I hunted Wednesday through Friday with my girlfriend and her family at their lease off of hwy. 219 this past week. Scrapes where everywhere, but few deer were seen (mainly a few small bucks). We only saw 4 deer in 4 hunts; weather was pretty bad too, though...
My girlfriend killed her first deer (a 3 pt.) Thursday afternoon. His neck was very swollen, but his tarsals weren't stained...
I haven't ever hunted the area prior to this past week, but I just kind of assumed the rut would be the last 10 days of season or so. I was surprised at the amount of sign we saw/found, and I agree with you, Mike (I believe the rut will be in a couple of weeks).
