10/08/2009
When is rut?

This is a question our members have asked for years.

We have had a club in Macon County near the Flint River since 2000. We are in a Quality Deer Management county and we not only adhere to the County antler restriction rules, but also adhere to QDM principles the best we know how.

We keep detail census and observation data daily and summarize them at the end of the season. Based upon these observations, we have a pretty good buck to doe ratio, of about 1.5 does per buck. Our observed fawn recruitment was .96 for each doe, last year. (We do have evidence of a predator problem, by observation and trail cameras.)

According to the Annual Deer-Hunting Special published by Georgia Outdoor News (GON) in October, Rut should be around November 18th. "This map was intially created with information from WRD biologists, and it has been improved and changed by GON over the years based on hunter reports of encounters with big bucks chasing and breeding does."

OUr observations have not been totally inconsistent with that date or period, as 60% of the big bucks that we have harvested (wallhangers) have been taken in November. A similar statistic applies to all quality bucks that we have harvested. However, we do see a lot of rutting activity in October and then again in mid December. Total deer activity tends to decrease drastically after Thanksgiving and picks up again mid December, before dropping off again.

While every couple years we have a day or two of pronounced buck activity, it is not observed every year. In the years taht it doesn't occur, we seem to have a more spread out period of seeing rutting bucks.

Scrapes and rubs start appearing in early October, if not before. Chasing is observed towards the end of October and early November. The big boys show up when they are ready, sometimes earlier and sometimes later. They generally show up and generally in November.

If you have any observations that you would like to share, we would appreciate hearing from you.

I am at my farm in Schley county and it's just before daylight. We have hunted in Georgia since 1993 beginning in Mcray in Dodge county and then moving to Schley Co. in 2000. My experience with the rut has been that the big boys were always harvested on our property in Dodge county between the 16th and 26th of November. We too proctice QDM and only harvested mature bucks. In Schley county we have observed not only on our property but in the area in general that the big boys are taken a little earlier in November. Ususally between the 9th and the 19th of November. You are right on about the sighting of deer after thanksgiving and before about the middle of December. It usually shuts down. I have not seen any sign of rutting activity on our property year to date. Just the usual rubbing on trees. Good luck and good hunting. rvg

I hunt a 800 acre plantatation that we lease in Worth co. (just a bit south of you) for the past 5 seasons. We try to harvest bucks that are 4 1/2 yrs old & older. Not one to take any chances, I take the month of nov. off every yr to deer hunt. The best day of buck activity me and my partner saw was Nov. 11th 2007. We passed on all bucks that day but the mature bucks were everywhere. Another day we have killed a large buck on almost every yr is the Sat after Thanksgiving. Also I usually see a bruiser buck on Nov. 1st which is when I start hunting big deer in ernest. Every yr. I arrow a doe in sept, my wife shoots another doe on opening day of rifle season, & then I come back & start Nov. 1st (we do not shoot does in nov). As for the mid-dec activity, it is a secondary rut based on unbred nov does. I've always been convinced that the majority of the south experiences a "trickle rut". (the plantations you see on tv are not the "majority"). We also keep good records, but there is only 3 of us hunting so although I hunt all but the warm days in nov, we dont have a lot of eyes to gather info. I hope I posted my reply correctly, I dont use a computor much. Did I mention that I hunt alot.