For many deer hunters around the Southeast, the rut and the peak of daytime deer movement is over. For most hunters in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas, it’s time to come out of the woods and concentrate on family. Or, they could take a look at what’s going on over in the Gulf states and hit the road.
With most of the country experiencing the traditional November peak of breeding activity, the Southern rut has been a subject of much discussion. Throughout the South, there are pockets of deer that exhibit extremely early or late breeding activity, and the swing in rut timing can vary sometimes from county to county. The reason for this scattershot effect, according to most biologists, has to do with genetics.
When state game management departments and private entities began re-populating the region’s woods with deer, they brought them in from all over the country. While some states, like Alabama, drew from their own nearby deer herds, states like Georgia went as far as Michigan to bring in deer for stocking. This is the reason your buddy north Georgia is ready to hang it up after Thanksgiving, while folks in parts of Louisiana are gearing up for the best action of the season.
So, here’s a quick look at where it will be going on in the deer woods this month:
Most of Alabama experiences a January peak in breeding activity. For some areas, like the famed Black Belt, this occurs in late January, but statewide the dates vary from late November all the way into February.
It’s all over the place in Louisiana. Depending on where you hunt, the rut could range from September all the way into February. In southeastern and north Louisiana, there is a late-December peak, and along the state’s eastern fringe, the deer rut in January.
Mississippi’s rut is a north to south progression across the state, beginning in early December and ending in early February.
So, any hunter willing to travel could potentially hunt the best part of the season, all season long.
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