The Overlap

It's the 2nd of December. The rut is pretty much out of commission or so you'd think. I have pictures of bucks following does on the 1st of November (the very first signs). The weather put a lot of daytime action on hold. However, the cameras suggested that there was still plenty of movement during the nighttime. I took three of my cameras down out of some great locations, mostly because I didn't want them stolen. As soon as I could, I put them back up and the action picked up where it left off. I had pictures of bucks from the 15th through the 25th following does. I just had a couple bucks checking a scrape line on the 28th. We are already 28 days past the 1st of November. Those does that came into heat early and were missed, therefore missing their cycle, should be about to come back into heat. Yesterday we got about 4 inches of snow dumped on us in one day. That may not effect the rutting activity, but it will definately effect the location of the deer's bedding and feeding. There are areas where we hunt that definately hold more deer come march. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume those deer begin to move into those wintering areas as we get more and more snow and as the crops (which are nearly nonexistent) are burried. We have our first legitimate cold front moving in also. We're supposed to have highs in the 20s tomorrow with north to northwest winds. This is the weather we should've had almost a month ago. Anyway, every year it seems that when we get a pile of snow it takes the deer a while to acclimate. I hunted yesterday afternoon and as I drove in to where I park and even my entire walk to the stand, I did not cross one fresh track through the snow. So they bedded up. I moved a camera and I anticipate catching them moving this morning, and throughout the day today and tomorrow. Tomorrow might be a great day to put in some time. It seems like the two ruts may just overlap into one really long, slow rut.

I need to shoot two more does.