Worse deer season ever here

Studies have proven breeding happens the exact same time every year +- 5 days. Hunters just may not see “rut” activity during the daylight hours.

Turkeys are already starting to act right
Ive Seen strutting on camera and heard gobbling.
I predict early spring


As far as deer I saw rut activity in Georgianna, AL starting January 10. Seemed done this past weekend as I saw several does without anything behind them.

Had a great season and hope to make one last deer hunt Saturday.

Seen runt action and most deer in a season by far (public land, kisatchie to the basin).

Put cameras out in the summer. You will see fawns hit the ground. I had fawns all over camera that looked brand new on 6/10/19.

Gestation is 201 days. That puts the rut around the week before Thanksgiving. The same time they have rut for the last 39 years in these pines we hunt

Now, these guys will tell you there was no rut. What they won’t do is stop shooting every buck they see. Seeing does by the dozen. You don’t see a rut because there is no real need to chase.

This does result in some late bred does and non bred does.

Does it count if you didn't make a single hunt?

1. Weather did not screw up the rut. Never has never does.

2. Deer chasing late into February is nothing new. Some of your early season yearling doe are just now making that 70 lb mark to come into esterous and older doe that missed first couple breeding cycles are coming in.

3. "No good deer killed at all" has ZERO to do with them and everything to do with your skill set. Another "week or two" isn't going to see an improvement on your ability.

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The deer management in the South is fine. People management is another story. The Deep South was hit hard post Civil War and during the Depression. The culture to kill to survive is deeply ingrained form those hard times. Now we have “sportsmen” who’ll kill deer and catch crappie on yo yo’s until their deep freeze won’t close.

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Good point, but the people management has progressed to where that mentality is now making the rules.

6 deer may be fine, but restrictions on age or buck to doe by region, tag allotments or lotteries, required reporting, higher license costs, etc should all be massively evaluated and overhauled. And the regions need to be reassessed and smaller with much more variation in rules by region of the state.

I’m sorry but I have to disagree on the southern management being “fine” versus the problem being hunters.

Don’t care where you hunt....folks will kill as many deer as the state allows them. Or, at least they will try. I’ve been hunting Illinois for 20 years. Those hunters are no different than us in regards to wanting to stack their freezer.

The difference? No rifle hunting. Only a dozen days of slug gun/muzzle loader hunting and a two buck limit.

I’ll readily admit I’m not a biologist but I have been blessed to deer hunt almost every state in the country and see the difference State management can make.

Yes sir. And, I have no problems with the longer seasons and higher bag limits. I can only tell you about my personal experiences. When I know I’m limited to one archery buck in Illinois, I’m pretty selective about what I shoot. Here in SC, where we can kill multiple bucks....not so much