Peak Breeding

[BHC]

Does anyone know what the peak breaking dates are suppose to be for soyhern middle Tn?

 

[elkman]

nov 7th, starting about 1428 in the evening

 

[Mudbone]

Moro mornin. Bout 6:15-6:30

 

[bowriter]

It doesn't matter really. The weather will determine what you see, not what the deer do.

But count back eight days and 13-hours from the opening of rifle season and you will be within a week of the peak of breeding.

 

[BSK]

Does anyone know what the peak breaking dates are suppose to be for soyhern middle Tn?

What part of southern Middle TN?

 

[hunt_4646]

Last year I had opposite reports from hunters all season long. One claimed the rut was at its peak with bucks chasing does all over the woods. Others in the same county said the does were not getting any attention from the bucks.
Some of us are so limited by small hunting area that we just don't see many deer. You hunt when you can where you have permission or pay high dollar for prime leases. It would be great to have several hundred prime hunting acres available but the cost has become beyond reasonable for many.
With limited time to hunt, it would be advantageous to know when to select those days for the most active bucks. I understand the question and reason. There are hunters here who have a storehouse of knowledge on the the deer habits in middle Tn if they will share with BHC.

 

[8 POINTS OR BETTER]

Nov. 27,28, for my area, but I want to hunt Nov. 17 to Nov 27 the most.

 

[FullRut]

Does anyone know what the peak breaking dates are suppose to be for soyhern middle Tn?

What part of southern Middle TN?

Lutts, TN
Wayne and Hardin County line.

 

[BSK]

Does anyone know what the peak breaking dates are suppose to be for soyhern middle Tn?

What part of southern Middle TN?

Lutts, TN
Wayne and Hardin County line.

The southern-most counties of TN can have some strange breeding timing. The northern part of the counties are usually last week of November dates, but as you get close to the AL/MS line, you can see some early January dates mixed in.

 

[BlackBelt]

I have hunted 13 yrs on the TN side of the state line between TN and MS/AL...and i mean so close i could literally throw a rock into another state...and i have never been able to definitely say "we are in the rut" at any particular point. Its a mixed bag of timing. I've come to the conclusion that we must have a hybrid mixture of several different sub-species of whitetail in southern McNairy and Hardeman counties. And their peak rut times probably vary slightly and extend longer than other parts of the state.

Of course i could be totally wrong about that since I'm not any sort of game biologist. But i do consider myself an avid hunter who notices and documents trends in whitetail behaviour each year just to help my understanding of what the deer are doing.

 

[BSK]

I have hunted 13 yrs on the TN side of the state line between TN and MS/AL...and i mean so close i could literally throw a rock into another state...and i have never been able to definitely say "we are in the rut" at any particular point. Its a mixed bag of timing. I've come to the conclusion that we must have a hybrid mixture of several different sub-species of whitetail in southern McNairy and Hardeman counties. And their peak rut times probably vary slightly and extend longer than other parts of the state.

Of course i could be totally wrong about that since I'm not any sort of game biologist. But i do consider myself an avid hunter who notices and documents trends in whitetail behaviour each year just to help my understanding of what the deer are doing.

BlackBelt,

It isn't actually different "sub-species" of deer, it is just different genetic coding for breeding timing (but that amounts to basically the same thing). Female deer have a basic time-frame for estrus encoded in their genetics, and they pass that timing code down to their offspring. And because females do not disperse anywhere near as frequently or as far from their birth range as males do, a particular estrus timing becomes "set" in a given geographic location.

Now why females in TN have a November timing and northern AL deer have a January timing is still a mystery. And personally, I don't buy the "restocked deer genetics" theory. If that were the case, TN would have a wild hodge-podge of breeding dates spread all over the state, as TN was restocked with deer from all over the country, from WI, to NC and SC, to Mexico. Yet we don't have a hodge-podge of breeding dates scattered all over (and neither does any other state except AL).

 

[DirtyBear0311]

BSK-

Could that be because perhaps the dominant gene in the breeding deer of different areas was for the time zone which we see now? If deer were brought in piecemeal and mated with the current population that had the dominant gene for timeing, then that would explain why most deer generally come into estrus at the same time and a few do so later.

 

[woodsman87]

BSK-

I have hunted many places in Alabama since that is where I am from and now hunt mostly in southern TN. You could not be more right about the rut. In north limestone county AL where I grew up the first week and half of Dec. is the rut. But down in southern Limestone county/northern Morgan county it is mid January. Jackson County to the east where mountains are rut is January. I have land to hunt down south and their rut is at end of January and even some February. Now in southern Giles Co. TN, the rut seems to be right around thanksgiving to first week of December, but not to far away in Fayetteville TN it seems to be about the second week of Muzzleloader.

It is confusing but I enjoy it becase now I have like 5 or 6 "ruts" I can hunt.

 

[BSK]

BSK-

Could that be because perhaps the dominant gene in the breeding deer of different areas was for the time zone which we see now? If deer were brought in piecemeal and mated with the current population that had the dominant gene for timeing, then that would explain why most deer generally come into estrus at the same time and a few do so later.

Until we know a lot more than we currently do about the whitetail genome (DNA coding) we really won't know how it all works. All we do know is that selective pressure is at work and has been ever since deer have been restocked. If restocked genetics were still at play, we would see a hodge-podge of different breeding dates scattered across the state, with big differences in dates in close proximity. But we don't see that. Even though deer with very different breeding dates were stocked all over the place, Natural Selection has driven breeding dates into a smooth transition across the state, with the earliest dates in northcentral TN and the latest dates in SW TN and along the AL/MS borders.

The big question is, why are each of these dates the most advantageous for that area? In essence, why is an early to mid-November breeding date near and north of Nashville important in that area, but a mid-December date important near Memphis? Those type of questions just can't be answered yet. In some geographic regions, the selective pressure at work is obvious. In the far North, it is the timing and severity of winter. In the Florida Everglades, it is the timing of dry season (when newborn fawns would have the least chance of drowning). In South TX, it is the timing of the hurricane season that drives breeding/fawning dates. But in much of the interior Southeast, obvious selective pressures are not easily identified.

 

[mntbuck]

my brother hunts in rutherford co. and his best buck hunting is first two weeks of muzz. then my good friend hunts lincoln co. he says his best huntn is after thanksgiving.

 

[TITANSFAN2104]

I was all ways led to believe that the does estrous cycle was triggered by the amount of light (photosynthesis or something like that) as well as the moon phase?? I'm sure there is basically a "hot" week where the majority of deer will be chasing hard /breeding with some good days before and after that week as different deer will come into cycle at different times! When I start seeing chasing of any type that's when I get ready for the next two weeks. Because the chasing is the best time compared to the actual breeding. Just my opinions and observations.

 

[eightpointer]

There ya go.

 

[BSK]

I was all ways led to believe that the does estrous cycle was triggered by the amount of light (photosynthesis or something like that) as well as the moon phase??

Estrus is triggered by photoperiodism--the length of the days and nights. It is an animal's "internal calendar." In fact, does can artificially be brought into estrus by placing them in an encosed building and day by day altering how long the lights are kept on. This mimics Nature's changing of the seasons. Each individual doe has a genetically set length of the nights that will trigger estrus, and that timing is hereditary, hence most of the females in a social group (they are all related on the female side) will have the same genetic estrus timing.

The moon plays no role in estrus timing.

In the Southeast, social structure can also influence estrus timing, in that the social structure deer have evolved under keeps estrus occurring at the right time, while improper social structure can delay estrus timing. It is believed that chemicals/pheramones produced only by mature bucks is the key ingredient in keeping estrus timing at the "right" time.

 

[ROVERBOY]

In the area I hunt when M/L hits they are chasing does some but not really wide open yet. But, when Gun season opens they're usually wide open. For at least 8-10 days the hunting and buck movement is really good around here. Usually from daylight to around 11:30 the bucks will be on the move.

 

[Great White Stalker]

I think in Bradley county and surrounding areas it's late November at best. With that said late December and January has always been when I kill the "big bucks". I've seen chasing later than that. Atleast that is how it appeared to me.

 

[southernhunter]

I hunt southern Lincoln county, I have killed 90% of my bucks chasing thanksgiving week.all though it seemed to be delayed till the week after thanksgiving last year on our place .

 

[Mike Belt]

I pray for cold weather around Thanksgiving. With or without it the rut will happen but I want to see some of it.

 

[timberjack86]

Nov. 27,28, for my area, but I want to hunt Nov. 17 to Nov 27 the most.

I have noticed its a week earlier here in grundy for both those dates.Its neat how many diffrent rut dates there are in TN.

 

[HOOK]

HISTORICALLY- THE WEEK WITH NOVEMBER 17 IN IT........

 

[MRUTVOL]

I have hunted Lincoln county for over 40 years and for the most part there is a 3 week window that the majority of the rut seems to peak out. The week of thanksgiving and the 2 weeks after seems to be when it is most active. Last year the first week after thanksgiving was the hot time on the property I hunt.

 

[redblood]

according to some who opposed the jan 1st closing date, it started jan 2nd and ran till feb 1st. i live in southern middle tn and the peak breeding (not young buck harrassing) is the week after thanksgiving

 

[redblood]

I have hunted Lincoln county for over 40 years and for the most part there is a 3 week window that the majority of the rut seems to peak out. The week of thanksgiving and the 2 weeks after seems to be when it is most active. Last year the first week after thanksgiving was the hot time on the property I hunt.

yes