"A Sand County Almanac"

"THERE ARE SOME WHO CAN LIVE WITHOUT WILD THINGS AND SOME WHO CANNOT."
"FOR US IN THE MINORITY THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE GEESE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TELEVISION.".....Aldo Leopold



"LOOK DEEP INTO NATURE, AND THEN YOU WILL UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING BETTER".....Albert Einstein


“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves”.....John Muir


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Indications That The Rut Is Starting

We are quickly approaching the start of the rut.  A special time of year for deer enthusiasts and hunters alike.  The rut causes normally secretive, nocturnal bucks to move about during daylight hours in search of receptive females to mate with.  One of the first signs of the rut is that bucks which were in bachelor groups only a few days before...


are now travelling alone.  Cruising the thickets and field edges where does often feed or bed...





Bucks will be seen displaying "flemen" or "lip curling" behavior.  An attempt by the buck to use his vomeronasal organ to determine the does receptivity to breeding...


Young bucks will be sparring.  These are not serious fights to determine dominance, those will come later when the bucks mature...




Deer of both sexes will be visiting scrapes and leaving their scent on the licking branches which nearly always overhang them...


Sometimes the branch is just a little too high for the deer to reach...

 
 

One other way to tell when the rut is about to begin is that the cruising bucks...



make the does and fawns look mighty nervous...

 
Thanks for visiting and be careful driving where deer might be present.

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2 comments:

  1. WillardNovember 8, 2013 at 7:45 PM

    An excellent post, Steve. The rut has exploded here in the last few days, but of course it is still in the early stages.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Steve FerendoNovember 9, 2013 at 7:30 PM

    Thanks, Willard
    I saw three big bucks locked down with does today. Smaller bucks were chasing but not catching.
    Steve

    ReplyDelete

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