roscopee said it above, if you can't kill a buck in 3 1/2 months, maybe needing to hunt during the rut isn't the real problem. I am 40 years old, have hunted my whole life, and have hunted in Lowndes, Lee, Chambers, Macon, Tallapoosa, Talladega, Calhoun, and Cleburne counties. I have seen deer chasing in October, Nov, Dec, and Jan. I have hunted multiple seasons in a row without seeing even a spike walking behind a doe. And I have killed at least one good buck virtually ever year. I couldn't care less if I see a buck chasing a doe or not, and I don't need that to happen for me to see a mature buck. My point is I (nor you) need the rut to happen in order to kill a mature buck. Every time a hunter tells me "I never see mature bucks until the last week of January" (or February, or Spring Turkey Season), I immediately want him to show me where he's been sitting. If that's your case, the problem is NOT needing the rut to occur, but rather you need to move where you can see a big buck. Get out of the shooting house, get off the fields, don't ride you ATV within earshot of your tree, be in the tree WAY before daylight, sit till WAY after dark, quit hunting in that "pretty spot" where you want deer to be, and on and on and on. Big bucks are in the cutovers from Thanksgiving through January, period. If you don't have cutovers, find a new club that does, because you got jacksquat chance of seeing a big buck in any other place. But quit screwing up a 3 1/2 month long hunting season because you've bought into the "Outdoor Channel" hunting worldview. If you have racked deer on your cameras at night, they are there in the light!!! And they don't lay flat all day long, they're not in a cave, they will actually stand up and move during daylight SOMEWHERE on your land. If your land is thick, all short pines, etc., find another land!!!! Quit being a "hunting club" member. Put the climber on your back, walk as far as you need to, don't be stupid with the wind, and hunt where the bucks are, not just on the big pretty greenfield that he is NEVER gonna walk out on. In the last 20 seasons I have killed more mounter bucks from Oct 15 - Oct 31 than all the rest of the season combined. And I have NEVER hunted anywhere that a genuine rut didn't occur between Christmas and Jan 10. Deer are poly-estrous, meaning they'll cycle every 28 days till bred. The rut will get stronger each cycle because fewer does are remaining. First rut will be weak, 2nd rut stronger, etc. What you're seeing from Jan 25 thru Feb 10 is the stronger 2nd cycle. The first true Alabama rut happened between Christmas and Jan 10. You may not have seen it, but those scrapes didn't show up mid-December for nothing. But I guess you were expecting every racked deer on your land to be wide-eyed and fighting, standing in the powerline with a doe, and otherwise acting like the Outdoor Channel shows?? It's Alabama, it's just the genetic dispostion of our deer, and the overall poor deer structure. You can't depend on a defined, dependable rut. If Bama's season ran from June 1 through Sept 15 (3.5 months) I'd still kill deer. I reckon I sound like a know-it-all, but it's just common sense. If you had to kill a buck to eat (or you'd starve to death), how would you do it???....men, you've got 3 1/2 months to kill 3 bucks. Don't piss it all away hoping (against hope) that they'll finally walk the last day of season. And don't take my October away because you want an Outdoor Channel rut-hunt in February. I killed three good racked bucks this year...you want to know when I killed them? Nov 29, Dec 11, Jan 7. I also shot a buck and lost him on Dec 7. And I probably saw at least 10 racked bucks this year. Not a single one of them was chasing a doe. The common denominator?....Hardwoods in bow season, cutover in gun season.

GW told us last week the push is to get it to Hwy 80 and I-85 and include everything south of these 2 roads.

I'll upload pics of those three when I get home this evening, for whatever reason my work laptop won't do it. And I know my long rant above sounds awful, but I just get frustrated about the whole "we're missing the rut" issue. I get no more excited when I see a buck chasing a doe than I do when it's a crisp and calm December morning and hear limbs breaking in a cutover, then you see the horns, and ultimately get a shot!!! Woooo! I just don't understand the need to "hunt during the rut", unless the reason is that this hunter isn't seeing bucks otherwise. Am I off base on this? If I shoot a mature buck, it's exciting regardless of HOW it happened. So the logical deduction is some folks aren't SEEING bucks unless they are "rutting". My perception of the issue is that it's about not SEEING bucks at your land unless they're rutting. So I don't feel unjustified by casting a curious eye at a hunter who can't see a buck in the 3 1/2 months we already have. I've said this: If you just want to move the entire hunting season, then no problem. Let's make it Jan 1 till March 14th. But it's absurd to ask for "10 more days" so we can experience the rut. What is this romanticized idea about the rut that I don't get?

roscopee said it above, if you can't kill a buck in 3 1/2 months, maybe needing to hunt during the rut isn't the real problem. I am 40 years old, have hunted my whole life, and have hunted in Lowndes, Lee, Chambers, Macon, Tallapoosa, Talladega, Calhoun, and Cleburne counties. I have seen deer chasing in October, Nov, Dec, and Jan. I have hunted multiple seasons in a row without seeing even a spike walking behind a doe. And I have killed at least one good buck virtually ever year. I couldn't care less if I see a buck chasing a doe or not, and I don't need that to happen for me to see a mature buck. My point is I (nor you) need the rut to happen in order to kill a mature buck. Every time a hunter tells me "I never see mature bucks until the last week of January" (or February, or Spring Turkey Season), I immediately want him to show me where he's been sitting. If that's your case, the problem is NOT needing the rut to occur, but rather you need to move where you can see a big buck. Get out of the shooting house, get off the fields, don't ride you ATV within earshot of your tree, be in the tree WAY before daylight, sit till WAY after dark, quit hunting in that "pretty spot" where you want deer to be, and on and on and on. Big bucks are in the cutovers from Thanksgiving through January, period. If you don't have cutovers, find a new club that does, because you got jacksquat chance of seeing a big buck in any other place. But quit screwing up a 3 1/2 month long hunting season because you've bought into the "Outdoor Channel" hunting worldview. If you have racked deer on your cameras at night, they are there in the light!!! And they don't lay flat all day long, they're not in a cave, they will actually stand up and move during daylight SOMEWHERE on your land. If your land is thick, all short pines, etc., find another land!!!! Quit being a "hunting club" member. Put the climber on your back, walk as far as you need to, don't be stupid with the wind, and hunt where the bucks are, not just on the big pretty greenfield that he is NEVER gonna walk out on. In the last 20 seasons I have killed more mounter bucks from Oct 15 - Oct 31 than all the rest of the season combined. And I have NEVER hunted anywhere that a genuine rut didn't occur between Christmas and Jan 10. Deer are poly-estrous, meaning they'll cycle every 28 days till bred. The rut will get stronger each cycle because fewer does are remaining. First rut will be weak, 2nd rut stronger, etc. What you're seeing from Jan 25 thru Feb 10 is the stronger 2nd cycle. The first true Alabama rut happened between Christmas and Jan 10. You may not have seen it, but those scrapes didn't show up mid-December for nothing. But I guess you were expecting every racked deer on your land to be wide-eyed and fighting, standing in the powerline with a doe, and otherwise acting like the Outdoor Channel shows?? It's Alabama, it's just the genetic dispostion of our deer, and the overall poor deer structure. You can't depend on a defined, dependable rut. If Bama's season ran from June 1 through Sept 15 (3.5 months) I'd still kill deer. I reckon I sound like a know-it-all, but it's just common sense. If you had to kill a buck to eat (or you'd starve to death), how would you do it???....men, you've got 3 1/2 months to kill 3 bucks. Don't piss it all away hoping (against hope) that they'll finally walk the last day of season. And don't take my October away because you want an Outdoor Channel rut-hunt in February. I killed three good racked bucks this year...you want to know when I killed them? Nov 29, Dec 11, Jan 7. I also shot a buck and lost him on Dec 7. And I probably saw at least 10 racked bucks this year. Not a single one of them was chasing a doe. The common denominator?....Hardwoods in bow season, cutover in gun season.

roscopee said it above, if you can't kill a buck in 3 1/2 months, maybe needing to hunt during the rut isn't the real problem. I am 40 years old, have hunted my whole life, and have hunted in Lowndes, Lee, Chambers, Macon, Tallapoosa, Talladega, Calhoun, and Cleburne counties. I have seen deer chasing in October, Nov, Dec, and Jan. I have hunted multiple seasons in a row without seeing even a spike walking behind a doe. And I have killed at least one good buck virtually ever year. I couldn't care less if I see a buck chasing a doe or not, and I don't need that to happen for me to see a mature buck. My point is I (nor you) need the rut to happen in order to kill a mature buck. Every time a hunter tells me "I never see mature bucks until the last week of January" (or February, or Spring Turkey Season), I immediately want him to show me where he's been sitting. If that's your case, the problem is NOT needing the rut to occur, but rather you need to move where you can see a big buck. Get out of the shooting house, get off the fields, don't ride you ATV within earshot of your tree, be in the tree WAY before daylight, sit till WAY after dark, quit hunting in that "pretty spot" where you want deer to be, and on and on and on. Big bucks are in the cutovers from Thanksgiving through January, period. If you don't have cutovers, find a new club that does, because you got jacksquat chance of seeing a big buck in any other place. But quit screwing up a 3 1/2 month long hunting season because you've bought into the "Outdoor Channel" hunting worldview. If you have racked deer on your cameras at night, they are there in the light!!! And they don't lay flat all day long, they're not in a cave, they will actually stand up and move during daylight SOMEWHERE on your land. If your land is thick, all short pines, etc., find another land!!!! Quit being a "hunting club" member. Put the climber on your back, walk as far as you need to, don't be stupid with the wind, and hunt where the bucks are, not just on the big pretty greenfield that he is NEVER gonna walk out on. In the last 20 seasons I have killed more mounter bucks from Oct 15 - Oct 31 than all the rest of the season combined. And I have NEVER hunted anywhere that a genuine rut didn't occur between Christmas and Jan 10. Deer are poly-estrous, meaning they'll cycle every 28 days till bred. The rut will get stronger each cycle because fewer does are remaining. First rut will be weak, 2nd rut stronger, etc. What you're seeing from Jan 25 thru Feb 10 is the stronger 2nd cycle. The first true Alabama rut happened between Christmas and Jan 10. You may not have seen it, but those scrapes didn't show up mid-December for nothing. But I guess you were expecting every racked deer on your land to be wide-eyed and fighting, standing in the powerline with a doe, and otherwise acting like the Outdoor Channel shows?? It's Alabama, it's just the genetic dispostion of our deer, and the overall poor deer structure. You can't depend on a defined, dependable rut. If Bama's season ran from June 1 through Sept 15 (3.5 months) I'd still kill deer. I reckon I sound like a know-it-all, but it's just common sense. If you had to kill a buck to eat (or you'd starve to death), how would you do it???....men, you've got 3 1/2 months to kill 3 bucks. Don't piss it all away hoping (against hope) that they'll finally walk the last day of season. And don't take my October away because you want an Outdoor Channel rut-hunt in February. I killed three good racked bucks this year...you want to know when I killed them? Nov 29, Dec 11, Jan 7. I also shot a buck and lost him on Dec 7. And I probably saw at least 10 racked bucks this year. Not a single one of them was chasing a doe. The common denominator?....Hardwoods in bow season, cutover in gun season.

I'm just worn from this never-ending saga of extended deer seasons.

Pavement is the sole factor that determines where the various ruts are.

You are gonna have to learn to deal with it, our brothers in southwest alabama got a lollipop and now the rest of us wants one too.

Bazinga.

Clem, I hope that means you just farted.

No, I've never hunted extreme South Alabama, except for a few times as a guest here and there. But I still say we're talking different narratives. If you think I couldn't come to Clark Co (just picking a random place) and kill at least one mountable racked buck in 3 1/2 months (from Oct 15 - Jan 31), then the problem is NOT when the rut occurs. The problem is your land sucks. Ain't no way in Hades I'd pay a dollar to lease any land where I couldn't have a successful season during the traditional state dates. And NO, I don't need a chasing phase to do that in. I'm saying the narrative is about SEEING deer without the rut. It sounds like your narrative is not being able to experience the rut while hunting. If you just want to experience rutting activity, just go sit in your stand in February, or go to Cades Cove with your video camera, or buy an Illinois trip in November, but leave my hunting season alone. And I'll let the pictures above speak for me when I say I may not know the difference between an a$$ and a chipmunk hole, but I know how to see and kill good bucks before February. And two of those three deer above were killed on public land. I also missed a large buck on Barbour WMA on Jan 17th, chasing a doe. I saw 6 bucks chasing does on Jan 17th and 18th on that Barbour hunt.

No, I've never hunted extreme South Alabama, except for a few times as a guest here and there. But I still say we're talking different narratives. If you think I couldn't come to Clark Co (just picking a random place) and kill at least one mountable racked buck in 3 1/2 months (from Oct 15 - Jan 31), then the problem is NOT when the rut occurs. The problem is your land sucks. Ain't no way in Hades I'd pay a dollar to lease any land where I couldn't have a successful season during the traditional state dates. And NO, I don't need a chasing phase to do that in. I'm saying the narrative is about SEEING deer without the rut. It sounds like your narrative is not being able to experience the rut while hunting. If you just want to experience rutting activity, just go sit in your stand in February, or go to Cades Cove with your video camera, or buy an Illinois trip in November, but leave my hunting season alone. And I'll let the pictures above speak for me when I say I may not know the difference between an a$$ and a chipmunk hole, but I know how to see and kill good bucks before February. And two of those three deer above were killed on public land. I also missed a large buck on Barbour WMA on Jan 17th, chasing a doe. I saw 6 bucks chasing does on Jan 17th and 18th on that Barbour hunt.