• Help Support TNDeer:

What is the #1 Calendar Date to Be in the Woods?

Idk. Anytime in November really. One public piece I Killed a 5.5 yr old on November 14 on a doe. Then turned around 2 weeks later thanksgiving and killed a 3.5yr old a few hundred yards away from that spot chasing a doe. Another piece of public I hunt it's guaranteed from rifle opener thru thanksgiving weekend. Private piece on the Wayne/Hardin county line is money for thanksgiving week.
 
BSK said:
The trick is finding when the peak 10-day window of breeding is for your property. On any property where herd dynamics are good (advanced buck age structure and balanced sex ratio) there is going to be a 10-day window when around 50% of all breedings occur. This is usually towards the front end of the breeding process. Buck movement usually peaks just at the front end of the peak 10-day window and then just after the 10-day window is closing. On my place, that 10-day window is Nov. 11-20.
Click to expand...
Nov 11th thru 20th closely matches our record's as well...but do you expect any slight shifts with daytime activity with the amount of acorn mast available?...heard you mention the effect of good acorn years before but dont remember the details.
 
ZachMarkus said:
Southern Lawrence county if I had to pick a day it would be December 5th but I would take the first two weeks of December over the whole month of November.

Northern Giles county a week either side of thanksgiving day seems to be prime.
Click to expand...
I think of all the years I didn't hunt much after November.

Think I watched too much Buckmasters as a kid.
 
DoubleRidge said:
Nov 11th thru 20th closely matches our record's as well...but do you expect any slight shifts with daytime activity with the amount of acorn mast available?...heard you mention the effect of good acorn years before but dont remember the details.
Click to expand...
We see MUCH more pre-breeding chasing, rubbing, and scraping in a good acorn year, but breeding still peaks at the same time. The only two times I've seen solid evidence peak breeding wasn't at the same time was our two severe drought years: 2007 and last year. In both of those years, poor deer health delayed peak breeding to the last days of November and first week of December.
 
It varies so much across the state that I try to be in the woods from the end of October through December as much as possible. My best buck last year was Dec 12 if I remember correctly. There is absolutely nothing like the pre rut/ seek phase that is coming up soon in certain areas. It's hard to pick a single day but mid November is probably good in most places.
 
Based on reports here over the years, I would say the map is accurate. I cant control my public quota dates, so I just hunt.

1697820500068.png
 
deerfever said:
It varies so much across the state that I try to be in the woods from the end of October through December as much as possible. My best buck last year was Dec 12 if I remember correctly. There is absolutely nothing like the pre rut/ seek phase that is coming up soon in certain areas. It's hard to pick a single day but mid November is probably good in most places.
Click to expand...
There's a LOT of success that comes from just grinding it out and hunting as much as possible.

That being said, I take the opposite approach and feel I am more productive by leaving the deer alone until just before 1st rut, moving in with 6 or 7 folks and killing deer for a week, then leaving them alone for 3 weeks and repeating the process for 2nd rut. It never ceases to amaze me how sensitive deer are to hunting pressure. So much so, that every time I go hunt, I ask myself the question, 'am I doing more harm than good?'
 
Antler Daddy said:
Based on reports here over the years, I would say the map is accurate. I cant control my public quota dates, so I just hunt.

View attachment 199615
Click to expand...
That map right there is pretty well spot on. I would extend the pink shade west to mid Ms. and east to just east of Apalachicola. If you are not hunting native deer, your rut is determined by where your deer were transplanted from ;) Seeking, chasing, active breeding, lockdown, broke down into phases by the armchair googans, always make me laugh. Breeding occurs with the first receptive does and ends when the last one has been bred. In the South, this can go on for 3 to even almost 4 months. Most bucks will seek, chase, and breed does when they stand. They will then move on to another doe or doe group, and repeat this until the last one is bred. Constantly seeking and checking doe groups. Everywhere has a "peak", when most does come into heat, but there will always be early and late does, that will continue to cycle everyone of those few months, until they are bred. Here in these Southern Appalachians, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 3rd week of January are all prime time.
 
megalomaniac said:
There's a LOT of success that comes from just grinding it out and hunting as much as possible.

That being said, I take the opposite approach and feel I am more productive by leaving the deer alone until just before 1st rut, moving in with 6 or 7 folks and killing deer for a week, then leaving them alone for 3 weeks and repeating the process for 2nd rut. It never ceases to amaze me how sensitive deer are to hunting pressure. So much so, that every time I go hunt, I ask myself the question, 'am I doing more harm than good?'
Click to expand...
Not hunting the same spots at all, I move areas of the state according to rut. So in a sense I am.doing the same. I like to hunt mature bucks and yes Sir they are wise to anything and everything!
 
Last edited:
megalomaniac said:
There's a LOT of success that comes from just grinding it out and hunting as much as possible.

That being said, I take the opposite approach and feel I am more productive by leaving the deer alone until just before 1st rut, moving in with 6 or 7 folks and killing deer for a week, then leaving them alone for 3 weeks and repeating the process for 2nd rut. It never ceases to amaze me how sensitive deer are to hunting pressure. So much so, that every time I go hunt, I ask myself the question, 'am I doing more harm than good?'
Click to expand...
Even if I didn't know when opening day of deer season was, let me see the trail-camera data and I can easily when it was! The shift of buck movement from daylight to dark is so fast and so dramatic after opening day that the effect is easy to see. Deer are shockingly sensitive to hunting pressure. It only takes them 48 hours to adjust.
 
Soft Talker said:
That map right there is pretty well spot on. I would extend the pink shade west to mid Ms. and east to just east of Apalachicola. If you are not hunting native deer, your rut is determined by where your deer were transplanted from ;) Seeking, chasing, active breeding, lockdown, broke down into phases by the armchair googans, always make me laugh. Breeding occurs with the first receptive does and ends when the last one has been bred. In the South, this can go on for 3 to even almost 4 months. Most bucks will seek, chase, and breed does when they stand. They will then move on to another doe or doe group, and repeat this until the last one is bred. Constantly seeking and checking doe groups. Everywhere has a "peak", when most does come into heat, but there will always be early and late does, that will continue to cycle everyone of those few months, until they are bred. Here in these Southern Appalachians, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 3rd week of January are all prime time.
Click to expand...
However, it shouldn't go on for months, at least not significant breeding. In a well-balanced herd, 95% of breeding will occur in a 5-6 week window, with 50+% occurring in a 10-day window. Now that doesn't mean there isn't the occasional female fawn coming in late that gets bred in January or February, but in a well-balanced herd the visible rut is quite short.

Another consideration is barren does - does that cannot conceive for one biological reason or another. These does will continue to cycle in and out of estrus into April and cause a flurry of buck activity each time. However, no fawns are being conceived with these late estrus cycles.
 
BSK said:
Agree completely. My hunting style is designed around cruising/seeking bucks. For my place, that's from Nov. 1-9. After that, it will be full-bore chasing.
Click to expand...
100% this! This has always been my plan as well. This year I am splitting time between bow hunting southern Ohio during TN's opening wknd of mz and then heading to my lease around Tullahoma for the middle of the first wk of mz. Trying to catch 2 prime chasing periods in 2 different places. We'll see how it goes. First time in forever that I have missed being in the TN woods on opening day of TN mz season.
 
BSK said:
However, it shouldn't go on for months, at least not significant breeding. In a well-balanced herd, 95% of breeding will occur in a 5-6 week window, with 50+% occurring in a 10-day window. Now that doesn't mean there isn't the occasional female fawn coming in late that gets bred in January or February, but in a well-balanced herd the visible rut is quite short.

Another consideration is barren does - does that cannot conceive for one biological reason or another. These does will continue to cycle in and out of estrus into April and cause a flurry of buck activity each time. However, no fawns are being conceived with these late estrus cycles.
Click to expand...
But it does, and will continue like that every year in the South. Well balanced herds only exist behind high fences dude. ;)
 
BSK said:
I see well-balanced herds EVERYWHERE I work in Tennessee, but those are properties where hunters work to produce just that.
Click to expand...
Fantasy land dude. Stay glued to those trail cams and steady smokin that omega 8. Once he breeds your does, he is jumping the fence to go and breed the neighbors. In the real world, that often takes considerably longer than 5 to 6 weeks;)
 
Soft Talker said:
Fantasy land dude. Stay glued to those trail cams and steady smokin that omega 8. Once he breeds your does, he is jumping the fence to go and breed the neighbors. In the real world, that often takes considerably longer than 5 to 6 weeks;)
Click to expand...
People like you are the reason BSK left the site before. Know it all morons that want nothing more than to argue. Trust me, no one on this site gives a fat rat's ass what you think, and nobody values your opinion over his. You don't impress anybody here. Why don't you go back to humping cows and leave the deer management to the experts?
 
Spurhunter said:
People like you are the reason BSK left the site before. Know it all morons that want nothing more than to argue. Trust me, no one on this site gives a fat rat's ass what you think, and nobody values your opinion over his. You don't impress anybody here. Why don't you go back to humping cows and leave the deer management to the experts?
Click to expand...
Experts, I think I read somewhere where he mentioned he was from California for Christ's sake. 😀 This old Turkey Hunter has killed a few deer in his time, and continues to enjoy a pinch point set up on "cruising" Bucks. As for opinions, a lot can be learned from those of us who know for a fact, that the whitetail breeding cycle, anywhere in the great state of Tn, lasts a lot longer than 12 days, 17 mins, and 11 seconds. This is because 97% of us hunt in the real world, and realize that your "balanced, free range herd", is free to jump the fence anytime they want. 😉 Hey spurhunter, don't tell me you are a deer hunter too. Rut should be just about over where you are, shouldn't you be fishing:p
 

Latest posts

Back
Top