Bred

Every year, right around turkey opener, I get the same question: "I'm seeing bucks chasing does, fresh rubs and scrapes, and bucks fighting. Is the rut still going on in my area?"

First, a small percentage of does cannot conceive. They still enter estrus, and are bred, but they do not conceive. These does may continue to cycle into estrus every 28-30 days, 4 or 5 times following the first, primary estrus. Each time they enter estrus, bucks are all over them, as often, by that time, they are the only hot doe in the area. The rut in my area is early to mid-November, yet I've seen a group of bucks chasing a single estrus doe in every month of the winter, and even into the spring.

On the other hand, a sudden surge in buck rutting activity in late March or early April is usually what Dr. D mentioned--the surge of testosterone a buck's body produces just prior to antlergenesis--the new antler growth process. This usually occurs at this time of year. Some years, I'll leave my cameras running over traditional scrapes until late spring, and it's amazing to see the sudden interest in scrapes in April that had been ignored since December. And bucks don't just start visiting them again. They often go through the full scrape sequence.

Thanks, BSK and Dr. Steve ... great info. Much appreciated.

Shoot all your does and I promise, every buck on your property will have a 150 inch rack. Killing the does makes them bigger. Your deer sightings will also double. Also, the rut will be intense, and you'll be able to time it to a distinct time every year after you eliminate most of the does. I'm being serious, seriously serious, i read it in QDMA. Seriously, it works, no kidding.

Thanks for all the feedback. I believe that it was probably a doe that is incapable of conceiving and keeps going into heat. We had pictures of a doe being mounted in July a couple years ago from the same area. It was likely the same doe.