You can’t base it on what people see, there are just too many variables. The rut is the same time every year, but peak movement for most people is going to be when a hot doe happens to be in their area. But all that movement may only be based on one doe. Theres no difference in timing across the state. You have to get in the southern part of the US before it starts getting later in the year, and down there it can be really drawn out.

 

Lake county. Nov 14 and 15 my trail cameras when crazy with activity at all hours.

 

All my friends killed bucks from the 1st of November until today running does in Mahoning county , it's always the same every year First two weeks of November in the Northern part of the state,you just have to get out there and sit and if no activity find a new spot

 

My cams showed my best big deer daytime movement Oct 29-Nov1 and also Nov 13-19th .

Not much different than any other year . It's all pretty much the same but the weather dictates how much visible rut we see . Big deer lock down pretty early in my opinion .

 

Definitely seen the most daytime movement of mature deer the week before youth season

 

All kinds of action this week in Stark county.

 

yesterday

 

The rut is not even close to being over. Hell I see bucks chasing does and have even seen them mounting does the last week of bow season. Remember a doe will keep cycling until they either take or it becomes too late. Think about the yearlings you see that still have visible spots beginning of bow season. Those does were bred extremely late in the season

 

I've witnessed does being bred in January and seen chasing into February. Friday morning I got a picture on 1 of my trail cameras of a fawn that was tiny and still has very visible spots. That doe had to have been bred late .

 

Vets day seems to be the peak for Geauga county.

 

I do my hunting now in Medina County. The "rut" is loosely defined as a month-long period where the deer breed. There are also different phases to the rut too. The timing of the rut in an area is determined, that the fawns are born during the most optimum time to survive. Since us hunters can only see what the deer are doing during daylight, we can assume, incorrectly that the rut is delayed or didn't even occur. From what i have read, the majority of does conceive on Nov 15th here in Ohio. That coincides with what i have seen during the "lockdown" phase which probably includes 2 days on either side. When the weather gets too warm during the rut you see decreased daytime activity. The rut activity will still occur at night though. I have found that the more mature bucks move right before and right after the lockdown phase. So those dates are like Nov 10,11,17,18 but can vary slightly. This season the beginning of November was warm until a cold front came in on Nov 11th.I killed a mature buck on Nov 12th and saw 3 other bucks the first hour of daylight. I also read from the ODNR that Nov 12 was the day most hunters checked a deer in.

 

Was out this afternoon and these two came by. He was chasing her everywhere. Didn't pay me much attention. The second picture is 15 minutes later. I was hoping for a big guy to be following. Unfortunately none showed up.

 

I hunt a farm in Coshocton Ohio the bucks still chasing does this week.