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Old 09-15-2018, 11:03 AM
West O'5 West O'5 is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: W5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 303carbine View Post
The rut happens no matter the weather, it probably throws in a few variables just to keep us hunters up later and awake earlier.
I agree 100%,the rut is gonna happen on time,without fail,every year,regardless of weather,but.....weather and moon phase plays a significant role on the intensity and daytime movement of bucks,and probably safe to assume bull moose as well.
Think about it....if you were a 1000lb bull and wearing a 100lb black fur coat 24/7,you probably are gonna feel a bit lazy and not too ambitious late Sept when it’s 24C outside vs if it’s -2C.
Interesting study,in NB we had an excellent deer Bio who was a passionate avid deer hunter himself and well respected amongst his peers across North America/QDMA etc.kind of a
“Who’s who” list of WT Bios on the continent really.....anyhow...he conducted a study over several years in NB which dispels any myths IMHO of the rut being influenced by weather and being early or late or wutever as is the often held beliefs in deer camps across the country.
Over a several year period he collected and examined hundreds(1000+??)road killed doe WT deer,removed and weighed the fetuses,thus being able to backdate the date of conception based on fetus weight.He concluded that Nov.23 was the peak breeding date give or take a day or two,year after year regardless of weather conditions,cold and frosty,snow,warm/relatively hot November...wutever/ didn’t matter,something like 90%(?) of all does were bred within that 4-5 day window either side of Nov.23 year after year.
This is a big part of why it’s so important to have a healthy buck:doe ratio of 1:3 or less,ideally 1:2 to ensure that all or most does are bred during that short window in Nov when they come into estrous,which ensures fawns are born at the optimal time each spring.In populations where the buck:doe ratio gets out of whack,ie;1:5 and even greater in some instances,usually a result of hunters reluctance to take does and only targeting bucks,late born WT fawns that were conceived during the 2nd and even 3rd estrous cycle in Dec and Jan go into fall with a much lower winter weight then their cousins which were conceived in Nov and born on time.
If they even survive winter,these late born buck fawns need a longer recovery period the following spring as 1 year olds and are more likely to be spikes vs branched antlered 1.5yos in the fall.
So this all ties in to another commonly held myth amongst hunters that the biggest/strongest mature WT bucks do most of the breeding,and it’s simply not true.
WT bucks are not elk,and they do not collect harems of many females with breeding rights.Yes,they fight and spar and establish dominance and run themselves ragged searching for hot does,then when he finds one that will permit him to mount during that short 4-5 day window,he will stick to her like glue and mount her repeatedly for 24-48hrs until she will no longer allow it or he gets chased off by a more dominant buck....and then he searches for another doe to mate.So simple math tells you that he can only breed 2-3 does during that short window of 4-5 days when all of the local does get hot if he spends 48hrs with each one.
Genetic studies have proven this,ie;that even the most dominant buck in the herd will normally only breed 2-3 does max during the peak breeding dates of late November.
Phewwwww......long story short,lol.....the rut is on time every time,year in and year out,regardless of weather...period.
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Last edited by West O'5; 09-15-2018 at 11:23 AM.
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