When Does the White-Tailed Deer Rut Start in the Midwest?

A muscled-up, 10-point buck with a neck the size of a middle-aged hickory tears into a cedar trunk. Shreds of the cedar’s soft bark go flying into the air as the old brute takes its anger out on that poor tree. Another buck walks into view, and the older deer re-channels its aggression toward the intruder. They lock antlers, but only momentarily, before the smaller deer scampers off with its shame in full force and defeat on full display. The monarch maintains its status atop the local whitetail herd’s breeding hierarchy, and it will sire more fawns because of it.

So, it begs the question, when does the rut start in the Midwest? Here are your answers, with highly...

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