WOW!!! What a can of worms you opened
Well I think the moon plays a large role in feeding habits and movement, not so much on the start of the RUT!!! My reasoning is, for example why does the rut always start early in East Texas (where i grew up) every year at the end of archery only season and the begining of rifle season, or where I live now ( post oak savannah) the rut starts on or about the 20th of november without fail!!! Look at South Texas end of December, or West Texas first week of December,ect,ect The does that were breed last year were breed at a certain time of the year, the fawns drop and then the deer come back into heat at almost the same time as last year ( ie biological clock is far better than our moon calculations) Thats not all about 10 years ago the state transplanted a large number of does from south Texas to a few counties around where i live and we had does that were originally there breed around nov 20th and the transplanted does breed late December and continued to do so until there were no more transplanted does still alive or breeding. So I believe they come into heat at a perticular time cause thats what they did the year before!!
Just something to chew on!!!
