The Hunting Beast

Dan - maybe you could setup some kind of poll as to when people have shot there bucks.
Example being:
1. Nov 1 thru Nov 7
2. Nov 8 thru Nov 14
And so on. Just a thought to see what week most people have shot there bucks during bow season.

Wrinkleneck wrote:Dan - maybe you could setup some kind of poll as to when people have shot there bucks.
Example being:
1. Nov 1 thru Nov 7
2. Nov 8 thru Nov 14
And so on. Just a thought to see what week most people have shot there bucks during bow season.

We could but rut timing varies regionally... For example in S.E. Wisconsin I see the most activity the 1st few days of November, however in Buffalo county and the surrounding region I see more activity the last week of October. In Southern Iowa the peak activity seems to be around the 10th of November...

dan wrote:

Wrinkleneck wrote:Dan - maybe you could setup some kind of poll as to when people have shot there bucks.
Example being:
1. Nov 1 thru Nov 7
2. Nov 8 thru Nov 14
And so on. Just a thought to see what week most people have shot there bucks during bow season.

We could but rut timing varies regionally... For example in S.E. Wisconsin I see the most activity the 1st few days of November, however in Buffalo county and the surrounding region I see more activity the last week of October. In Southern Iowa the peak activity seems to be around the 10th of November...

I guess the poll wouldn't be of much value then, but it would still be interesting to see what kind of time frame most people have shot a buck during bow season.

I finally got around to reading the article and still I just don't buy it. Not saying it doesn't have any effect but what if its cloudy out for a week during full moon, the rut just doesn't happen if the doe's aren't triggered by the moon? Trust your notes and past experiences and you will do fine, this theory is too much one size fits all.

You might even compare it to all the scents, calling, and other pixie dust. They kind of spray and pray, you know someone is going to shoot a nice buck in late Nov and tell everyone about the rut/moon/prediction stuff.

Singing Bridge wrote:There has been so much research done on this that I have fallen back on what is logical to me based on observation of my hunting areas- take it for what its worth. As Dan noted, in my areas the car/deer accidents sharply escalate during the same two-week period every year. I also jump newborn fawns streamside every spring during the same two-week period. Overall, photoperiodism appears to be the dominant factor in the breeding cycle in my hunting areas.

I agree with this.

headgear wrote:...what if its cloudy out for a week during full moon, the rut just doesn't happen if the doe's aren't triggered by the moon?

It is my understanding that in these moon studies, moon visibility is not what triggers the action. Rather, it is the magnetic effect that the various moon cycles have on wildlife. Just as wild animals and fish are more sensitive to predation and have a "6th sense", they are also supposedly more sensitive to the magnetic influence of the moon cycles.

I can understand that part of it, I was just going off memory and they talked about how the moon light helped trigger a doe into estrus, kind of like a boost to the standard photoperiod.

I think the shorter days and the amount of daylight is a big thing with the rut weather and hunting preusser of corse also...