in all my years ive seen the weather effect deer more than anything else. imo the extreem cold caused movement to be less they still bred we just didnt see many moving.

Is it possible that in the mountains, where most people hunt, the deer weren't there because the acorns weren't there, so most of the chasing and breeding took place where the food was? Like near the ag fields?

Is it possible that in the mountains, where most people hunt, the deer weren't there because the acorns weren't there, so most of the chasing and breeding took place where the food was? Like near the ag fields?

This is the one thing that I feel most people care so much about but never really comprehend. In the Southeast, many people are burnt out by the time most rut kicks in. I have read a few really good articles on the rut over the past five or so years and most of the authors state that the southeast rut is less finite because of the isolated circumstances. Most circumstances were deer ratios, food sources, and terrain. More times than not, temps were not high on the list. I have yet to hunt a year without at least seeing a "seeking phase". I think more people would likely have more luck with the rut if the knew what their herd numbers and ratios were. We noticed an increase in numbers of total deer on our lease starting the second year and that was the first year on the property we saw a "chasing phase". Once we started investing a good bit in food sources and mineral sights, we found it much easier to pattern and estimate the numbers. We noticed that we had many more bucks than we needed. This made sense because the first year we had only seen a "seeking phase" and we killed a good many spikes. By the second year we noticed that decrease in bucks along with a higher number of does due to, we think, an increased food source caused a more pronounced chasing phase. Might be a load of bull but for most cases I have found that your herd dynamics are directly correlated to the amount of work and resources you invest.

In my 8 years of hunting Alabama, I've noticed that extreme cold affects deer movement more than anything else. In my home state of Kentucky, it generally gets the deer up and moving to find food, but in Alabama, they seem to completely shut down. That would be my guess as to the lack of observed rut activity last year, just too cold.

My good friend, Jughead, has a pretty good theory as it relates to this as well. When the ground is frozen solid, as it was much of January last year, daylight deer movement is non existent unless the ground thaws, or it at least seems to be. Maybe the majority of the daylight movement occurred on south facing hill/mountain sides where the sun thawed those areas out around noon?

In my 8 years of hunting Alabama, I've noticed that extreme cold affects deer movement more than anything else. In my home state of Kentucky, it generally gets the deer up and moving to find food, but in Alabama, they seem to completely shut down. That would be my guess as to the lack of observed rut activity last year, just too cold.

My good friend, Jughead, has a pretty good theory as it relates to this as well. When the ground is frozen solid, as it was much of January last year, daylight deer movement is non existent unless the ground thaws, or it at least seems to be. Maybe the majority of the daylight movement occurred on south facing hill/mountain sides where the sun thawed those areas out around noon?