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.

Like I said earlier, the rut is controlled by the pavement.

I would like to see Smoothbore Muzzleloaders included as a lawful means of take during any open alabama archery season - including all wildlife management areas and state parks.

You do know why the State uses roads and natural features, right?

N2--I would have a guess, but the roads weren't built with the future rut taken into consideration.

No, I'm not gonna be MIA for a while, and no there's not any funny business with my harvest limit and kill dates. I just don't want to be the butthole of aldeer, acting like a juvenile arguing with strangers on a message board. Duckdown didn't ask for an argument when he made the post, and it was my fault that it turned that way. Just bowing out of this thread (and deleting my $.02) as a peacemaking gesture.

Most here probably won't hold it against you for attempting to kill that 4th buck. After all, you probably just couldn't help yourself when that really good buck came by after you had limited out. I got a buddy that can't help himself either. He flings arrows at deer running wide open 50 yards away. Every now and then he gets one.

Edit... oops, forgot to add my smiley, just to show I'm funnin with ya. Now where is it? Here it is...

I find it Ironic that his 4th deer was chasing a doe, and his whole argument is based on not needing/wanting to hunt the rut. Yet he was out hunting the rut.

He may not have been out hunting the rut, he may have been just hunting. He did say it was a "seriously large" buck, hence my comment about not being able to help himself... Kinda like a fella I used to fish with. He would fill the box with snapper, then start culling dead ones as bigger ones came into the boat.

It was just happenstance. Military base I primarily hunt on held their final gun hunt on Jan 11. Two friends and I decided to go to Barbour WMA for really no other reason that it was the most reputable WMA that was having a hunt. Didn't matter if the deer there were rutting or not, they just happened to be. The deer I killed and the deer I missed were both chasing does, very aggressively I might add. But actually, doesn't that really help my argument?...that's a LONG way south in Alabama, and those deer were absolutely nilly-willy chasing does like there was no tomorrow in the middle of January. TEven moreso, I talked to several folks who said they had been camped out bowhunting for several days prior to that gun hunt, and they had seen hard chasing all week.

It was just happenstance. Military base I primarily hunt on held their final gun hunt on Jan 11. Two friends and I decided to go to Barbour WMA for really no other reason that it was the most reputable WMA that was having a hunt. Didn't matter if the deer there were rutting or not, they just happened to be. The deer I killed and the deer I missed were both chasing does, very aggressively I might add. But actually, doesn't that really help my argument?...that's a LONG way south in Alabama, and those deer were absolutely nilly-willy chasing does like there was no tomorrow in the middle of January. TEven moreso, I talked to several folks who said they had been camped out bowhunting for several days prior to that gun hunt, and they had seen hard chasing all week.

Have you looked at the AON rut map of Alabama? I can't find the topic but I recall that Barbour has an early rut. Just a few miles of there at Eufaula the rut occurs late Nov -early December. So no, your hunting at Barbour does not support your argument.