Rut Activity?

[IceHawk]

Had a decent 8 follow a drag rag right to me at 20 yds definitely was looking for a hot doe for sure neck was nice and swollen central mn.

[ZachD]

Was in Princeton today rattled a nice looking buck he came out of the woods across the field from me.. grunted at him nothing did some estrus bleats and he was now headed right to me.... He got to the far tree line you cant see it but there is a small creek that is between my stand and that tree line so maybe thats why he didnt commit who knows... I also found this that was not there last week...

I think tomorrow I am def going to do a drag

[archerystud]

Nothing Moving for me tonight.

[Jeff13]

Hunted in Princeton tonight saw nothing on stand, walking out I ran into a monster on the way out and watched him make a scrape about 80 yards away down a trail for 5 min then he walked off, I'll be hunting him tomorrow!

[Notime]

We watched to little guys posture up on the 31st. Looked to be a small 6 and a small 8. They sure got tough when they saw one another! I saw 2 little guys tonight close to does, but they were eating clover. Hubbard county.

[Bear55]

Back yard mock scrape is getting pounded right now, all night action but thing are getting serious in the deer world.

[96trigger]

Sat this morning until 9, never saw a deer. While I was walking the half mile back to my truck I see a nice buck traveling across the field heading to the stand I was at. There is enough of a hill and he is far enough away that I am positive I can truck it back and be in the stand to cut him off without being detected. 9:20 I am back in the stand. Wait 5 minutes then hit the grunt tube, 2 minutes later oh boy here he comes! Unfortunately once it clears the brush I see it's only a fork horn. Sat until 10 but the big guy was a no show.

[paceman]

Sat yesterday morninf and evening. only one doe at first light. Nothing else. Got down at 10. back in another stand about 2:00. decoy out in a field corner. 2:30 3 fawns come out and mill around the decoy for about 2 hours. I think they felt safe around him. 5:00 2 does come out and walk away from the decoy. Later a tall 3 pointer comes out and start chasing the does around. Pretty funny whenever he would see the decoy I would grunt and he would run away but he kept coming back to the does...

[archerystud]

I was about 40 yards from my stand this morning and one takes off. It was standing under my stand. I was pretty dejected as I hate bumping deer on the way to my stand in the morning.

Action did pick up later. Four does went by me at 18 yards. Must have had a buck chase them to me as they were really watching their back trail but no buck showed. Later I saw a lone doe wandering about 50 yards off. Finally at about 8:15 I saw some movement and a buck turned in and headed right towards my stand. It's a 2.5 year old 7 pointer. Nose to the ground grunting away. Let him pass at 5 yards.

Probably will be on the same stand tonight with all of the does in the area!!

[BryanL]

One big bodied buck moved quickly through my area this morning at 8:30. Seemed to be in a rush and never even gave me a good look at his rack but the body was big. Nothing else sighted. Sat cure different spots over last three days and that was my only deer seen. Done now until the guns come out and feeling a little panicked. No way the corn is coming down by then and they seem pretty happy to stay there for now.

[slimngrizzly]

Im at work... I have a friend out hunting a spot and he texted me that he grunted in a big 4 1/2 yr old 8 point to 30 yards around 7:30. Couldn't get a shot until it got out to 40 yards. He had a hole, stayed calm... and missed That's hunting!

[Abndoc]

4 does at 9 am this morning followed by a basket 8 and very tall tined 8. No shot on bigger one. Brought one son, out with the other now

[96trigger]

Very windy tonight. Went out anyway. I have one stand in a valley on the bottom of the bluff, didn't have much of a choice. About 4:30 a little comes running in, thinking a buck is behind her I grab the bow and wait, but nothing shows. Still a good sign as I thought I was going to get blanked. 10 minutes later another doe comes in at a trot with a buck right on her tail. He was a smaller 8 pointer, probably 2.5 years old. Passed by at about 10 yards. He proceeded to chase her around my stand for better than 20 minutes before they finally took off. Scent control must be working as neither paid any attention to me and went full circle around me more than once. The buck was downwind at less than 10 yards at one point.

[Abndoc]

Wind with farmer taking corn out..no deer tonight. Excited about this week, said he will have all corn out by tomorrow afternoon

[Jeff13]

Had a 4 pointer come in tonight alone then was scarred of by a loud grunt and snort wheeze from behind me, I could hear him but not see him through the thick brush, never showed himself. Seen 4 does as well, 2 of them were being pushed by a larger bodied deer but to thick to make out how big. Plenty of wind but still good action.

[96trigger]

Still windy this morning, getting ready to go back out

[Jmnhunter]

was out just NW of baxter over the weekend, didnt see a deer in the stand sat or sunday until i walked back to the truck last night, a couple of smaller scrapes is all i saw for rutting activity, still behind up here i'm thinking

[DonBo]

Saw a couple bigger bucks out doggin' over the weekend. Not on a doe, just cruising, nose to the ground.

[nbadger23]

I'm in SE MN...

Friday a.m. - nothing

Saturday a.m. - 2 small bucks and one large bodied deer that ran by at warp speed.. never saw it's head.

Saturday p.m. - 2 different small bucks, both working a licking branch above a traditional scrape spot. That scrape wasn't open on Friday morning when I checked it but when I checked it Sunday morning it was opened up pretty good.

Sunday a.m. - a doe and fawn come into my small food plot at 7:05, eat for 15 minutes, then bed down, 20 yards from me so I've got the perfect live decoy! Unfortunately it didn't help. They got up around 8:30 and the doe peed 10 yards in front of me to try to help me out a bit but no such luck. I sat until 10:30 and nothing further.

Sunday p.m. - windy as heck. Thankfully I have a stand that's a bit protected. No activity until 15 minutes before shooting light ends. A tall 4 point comes walking by and you can tell he's on a mission. He heads over to another traditional scrape spot and opens up 2 scrapes and rubs a few trees. I hear a deer snort and see a doe bound away from him and then another little buck. Those two "lock horns" (if you can say that about two small bucks) and tussle for a while. It wasn't real spirited because they ended up licking each other when it was done.

Monday a.m. - windy, rainy, etc.. no deer spotted.

All things right now are pointing to a later type rut near me given what I'm seeing and other folks around me I've talked to. I normally see some pretty good bucks on their feet from Halloween on but not this year. Those scrapes that I mentioned are normally open almost 2 weeks earlier. It's not going to keep me from getting out there but will likely make me shift some vacation to the end of the week and into next week.

[96trigger]

Didn't see anything this morning, very windy and damp. Got soaked, going back out this afternoon.

[FISHINGURU]

I don't even bother when it's windy, I can't stand the wind. Hunting or fishing give me any other element out there besides wind.

[96trigger]

I agree completely, hate the wind more than anything. However, windy as it was last night, the deer were still moving.

[FISHINGURU]

I hear ya, also depends on the spot, some days you can be up on a ridge or field edge and get blown out of your tree but if you head down into the valley it's barely windy, but then you got swirling winds most the time.

No matter what your best chance is being in your stand, it's hard to get em from the computer desk!

[archerystud]

Last night I had 2 does and 2 fawns come in at sunset. Awesome, 4 live decoys but no bucks showed. Had to bump one of the does out at quitting time. I HATE THAT!!

Hit a different woods this morning. Heard a buck grunting and running a doe and 2 fawns. Saw the does/fawns but not the buck. That was about at sunrise. Only wind and squirrels after that.

Little ones are chasing, the switch has to flip soon....

[BLACKJACK]

Little ones are chasing, the switch has to flip soon....

Hope so, I'm off Thursday and Friday!!!!

[Shu]

My son saw 4 bucks mid-morning in this weather today.

[rbs]

Hunted a stand Saturday morning with no deer action close but saw a doe and 2 fawns at first light in the field I was near. Had 2 coyotes come past and one has a bald spot on its back now lol. about a inch lower I figure...dang! I checked my cameras while I was there and missed a nice buck that came thru the night before at 6pm.

Hunted a different spot since it was ese winds last night. Grabbed my sd cards before getting in the stand and I guess I should have bee there the night before because I had 2 bucks, 1 shooter, come past between 3 and 430. I had wondered about my Wildgame Innov. Red 6 camera because it wasn't getting much for pics on that oak flat. I set a Moultrie M880 below it and aimed it the same. Got 7 pics total on the Wildgame...241 on the Moultrie...hmmm. Looked at the Moultrie pics and only had to delete about 20 and they were of me setting and checking the card. Guess I could take the Wildgame camera back!

Good Luck all!

[sticknstring]

The yearlings have been on kamikaze patrol since the 25th. Youngsters really scraping hard. Still have yet to see a shooter buck on his feet though.

[MUSKY18]

Hunted Wed-Friday last week almost all day everyday. Didn't see much on Wednesday with the crappy weather. Thursday I had a shooter 8 sneak in on me. Was putting my calls into my backpack, and when I turned around there he was looking at me. I just froze and he turned around and walked away and went into the woods about 100 yards away. Not alarmed at all. Friday I went in and ate lunch. Got back in the stand bout 2. Right around 3 I looked way across the fields and saw a big deer loping across the alfalfa field bout 600 yards out. Pulled the binos up and watched a monster go down into the creek bottom. Never saw him come out the other side. Hunt ended with two does busting me and standing in the woods blowing and stomping at me.

Yesterday we went up to our woods where we rifle hunt to do a last minute recon of our stand sites and camping area. I have never in my 15 years of hunting up there seen so many scrapes. Found one spot about 15 feet in diameter that had 5 different scrapes in it. Walking up an old logging road, we counted 24 different scrapes on the road alone. Didn't find many rubs however, mainly just scrapes.

[JJJ]

No chasing that I've seen. Hunted sat sun in the stand now. Normal deer movement. I'm guessing the 12th like what I saw in Iowa last year.