Originally Posted by Mbrock
Originally Posted by Big Bore
Ok.....so I call bull squat on a bunch of this. I have hunted all over Alabama for 45 years and I have seen a few territory scrapes but I have never seen what I am seeing right now. Mature Bucks tending scrapes...tons of scrapes...everywhere!!!! All of our trails are littered with them as if it is peak of rut. Rubs everywhere too. This is occurring in Jeff Co. Never seen or heard of such. Something is different this year.


The rut has never, isn’t this year, and probably won’t in the future, change from the predetermined time it has started every other year. Does are genetically programmed to come into estrous at the same time each year, and they have done that very predictably for a long time. You may be seeing the signs of a buck that’s a little extra eager this year, but he doesn’t determine when the does go into estrous. They do. The rut will occur as usual. It’s not bull squat. Bucks really pick up scraping activity as soon as their velvet peels, which just happened a few weeks ago. Nothing out of the ordinary. If anything is unusual about it it could be a good sign. With an increase in buck age structure and more competition you’ll see more rutting activity. Are you hunting an area with more mature bucks than in the past?


Agree