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".

Stanton,

You mentioned that you needed to buy a "doe grunt"...I think you're referring to a specific estrous doe bleat replicated in products such as "The Can". 

Climbing stands are great (I own one), but I'd suggest you get totally familiar with it before you ever take it into the field.  Practice climbing, getting situated in the tree, and coming down in your back yard or some place where you can work up gradually.  Also, with their tubular steel construction most of these things have a tendency to be noisy, at least in my experience (I've had mine for a number of years so maybe the newer ones aren't so bad).  With the one I had we eventually had to use some spray insulation inside the climbing aid to quiet it down.  Whatever you do though, wear a climbing belt or harness every time you go up.  A friend of mine was on a climbing stand several years ago and fell asleep.  When he did he also fell out of his stand, and because he wasn't wearing a harness fell to his death.  He broke his neck when he landed on his head and it killed him instantly. 

And, most folks will tell you to get at least 20 feet up in a tree to avoid being seen, although there are some bucks that have learned to look up into trees.  Hope this helps.