RUT

Hey has anybody seen signs of the rut kicking off in central TN? At this point has anybody seen any deer this last week in central TN?

The rut should be kicking in. A lot of people have different opinions on when the rut begins. I generally as a rule for me hunt food sources, the reason is bucks and doe's will eat regardless of the rut. Bucks might not eat as much but they will follow the doe's who are trying to get fat. Go to a local check in station preferably one that the owner also hunts like a local sporting goods store and ask around.

I normally always see deer and I've been out twice this week and haven't seen a thing.
I think things are going to start up here soon with it..

Don't think its going on yet. Saw two bucks and 6 does in a guys yard on 31E south of Westmoreland this morning. When them bucks stop running together, its ON !

I have to agree with rightwinger but it should start soon. Needs to hurry up though!

Didn't think the rut kicked off down here until mid to late November??? Everyone I've spoken to says that right around Thanksgiving is usually getting to peak rut.

All I've seen are a few does, but a friend said he seen 3 bucks all together a couple of days ago. So I would say that it hasn't started yet. I'm taking my daughter on her first deer hunt this weekend,maybe that is if it ever stops this d*** raining.

About two weeks ago, my neighbor told me exactly what day it would begin, "read it in a mag". I didn't have the heart to shoot him down. I told him that I really didn't know anything about deer, like how they got them to cross the road where they put the signs, he just looked at me with a puzzled look.

Well this want be popular but here goes, biologicaly the rut begins when the bucks start shedding their velvet. The peak of the "rut" is what most hunters tend to call te rut wich in middle TN is usually is around the second week of November through the end of the month. For me the next two weeks are the best to hunt. this time is what every one call the pre- rut. I tend to get a lot more reaction to calls during this time. Now that said on my farm in Dickson County we are starting to see the bucks breaking up from their bachelor groups. Have also found a hot scrape line in the last week. Waiting till after youth hunt to check trail cams.

I will agree with you about the rut usually being around the second to third week in November. I just came back last week from East NC and AT NIGHT you could still see bucks together. But I did find a hot scrape line and I killed the buck, a management buck 4 1/2 year old with four points on one side and just a 2 point on the other, that was working the line. His neck was not swelled yet and he did not really stink but he was trailing like a dog with his head to the ground and started across a soy bean field and when he stopped at 275 yards I unleashed the 264 Win mag on him and he was dead before he hit the ground.

I did kill another 6 point buck the same evening just before dark in a path between two cut-overs and his neck was not swelled either.

These were the only deer I saw in daylight.

It was a crazy week of hunting. I have hunted this area for over 25 years and this year the deer were just not moving during the day light. There are so many acorns this year they don't have to move to eat. They were not coming out to the corp fields much at all even at night. It is all cut-over type woods that is pine with oaks left but they are so thick you can't see three feet in them so you can't really hunt deer in them.

Find the white oaks and you will find the deer this year. They will eat white oak acorns before they will come to a crop field of any sort.

I am heading back to east NC next week for two weeks to hunt.