Will there be two deer ruts in 2018?

I've seen this happen a few past years ago. There was a larger early ones than typical. Next time down my brothers place I will check the log book. We started the log book back in 1978.

Around the 23rd if I remember.  The week before Halloween.  My brother took a 170 size buck.  He watched it breed her about 100 yards across the creek and then they moved over to his spot and 15 yard shot. 

Interesting piece, although not a ton of detail there. An awful lot of hunters believe the rut is etched in stone, and that it occurs the exact same time each season. They site the timing of the birthing of fawns for optimal survival as their rationale. Thing is, optimum timing of fawn birthing for survival isn't a one or two day window, it`s a much wider window, and there`s additionally no real consensus on what all is involved with setting off the rut. Wildlife biologists are relatively certain that photoperiod, or decreasing daylight each season is partially what sets off rutting activity, but it`s well documented that the phases of the rut; seeking, chasing, and full blown breeding activity, happen at different times, often as much as several weeks, depending on the year. Charles Alsheimer offered a theory that the rut is triggered by photoperiod in conjunction with the timing of the second full moon after the autumnal equinox. I`m far from a professional hunter, but in hunting white-tail deer for just more than 35 years, I`ve seen seeking and chasing activity happen anywhere from as early as the third week of October and as late as opening weekend of firearms season in Indiana. I buy 100% into Alzheimer's theory for the timing of the rut. 

Visible activity may make it appear like two ruts due to the timing of the full moon in October/November.

With full on on 24th and November late on the 23rd will screw up the rut.  Rut to start early and end late with lots of dead times in the middle.  It will be important to find the hot doe that per each day.  In in other words, be lucky.  

Bingo..... everyone is in tilted to their opinion but there only ONE set of facts..... The record books show the facts and dates and it's all within a handful of days in November for the peak rut!

Got anything Factual to debunk it?

Y'all have lots of info and back up your beliefs. That being said, I have deer hunter since 1978in Indiana and Ohio and previously 5 years in another state. I found the largest scrape I have ever seen (4'x6') on Aug 15th while squirrel hunting the opening day. When I saw it I didn't believe it to be a real scrape. I thought it was a mock scrape but there were doe tracks in it and a nice pile of dropping. While studying it a doe got up 10 yards from the scrape. She was bedded off the scrape, meaning she was in heat. On the other end of that, one year I saw a fawn with spots on Dec 24th.

Here is what I have heard and believe. The healthy, more mature does are receptive early, and regularly. This many time happens prior to what we call the rut. During what we call the rut, most other adult does come in heat. Post rut, which I have seen a few times, the less healthy does will come in heat. To top all of this, young does born this year will go in heat when they reach 60 to 70 pounds and they are staggered throughout the rest of winter. There are documented cases of breading taken place as late as Feb and March. I would suppose this would account for seen a spotted fawn at Christmas!
I don't claim to know anything about it but this is what I have observed and believe.

As far as the amount of daylight affecting the rut, I think it might but, after the nuclear accident in Russia, the Laplanders were not allowed to sell their reindeer. That is the major income for that area. Scientists moved a herd of reindeer to Antartica to preserve them. For three years the deer continued to calf at the time they always had. All died because they were now being born in the winter. After the third year, they all changed their breeding/ calving to go along with their new habitat.
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