It’s a Good Time to be a Deer Hunter in the Northeast

We know that the rut does not peak everywhere within the region at the same time, but it appears that good things are happening just about everywhere.

To the south, Westley Marks, owner of Marks Sporting Goods in Cumberland, Maryland, said that the deer are starting some serious rut activity. Smaller bucks have been observed chasing does. Big bucks are starting to be seen during daylight hours. He is anticipating the rut will peak this coming weekend.

To the north, Robert Rogan reported a lot of rutting activity over the past weekend, Nov. 16 and 17 in southern Connecticut. Nearby in Westchester County, NY, bucks have been chasing does. The photo here is a trail camera shot of one buck Rogan is pursuing.

The peak of the rut has passed in some parts of the Northeast Region. But I must admit that some of it slipped by me here. In all of the many miles I have driven over the past two weeks, I have not seen any road-killed bucks. The number of road kills has increased. But where were the bucks?

This most recent Sunday, Nov.17, Mike Stimmell was fishing along the Allegheny River. He found two areas where there was a lot of very recent rubbing.

“It was just all torn up in there,” Stimmell said of one of the areas.

This was another of the types of rubs recently described in a report in which a buck makes war on the trees and brush.

“Some of those trees were mangled, torn apart. There were pieces on the ground, twisted, snapped. Not just bark rubbed, but pulled out of the ground.”

This was all in an area that he described as a square about 25 yards to 30 yards on a side. In addition there were three scrapes in the same place.

Three days later, Stimmell and I did our weekly deer-spotting loop. We saw 23 deer, most on their feet at about 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., but were able to see antlers on only one. That was a nice buck, hot on the trail of a doe.