Here's what makes understanding a late rut hard on some people. Deer hunting in AL, particularly South AL has been screwed up since the population boom when everyone went from ag to pine trees.
While some Alabamians venture out to hunt other areas and other states, the majority of AL deer hunters are homers that hunt the same property year after year and hunt deer in general rather than "mature" bucks. If you dont want to kill the biggest, oldest bucks on your property then there is no reason to be wanting to hunt the rut or even discuss it, period! Deer can be killed with or without a rut. The only reason to want to hunt the rut is to have a better opportunity to kill mature "notice I did not say largest racked" bucks which become less reclusive during the seeking and chasing phases of the rut.
Not trying to step on toes but I would think it a fair statement to say that probably a full 70-80% of the deer hunters in south AL have never even seen a full blown rut. Sure they occasionally see a spike or small buck chasing and maybe even occasionally a good one and say yep, "the rut is on". But, sadly, it's not what you see in north AL or other states. First of all, south AL has a long history of mismanagement which started with killing too many bucks and also just about any deer with horns so the buck age structure has historically been pretty messed up. Age structure plays an important part in the rut. Then the rut got pushed even further back when the doe population exploded with limited or no doe days in the late 70's and early 80's and the bucks simply could not get them all bred in time. About this time, the out of staters, with no real vested interest in the herd, realized they could come to AL and just flat out shoot the crap out of deer 110 days a yr which they did in numbers. Prior to the population explosion and reg changes you didnt have all the guys from LA, MS, and south FL that you do now. Once again, more pressure, very little selectivity or trigger restraint. Not good for the AL deer herd.
The DMAP was introduced and specific (mostly larger acreage) properties started making some decent headway with population, age structure and overall herd managment. About the time that was starting to take hold and show results, the state went to a statewide season long doe killing spree. Most everyone went crazy and killed the crap out of the does, ground checking anything they saw, and sent a large majority of the deer population nocturnal. Pressure also affects the rut. Management of the Southern portion of the state from both the state level and individual hunter level has in gneneral been piss poor at best and we are now reaping what was sowed under the save all does and kill all bucks mentality which then shifted to the kill every deer that you see mentality. The point is, most south AL hunters like to complain about the rut but 70% dont even know what they are looking for because they have never seen it. IMO, the northern part of the state had it a little better as far as the rut goes due to their population staying relatively stable and the fact that they did not see the population boom that was seen from the central part of the state south. It's hard for north AL hunters to understand the southern perspective because they have not personally experienced it and hunted the south portion of the state and its hard for the southern guys because the majority of them have never even seen a full blown rut. If the majority of them had, you'd really be hearing some whining and complaining. Alabama is a unique state. By the way, I am a south AL guy.
