Well, I'd have to say that the rut is "ON".

My 14 y/o son and I went up scouting last weekend, and hung a tarp to keep the rain off.

Just after midnight we heard a couple of bulls begin to sound off, and pretty soon they were only about 50 yards up the hill from us.

We couldn't see them, but could hear them and then they decided to have it out.

There were antlers clashing, hooves pounding, big grunts and shoves, as they fought for probably a minute and a half. They re-engaged several times...... all the while fighting their way down hill right toward us.

They were probably only about 20-25 yards away (we could hear every footfall, every grunt, etc) and then one of them got the upper hand hand and knocked the other bull over. We could hear him slide and then slam into brush.

The loser got up in a hurry and ran right past our camp. Couldn't have been more than 10 feet behind us. I thought he might tear our tarp down and take it with him on his way.

The winner walked out and absolutely SCREAMED at the loser as the loser was leaving the valley.

Pretty intense stuff. Way cool.