I noticed difference in rut activity over the years and chalk a lot of it up to the calendar. I don't know how to explain it, but here goes. During archery, many times doe go into heat right on Halloween. I started to notice that this varied from year to year and I kind of thought it was because our numerical calendar does not follow the natural world calendar. Halloween is not on the same day every year. Did that make sense? It would be the same with the rifle season. Even if it is on the same numerical day every year, it is not really the same day. On the moon phase thing. I recently read in the PA Game News that the biologists say it is horse#$%&. I could not agree more.
I cant agree, unless im reading you wrong. We have studies showing the majority of doe in PA being bred Nov 16-17. Studies can be skewed, and only used as a basic guideline. Here in PA, up north you can expect the chase phase to start around Oct 18th. Down southern PA it could be a week off or so. Heavy rutting activity hits right close to Halloween. Ive taken many archery buck on Halloween, and its my favorite day to be in stand, but as I said I gave up archery about 6 yrs ago. Too many knot heads with new crossbows playing Lee and Tiffany, but thats neither here nor there.
Get an early frost in mid Sept and watch how the deer react. Forget your calendar. I take it you never shot or ate one before, and doubt theyre tasty
Watch Gods other creatures, great and small. Squirrel packing nuts, bears putting on weight, caterpillar cocoons....biologically these wild animals know whats coming before it gets here. How why im not sure or can explain. Natures a mysterious creature. Using my numbers in another post, 93,96,2002. Theres others but they stick out my head. Not needing to look at my journals, I know 93 and 96 were blizzard years, but 2002 wasnt. They still had one thing in common, long vague 1st rut, very distinct 2nd rut similar to what youd see first week of November, and a 3rd while sporadic, very very heavy. Now according to the PGC biologists this isnt supposed to happen with a better buck to doe ratio, but theyve been very wrong many times before. Man cant change nature as much as he thinks
And I cant explain why, under certain weather conditions will effect one part of the state more than another. What I see in my neck of the woods doesnt always relate to other areas. But its usually pretty close. And deer numbers can play a role too. Special regs areas where you have 100 deer per square mile will act totally different than my area with less than 8, sometimes closer to 3, deer per square mile. Long winded, but keep a journal, pay attention to the weather, and see if you dont become more productive. Id be willing to bet, in time, youll hit a homerun and figure it all out!
