By Mike Bleech

Northeast Rut Reporter Mike Bleech has been hunting whitetails in his native Pennsylvania and throughout the Northeast for more than four decades. A Vietnam veteran and full-time freelance outdoor writer, Bleech has had more than 5000 of his articles published. States covered: ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA OH, MD, DE.

Overall Activity Status: With cooler days, overall deer activity has increased. However, even though temperatures have come down it is still unseasonably warm in most parts of the Northeast Region.

Fighting: There have been no reports of bucks fighting. Of course this does not mean it is not happening, however fighting is unlikely unless bucks of equal stature are after the same hot doe.

Rub & Scrape Making: Kirk Rudzinski was hunting out of a tree stand this week, but decided to take a stroll. Along the way he saw more scrapes and rubs than he has seen at any other time this fall. In a relatively small area he saw several different rub lines and scrape lines. One rub on a hemlock tree--about six inches in diameter--was so fresh it was wet, he said.

By Mike Bleech

Northeast Rut Reporter Mike Bleech has been hunting whitetails in his native Pennsylvania and throughout the Northeast for more than four decades. A Vietnam veteran and full-time freelance outdoor writer, Bleech has had more than 5000 of his articles published. States covered: ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA OH, MD, DE.

The first buck I saw last week during the Maine muzzleloader season, a 6-point, ran toward me and passed by without ever noticing me. My guess is that it was in some stage of looking for a doe. It was not the buck I wanted, though.

The next buck I saw was considerably more obvious in its intentions. It was mounting a doe. It was a lot bigger, too. Unfortunately I saw it 10 minutes after the close of shooting hours on the last day of the season. I figured that and a 50-inch bull moose that had allowed me to pass within 15 yards about a half-hour earlier would be the highlights of the hunt.

By Mike Bleech

Northeast Rut Reporter Mike Bleech has been hunting whitetails in his native Pennsylvania and throughout the Northeast for more than four decades. A Vietnam veteran and full-time freelance outdoor writer, Bleech has had more than 5000 of his articles published. States covered: ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA OH, MD, DE.

This week you will find me hoping that the long awaited rut peak in northern Maine has finally gotten into full swing. Actually, I have a hard time reasoning that it actually is not finished. In areas like that, where deer densities are very low things can pass by unnoticed. This is a very clear example of the reason we should not be too sure of anything. Even where deer are considerably more numerous, things can go unseen, even if we are watching for things to happen.

Throughout most of the Northeast Region the peak of the rut has passed a couple weeks ago, but since then many hunters have reported seeing more breeding activity than usual. It was not such a distinct rut peak in many places.

By Mike Bleech

Northeast Rut Reporter Mike Bleech has been hunting whitetails in his native Pennsylvania and throughout the Northeast for more than four decades. A Vietnam veteran and full-time freelance outdoor writer, Bleech has had more than 5000 of his articles published. States covered: ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA OH, MD, DE.

Overall Activity Status: In general, deer have been very active through the past few days, peaking last weekend through the central parts of the Northeast Region.

Fighting: No fighting reported the past few days.

Rub & Scrape Making: Hunting partner Mike Stimmell said that the peak of both rubbing and scraping in his nook of the Allegheny National Forest took place last Saturday night.

Chasing: Bucks chasing does appears to be in the peak range, with some variation from one area to another. Marty Harrington, owner of Marty’s Sports in Bennington, Vermont, reports that over the past few days most of the bucks his customers have seen were with does.