BUT, what I would guess is that you are seeing the signs that many of us in this area have been seeing for many years. The buck:doe ratio is balanced and the overall population low and stable. This creates a lot of competition between bucks and a lot of posturing/marking/sparring/fighting as bucks of the same age class AND in the mature range try to establish dominance.
I welcome a balanced ratio, if that's what it is. It will make for a more intense rut as the bucks compete for fewer does, but several clubs that I've spoken to seem to be seeing the same thing. (much more scraping than normal for this time of year)
We don't seem to be overpopulated with does, so I feel we're fairly balanced (not 1:1 of course). Historically, the rut (or the pre-rut as some call it) has always been the last 7 to 10 days of Jan. or later where we hunt. Either way , it seems like it's going to be a very interesting end of the season.
