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.