Thanks Ken...

We usually peak a little before you do, after Thanksgiving, just a little before Dec 1.  But, I talked to the rancher who owns our place a couple of days ago - he thought they were getting into it last weekend.  This morning I talked to a friend who hunts west of Eldorado...he saw big bodied deer with their noses to the ground last weekend and was fairly certain they were rutting.  Since the original post I've talked with a local taxidermist in Eldorado - the ranchers are tellin' him the same thing...and apparently hunters are bringing in bucks to the taxidermist to back that up.

At this point I have to believe up in our neck of the woods (which is about 50-60 miles north of where you are), especially with this last call from the taxidermist, they're in rut.

If you're seeing that many deer and you think its a good lease it really might be worth trying to work with the rancher, because good leases are very hard to find. - especially one you can afford.

I've also seen 'rules' all over the place.  at some ranches all the rules are 8 pts and beyond the ears.  Others are you can't shoot a buck before you take a doe.  They vary from landowner to landowner and sometimes from year to year. 

I suspect a lot of these statements you're hearing are more about a buck's age being related to his peak antler growth.  Deer usually reach peak antler development anywhere from 5.5-7.5 years, depending on where you hunt and to some degree who you ask.  And really, unless a landowner has enough acreage to really control a deer population's age structure, finding deer in that old in fair chase conditions is not all that common. So, shooting a 4.5 year old deer may be fine depending on hunting pressure and several other factors.   

I can understand about the difficulty in aging deer.  Back where I grew up if it had horns you shot first and asked questions later.  We're still relatively new to it too.  One of the best books we've seen on aging bucks is "Observing and Evaluating Whitetails" by Dave Richards and Al Brothers.  The Quality Deer Management Association has also recently come out with another publication from these same authors, "A Field Guide for Aging Whitetail Bucks on the Hoof".