Why does the South's rut occur later than in the Midwest and Northeast, where breeding periods tend to spike in early to mid-November?
Truth is, the rut doesn't happen in a neat little package like we would like it to. The rut happens wherever there's a hot doe. And that can vary from county to county, or from one block of timber to another.
That said, most breeding takes place at the same time every year in any given area.
Winter severity, availability of food and other selective pressures have determined the optimal time for fawn births, and that has been hardwired into whitetail DNA for millennia.
That's why peak rut dates in a given area remain roughly the same from year to year regardless of moon phase or weather. It's most likely photoperiodism, or the amount of daylight, that triggers does to enter estrus.
That means things are fairly predictable.
Except where they're not.
Take south-central Alabama as an example. The rut where I live along the state's Black Belt region won't kick off until around Christmas and continues into February.
Still, there are several areas in the state that have at least some traditional Northeastern breeding timing.
Alabama Dept. of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Deer Program Coordinator Chris Cook said does in Bankhead National Forest, located south of Huntsville, typically go into estrus between Nov. 20 and Dec. 10.
Chris is currently tracking early-December pockets of rut activity just south of Tuscaloosa in Bibb and Hale counties, as well as counties close to the Alabama-Georgia line. He also contributed to a 2013 study in Russell County, collecting data on conception dates. He found one site where every deer studied bred before the rifle season opened in early November.
Chris says it's a muddy mess trying to wrap his head around the Alabama rut. Most of the state's early breeding periods can be attributed to restocking efforts where deer were brought in from northern states. Areas with prolonged breeding windows are most likely a result of having more wiggle room for fawn survival.
"If you look at dots on a map where we collected conception data, the range of dates and how close some earlier sites are to later sites makes you want to scratch your head," he said. "You can overlay that map with conception dates and restocking locations and it pretty well matches up.
The varied rut timing poses challenges for establishing hunting seasons, too.
"Some parts of the state are pounding bucks two months before the rut starts, so It's hard to make the seasons fit all the unique dates and breeding schedules. It's more consistent in the western part of our state because of its restocking history. These populations originated from deer that existed during the lowest of populations in the early 1900s. Given some protection to grow, the population exploded."
Southeastern deer have more leeway in terms of dropping fawns, but that begs the question of why Georgia experiences a classic November rut despite very similar weather and winters.
While every hunter has a theory, Gino D'Angelo, assistant professor, Deer Ecology and Management at the University of Georgia, said Georgia's rut can be just as spotty as Alabama's, and restocking may have had similar effects.
"Georgia's peak breeding dates vary across the state from mid-October on the coast to late December on the southwestern border with Alabama," Gino said. "We know largely that breeding is keyed by photoperiod, or day length, and the resulting hormonal cascades, but other factors affecting breeding seem to be at play in the Southeast, like climate and genetic factors."
He continued, "We have a history of over 60 years of restocking deer in Georgia with whitetails coming from states throughout the country. There isn't solid scientific evidence on the effect of genetic stock on breeding dates in the state, however timing can be passed from generation to generation."
It's fun to ponder these questions, but if the biologists aren't sure why the Southern rut is different, we hunters won't solve the puzzle any time soon.
On the bright side, the late rut in the South means the best deer hunting here takes place when hunters elsewhere have cleaned and put away their guns for the year.
That's like a Christmas present you can open every day into February, and I intend to have a very full stocking this year.
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