When will the Rut Start?

[squirrel_hunter6]

Awesome! We've got a Hunting in Alabama Forum! :mrgreen:

Does anybody know when the rut will start in Limestone and Morgan County :?:

This is my first year to get into deer hunting so, I don't have any past experience to build on. I have heard that it starts during the first full moon of January. Is there any truth to this :?:

Thanks for your input!

[redneckd1]

I have always heard that the AL rut is from mid to the end of Jan, so next weekend.
 Of course that is the peak rut, I have read that the rut runs from late Nov through Jan, but because there are so many doe in AL that you do not see the REAL rut activity until Jan.
Seems the wise old bucks just wait around in the thick stuff early in the season and the does come by, then they take care of business, when the does come into estrous again (ones not hit the first time), the ole boys have to come out and chase them i.e. peak rut.
 I've seen scrapes from bow season on through gun season, but they seem to get serious in mid Jan.
Good luck, I'll be leaving work for deer camp in about an hour!!!!!
Cheers,
R

[davis1as]

The rut in the few places I have hunted in North Alabama is never really typical of what the writers in the Mag and the Tv shows portraits.
Its very late in the season and with the large doe season the bucks never really go crazy for a mate.
Our  very warm winters of late have not helped things at all. This 60-70' weather were having has ruined my season. The deer we are hunting are night crawlers.
Im turning my attention to hogs!!

[Graybeard]

The rut in Bama is really hard to pin down. The reason is the varied sources of the deer we have here. Native Bama deer typically rut in late January and even into February so the experts say. Most of the south Bama herd is from native stock. But various parts in the northern half of the state were stocked with deer from Iron Mountain, MI and some from Pisgah, NC so the stories go. Plus some native deer were stocked.

So you have places with deer still following the rut from the places they came from and some rutting like Bama native deer. You even have places where the herd are a mixture. As a for instance in CWMA in Calhoun and Cleburne counties you have both native and northern deer. You'll find deer rutting in November in this area and some that have dropped their antlers before the end of hunting season. But some will be rutting in January also. Kinda weird.

Basically you'll get rut data only from someone very familiar with the specific area you want to here here in Bama.