Also, yes there are some states like Ill with a two buck limit on the BC list. But they have a short shotgun season after the rut.

Actually, the 1st Illinois shotgun hunt (3-day) normally starts around November 18, which is usually around the peak of the rut or just slightly after (at least where I hunt in S. Illinois). But their short gun season does help.

Dont quote me on this, but I thought I had seen fecal studys from Ill that backdated the peak to the 12th of Nov. Which would mean their gun season started 6 days after the peak.

How can that be determined from feces?

WEST VIRGINIA

For more than 20 years, a block of four counties along West Virginia's southwestern border--Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming--have been limited to archery-only for whitetail hunting. These counties now yield excellent trophy whitetail hunting. For example, during the 2002 season, of the 65 trophy bucks (scores of at least 126 typical or 155 non-typical B&C) taken in the state's 55 counties, 37 came from the four archery-only counties.

Several large public-hunting areas lie within the four counties, including the 17,000-acre RD Bailey WMA, the 7,810-acre Panther State Forest, the 18,000-acre Tug Fork WMA and the 13,000-acre Laurel Lake WMA. ATVs aren't allowed in these WMAs. These counties also have large timber and mining company land holdings that are open to public hunting.