Rut timing

[Kevin]

I am curious when and how long the rut runs. Does it coincide with Mulies? Does weather seem to have any effects on timing? How about timing in the northern end of their range compared to southern? If I find a buck during preseason scouting, will he be long gone during the rut? Any insight would be appreciated.

 

Good hunting!

Kevin

[az4life]

I eagerly await the replies on this topic. I have seen so many opinions on other sites, this could be the key for many folks with late coues hunts!

[CHD]

I am not as experienced with this topic as many others on this site, but you all are welcome to what I have.

 

I hunted 32 last December. I began hunting on the fourth day of the season. The weather was probably more severe than usual with standing snow at the higher elevations when I arrived. It stayed cool and cloudy for much of my hunt, but warmed up during the last week of December. The deer were very active in the AM and PM, with some activity during the middle of the day. Although the rut is triggered mainly by TIME OF YEAR, I believe that cool, overcast weather gets things going sooner.

 

On the fifth day of the season, I watched a nice buck (maybe 3.5 years old and 90") horn the brush and steal a couple does from a yearling who was posturing and thinking that he was something to contend with. It was just too early in the hunt to take him. Many of the small doe groups had younger bucks messing around with them at this time also. I watched a 90"+ buck make a scrape about December 25, and saw him the next day following 2 does across a bowl. He was serious and gettin' after it.

 

I watched several doe groups the last week of the month, but the rutting activity (even with younger bucks) seemed to have stalled. It was a big disappointment. It was kind of strange for it to have died out after going so strong the few days before x-mas.

 

Chris Darnell

Edited January 1, 1970 by CHD

[Guest Ernesto C]

Hi Keving,I'm no biologist or anything like that but please let me tell you what I think ok?

 

When and how long? to me the best rut time is the last 2 weeks of december and the first 2 weeks of january.

 

Does coincide with muleys? In soutern Az in my opinion yes.Mule deer rut is in a different time in the north than in the south.

 

Does weather has any effect? mmmm I'm not sure I think that if a buck an a doe ar going to make their "thing" it wont matter .I got the same opinion CHD has,the rut will be triggered by time of the year.

 

The difference from the northern end and the southern end? I think the coues deer range is not too big so it will be the same.

 

Now if you find a buck during preseason scouting you may or not find it there during the rut Why?he will be chasing does but relatively he will be near by or if he's not there is because may be I got him on the early hunt

 

Keving my opinion is base in personal experiece like I said I'm no biologist.

 

Thanks and God bless you. Ernesto C.

[CouesWhitetail]

Kevin,

 

You might be able to get some of your questions answered by reading the Coues Biology section that discusses the rut. Here is the link: Coues Life Stages

 

That page has a graph that shows the timing of antler growth, rut, and fawning. There is also info on the effect of nutrition on the rut.

 

Here are some quick answers to your questions. Rutting behavior can start in Nov and run into March, but generally the peak is in January. Late December can be good. So if you have that December hunt, you might want to hold out until the end when the rut is more likely to be in swing. You will have to guage it yourself though to see what is happening where you hunt.

 

Nutrition is a huge factor in breeding activity. In AZ, there have been studies that showed that in years of poor rainfall the rut is 2-3 weeks later than in years of good rainfall. But of course the timing of the rains is very important. I think that although we haven't had great rainfall this year, I think it was timed well and that the deer should be in pretty good condition (good antler growth, good body condition for does).

 

Generally, the rut starts earlier in the northern part of their range than in the southern. So the bucks rut later in Mexico.

 

If you find a buck during preseason scouting there is a good chance you will find him in the same are during the rut. But the bucks move more widely during the rut, so he will be working a bigger area than in the preseason. What I recommend is in addition to finding the bucks, take note of where the doe groups are. The does will be in the same area during the rut and the bucks come to them. So if you find 6-8 doe groups in preseason scouting, try and locate them again during the rut and watch for the bucks to be running them. The does are only receptive to breeding for a few days during each estrus cycle, so the bucks have to be there when the does are ready. So they bucks move around constantly checking the does to see who is ready.

 

Also, I suggest you be very patient in watching the bucks. I have seen younger bucks harass does that were not ready to breed while the larger bucks stayed mostly hidden nearby. So just because you see some bucks, doesn't mean you see all of them with those does. The younger bucks don't have the experience to wait until the does are ready.

 

Hope that helps!

Amanda

[dchamsr06]

Hi All:

This is my first post. Just to let you know that I have a group of friends and I that usually hunt Superbowl week-end. The rut is usually hot and heavy. I usually get a couple of shots a trip but still haven't taken a buck with my bow.

[Guest robert]

In my experience rut has to do with time of year, not weather, but weather does have an effect. When it is snowing and nasty, how many people to you see walking around in the woods, same with cold weather. Deer know this too and move around a lot more in bad weather. Proof of this is in aug> archery season. When it is the middle of the day and over 100 degrees out the deer will feed and water, I see the most deer midday. I rarely see deer before 9am and rarely after 4pm. I used to only hunt early morning and afternoon, now sometimes I dont even start walking till an hour or two after the sun is up. So I believe it is time of year and hunt pressure.

Also in aug hunt, this tear we hunted on an overcast day, only got to low 90s, and we didnt see any deer untill it started raining and hailing very hard, deer know people wont usually stick arond long for that. That day we saw 30 deer from 3pm till 530 pm, then none again.

[az4life]

I noted the deer seem to be in the early stages of rut in 24b. Some extra daytime movement and some early tending of does was what I saw. On Sunday, we saw one buck really chasing a doe around a hillside, but she was not receptive. Other than one other playful chasing episode, we didn't really see active rutting behavior like is normal when we hunt after Christmas.

 

Several times we saw smaller bucks together, and groups of as many as 7 does with no visible buck.

 

We saw Lots of deer, during the hunt. It must have been a good year for them since mine had a layer of fat under the hide thicker than I have ever seen on one of these coes deer.

 

Got a Roast in the crock pot for tonight.

 

BTW I will try to get a couple digital pics posted from my game camera. Sure was fun to build and have it work so well.

[Guest Phillip]

Can anyone tell me how the January archery hunt is in the southern units. 33, 32, 34a. is the rut generally going by then?

[galiuro mountain man]

I dont know the other two units, but 32 is a tough one to hunt. The deer have all moved to mequite flats because of lions. I went to a place where I knew I would see deer, and no people. I saw no deer, no people and a bunch of lion sign. Unit 32 is a good unit if you can locate the deer, but they are very wild because of the lions, and being easier access to people while out of the wilderness. But I have seen quite a few mulies this year. In unit 32 I heard 1 grunt and 2 bleats so it looks like the rut is beginning.

 

Good luck

[catclaw]

I guess everyone who has spent much time hunting them has an opinion on this. I have had about a 5 year hiatus due to my inability to draw a tag. I have only seriously hunted mulies with a bow as they can reliably be expected to rut in late December whereas the little coues deer is as likely NOT to rut before the first of the year as he is to rut.

 

I have never hunted in 27 ( my favored unit to spend time) when I didn't see mule deer rut activity by Christmas. I have always found bucks gathering does. I have killed a few of them this way too.

 

I have had 10-12 December whitetail tags over the years, maybe more, and if you are counting on the rut to get the bucks moving and not glassing bedding areas, you are going to be likely dissappointed. I have seen whitetails rutting in the Pinalenos as late as March! Never count on the rut as oftimes it never materilizes before the first of the year. I know where a herd of coues live in Unit 1. They always rut by Christmas but alas there is no bow hunt in unit 1 so all we can do is take photos.

 

In the 80's, it seemed that the rut was pretty reliable. As we have gotten into this 10+ years of drought, it is less certain. It SEEMS that nasty weather will trigger some rut activity- whether it is a real rut or not ( does don't come into eostrus just because it snowed last night) the bucks seem to move around and check stuff out- that's what its all about so I don't worry whether they are breeding or not.

 

I have never seen a coues deer buck mount a doe- they are too modest to do it in front of me

I have seen mule deer buck mount does however.

 

In my observations, I would say that in CENTRAL Arizona, the mule deer rut any where from 1-3 weeks earlier than the coues deer. I can't say that for Southern AZ as I have never hunted mulies down there.

 

If I had to pick a peak date for the rut it would have to be sometime in the second week of January. I have bowhunted pigs many many years before they put us on a quota for the archery hunt. While pig hunting in January ( Units 22, 23, 24 and 32) I have seen incredible rutting activity. I even called in a 100 buck one time when my bow string got caught in a palo verde tree and I clacked the limb against the tree branch trying to get it loose. He came charging in and My string was hopelessly tangled. RATS.

 

The October hunts will often be productive if you can stand to hike in 90 degree weather- I can't so I don't apply for those tags.

Edited January 1, 1970 by catclaw

[Kevin]

Thanks everybody for some great info. My hunt is the 10th-18th of January here in NM unit 23. I found a couple of small bucks just prior to our rifle hunts and at least one of them survived for me to chase. He is probably a 65 inch buck--big enough for me! I'm a novice at these little deer and am more interested in learning about them than actually killing one right now. Hopefully I can do both here in a couple of weeks.

[Guest Mike]

Find the does and the bucks will be nearby. Sounds like your hunt is during the heart of the rut. I would not settle for a small buck if I were you. That sounds like a dream hunt.

[deljack]

I have ask the same question many times in the last 8 or 10 years,

All of my Coues hunting has been done south of I. 10 and east of I. 19

so don't know about the deer north of there.

I will tell you you need to spend A lot of time out with them to really understand there rut , They can be hot for 2 or 3 days then turn off fore

a few days to a week , I belive this is caused by weather , They seem to do like elk the day after a good rain or snow watch out its going to happen.

You can hunt one side of a mountain and find no rut , And go to the other side the same day and there Hot as heck.

The key is time, I spend at least 2 weeks in Jan. early, mid, or late

it dosn't seem to matter and generally find rutting some where.