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.
[ Read Full Post ]

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.
[ Read Full Post ]

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.
[ Read Full Post ]

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.

[ Read Full Post ]

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: Deer were very active late this week across much of the Northeast Region. Most hunters seem to attribute this to a drop in temperature. Our trucker friend Dave Baker said yesterday, while crossing northern Pennsylvania into New Jersey on Interstate Route 80, he saw a large number of recent road-killed deer.

Fighting: Most fighting now is done, since dominance was established weeks ago. The exception will be when two bucks of fairly equal status, which are after the same doe, may get into a furious brawl.
[ Read Full Post ]

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: Very clearly deer activity has picked up over most of the Northeast Region over the past few days. Trucker Dave Baker today said that he has been seeing many more deer, and many more dead deer including several bucks.

Fighting: Most fighting has concluded, although some hunters have been watching bucks touching antlers in a less than aggressive manner.

Rub Making: From Matt Rosenthal at Beaver Creek Fly Shop in Hagerstown, Maryland, comes news that hunters are finding many scrapes and rub lines. “They’re really getting cranked up now,” he said. “The scrapes are huge and tons of rub lines can be seen along the paths to and from the bedding areas and along the edges of crop fields. I’d say the next several days we should be in peak rut. Several great bucks are being taken throughout the area with archery equipment. The game is on!”
[ Read Full Post ]