Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Macon cty rut

Anyone seeing any sign lately? My place some scraping but thats it

Around hardaway it’s usually the very end of Jan into February. Should see scrapes and rubs and should see some young bucks harassing shortly.

We hunt right inside the bullock co line near fort Davis. Saw some young bucks pushing does pretty good last weekend. Should be on this weekend. I’ve killed bucks the last 2 years on Jan 15

South of hwy 80 usually gets heated up around the 19th and peaks the 26th through the 29th.....you may catch some outliers in estrous before then though

Yeap. Most of the bucks we kill at our place are killed between January 15-february 10

I think you had a thread a couple of seasons ago explaining that. I took that thread to heart and I took off January 18-February 1st. Im a little upset I have to work this weekend in order to do that. But oh well.

If calling is gonna work for you the next 10-14 days is a prime time to give it a try

Ours usually gets cranked up starting around mid January so it could be any time now.

Pm sent Kelly

Never got the pm....I know we are neighbors!

Buddy of mine killed a dang good 10pt Monday in Macon. Was following a doe.

Doc hope i can lay eyes on a good un

Killed a 4 yr old six on Wednesday trailing a doe at 0800. Had another shooter on camera Monday at 0930 trailing a doe. Scrapes were opened up early Monday morning all over my place and few are smelling pretty stinky. The buck’s hocks were not fully black but getting close. Afternoon movement has been mostly young bucks. If you define “full rut” as the biological lock down with breeding l, I’d say pre-rut is now “on” for my place on the SW side of the county.

This is what I call “shadowing”…….The bucks move into places where they know there are concentrations of does and begin to shadow or trail the groups around waiting for the first ones to come into heat. I usually see this change occur around Jan 7……There probably are a handful of outliers does popping off already

I have seen 1 stray doe so far this morning, but just got a of a small 4 pt hot on a doe. I think we are getting close, but this wind needs to go somewhere else.

Since 1pm till now I have seen 2 does and 8bucks of varying size and ages

What I consider to be “lockdown” occurs around Jan 30 – Feb 1……its just after the peak amount of does are in estrous. When that peak occurs nearly every buck in the woods is able to hook up with a hot doe and they all seem to disappear with them into the thickets for a few days....

So you are saying the best days to be in the woods in Macon county is January 20-29th correct?

Yes, if I had to pick one time period to hunt that’s when it would be…….Also, Feb 2-7 is not going to be as hot but it’s a prime time to catch a big one slipping as the number of hot does tails off. Your bell curve for estrous does is gonna look something like this

I saw bucks chasing select does today. I wouldn’t say it’s “wide open”, but the getting is starting to get good. At one point I had 8 does on the field, all were ignored by the bucks that came in, as they all were following one doe that came trotting through ten minutes earlier. Also watched 3 different bucks work the same scrape. It was the most action I have seen in one afternoon in the past 2 years. I’m in north Macon Co.