Hey jlccoffee, I looked up some info on the Internet and everything I could find about the Key deer said fall rutting occurs b/w Sept - Nov, which is earlier than I'd thought anyway. i didn't look at the coast of Ga. I looked at Saskatchewan and its rut is the first or middle of Nov. according to a few websites.
I do agree that the ruts vary and maybe not that different by region of the country per se but I kinda feel confident that in December and January, Midwestern bucks are not rutting and there have been several incidents where a buck was killed in late season in the M'west and the buck's antlers pulled off when the hunter grabbed them to load the dead buck in the truck.
I do know that in Alabama, we have a varied rut depending on location; I suppose depending from what location in the country the deer herd was stocked from. I do know that we have, in places (Alabama), rutting bucks in Feb and into the first of March but that may be more driven on out of whack sex ratios.
It's an interesting topic!
