New Alabama Rut Map

The AWFF just put this out today.

Ironically I just saw that post. Seems more in line with where I hunt (Pickens county). Last year was the first time I’ve seen a buck chase/following a doe in probably 7-8 years or longer. I remember in my teens, twenty’s and into my mid 30’s when you saw a doe mid December to early November that you better have your gun/bow ready. Miss those days of a pronounced and visible rut.

Looks about right for my area

Finally a somewhat legit map

I thought the map looked pretty dead on from my experiences hunting north Alabama.

That lil red dot on the lauderdale/limestone co line is a bit too far to left but it’s close

I was wondering if that was you

I would say that is spot on for Lamar and Walker counties.

Pretty much in line for where we hunt.....

It's right for where I hunt

I don't think it's right for Barbour county

How do they come up with those dates?

Fetus collection and aging then back dating to determine the date the doe was actually bred (based on development chart, length and weight). Pretty dang accurate way to do it. Map looks real close to me in the areas I hunt based on my experience in Wilcox, Clarke, Marengo, and Dallas. The green may be shaded over just a little bit to far to the west in Marengo but it's pretty close.

accurate for my area

That makes sense. I'd say it's pretty accurate for Jackson Co based on my experience hunting public land. I will say that on our farm in Jackson Co I dont see any rut activity until the 2nd week in Feb. I assume this may be a secondary rut, but it sure is strange to not see any during the primary time. Not sure why that is.

IMO, dead on for Lamar County.

Way better than that junk map AON used to put out..

Not even close on that brown spot in Washington and South Clarke. Maybe they mean peak of the ruts in the road where you will get stuck the quickest!

Not even close to accurate for Montgomery County.

There is some very north Jackson & Dekalb county that needs shaded with that peach color dec7-15 is wide open . Other than that. Looks pretty good from what I can tell

I like the green eyeball on the ET looking thing in Madison county.

Looks accurate for my area

A month off for my area of Elmore County....

Totally hogwash.
Just like the harvest estimate, it's a wild ass guess.

Dads place is about the green dot on the st Claire/blount county line... Thats correct from what ive seen

I think it is pretty accurate for what i have witnessed in our area.

Well I'll be, Chuckies own map debunks the need for February season in NA .

Nobody is being made to hunt those extra 10 days....

Well why end it at Feb 10? Why not run it until March or May?

I bet that's what Chuckie told his biologist in NA who were against it .

Lol. Outback, we’ve got over a decade of data points all over the state. Very little guesswork.

Looks pretty good except for my place in Lee county. They are wide open at christmas time there.

Careful bringing data and science around here...

Spot on for the places areas I hunt

Okey dokey

But not even close for Lauderdale

My place is kind of a overlap between 2 of the date ranges

more corn and Clorox gets em to rutting quicker...

Very close for several areas around state I'm familiar with.

I hunt from the farthest southeast corner colored peach up to chambers county and that looks pretty accurate to me where I hunt

Very accurate

Chuck got that for y’all so take back all the bad things y’all said

I'd agree with map

Good map in a general sense. Certain counties in Alabama have huge variations in pockets and will never be nailed down with a map. Russell is a prime example, 3-4 different ruts. Jefferson and Jackson come to mind as well.

I agree pretty accurate for Jackson. I've always said in the areas I hunt , last 5 days of Dec. through first 5 days of Jan is money. Didn't need Chuckie and Co. to tell me that. Prime time breeding and calculating backwards from fawn drop tells the story. Mid and lower PRV is a little later. Reason being the deer released during restocking on the Jones farm in Lower PRV came from a different local than those released on Skyline.

Eastern Lee Co?

If you move that green eyeball in Dallas County about 10 miles east and south it would be dead center on me and very accurate.

Western side, Salem area.

Yep you better be there the week leading up to Christmas.

Looks spot on for my lease .... Feb 3,4 is always money

Right for my area. Prob cause we helped with the study by doing conception studies

X2

The area around the influx of Uchee Creek into the Chattahoochee River in Russell County (Fort Mitchell area) is spot WRONG. Unless it has changed in the last 8-10 years, that is. If you look at the Easternmost tip of Russell County and follow the state line Northwest from there into the little notch in the line, that is the area I'm talking about. I have seen 6-8" fetuses when we gutted does in mid to late January. There would be all kinds of chasing going on before gun season opened each year; and the woods would be dead well before Christmas. We would sometimes see what we called a "second rut" in the days around and shortly after christmas, but most of the breeding activity was done around Thanksgiving or thereabout. There was no such thing as a spotted fawn during bow season there. I hunted the area for 11 or 12 years and never even heard tell of a spotted fawn during any open deer season.

The other areas I am familiar with seem to be spot ON.

For my places, they pretty well nailed it. The only exception is the Vance/Coaling area of Tuscaloosa Co. should be peach colored.

Chambers has so many ruts, they would
go crazy mapping it out.

Pretty much spot on for Conecuh. Last 15 days of season is typically the best.

I would say it's close for my area but I get a month's worth of rut.

Spot on for the areas I've hunted. Excellent!!!

I hunt 3 different areas of the State. Accurate for all 3 of those locations... all with different ruts.

I guess I am the only one who does not think that the map is accurate at all for several areas of the state.

I've hunted several different areas, mostly in south Alabama but also some north of Birmingham and I have witnessed heavier chasing at different times than the map suggests. I'm sure there are studies to back up the map, but I have consistently witnessed bucks chasing at different times of the season than the map shows.

Bucks chasing does does not give the full picture, as they will do that any time they have hardened antler. Most visible chasing that hunters see occurs 10-14 days before peak breeding or conception. Fetal studies tell you exactly, to within 24 hours, when a doe conceived.

That doesn’t mean the map is complete. There are areas in the state we lack data, but of what we have data for, the conception dates don’t lie.

For the areas I hunt, it’s pretty damn accurate.

There's always exceptions.

Yep, Chasing sightings do not indicate when actual breeding is happening.

That map is for averages, not exceptions. Exceptions can and do happen in everything. The map is pretty dang close to what is happening statewide with the breeding dates that have been collected. If you think there are areas grossly misrepresented then reach out to the district office in that area and offer up some property to collect on so it can be made more accurate.

A lot of hunters don't see action and think rut hasn't hit yet when a lot of times it's happening or passed already...

I'm painting what you're priming. Just because bucks are chasing does not mean that (on average) most does are actually conceiving around that time.

What can you tell us about other indicators of rut activity? i.e. tarsal glands darkening. If I shoot a buck in late January that stinks really bad and has jet black tarsal glands does that mean he is in full rut? Conversely, if I shoot a buck in early January and his glands are only somewhat dark does that mean that the rut is still several weeks away?

Or are these characteristics at all tied to actual chasing activity from a biologist's standpoint? I've always heard old timers talk alot about dark tarsal glands and bucks "stinking" but wondered what it meant from an actual biologist point of view. Grandaddy's ole huntin' advice is not always backed by science lol

I see they are finally acknowledging the mid-November rut in eastern Lauderdale/western Limestone. Since they prolonged the season for areas with the late January/early February rut, are they going to open the gun season earlier in those areas that have peak rut before gun season opens?

I don’t put much emphasis on darkened tarsals or other physical characteristics. Reason being, all bucks are different. They all participate in the rut in different ways. Their activity has a lot to do with individual characteristics that I firmly believe they are genetically predispositioned towards certain behaviors. Some are more aggressive. Some less. Some are heavy scrapers. Some not so much. Some pee on their tarsals often. Some hardly ever do it. Those are not learned behaviors, as bucks are typically solitary during the breeding season. They’re genetically programmed to breed, but the behaviors that go along with breeding are certainly not the same for every buck.

What aboout the ones who pee on their tarsal glands too much...Do they go blind?

^^^ Very interesting.

I think the map is a generally accurate presentation of average peak rut times for most of the State, but not all.
Certainly not accurate at all for Montgomery County - it should have that dark green covering most of the county - AND MOST of southeast Alabama.
I remember two other of these rut maps that had much later peak rut dates for Montgomery County then this new one.

If I applied that chasing "rule" to Montgomery County it would even be later.

I killed a good 8pt on Jan the 15th several years ago that had blonde tarsal glands, but he was run down some, so I know he had to have been chasing. He was out cruising. The rut map pretty much nails the rut on our 2 properties, and they have 2 different ruts.

I've got a buck in Butler county last week peeing on tarsal glands and working a scrape. I think it's just a community scrape. Also have a small spotted fawn on camera. If this doe was killed on Oct 15th I think she would have been still carrying

You can’t rely much on buck behavior to determine the rut. Bucks testosterone levels remain low from post rut on. They get a spike in testosterone levels at the start of antler growth, then it falls off again. Towards the beginning of summer the levels start to ramp up and peak around the rut or shortly thereafter. Scraping, peeing on tarsals, fighting, rubbing is all dependent on that specific buck and not a good indicator of anything really. I shot a 10 point last year, right in the middle of the rut, and his tarsal glands were fairly clean. He was dogging does around a feeder the night before (game camera).

I’ve also read that young bucks breed a majority of the does and a mature buck will only breed 1-3 total. He made breed those does several times each during the lock down period. Young bucks typically start acting stupid a couple weeks before the mature bucks do. I guess that could be an indicator.

In the mid 90s there was one season we had a long stretch of very unseasonably warm , humid weather right at prime breeding period in Ol' Hi-Jackson. It was in the 60's and low 70s day after day. Nobody was killing any or even seeing any bucks or does either. It was terrible . I heard many a hunter say " they didn't rut this season". Well third week of July the next summer fawns hit the ground just like always.
I'll add when that when a cold front swept through and the weather changed it was wide open and bucks were getting killed like I've never seen before or since in a about three day period. It was like someone opened a giant pen and let them out. I killed a dandy 8 point the morning the front moved through , that afternoon it snowed!

In all my years hunting I've only killed one dogging a doe. But my 4 best bucks from here have been within 5 days of each jan 15-20..i always make a bunch of phone calls during that time just to double check with other hunters and it's pretty steady year after year from my end