If you hunt the same place year after year, you are missing out on a lot of information buy not measuring and recording the fetus contained in a doe. This is done when you field dress a doe. You use a fetus scale, which is very, very inexpensive and the scale will tell you exactly when the fetus was conceived.

This is a major piece of information, more important than anything that can be gained from game cameras, scouting, of any other activity. The rut happens the exact same time every year. Ambient conditions have nothing to do with it. The conditions, such as temperature, moon, etc., might influence whether you observe it or not but it will happen the same time each year.

Mother nature takes care of many things and the rut was sequenced based on what takes place 200 days after conception and based on years of this sequencing (survival of the fittest). Spring rains, drought, etc., everything is timed for the future.

If you take a sampling of does across the season, you will quickly determine how many "ruts" are taking place. This you can have some influence on by adjusting your deer management to reduce the number of breeding cycles. Cycles will happen every 28 days until all the does are bred. This is a huge bit of information and is the basis for sound decisions on your hunting property. Forget, tooth wear, B&C scoring records, weight... anything until you have the basis on your whitetail reproductive traits! You cannot influence the other items until you fully understand when and how your deer are breeding.

Fetus Scale

Wise/Montague County my rut always peaks around November 15th to 20th. But I have seen bucks chasing all the way up to first weekend in December

On the 20th of November, I will be out all day long no matter the weather...Unless I have already scored!!!

The last three years in Childress, on our place, it's been hot and heavy around 13th-15th of November. I know this because that's when everyone other than me has hunted on our place and that's when I've been told that the bucks are running around without a care in the world. It's also the same 3 day window that the biggest deer of the year gets taken out there. I'll be out there this go round though.

somewhere round nov 17.18.19

starts getting good the weekend before and through Thanksgiving in Baylor Cnty.