Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Marion/Lamar rut....?

Anyone seeing any more rut activity in or around Lamar/ Marion county, I haven't been seeing any chasing or anything lately I haven't even been seeing hardly any deer.

They are chasing in Lamar. Saw a buck all over a doe while driving on Columbus side of Vernon. Also chasing in fayette. Not sure bout Marion.

We have been seeing a few Bucks running does. Lots of scrapes being refreshed in the snow. However as you said, deer sightings in general have been very few. Cams are showing lots of night activity but not much in the daylight. We are expecting this week for things to get interesting.

BTW . . . North Marion.

I'm hoping this week will pick up also, full moon coming in (be in the stand all day). I live in muscle shoals I saw you were from Florence.

Yeah. Killen Actually but work in Florence. What part of Marion you hunt?

My hunting partner is over near Vernon now. He reports seeing only three does Saturday between 9 - 2. Except for the wood ducks, apparently it's dead quiet. I'm headed over there firt thing in the AM. I hope to report any activity I see when I get back Mon.

I hunt south Marion on the Lamar line, and hunt mostly in Detroit. It has been very dead lately, haven't been seeing anything.

Just got back from Vernon. Very, very quiet. Saw no bucks and only a handful of does. Appears to be typical of what others are seeing lately.

I hunt below Milport, hunted Wed though Sun and saw one doe until Sunday evening, killed a 9pt with 2 does. My buddy saw several small basket racks chasing a doe all Sunday afternoon, so maybe it will pick up soon. I thought with all the cold temps last week I would have seen alot of deer, but that was not the case for me. The 9 pt was a good 130 class buck, so that made it a great week for me. I ended up hunting 9 times last week and saw only 5 deer total

I also hunt in South Marion, near the Marion/Lamar lines and I haven't seen any deer since the snow. I am not by myself from what I have been hearing.

Yep.. Very slow and aggravating.. Last year seemed to be very different, or maybe I just lucked up with 2 130s in 4 days. The 13th and 17th of Jan and both were chasing. It seems like all the deer are coming up at night on camera.

Fayette/Lamar county line. Heavy chasing occured three weeks ago. The week before and after Christmas are almost always the golden time. The few deer cruising after that are trying to pick up the last few does. Usually hits again in late January with the ones that didn't get bred. It seems to be wrapping up.

It's as frustrating as it can be. But these lows make the highs even more enjoyable.
I also find it interesting that within the same county, roughly 630 square miles, that deer herds are showing different behaviors. Some chasing, others shut down entirely it seems, others doing who knows what. Are we chasing, rutting, post rut? Maybe it depends on if they drink from Hells Creek or Yellow Creek. Two more weeks to figure it out....

Hey Matt it is very wierd the pattern or behavior that is going on with our deer , some of the bucks have black hocks and some are cotton white , had 4 bucks bedded in 1 tree top last weekend and other bucks chasing does , it is just strange to me .

Also Matt have ya'll seen alot of bucks , we have got an abundance of small bucks everywhere but don't see many does anymore so I am wondering if we should quit killing does I
mean we don't shoot many anyway but unless we start seeing
5 year old 10 points weighing 130lbs I think we should stop
taking does , if you don't have does you want have bucks , what's your theory.

Blessed, I've been seeing more bucks than does right now, but I think that's a product of two things....bucks are moving to pick up the few does left, and doe family units get busted up during the chasing phase. I have not been seeing a lot of deer. I contribute that more to pressure than them just not being there. I'm hunting areas that have been hunted all season, and if my theory is right(I'll know this weekend), then I can move locations and probably see deer again.

If you don't mind me asking, approximately how many does are you guys killing per acre. I know where you hunt, and I would not think that you have a very high deer density there. We're trying to kill 1/75-100 acres.

We haven't had as many 4 year olds on camera or harvested this year. Something happened in 2006-2007. Three and four year old does are completely absent from our harvest this year. We've killed almost all 1 year olds. So that tells me something happened to the fawns in 2006. We usually have several 4 year old deer to hunt, and this year they just simply aren't there.

It would be much easier for me to give you advice if I had some data to see trends. You're not going to suffer huge from killing a few too many does. They'll recover. And to kinda answer your question. Bucks tend to utilize the best quality habitat they can find. Better quality generally mens lower deer density. They eat 11 months out of the year, and chase does for 1. If you make your property more appealing to their stomachs I can almost promise you will have more mature bucks than if you try to attract them with does.

One other thing. You're not going to like it I don't think. Y'all may want to consider trying a slightly different approach to your buck harvest. I think y'all shoot 130+ right? That is leaving a LARGE portion of your mature buck segment unhuntable and dying of old age. That along with overharvest of does can strongly skew the sex ratio toward males, which might explain why you are seeing a lot of bucks. Are some of the bucks mature, just not meeting club criteria of 130?

Blessed, let me clarify, I am certainly not saying y'all are doing anything wrong, or trying to convince you to change. I'm just stating that there is always the option of evaluating whether you are getting the results you want and making changes.

And there are VERY FEW cases where opening up more buck harvest is a reasonable recommendation. Where you are hunting I wouldn't think it to be a wise decision. But there are an aweful lot of bucks that will never reach 130", even under the best conditions. The key is finding a way to tap into and harvest that segment of your bucks without compromising your efforts of producing trophy bucks as well.

I hunt exclusively in Marion County. Before the snow I saw some doe movement in various terrain, but since the snow I've not seen a single deer. Here just west of Hamilton I've seen no bucks chasing at all so far. As a whole I never see a lot of deer, but most years there's some sign of the rut; not this year.

I saw a little ol spike running the crap out of a little doe sat.

She acted like she didnt know what was going on, blowing the whole time. I was hunting near hodges. It was funny.

In marion county.

I shot a doe today, after I got down from the shooting house, I got in the truck to drive down and pic her up. While I was driving, I saw a spike standing there next to her and I don't have a clue on where he came from. Maybe the chase is going to pick back up.