It seems like the rut is coming in early in wv. Seen several scraps while squirrel hunting last week. An have heard from others that bucks are chasing does now. I have noticed alot of bucks run over along the road this last week an half too. Thx
I grew up in western PA, and hunted deer there for about a decade before leaving the area to pursue career goals. The first week of November was usually when we started to see rutting behavior. The younger bucks seem to get riled up first, and the bruisers start getting in gear a few days later. If I could pick the best dates for a deer hunt there, I'd have to go with Nov. 5-15. I believe there's an archery season open there in early November, and possible an early muzzle-loader season in some areas. Don't know what you guys have for seasons & such in WV, but I'll bet those dates would be good if you can find a way to hunt them.
I have also hunted whitetails in northwestern Minnesota for around 25 years, and they had a slug-gun season during that timeframe. I always took vacation during the first two weeks of November for that, and as often as not the timing was perfect to catch rutting activity. The phase of the moon and the weather ( of course ) were contributing factors to the activity level. In the northern region, we more often had the kind of weather where we'd see heavy deer traffic all day long, but a few years it was bluebird weather and there was noticeably less daytime activity. In really cold years it was like magic, but -20 degrees in a tree stand is tough hunting.
