So everyone has their own sign of the rut but what actually is the rut? Rubs...don't think so. Scrapes..seen them for a month now. Buck fights getting closer. The rut for me is when the bucks lose their minds and only on thing is on mind is to continue the species. This happens a few days before gun season and continues for a few afterwards. These are the days when you can shoot a buck tailing a doe and have 4 others come right in standing over your dead deer. They can give a crap about scent sound and sign. That is the rut for me.