When does the rut start in your area?

I'm like Okie, depends on what one is truly calling the rut. My best/fun times to hunt is first 2 wks of Nov. which tends be chase phase. Best have your butt glued to the stand cause never know what chase will start at any time of day. I've killed more nice bucks 9:30 - 10:30 hands down. But def my best bucks have been taken fri or sat before Thanksgiving wk. Our rifle is ThAnksgiving week.
 
In my area of Ga late Oct until mid Nov covers the main rut.

My log show most of my better buck were during that period
 
craSSh said:
Where I hunt in north Florida, I've seen the rut start as early as New Year's. I know that is super late compared to most of y'all, but our season opens in late Oct and ends in late Feb.
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I have the same rut timing as you. Somewhere between Christmas and the first week of January. I have friends that hunt around Live Oak and theirs is late October. Florida has the most widespread rut timing across the state.
 

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The chase seems to kick off from Halloween to mid Novermber in Minnesota, depending on the year and what location in the state, and it is pretty short lived. I imagine that has alot to do with buck/doe ratio being skewered to does. The bucks don't need to do much running to find a receptive doe.
 
Usually anywhere from Christmas through to the 2nd or 3rd week of January. Alabama is funny, in some areas not too far from here they will rut in November. The southern part of the state from what I am told is late January until February. For some reason the NCNR extended the already long gun season another 10 days statewide to make sure we could all hunt during the rut.o_O
 
Peak breeding for us is normally nov 5-10 in the north part of the state and thanksgiving thru dec 5 in SE part of the state.
 
FL Forester said:
I have the same rut timing as you. Somewhere between Christmas and the first week of January. I have friends that hunt around Live Oak and theirs is late October. Florida has the most widespread rut timing across the state.
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The peak is usually late January and goes in to February. I shot a buck this year on Feb 14. He was one of three bucks chasing a doe. I agree the rut here varies so much. In some cases only a few miles makes a huge difference.
 
The question was "When does the rut start..." but I get the sense the real intent was to determine the peak rut in a given area. I have observed that rutting behavior generally starts sometime around mid-October, coinciding with the first good cold snap that has a drop in barometric pressure. Science has proven that the hormones which trigger rutting behavior are created when sunlight enters the eye of a deer at a certain angle, so the actual timing of the rut varies little, from year to year. It is only our observations and geography that change.

For our properties in northern MI, the peak of the rut is usually the first week of November, while in central Indiana, it's usually the 2nd week, if not later.
 
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I like to hunt from Oct. 25 thru Dec. 1 and have had great days anywhere in that timeframe. If the woods hasn't been messed up by me the absolute activity peak for bucks is November 9 to 15. if property is pressured then earlier and later in the Oct. 25 to Dec. 1 window works better. The most successful rub line hunting part is Oct. 25 thru about Nov. 3 for me.

Hunting with very low impact last season over all other previous seasons, controlling trespassers and nuisance disturbances made for the perception of a longer rut as bucks continued daytime activity well into December. Hot days in early November made for some slower hunting during that normally very active period.
 
Already started, lol.
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