I am new to the forum, I hunt lee county and woneder if anyone else does. I didn't get to hunt last weekend and wondered if deer were starting to chase. My experience is by opening weekend of gun season they are pushing does. With the continued fronts I would assume this would be a good weekend?

Opening weekend should be good rut or not

I saw a little 8 pt. chasing a doe a couple weeks ago but she wanted nothing to do with him. Haven't seen any since then. Bucks have disappeared from our place so I don't know what's going on. Fedor area in Lee county

I hunt on the Yeguat outside of Blue, seen a lot of doe and all had yearlings but only a few bucks. I have a feeling this is all about to change. Saturday and Sunday morning should be in the 30's and I will try to be in the stand with rattling horn this weekend.

West Yegua creek is our south property line. Opening weekend is usually pretty good for us. We're not far from Blue.

Our place starts not far from Adina and stretches close to 696, opening weekend is normally good but I have had a couple of years where they have already paired up and it is slow. I will try my bow this weekend to see what is actually happening.

I predict that the rut will be a little earlier across most of the state this year as deer are like livestock, if they are in good body condition, they tend to cycle earlier. The pre-rut is already going on here in Menard County. I am estimating 7-10 days ahead of what we normally see. I did see a fawn nursing a doe yesterday morning which means that old sister won't be breeding back anytime soon.
Adios,
Gary

Saw a solid 4 year old ruttin on the 15th? Yesterday I saw a 3 and 4 year old buck walking together in the same spot. May be gay deer.