IdahoRuss
FNG
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2020
- Messages
- 12
Curious to know how other people think about this topic, I make my living working on a cattle ranch in Idaho. The ranch I work for runs on some private and some forest service/BLM. The reason that's important in this discussion is to show the cattle I'm around are not being fed much for hay but instead they have to graze for there feed year round like our deer and elk herds.
The things I have noticed over the years is if the winter range is tough and drags into "spring" the high energy grasses don't start growing until later into the spring and the cows stay in poorer condition longer which also means it'll take more time and feed to pick here condition back up to where it needs to be for breeding season in let's say May-June time frame and if that cow doesn't pick back up she is less likely to come into heat and get bred until later in the breeding season.
My thoughts have been if our deer and elk herds struggle for a winter and maybe the spring has a slow start or our summer starts early and everything kind of drys off early will that mean the doe and cow groups will have a slower start on picking up there condition which in return could cause a later rutting season or maybe a less active rut in certain areas?
I know that they will come into heat eventually but for elk could a slow start in spring time be the cause of the October rut fests or when we have an easier winter and a wet productive spring will the elk rut start earlier in September?
I believe this has more effect on elk due to their earlier rut dates over deer so I don't know if this idea has too much to do with the November rut? Maybe a good feed year will get those does to start rutting that Oct 25th time frame?
Curious to know what the thought is on this, I think if people really start paying close attention to this then we can get a better ball park idea on when to expect rut behavior to start which could make for better planning a hunt.
The things I have noticed over the years is if the winter range is tough and drags into "spring" the high energy grasses don't start growing until later into the spring and the cows stay in poorer condition longer which also means it'll take more time and feed to pick here condition back up to where it needs to be for breeding season in let's say May-June time frame and if that cow doesn't pick back up she is less likely to come into heat and get bred until later in the breeding season.
My thoughts have been if our deer and elk herds struggle for a winter and maybe the spring has a slow start or our summer starts early and everything kind of drys off early will that mean the doe and cow groups will have a slower start on picking up there condition which in return could cause a later rutting season or maybe a less active rut in certain areas?
I know that they will come into heat eventually but for elk could a slow start in spring time be the cause of the October rut fests or when we have an easier winter and a wet productive spring will the elk rut start earlier in September?
I believe this has more effect on elk due to their earlier rut dates over deer so I don't know if this idea has too much to do with the November rut? Maybe a good feed year will get those does to start rutting that Oct 25th time frame?
Curious to know what the thought is on this, I think if people really start paying close attention to this then we can get a better ball park idea on when to expect rut behavior to start which could make for better planning a hunt.