybc69]

Hunted every morning and evening this week. Havent seen a buck yet. Only saw deer on one sit so far.

Area 223

However, I am limited to 2 stands, so thats not helping much at this point I dont think.

[nonteepical]

the first week of november the entire state should be expierencing pre rut activity chasing, scraping, searching ect. I honestly think we don't have a million deer in this state, a good indicator of deer population unfortunatly is road kill, and i haven't seen hardly any accross the state the past few years. i mainly travel from the cities to duluth and dakotas to wisconsin, and only get to s.e mn. about twice a year. the second you drive into wisc. dead deer everywhere, get back into mn. and theres nothing i don't know how they get their numbers but i think they're way off.

[FishingWebGuy]

Good point on road kill. I too barely see any in MN but we travel through WI a lot and the shoulders are covered in road kill. Maybe MN is really quick at clean up

[sticknstring]

Your observations are correct! Last year's harvest was the lowest it's been in the past 10-12 years. This year we're down 4% from that. Last year the DNR blamed it on the wind. This year conditions were near perfect and numbers are still down. They've already said increased lottery areas are to blame. Yada yada yada. There's a reason there's no roadkills and it's not because of the wind or changed areas!

[SmellEsox]

I've been hunting in 247 for 3-4 days a week for the last two weeks. Its been grim for daytime movement. I've seen two deer, a forkie and a 2.5 y.o. 8 pointer, in all that time sitting. There was snow on the ground Tues morning and good number of tracks in the snow. I think most of the movement has been at night. I know there is deer around. Another issue is that the acorn crop was bad in the woods I've been hunting. A lot of the private ground has food plots that I can't hunt near. I think most of the antlerless deer are probably around those plots and not in the woods by me. Been a frustrating year.

[nbadger23]

I saw 7 deer this morning. The first two were a doe and a small buck that came running through at 7 a.m. About 20 minutes later two does and two fawns come through. One of the does looks to have dark tarsal glands which is a good sign. They mill around for about 5 minutes and then wander off. Ten minutes after that a nice 6 point comes down the same trail, eating and smelling. He gave me a 10 yd shot but I couldn't take it because he didn't have a 4th point on one side. He headed the same way as the does, making a few quiet grunts as he walked.

I had high hopes after having had some live bait come through but I sat until ten and saw nothing else.

[monstermoose78]

I have been seeing a lot of roadkill deer the last couple of weeks. I drive from Princeton to St.Cloud on 95. About 3 weeks ago the farmer were harvesting crops and one way to school there were 6 deer dead on my way home 22 deer dead. I have seen deer every night on my way home, but in the last 3 days there seems to be more deer out. Last night I saw a very nice buck in a picked bean field near someones deer stand that was empty.

[Sota2Florida]

176/8 has been lit up with nice rubs and scrapes this week. Was hunting on one of the new lines tonight but just seen some does and fawns. This has been a long wait, bring on the chasing.

[TProGuy]

Was out for the Crow-Hassan Park hunt today. Climbed into my stand at 5:30 AM and climbed down at 5:15 PM. Saw exactly zero deer. From my spot, I could see 9 scrapes and 5 rubs within a 30 yard radius, but other than that, the woods were completely dead. Was really hoping for at least a little activity...

[hunter322]

I think the hardcore part of the rut is here! I pulled out of the driveway this am and turned the corner and had to slam on the breaks, there was a big 10 chasin a doe in the middle of the road he was just 3' behind her. he didnt care much that i was there either. then this morning my dad saw 2 does come out of the woods at 7:30 at 8:00 he saw the big boy take the same trail out. in the last 2 days ive also seen a couple of little ones with no momys around. im also starting to get pictures of bucks on the trail cam in the daylight the last couple of days.

[96trigger]

Shot a doe today that was being dogged by an 8 pointer, it was about 11:00 a.m. Both were panting pretty good. The rut is still going strong in areas of the southeast.

[dave12341234]

Anyone having any luck in the drizzle and wind? I want to go out but its borderline stuff right now, the weather cant make up its mind.

[matchset]

No action in the drizzle fo shizzle