Jan 28, 2015 White-Tail Deer Movements & Their Rutting Behavior White-Tail Deer Movements & Their Rutting Behavior Stay tuned for ongoing information from LandGuys: Zack Sisk on his research on “White-Tail Deer Activity Patterns And Estimated Bucks Ages On A Scrape During Rut”. Zack has a degree in Environmental Biology and we are going to share over the course of time, bits and pieces from his travels and research. Here is a brief summary of his thesis: “White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) Activity Patterns And Estimated Buck Ages On A Scrape During Rut” by Zack Sisk Wildlife biologists have used trail cameras to assist with field observations. Little research has been conducted on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus Virginanus) use of scrapes during the breeding season. The research objects was to compare the three phases of the rut to factors that could influence activity. The 66-day study showed that activity was greatest during pre rut phase at a mean temperature of 38.6 degrees F. The average time of day with greatest activity was 3:36am. The deer tended to be nocturnal and showed greatest activity in the pre rut phase. Moon phase had little effect on deer activity, but the greatest number of visits (19) occurred during the waning crescent moon phase. Humidity and snow affected activity. As humidity increased deer activity decreased for the week. Deer activity at the scrape decreased substantially if there was snow accumulation. Does accounted for 50.6% of visits at the scrape while bucks accounted for 49.4%. Bucks generally stayed at the scrape site much longer than does due to their interaction with marketing the site. The average age of the bucks using the scrape site was estimated at 2.29 years of age.