Here in Conecuh county where I hunt, the rut seemed really weird. Woods blew up with scrapes first week of January. Got young bucks on camera. Scrapes died and bucks went straight into chasing. I never got much of them cruising. Then scrapes came out again and only were tended to a couple of days. Now in February I am seeing large groups of does and yearlings. No sign of bucks anywhere. Last year I saw bucks chasing on the last day. Are they just locking down in cycles?

Same for us in Crenshaw County.

Same way where I hunt in Choctaw County. I think the hot temps didn’t help any. I think a lot of the rut action was at night or mid day. Every buck I killed this year was late morning to mid day. I know on one lease I have we didn’t hurt the population none

If you look back through 20+ years of aldeer history, we have this very discussion year after year after year.
Same comments, same observations, same experience. And it's usually the ones who proclaim that killing a doe will destroy the world.

Same here in SE Barbour and Henry counties. One day you got gruntin bucks all over and does lookin nervous ,go in to stand the next mornin and notta peep, no deer to be found. I had 4does turn down a buck 3 nights ago behind the house. They just flat out didn’t pay him any attention. He was ready but they were not. He ended up walkin out the same way he come in. I guess they just doing what they do . Does will be bred with or without us .

Same in coffee county, we had about 4 good days

Yea I havent had any action on any scrapes for a couple days. Woods have all but died with activity!

Christmas to January 5 was about it saw a few more cruising but just young bucks

Obviously this isn't true for every property or everyone.
But think about it like this, you walk into a bar, you're the only man in there with 15 horny women. You ain't gotta do anything but be there. No effort required.
On the other hand, you walk into a bar with 15 horny men and only 5 women. Now you got competitors and you gotta work for it. Simple concept.

This^^^^

I saw about 2 weeks worth. I have sat in the same spot for 95% of the season.

I believe that to be true Outback. You have to keep your does in check to have a healthy deer herd . On one piece of ours we took only them mule heads this year. The ones that throw twins & trips . We took a good number out and i look foward to next year to see if it made a change . Anyway i’m glad for the most part it was safe for almost everyone and its about over.

Last year I had 4 bucks chasing one doe. Then I had 3 bucks trying to fight each other. We only took 1 buck out and a few does.

Not where I was...

Heat doesn't deter the "rut."

The "rut" will occur whether it's minus-30, 40 or 65 degrees.

Deer breed every year. They don't take a year off because it's 65.

Most of the Deep South rut takes place at night time.
This is especially true of 4 yo and older bucks.
They can keep the doe they are tending under cover during the day.
And when finished breeding the doe wait until after dark to go get another one.
And repeat this for weeks on end.
Regardless of weather.
When it is warm or rainy this reality is just pronounced even more.

8 weeks of rifle pressure leading into the SE portion of the state's rut= nocturnal deer=nightime rut activity and the resulting crap hunting. Hunt in other states with restricted gun pressure that occurs just after the rut and you get daytime rut activity and great hunts.

While there is truth to that - the same thing (nocturnal mature bucks and night time rut for mature bucks) can be observed in areas with very little hunting pressure and no shooting at all.

I think southern deer and especially Alabama deer are a total different creature then the whitetail species in other States, like the places we see all those outdoor hunting videos being made where there are countless racked bucks roaming around in daylight all day every day of their rut.

There is a reason that there are very few of these great white hunters making hunting videos for the Outdoor Channel, etc., in Alabama.

You're right WM. There is a reason they are not down here filming. It's called a season that lasts 118 days, overly liberal harvest limits, very little to no management throughout the state by probably 75-80% of the hunters. It doesnt necessarily coorelate with a recipe for success on a big buck in daylight hours.

Our deer arent any different than the bucks in the MS delta just 1.5 hrs drive west of the AL line. Granted the soils are fantastic which leads to bigger bodies and bigger racks, but almost every acre in the delta is under pretty intense management. Go hunt over there. You'll see piles of bucks walking all over the place during the daylight. Difference is that they've been walking around in daylight since they were born and guess what, nobody shot them when they were a spike, 4 pt or three year old 8. That, and over there, it's mostly large landholders, both private and big leases, and not 65 individual, 5 to 20 acre property owners per sq mile, that all hunt and shoot pretty much any deer they can get a shot at.

That's the difference. The difference is called lack of management coupled with intense pressure. Bucks definitely rut and do a large portion of their breeding at night no doubt, but the factors above greatly increase the night time activity and limit the daytime creating what we see in Alabama. As much as people hate to admit it, it is a problem of our own creation.

The DCNR is not in the business of managing deer to provide visible daytime rutting activity and great hunts for hunters.

Contact them in Montgomery or your Conservation Advisory Board rep to ask about getting changes made in the season structure. That's the starting point.