the rut takes place based on the
different moon phases. It is believed
that the second full moon after the
autumnal equinox stimulates rutting
activity. It would begin with the seeking phase at the beginning of the November moon. This would be when
bucks begin searching for does. Next
hunters would witness tending behavior. Peaking tending behavior would
occur during the time of the new
moon and this is when bucks would
be locked down with does for about
24 hours. A second rut will happen in
December about 28 days behind the
November Rut.
The Rut’s Variability
cold and snowy and the food availability was low. It would also not be wise
for fawns to be born 28 days later
when they could encounter cold
weather of next years winter behind
in their growth and nutrition. So the
28 day variance in the start date of
the rut would not make reproductive
sense when it comes to raising fawns.
Fawns need to be born during a certain time period to be able to survive
the following winter.
One of the biggest impacts on the rut
is human pressure. No matter when
the start of the rut should be, if there
is a lot of human pressure on the
does, there will be a lack of does in
estrous. This will occur because the
influx of human activity will obviously
increase the amount of stress the
deer are experiencing. The three factors of weather, buck to doe ratios,
and pressure can all cause variability
in pinpointing the start of the rut. So
even if the rut does follow the moon
Weather, Ratios, and Humans
phases it will still be hard to pinpoint
exactly when the start of the rut will
Other factors that have a bigger imbe.
pact on the rut are weather, buck to
doe ratios, and human pressure.
Conclusion
For me, and this is purely my opinion,
I don’t believe there is enough of a
correlation between the moon phases
and the rut to cause a significant
difference.
The weather alone can have a major
impact on deer movement. If the
temperature rises above about 45
degrees deer movement drastically
slows down during the hunting season. So if the temperature during the
The main reason for this conclusion is
peaking breeding day’s hits a temperthat there are many other factors that
ature that is too hot for the deer, they
can affect the rut and cause variability
are simply not going to go running
in the starting dates.
around breeding does.
The Moon’s Phases
The buck to doe rati