What is the rut in reality?

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Stanley
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What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby Stanley » Fri Jul 15, 2016 9:26 am

The rut thread got me to thinking about this. I see a lot of guys talk about the rut. What is your definition of the rut? I'll bet we will come up with some pretty differing opinions?


You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:05 am

Something I always seem to find in the dark with my new truck :D

Rut = breeding season of certain mammals, ruminants like deer, elk, etc.

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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby Findian » Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:22 am

A period that I change my hunting tactics to match what the deer are doing.

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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby Twenty Up » Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:35 am

The month of November when I think the buck of my dreams is going to aimlessly walk 20 yards from my stand, when in reality it's just a squirrel :violin:
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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:54 am

Deer camp, comrade, serious food, big buck dreams & now the most important - introducing Jake to the outdoors...

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Last edited by Edcyclopedia on Fri Jul 15, 2016 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby oldrank » Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:59 am

When a bucks testosterone increases to a point where his habits change to looking for and finding does. At this point I consider him to be in rut.

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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby Dewey » Fri Jul 15, 2016 11:03 am

It's a period in time when I live on no sleep fueled by adrenaline and my wife forgets my name because I spend more time on stand than I do at home. :lol:

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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby JoeRE » Fri Jul 15, 2016 11:17 am

I just look at the rut as a series of phases blending together....prerut transitioning to seeking, chasing, cruising, lockdown, another good flurry of seeking and chasing followed by post rut. You see some unique deer behaviors in each phase around here although they blend together and overlap some....and observed rutting activity in various phases is a little different each year for a variety of reasons that I am still working on understanding.

My personal definition of "peak rut" is the time of year my frustration level peaks from other hunters, changed plans, incorrect predictions etc. Ugh. :lol:

I would also note rut activity is very regional.
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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby Tufrthnails » Fri Jul 15, 2016 11:28 am

Dewey wrote:It's a period in time when I live on no sleep fueled by adrenaline and my wife forgets my name because I spend more time on stand than I do at home. :lol:

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X2 I also change my zipcode many times during this think we call rut!
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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby JohnFunn » Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:04 pm

Twenty Up wrote:The month of November when I think the buck of my dreams is going to aimlessly walk 20 yards from my stand, when in reality it's just a squirrel :violin:


Haha! Good one! Nailed it! !!!

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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby Swampbuck » Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:15 pm

False hope!!

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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby Abishai » Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:22 pm

The "rut" is technically when bucks are breeding does right?

IMO, most hunters, when referring to the rut are talking about the seeking, cruising, and chasing phases, not the actual breeding phase. Hunting always sucks for me during the breeding.

I shwack bucks like crazy during the cruising phase!
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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:40 pm

I would consider the rut to be the period when whitetail bucks and does procreate in order to keep the species alive. A window of time when does go into estrus and are ready to be bred by bucks they deem worthy. It is generally considered by many to go from October to December, but many feel it's longer than that. It has three phases, in general, pre/rut/post.

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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby Hawthorne » Fri Jul 15, 2016 1:26 pm

It's the reason a buck grows antlers. It's the reason God put them here for all of us to hunt and manage. It's the reason I take vacation at that time. It's reality

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Re: What is the rut in reality?

Unread postby PK_ » Fri Jul 15, 2016 1:53 pm

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