[ptysonjr]

This will be my 3rd season hunting Nevada County (just NE of Hope). Can you all clue me in on the typical peak rut time. Thanks for your help, this site has been great,:clap: especially for a Texan that is discovering the great hunting and friendly people in Arkansas, (particularly those that take my license fee):banghead:

P.S. Boy do I miss the days of the SW Conference!

 

[Browser8]

I can't help you... just yellin' howdy.

I spent most of my life within an hour of Houston.

 

[ptysonjr]

Howdy Texan. We are just North of Dallas in the country side.

 

[soarkrebel]

I hunt Ouachita county mainly and see more activity around the 18th of November. The doe population in these areas is high and in the last few years I have seen bucks tending a doe without a lot of pressure from other bucks.

Several years ago I would many young bucks chasing one doe but I haven't seen that recently. May be different this year or for you...

I also found that the rut activity seem to occur more often in dense cover.

Just go hunting and have fun........

 

[Selfbow]

I would say the last two weeks in November would be it in that area.
The weather will dictate the intensity level but that should be it with a second rut coming 30 days later. The doe that didn't breed during the first rut will cycle again after 30 days.

Welcome to Arkansas
Go Hogs!

 

[Sylamore]

Here in Stone County, the peak rut is November 13th. :thumb:

 

[huntindoc]

I can tell you that in the area I hunt (Saline River bottoms) the first week of gun season was incredible last year. I can't wait!!

hd

 

[Selfbow]

I can tell you that in the area I hunt (Saline River bottoms) the first week of gun season was incredible last year. I can't wait!!

hd

Hey Doc.....
Just curious, would you rather hunt the week before the peak or the actual peak?

I love to hunt that cruizing period just before the rut kicks in. The bucks are easier for me to pattern and they are on the move.

 

[huntindoc]

The peak is a lot more exciting to me but for bowhunting the week before is more productive. Nothing more frustrating than having a buck close enough but not being able to get him to stop! :smack:

The opening Monday of gun season I was bowhunting and passed 8 different 8 points (none of them met our clubs harvest restrictions). I had never seen that type of rutting activity in Arkansas before. I really believe our management program is paying dividends.

hd

 

[Hogbreath]

Last year in Pike County, the rut was really going strong on opening weekend, like around November 10th. Like the other guys say though, it might be more noticeable around the 13th(my birthday), even up to the 18th or 20th. I've seen bucks chasing does on Thanksgiving morning before, once took a fine 8 point doing just that. She was a yearling, and apparently came into heat a little later than the older does.

Personally, I love the last 10 days in October, and the first 10 days in November best of all. Thru the years, I've had some unforgettable times when hunting any of those days.

I still laugh over a sapling I found two years ago that a frustrated, rut filled buck had demolished. You could almost sense his rage just looking at his handy work. He was sure PO'd about something. That was around November 5th, I believe it was opening day that year for the youth hunt.

 

[bl264]

Last year in Pike County, the rut was really going strong on opening weekend, like around November 10th. Like the other guys say though, it might be more noticeable around the 13th(my birthday), even up to the 18th or 20th. I've seen bucks chasing does on Thanksgiving morning before, once took a fine 8 point doing just that. She was a yearling, and apparently came into heat a little later than the older does.

Personally, I love the last 10 days in October, and the first 10 days in November best of all. Thru the years, I've had some unforgettable times when hunting any of those days.
I still laugh over a sapling I found two years ago that a frustrated, rut filled buck had demolished. You could almost sense his rage just looking at his handy work. He was sure PO'd about something. That was around November 5th, I believe it was opening day that year for the youth hunt.

This is the same I have seen where I hunt. Late October, early November things really get wild. It always amazes me how much difference there is in the timing of the rut around the state. Always wondered if it was connected to the deer that were brought from different regions of the country during the restocking done in the early part of the last century. We had fawns on the ground by May 15 this year.

 

[austincrutchfield]

here where i hunt in the saline river bottoms jus a few miles outside of prattsville most of the chasing i see is between the 17th and the 24th of november

 

[born2hunt]

The answer to this really depends on how one defines "peak rut." If you define it as the period when most of the breeding occurs, as biologists will, that's probably around the third week in November. That period us hunters often define as peak rut is that period where we see the most buck activity. That's the first two weeks in November. Personally, I prefer the pre-rut cruising phase from the last week of October through the second week of November. But, in all actuality, I like it all!