Let's Get Ready To Rumble . . .

Okay, this is probably a tid bit premature but, well, here goes. The rut is upon us. No, I'm not saying that the full-blown breeding phase is here. It's not. But this was far and away the best weekend I've had this season so far. Ever doe I saw had a buck close behind. Of course, they were all young bucks but that's the cool thing about all this. The little guys always tend to jump the gun on the rut but they also seem to act like an indicator of what's about to happen.

I like to keep a journal of my hunts each season and it was Oct. 22 last year when I saw my first buck dogging a doe -- that yearling six-point certainly wasn't the last buck I saw looking for a little doe action. But it was the first and the action simply increased steadily from that point.

Well, this weekend I saw six different bucks dogging does around. All were young and none got within spitting distance of any does.

But, as they say, let the games begin.

Tony Hansen, Michigan Man