Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Another question for Jackson County hunters.

So with the week of Christmas being what looked like to me, the following/pushing does phase, and then the week of New Years being the all out chase mode...When do you guys expect to see the 2nd or late rut? Do you think its about 2 weeks after the pushing phase or 2 weeks after the chasing phase?

I think I'll be crappie fishing when the second rut hits. I am still seeing bucks chasing does. I seen a small 8 cruising and a big 6 doggin a doe last Saturday.

Depends on what part of the county you hunt.Up near the state line it's over as far as rut. Skyline and around should be on fire.

Haven't seen ANY chasing at Skyline yet...Jan. 14-17 will be it at our place

Thanks for the replies fellers. I hunt in the Stevenson area. Saw a small buck chasing yesterday. I havent hunted in Jackson County long, so just wondering what to expect.

had 3 bucks (yearling, 2 year old and 3 year old) dogging a doe Sat. morning. This was with in 1000 yds of the state line, so they aren't done. Might be close but not done, at least as of January 5th.

For what it's worth over the years we've killed 90% of our bucks chasing does or coming to calling. Over the past 12 years this has occurred from 12-26 thru 1-7 with a few after the 7th. Even killed one on Jan. 31st several years ago...two bucks chasing a doe hard right at dark. Killed one 2 years ago chasing does on the 13th.

My opinion is the primary chasing phase is from late Dec. thru early Jan. and then there is a late rut that is spotty. With that being said, we had a guy sit on a large hay field and watched 24 does on the 28th (historically our best day) for over 30 minutes. Not one buck. So either they all got bred prior to then or they weren't ready yet. I'm guessing they weren't ready yet, but who knows.

I will say the rut seems a little off this year at our place. Not sure if the plethora of acorns has the does moving less or if the rut happened 2 weeks early or if it's coming in late this year. With a few exceptions we just haven't seen much chasing this year, but saw a ton of scrapes and rubs, more than ever before...

I think up in Stevenson you can actually catch that secondary rut towards the end of January. I hunted Stevenson for 18 years and we always had a good hard rut from right around Christmas to the first week in January. We also killed several good bucks chasing does in late January. Also catch some good bucks feeding hard on food plots trying to regain lost weight and strength from the peak rut.

I'm speaking more for the Bridgeport area when I say north of Stevenson not Bass bottoms. When hunted Skyline alot use to kill em on middle Jan hunts chasing does.Last 2 weeks in Dec have always been the best up this way never have killed a good one after Jan 6 up this way.

crazy how just 10-15 miles can make such a big difference.

demp, your right. two ruts...

You go another 20 miles up into Marion co Tn and they kill them Thanksgiving chasing like crazy.

We use to have the LA Hunting club on Coa Mine Mountain and around Christmas was prime. Anything we killed after Christmas was either late January or on a food plot. Heck on the far north part of the property next to Chiefs Hunting club the rut kicked up a good week before it did on the rest of the property. Only place I hunted where I could hunt the 2nd rut. Needless to say when we got out for Christmas break in college and high school I lived up there and would hunt 30 days solid only coming home for my bday and Christmas

It's crazy no doubt coal mine is my front yard basically. I like it you can drive 10 miles one way hunt the rut. Then go the other direction and do it all over again.

My uncle still owns about 1000 acres up there and he says its still the same few days around Christmas that they see the big ones

im hunting in Trenton and ive seen spikes and little dinks chasing does each of the last three days. small doe groups and a few lone does. im thinking somewhere around the 15th which has historically our best days 15 through the end of the month. i saw a stud in my parking spot this morning it got me so miscombobulated i almost locked my keys in my truck left my magazine to my gun in the truck and left my lights on. once i got to my spot i only saw one doe.

I agree, I hunt across the mountain from you in the old clear creek club and we are only seeing small ones chasing too. Bout hit a big 6 and another buck on my way out last night , they were chasing too.

We've had 4 mature bucks killed since Friday. None of them were with or appeared to be looking for does. Three were just easing along slowly, all alone, and the one killed today was killed after it was bumped from his bed at noon. We are still a ways out, I believe. CD.

Well, the good news is we, in Jackson Co., at least have a noticeable rut with plenty of chasing, grunting, fighting etc. I know guys in other areas of the state that have hunted for 30 years and have never seen a buck chase a doe or heard a buck grunt. With that being said when you know when your rut "should" happen and you hunt 5 days in a row and don't see a good one chasing it does get you thinking and questioning if the rut is late or early or if you were just hunting the wrong place.

I killed my personal best deer last friday evening (a big, old 8pt). He came up the mtn at 3:00 p.m. running a doe. He was right on her tail. About as soon as I shot him I turned around and another doe came running down the mtn with two smaller bucks after her. I don't think they even cared that I had just fired a shot. They were after the doe and didn't even seem to notice.

My buddy also killed a nice ten point saturday evening on the other side of the ridge on our lease. It was chasing a doe as well.

Our land is between Woodville and Skyline. Hope this helps.

Last 7-10 days of season. Don't know what phase that's after.

I went hunting with a feller over on that mountain on Jan 4th and saw a couple of small bucks chasing. He showed me some nice deer in his freezer that he is going to get mounted, said he killed them the week of Thanksgiving and they were chasing does wide open. He said he has never seen that before up there and he has been going out there for a long time.