Northwest Rut Report, Week 3: Finally, a Cold Front Arrives

This week I took a jetboat ride through the Missouri River in Montana. It looked like fall with the beautiful red, gold, and orange leaves in the trees along the river bottom. It sounded like fall, too, as we flushed numerous groups of ducks and later heard the boom of shotguns in the river bottom. Watching my golden retriever flush roosters was a good reminder that it is in fact hunting season, because it certainly doesn’t feel like it when it’s practically 80 degrees every day.

I’ve spent my fair share of days in the field absolutely freezing in October, so I generally don’t take warm fall days for granted. But this year, it’s only been too hot. The elk rut is in its final days, which is bittersweet. As bow season ends this week in Montana, most hunters are more than ready to trade their bows for rifles. With temperatures consistently in the upper 70s, I know several hunters, myself included, who decided to sit out much of the season after they felt like they wouldn’t be able to get meat out of the mountains without the risk of it spoiling.

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Montana’s rifle season for pronghorn opened this week. Reports from the Southeast prairie country are that bucks were chasing does and hunters weren’t far behind. One hunter told me he’s never seen so many orange vests in the field, and neither had the game warden he spoke with. It was the same story in the Central part of the state. Hunters there say bucks were exhibiting peak rut behavior like seeking and chasing. The tough part of the hunt was getting away from fellow hunters on public and block management land.

Daylight deer activity has been almost nonexistent for whitetails this week. In agricultural fields where I traditionally see does, there were none to be found. The full moon and hot weather certainly aren’t helping. The only bucks I’ve seen this week, I jumped in thick brush while on the heels of my bird dog. My husband reported seeing a younger buck chasing a doe.

The mule deer rut usually precedes whitetails by at least a week. During Idaho’s opening week of rifle season, successful hunters reported that mature bucks were still hanging out in high elevations in bachelor groups. However, younger bucks are starting to link up with groups of does and exhibit rut behaviors like seeking and chasing.

It may have been a relatively quiet week for deer activity but change is expected to come with the arrival the first cold front of the season. Portions of the Northwest finally experienced the first snowfall. As I’m writing this up to a foot of snow is expected over the weekend in portions of the mountains. This is welcome relief for wildland firefighters who continue to battle blazes. It’s also good news for hunters as significant mountain snow could drive mule deer into lower elevations and cold weather should get whitetails moving.