rut in east texas

[Bowtech2004]

I hunted Polk county for 6 years and Hardin county for 5 years, the rut always was mid oct to the first two weeks of nov. Then deer hunting got real hard after that. thank goodness for ducks!

[Low Fence]

Saw the most bucks last year on the last day of bow season, and saw them chasing the whole first week of Nov. After that I saw 2 deer while hunting the rest of Nov. and Dec.

Took GF hunting thanksgiving to shoot a few more does, and she shot a nice 9pt. chasing does in a field. Next day took BIL to same field and seen near 30 deer and every buck was fighting, and would chase does a short distance.

Hope that helps

(This was in Wood Co.)

[sling shot]

We hunt in Liberty county and are seeing ground scrapes yesterday.

[Drenalin_Ag99]

I agree with El Vaquero. When I used to hunt in Harrison County, they were making scrapes in the first week of Oct. Because of the thickness in vegetation, I never really saw them chasing, but the rut is definitely around the middle of October.

Hit the nail on the head mid october is a special time at my place, once the first rifle goes off, forget it, nada

[bowhuntingw]

i'm no biologist, but i can say for sure that the rut in east texas varies a lot. look at when fawns start hitting the ground. i see it in early may all the way up into late july. mid-october to late december its possible any time. you will have some "hot" days no doubt. how much rutting activity you see depends on your deer density, buck/doe ratio. best thing to do is from mid-october until the season is over, hunt as much as you can.

[firemanjj82]

With all this rain that we have been receiving, is it going to make rut come earlier? I have heard that it is suppose to be earlier, so I am hoping to get out a couple of times from the first of November to about the 12th. I haven't seen much aggressive movement and I'm anticipating them to get going in a week.

[Landrover]

within 10 days either side of Thanksgiving in Smith county just north of Tyler (Starville).

[PaulB]

October 1st through Thanksgiving. Yes, it can last that long. There is no one week rush on rutting activity around here, although the peak will be between now and Nov 14th (just personal opinion).

I've seen bucks chasing as early as Oct 6th, and ans late as the day after Thanksgiving so it may not pay off to plan your hunting activities around the East Texas Rut.

With that being said, I saw bucks in Wood county chasing this week and plan to take a day off to chase them Friday, but that's more to get a few extra days in the woods before the rifle hunters take over than trying to time the rut.

[hfd0035]

We hunt in Jasper County, Pineywoods, and saw scrapes the first week of October.

[Baygall]

The last few years, most of the chasing that i've seen has been the last week of Oct.

[Anvilheadtexas]

My experience in Trinity and Polk County is the time between Nov 12th - Nov 16th or so. The exact days are somewhat difficult to lock down.

[Death from Above]

Now!!!

[Ryanw94]

i saw a buck chasing a couple days ago.

[nanny_slammer]

well boys we hunt in henderson county...athens area and we have been seeing pre rut going on up until the past week or two...all the bucks are broken up and checking scrapes. sunday night we went out to shoot some pigs with a light and came up on a mature buck...he stood about 65 yards from us and never moved....turned out their was a doe laying in the grass and she stood up and any move she made he did the same...so with this being said we have typically seen the rut activity starting to get better now but gets real good at the first of november.

[codpopper]

Im on a lease in east tx for the first time this year. Im in Polk cty. From what I have heard its typically in the later part of November. Most of the guys on our lease and neighboring properties said the rut last year was hardly evident. They tend to blame the hurricane. Said there wasnt much of a second or later rut to be noted either. Dont know if this helps or just screws it up worse for you. I just figured Id pass along the hear say Ive recaived.

the hurricane put alot of oaks on the ground in polk and the deer wouldn't even touch corn that year...