I hunt just east of Starkville every year. Never killed a deer there. Seems the deer are a little behind my deer in middle TN per age class, but in the decade my friend has had the 1000ac lease there, they have killed one 150"er, three 140"ers, and prob 10 in the 130s. They had a 160" on camera 7 or 8 yrs ago, but never saw him.
Rut varies quite a bit east to west in that area in just a few dozen miles. Just east of Starkville, best time to kill a good buck is around Dec 15 thru 21 (prerut...mature bucks are working scrapes and looking for does hard). Rut starts just before Christmas, and hunting gets pretty tough by 1st week of January... but this lease is hunted hard, and one of the members rides all over the place on 4 wheelers and still hunts through the thick stuff, so deer are very spooky.