I am still striving to better understand the timing of the Sitka black-tailed deer rut. I decided to plot the number of bucks past the cameras for the 7 years I have been collecting data. In those 7 years I have had 3,461 bucks past the cameras. Many of these records are of the same buck searching for or chasing does. Here I have plotted the data by day. This data is for central Prince of Wales Island and the timing of the rut across the range of Sitka black-tailed deer varies.

There are three obvious peaks that align. November 5th, November 11th, and November 18th. November 11th is the largest peak with over a total of 140 bucks past the cameras. Over the last 35 years, I personally have killed more bucks on November 11th than any other date.

I interpret this data to suggest that the chasing phase starts on about October 17th running to about November 6th. There is a consistent lull in activity (deer past the cameras) from November 6 through November 9th. I believe this is when the first does come into estrus, bucks are locked down. Then the rut activity picks back up from November 10th through November 21st. It's all but over by December 1st.

Give this data a look and let me know your thoughts. Gosh I love these deer!