A word from O’Neill Williams: I am often asked by way of e-mails from all over the country, “When is the Whitetail rut in my part of the country or state”? The simple answer is, “Same time as last year”. How’s that?
The beginning of the breeding season, estrous cycle in does and breeding testosterone response in bucks is triggered by the declining number of hours of daylight in the fall. True enough that the moon cycle, level of human encroachment, overall health of the herd, the buck to doe ratio and finally the temperature all effect the amount of activity for both sexes, but the breeding capability and desire is the amount of daylight. It’s called the photoperiod or photoperiodism. For your specie of Whitetail Deer where you hunt, it’s exactly the same year after year.
However, you ask, “Take Georgia deer, they rut mostly in November but the Alabama deer, with the same number of declining hours of daylight rut in January, what gives”? Answer is: The Georgia deer and the Alabama deer are different species with different heritage. Alabama deer were repopulated from Southwestern Alabama where they traditionally rutted late and dropped fawns after the river flooding stages in the spring. Georgia was repopulated by a deer that rutted in November.
So the answer, “Same time as last year” is correct and always will be.
Have a great season.
