Whitetail Rut
 

I am still pretty new to hunting, would the early snow and cold weather we had move the rut up at all?

When do you think the best time to hunt would be. In my limited experience I have seen the most bucks between November 8-14th. So I would guess it will be similar this year.

November 18th.

The timing of peak estrus in does is a function of the photo period.

The weather will only play a part in deer habits and movement patterns.

Plus or minus a day or two from the 17th of November for central Alberta.

Nov 16-19. Be out all day. Keep your eyes peeled.

That’s the day for me as well, both my bigger whitetails were shot on November 18th, it’s like Christmas a month early!! (At least my experience for the rut south west of Calgary, 17-19th are always the most consistent)

I was out last night and 5 whitetail bucks hung out in front of my blind for half an hour. They’re still friendly with each other! Each year we hear “they’re rutting...they’re not rutting”. The rut is a long drawn out process, I haven’t seen many rubs yet but one morning they’ll magically appear..then the bucks will begin cruising a bit more.

From now until the end of October is an interesting time, the old mature bucks will get rutty first and they make mistakes. The middle of November they’ll be going nuts but don’t ignore the weeks between now and then. The last two weeks of October have historically been the best for me, partially because I’m not freezing my nards off so I get out more than in November.

Myself... I take time off mid month, and the last week off..
Always produces.

November 17th has been a good day for me.
But really nov 15-25 is a great 10 day period to be heads up.
Always seem to hit a couple days where the bucks have does on lock down and you swear the area is void of life. Then they are crawling and chasing everywhere all day.

Yup....

I shot my biggest buck on the 17th of November and my second biggest on the 19th of November. Both of them came in while rattling. One was in the morning and one was about half hour before sunset. A big factor is time spent in the deer woods, especially during the rut. The more time you spend in the woods during the rut, the more deer you will see. Some days I'm out from sun up to sun down. It can get hard on the posterior but it's well worth it. Good Luck!