Understanding_the

© By Othmar Vohringer

Recently the phone has been ringing a lot more and my email in-box has been filling up with emails from hunters across North America wanting to know what my take on the whitetail rut is and when the rut starts. As much as I would like to answer with, “here is how it works…” I cannot. There are many variables as to what triggers the rut and when it occurs.

While most hunters think that the rut is an event that only takes place a few days or weeks, a number of rut phases lead up and follow the actual rut, the peak rut. All of these phases involve sexual activity and are part of the rutting process. This process can take many moths starting as early as August in some southern areas of North America and lasting well into February in some northern parts of North America.

The most important aspect to learn about the rut is that the timing varies from area to area as well as from one year to another. In short there is not a set date when the rut starts and ends. If you heard or read, as I did, that the rut starts everywhere during the second week of November then you would be very wise to doubt that statement. Because it just doesn’t happen that way, at least not in my experience.

You should also be aware that much what is reported as fact is actually theory. We simply do not know all the answers about why deer do whatever it is they do or when they do it.

Generally speaking bucks are capable of reproduction the moment they shed their antler velvet. But the does are not ready at that time. We have identified four stages that lead up to the peak-rut, where most does are ready to be breed, or follow that period.

Pre-Rut:

As the temperatures begin to fall and the days get shorter the bucks shed the antler velvet and begin their sparing matches. These are not life and death fights but simply a push and shove affair where bucks get rid of some frustration and test their competitors. It’s almost a joke on the bucks from Mother Nature that they are ready to breed but the does aren’t. At this time bucks still live together in bachelor groups.

Chasing Phase:

About two to four weeks after the Pre Rut the chasing phase begins. The mature bucks begin now to leave the buck groups and lead a live in solitude, beginning to follow the does around, chasing them. At about this time the does begin to produce pheromones as the estrus nears. It is believed that this pheromones advertising the estrus cycle causes bucks to produce more male hormones.

At first bucks follow the does in some distance, shadowing the does. While there may be several bucks that follow a doe, it will be the dominant bucks that follow the doe at a close distance. As the doe nears her full estrus cycle the bucks chase becomes more intensified.

The Rut:

The estrus period, where a doe is most fertile, only lasts about 24 hours. The doe will now stand still for the buck during that window of opportunity. Previous to that and following the 24 hour window she will run away from the buck the moment he tries to come very close to her. After breeding the buck will stay with that doe throughout her estrus period before he goes off to find a new estrus doe, commonly referred to as “doe in heat”. Bucks breed several does in a very short time frame. Not all the does come in heat at exactly the same day.

If a doe has not been breed the first time she will come in heat again after 28 days. Researchers have found that some does can go trough six to seven estrus cycles. However, most does are breed the first time around.

It is the few does that repeat their estrus cycles in 28 days that lead up to the post rut.

Post Rut:

The post rut follows about 28 days after the first rut. It is the same as the Rut but less intensive than the first rut. Bucks are still wandering about in search of the last remaining estrus does they missed the first time and that are now back in heat. The post rut phase will continue for as long as does come back into heat but winds down progressively in intensity as more of the last does are bred.

Conclusion:

What triggers the rut? As I said before the doe entering the estrus cycle triggers the rut. The next question then would be what makes the doe come into the estrus cycle? Well there are many different opinion and theories. In my experience, shared by many experts, the main trigger is a sharp drop in temperature but also the timing of birth. Birth is timed to the best conditions to raise offspring. The best conditions to give birth are when food and cover is plentiful available combined with a mild climate.

Since the best time to raise offspring changes throughout the continent we can safely assume that also the rut trigger changes. While in the north the rut may come with the first frost of the year in the south it may be just the difference of a few degrees in temperature. There are also theories that the moon and photoperiod plays some part in the rut too, but I have no data or experience to verify this phenomenon. In fact many theories that once where seen as facts have since been revoked and replaced with new theories.

The simple fact is that the rut is such a complex occurrence, depending on many factors, that it is impossible to pick one aspect as the main factor of triggering the rut. Researchers are constantly researching the rut and one day perhaps will find the answers we are all seeking. In the meantime, the best advice I can give to hunters is to be out in the woods as much as possible and observe deer movement and changes in the behavioral pattern. Alternatively observe the first fawns appear in the spring and then count back 200 to 205 days (the gestation period of deer) and you have an approximate time of the rut starts in your area.