Southwest Rut Report, Week 5: Big Bucks are On the Move

Like the flip of a switch, the rut is on. I have been getting a plethora of big buck photos sent to me this week. Utah has been putting down some monsters and so has Colorado. The Kaibab is probably the area that has surprised me most this year. Not because they are killing giant deer, but because they are killing so many this early in the season. Obviously famous for amazing genetics, the Kaibab always produces some world class deer, but the late hunt is usually the more sought-after hunt. The western slope of Colorado and the northern parts of Utah and Nevada seem to align pretty closely for the rut. The Kaibab seems to generally run a couple weeks later. This year, it seems to pretty much be on pace.

The bucks in northern Arizona are just now getting going according to Hunter Garcia. Hunter is a guide for Arizona Custom Hunts and is accustomed to killing big stuff. Hunter and I have spent many days in the field guiding together. When I spoke with him Sunday, he said that there were still some bachelor groups but they were breaking up. He is seeing more bucks traveling and some younger bucks lip curling and trying to court does already. Unfortunately for the young bucks, the does aren’t having it. I expect the first does to come into estrus within the next week or two, though.

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The Texas general rifle opener was warm, and in some places, very wet. I didn’t see the opening day harvest that we are used to but some big deer still fell. The lower hill country north of San Antonio is on fire right now. The bucks are going crazy. I expect that to continue for another week or ten days, across the Edwards plateu into southwest Texas we are seeing some pre rut action. Now would be a good time to try and rattle up a big buck. North and north central Texas are much the same. All the early signs of rut activity are there. Bucks traveling, fresh scrapes and rubs, and young bucks pushing does. The next few weeks are going to be really good in each of the aforementioned areas. South Texas still has a month or so to go before we start seeing much activity.

Over the next few weeks we should see other areas start to come on. Eastern Colorado, Nevada and some of California will start seeing good activity soon.