Memory is a funny thing. It can be influenced by many things – emotion, language, context. Facts are only one part of our memory. The science of memory is complex. Memory is not a recording device. Memories are constructed and influenced by what we think, believe, and want to believe.
This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Two people describing an event or meeting they attended can be wildly different. Comments on this blog prompted us to look into the infamous October Lull. We dedicated 3 posts and 1 podcast on this “phenomenon” and found no data to support it. But because it does not match their constructed memory, the facts are often rejected.
One of the questions asked was how rut movements in 2024 differed from previous years. Some will say there was more; some will say less. Would anyone say it was average?
Let’s take a look. The easiest way to do this is plot the cumulative miles traveled for each year.
For males it was not extreme, although the movements toward the end of the rut took a decided downward turn (not typical!). Otherwise, we can say it was on the low end but not an extreme.
Now 2023 was an extreme where the average cumulative miles traveled was over 150 miles. The least-traveling year was 2015 when males, on average, traveled a cumulative total of 88 miles.
Females were not an outlier either, but they were at the upper end of movements. They also don’t exhibit as much variability with their cumulative totals ranging from 50 miles to 84 miles.
Sometimes there is not that much difference between males and females…
So what is your reconstructed memory of the 2024 rut?
-Duane Diefenbach
P.S. We are not here to say your observations (or reconstructed memory) of the 2024 rut are necessarily wrong. All breeding is local and what you observed where you hunt could be different from what our data indicate. Depending on local deer densities and the breeding status of females in that area, hunter experiences can vary.
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