For the southwest region, this week is generally the least productive time for buck activity. Most mule deer bucks are out of velvet and out of their summer feeding patterns but not yet traveling or staging up in the rut areas. It’s sort of a lull before the actual October lull.

I chatted via phone this morning with Tim Andrews, owner of Gypsum Creek Outfitters, and he was glassing for mule deer during our conversation. Tim outfits on national forest land in Colorado, so scouting is extremely important. His team works as hard as any outfitting group I have met. Tim confirmed what I expect this time of year by telling me about does starting to show up in the rut areas. I noticed the same this past week while guiding elk in southern Colorado. He said there were no deer in those areas during in September, but now there are groups of about 20. That’s common, and more deer will show up daily.

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I also called outfitters in New Mexico and Nevada, and they reiterated what I’m witnessing in southern Colorado, with mature bucks just generally not doing anything. Young bucks are following does to the rut areas, but the mature bucks we’re looking for are still in or near their summer homes. Bachelor groups of bucks are starting to break up, but it will be another five to 10 days before mature bucks really start traveling. Although it’s usually a grind, some of the biggest mule deer I have killed or guided have come during the pre-rut, as they are traveling from summer to winter/rut areas. For the next two or three weeks, travel corridors will be your friend.

Texas and California have some concentrated areas that are experiencing some rut activity. California’s A zone is still firing on all cylinders, although I expect it to lose steam very soon. Some early rut activity has been reported in the western Sierras in the D zones — D-5, specifically.

In Texas, the Hill Country is getting going. I had a long conversation today with Blake Barnett of Trailing the Hunter’s Moon TV. He said lower Hill Country bucks are rubbing, scraping and sparring like crazy right now. He’s seen potholes forming under tree limbs from all the scraping and is already seeing bucks with broken tines. Rattling should start to work pretty well in those concentrated areas. After some historic rains in summer, Texas has dried out and is seeing unusually high temperatures. Brutally hot temps never seem to help with the rut, but even with that, I anticipate central and northern Texas to start seeing some activity in the next few weeks.