I would have to give it a 3. My reasoning is that I honestly didn't even see half as much rutting action as I have in previous years. I was hunting here in PA, in Center, York, Huntingdon, Snyder, Adams, and Lancaster counties. I have probably hunted harder for a deer this year than ever, and still ended up fruitless. Maybe next year... I think the reasoning as to why the rut wasn't as good as prior years here was the weather... It was in the low 50's to mid 40's until late November and early December..... I am interested to hear what others have to say about my state.

Location InformationState - WisconsinCounty - LangladeDeer Management Unit - 43

Season OverviewThe 2005 season was the first full year my brother and I have been able to hunt our new property. We learned a lot this year. The grain farmer alternates the fields from soybeans to wheat. This year it was wheat and the fields were picked before the season. But, some natural reseeding occurred, so there was plenty of green grass for the deer to eat in the fields.

I hunted the fields a lot during the first part of the season. I never had the correct wind to try my stand that I setup by a small waterhole. Ironically, I think not hunting that stand until the perfect time is what made my season successful.

My brother and I had several stands to choose from. Three of them were covering some of our fields. One was deep in the hardwoods near a huge oak ridge and a small waterhole. One was farther south down the oak ridge and covering the big waterhole. One was along the pasture edge and the last stand was covering a large open area in the hardwoods.

Rut Activity InformationFrom the opening day until the end of October, we only saw two bucks while hunting. I saw a smaller fork-horn buck on the first weekend. My brother saw a spike around the first week in October or so. But once October 31 hit, the rut went full-swing overnight.

Our most productive stands for deer movement was one of my stands that is in a finger of grass and a few trees that partially separate a couple fields and my brother's stand along the pasture edge. It seemed like you could sit in those stands and be guaranteed to see several deer and quite a few bucks chasing. The biggest buck that we saw this year was spotted from the stand along the pasture edge. A big 140" 8-pointer, but we never got that buck in range.

Those weren't the only good locations though. The stand I had back by the big oak ridge, covering the small waterhole turned out to be the only stand that produced a buck kill. On November 4, the first time I hunted that stand, a buck came walking down the logging road to get a drink of water. He had obviously been chasing and was thirsty. That is where my Mathews Switchback did the trick. The very next day, a good friend of ours hunted our land and saw another great buck.

The next weekend, November 12 and 13 was our most exciting weekend for buck movement. It was the first time since the opener that I hunted a morning. There were bucks and does all over the place. We hunted about 3 hours and saw a total of 5 or 6 different bucks, including some that were borderline shooters. They'll be real nice next fall.

Some of the bucks continued to chase into the gun season. But once gun season was over, the buck activity had pretty much ended. When things were all said and done, we saw a total of about 15 or 16 different bucks from October 31 to November 12. We didn't hunt much at all during the week, my brother sat a couple hours and that was it. Most of time in the stands were for a few hours on the weekends.

ConclusionThis was the first year that I really experienced a fantastic rut. 2004 was the first rut that I experienced, but it was nothing compared to 2005's. The old land we hunted never had a rut anything like the new land we hunt. 2005's rut is what I will base future rut reports off of. On a scale of 10, I give 2005 a perfect 10. 2005 was an amazing year for us.

I live and hunt in the far northen part of ohio ,Vermilion[woolly bear festible ring a bell?] I hunt 10 miles south in birmingham OH. The first month of hunting was great! I seen and called in more bucks,mostly young{1-1/2 to 2-1/2 year olds] then any year in the past! A few true BIG boys came in but not too close. November was off to a great start also,but then the weather kicked up,high winds,then extreme cold and snow,then more wind. It all went down hill after that!The deer only came out in the dark.They were not even getting hit on the high ways by cars and trucks,that is a good thing! I would rate the first half as a 8 and the second half as a BIG 0,what happened? I don't know,never seen any thing like this year at all! I even left my faverate hunting ground that I have been hunting for six years and six bucks in a roll,try some thing new I thought,a big zero there also! I did find a big flock of turkeys!I will try to hunt them this spring!See you guys in the fall,good luck on all you do from here till fall! P.S. any one do any shed hunting,post the pics. if you can,I will-Bye for now-Rick Schindler
Modified by zookeeper4664 at 5:10 PM 2/12/2006

the rut in ky got a big 1. Last year was one of our best seasons to date, this year being one of the worst. The rut around mammoth cave "near the region where i hunt" it was really warm and the rut was very spiratic. we also had a very good mask crop this year which usually means curtains for guys like me that hunt near a national park. i did shoot a decent buck with a gun but my bullet hit a limb beforehand and it smacked him low and the bullet didn't penetrate much, he lived, we got pics of him afterwards, just one to chase next year lol.

The rut here in Ohio this past season was weird to say the least "I'm giving it a 2". Lots of rut sign early, but nothing except sporadic chasing and that seemed to come late. I believe the moon phase camp did well with predictions so I may put more stock in that than I have in the past.
Modified by Brad Jerman at 12:34 PM 3/8/2006