You may have mentioned it but how was the acorn crop?
Also, our farm in NW Dickson County had a off year this year. Total mast failure and the start of Nov was dead. Thanksgiving hit and activity exploded; chasing, rubs and daylight buck movement. Between me, my friend and grandmother we have seen the same buck pestering doe groups for a week now. He was locked down with a doe Monday morning close to my grandmothers house and she seen him again this morning with a group of 6 does.
In my 30 years of hunting and on/off living on this farm, I have never seen activity like this so late in Nov and start of Dec. Usually, end of Oct things start to kick into gear and by second weekend of mzl its dying down then by rifle opener its practically dead and completely dead after thanksgiving (mainly due to hunter pressure). Not this year, its like the last week of Oct and first two weeks of Nov were skipped.
Similar experience in KY and SW Montgomery Co. as well. Also, out of the 17 people I talked to that killed mature deer in early to mid Nov none of them experienced typically rutting activity. Most bucks were killed on the edge of thickets and alone.