Arkansas Rut

[ARriverdog]

Last week in the Hot Springs area I had 6 deer in front of me.  2 old nanny does both of which had twin yearlings with them.  There was no sign of the "early rut" this year that I have been reading about.  What are others seeing in AR?

JW

[ymountainman]

we seeing some chasin, The weather is tropical though, This is the time to get after them!

Don't know about AR, but it is usually on here now, and I have seen nothing yet!

Bisch

[TexasStick81]

Last weekend I had two younger bucks grunting and chasing does.  A bigger buck came through later but he was more interested in working rub lines hard.

[TexasStick81]

Last weekend I had two younger bucks grunting and chasing does.  A bigger buck came through later but he was more interested in working rub lines hard.

[m midd]

Saw a few smaller bucks pushing does around 2 weekends ago. The mature bucks i have seen have been very early in the morning. Hopefully this cool front coming in this weekend will have them on their feet.

[Dave Lay]

2 weeks ago is normally when I see the first signs of rut activity, I have seen some cruising and a friend killed a nice 8 that was chasing. but we had a full moon and warm weather. I think we should see a real increase in activity these next 2 weeks

[D. Key]

I was hunting a couple of afternoons ago and saw my first buck of the season.  He was just crusin' and looking for a girlfriend.  I grunted to him and he did turn but never came close enough for a shot.  It's been in the 80's lately and too hot for much action I presume.

[GANDGOLF]

Seen several does- I lil spike. Very little chasing going on.

[ARriverdog]

Well an update from Saturday afternoon. I was in my stand had been watching 3 does for about an hour feeding on acorns.  They were from 50 to 15 yards at times.  I decided to try to take the largest doe at last light.  I heard a crash on the ridge across from me and then some relatively high pitched grunting.  I refocused on the doe that was now at 15 yards  when a yearling ran right to her side.  Then out of no where a monster buck came in thrashing and throwing his head not even sure how many points but his body was huge and he was bristled up.  Then in a split second they were all 3 gone  up the draw.  It was crazy how fast it happened.  I do believe the chase is on.

[truck24hr]

I hunted Sat and Sunday evenings.  Nothing Saturday,  and watched a big doe yesterday evening about a half hour before dark. Had a large 8 point come in right at dark, that I screwed up and bounced and arrow off his back. Buck was interested in acorns. Rut normally runs later than normal here in the Fort Smith area river bottoms. I quit hunting when duck season opens due to all the traffic,  and I rarely see any rutting activity.  I do start seeing some bucks though, come late October.