Rut Report

[msteiger]

Well, it might be getting a bit late this year, but I was wondering if people would be willing to share very generic rut information that they're seeing. There's relatively little information about the mule deer rut, especially west of Nevada. This way we could track a broad overview of the rut as it progresses out here. I'm thinking something like

County: San Diego
Zone: D16
Date: 11/14/14
Activity: Bucks in groups; chasing does; or whatever

Of course I'll be happy to contribute, as soon as I see *A* deer.

 

[xjixta]

First off thank you guys for the help explaining and teaching me things since I joined. Already feel like I'm learning a decent amount here..

So based off what I was just told about the deer rut

County: Los Angeles
Zone: D13
Date: 11/08/14 - 11/09/14
Activity: Two bucks were spotted by each other, one single spikes, and a 2x2 (Couldn't get a shot off based on proximity to each other ) There was a group of does and 1 or 2 fawns about 150 yards away. Made no movement towards them.

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

11/14/14

D16, about 3200 ft elevation.

One forky with good mass walking a valley with 3 does, and possibly another small spike buck. About 500 yds from me, I tried circling em wide to close the distance but they were long gone. Lots of hunters out. (Does anybody work? Haha.)

 

[OTThunter]

Zone: D16
Elevation: 3,000-4,000ft
Public and Private land

So far rut activity has been minimal around the 3,000-4,000 foot elevation. Occasional bucks (forks) spotted chasing does but overall, larger mature deer have been in cover. Opening weekend brought a few larger bucks out but the full moon in previous weeks seemed to be dampener on their daytime activity. Now that the moon phase is changing, we may begin to see some more activity. Only a couple bucks seen with swollen necks so far, hopefully the cold weather from the last couple of days will snap some "rut" into them. One observation that I have been seeing is a large portion of does seem to still have small fawns, maybe due to late breeding last year? Possibly leading to late rut this year? Any opinions on this? This is only one observation, just trying to help piece together this final week of general season.