I've gone back, searching this forum for everything I could find regarding the rut in Skyline / North Jackson County and this is what I have come to believe ... 2Dogs and RidgeStalker plz chime in and correct me if I am wrong ...
1) The rut came and went during the period just prior to the last gun hunt. We had a brief stint of cold weather followed by good rain a week before that may have triggered it but I believe it happened during the 2nd week of January
2) This area normally experience 2 or 3 breeding periods. The 2nd usually runs around the last week of January which, by the way, will FOLLOW AFTER the next gun hunt ... i.e. we will not be able to hunt that rut
3) The 3rd rut typically runs 2nd week of February and of course we will not be hunting that one either.
Given all this, I don't really think any really big bucks are going to be taken next gun hunt. There may be a few good ones, taken especially in hard to reach remote areas but the normal haunts just aren't going to produce the bigguns ...
Fetal studies have shown Skyline WMA is right around first week of Jan and the Jones farm in lower PRV is mid Jan.
Where I've hunted for 40 years, upper PRV,High Top/Skyline and central Jackson Co. is in fact right around Jan. 1. I saw a 3 YO 8 pt breed a doe on Dec. 27 or 28 a few years ago. The fawns from primary breeding hit the ground 3rd week of July, that too puts it very early Jan.
Jughead is right on, mature bucks will be on their feet "wandering" last week of season, looking for does that didn't get bred during primary breeding . Some of the largest bucks killed each year are shot during last few days of season. One of the biggest bucks , if not the biggest I ever saw was on January 31 1993.
