The October Rut

I sorta wish our season opened Oct 1 just so that we could have a better chance at taking advantage of this brief window of time each year……..I think it probably changes slightly each year with the variance in velvet shedding times but each season just after the bucks shed their velvet they have a little spike in hormone levels that occurs. While most of the state is still a long ways off from any true rut…….I think that for a brief time period the bucks start behaving as if it were about to start next week. They start making rubs and acting a little frisky toward other bucks……..and the most important thing that I think they do……the whole purpose of this post……is that a lot of them up and suddenly change their patterns and move to another area.

I have seen it happen here a lot over the years where suddenly out of the blue around the end of Sept or first of Oct…..BAM!.......there will be a buck or bucks that I haven’t seen all summer…..Then after a brief little period they disappear again until showing back up during the rut. I don’t think that the bucks pattern changes just after velvet shedding are merely random……I think the bucks are going to the areas of heavy doe concentrations where they’ve gone in the past during the rut…..Bucks that have lived through 3,4, or 5+ seasons know the areas that hold lots of females…..

A lot of this is likely occurring in the first two weeks of October most years though. Like I said in the beginning, I think it probably just depends on the timing of velvet shedding for that particular year…..droughty weather in late summer seems to make them shed a little later……One of the best bucks I’ve ever killed was opening day of bow season. Saw another buck that same evening just as good as he was but never saw him again after that. Just something to think about opening weekend if you dont know where you want to hunt yet......Maybe think about where the does are usually grouped up in late January and try there. It's a brief window of time but one of the best ones of the year to get a good buck in my opinion.

We just say the bachelor packs are breaking up. You’re absolutely right about being primetime to kill a good’un.

Mine will be full on in 30 days. You can set a calendar by it

The cooler weather must have mine pumped up. I had one or two shed their velvet a few days ago and now it seems like a handful more have gotten pumped up and went and hooked theirs off. From what I’ve seen in past years it’s always oct 15 when they shed. Where I hunt the rut is mid to late January into February. Like you said though in October right after they shed their velvet they get kinda pumped up for a few days especially when some cooler air moves in. Knowing my luck all the bucks on my place are already aggressive to each other so they will shed their velvet and start fighting and knock their damn horns off before the season comes in.

Nice. Good luck getting a good one. I heard you have a pretty nice property and do a lot of work on it.

I get nice pics end September beginning October...it'd be nice to hunt em with velvet on

Go get you one jb ain’t gonna hurt nothing. Have the ice in your cooler ready and tell em you hit him with a car. January August who cares make JB happy for a change

Lol I hear ya...I hardly ever go by rules anyway just whats best for here n me 😀 ain't killed a doe in years even tho we got doe days I see more bucks than does, I'll kill me 3 or 4 maybe 5 bucks tho 😀

Yeah, I think a lot of folks would enjoy the chance to kill a velvet buck......First one I ever saw killed was a few years ago. I ended up tracking three different ones in the first week of the season. I think they held a little late that year due to the dry weather we were having

I agree with CNC. Bucks do seem to get a little crazy right after they shed the velvet. Maybe it’s because they realize their head gear is not a sensitive and they can go a little nuts there for a bit.

For me, I have zero interest in killing a deer in velvet. I like how they look in pics but if I want a deer on the wall, I want him in hard antler.

Our rut is just a couple weeks away. Only problem down here is right now I can’t walk in my yard without my pant legs getting covered with mosquitoes and it’s usually still 80-90 degrees sometimes. It can be fun when we get the right weather. Hopefully that’s the case.