Actually my lease borders Bankhead NF on 3 sides (not the WMA but the NF) and we’ve just now started seeing scrapes. In the last week we’ve had 6 mature bucks show up on camera that haven’t been on our lease all year. Figure they’re 10 days out from hard chasing and 3 weeks out from peak rut.

Why would they be chasing does weeks before the rut?

Don't let them cross the road. It will set the rut back a whole month!

All this Rut talk lol, we have nearly 2 months before it'll good down here

So technically bucks are in rut from the time they shed their velvet till they shed their antlers... that peaks when the largest population of does go into estrus. That’s usually when they’re done chasing and they’re locked down with the does. That 10-15 days before the peak has always been the best hunting for me.

You interested in trading a North Alabama rut hunt for a late season one?

Where are you located? We may have breeding data from closeby I can provide you.

Northwestern Lawrence County will be hot these next two weeks, especially with the New Moon and another cold front. The last couple of years has seen the rut wide open in the Valley going into the second week of December. We have started seeing deer running across the paved roads during the day and night this week in Lawrence Co.

Yessir!

Bankhead deer are still a bit out. The ones we saw today showed no sign of getting ready. Maybe a week or so out. The cooler weather this week may jumpstart things. Just a little later than usual.

You must be south of 278, because north of 278 is wide open now.

They’re going to be winding down soon on Bankhead, at least from DS north to Moulton. If you’re there you’ve waited too late to catch the bulk of it. Even south of 278 there’s a lot of very early December breeding taking place.

I will tell you this, if they are about done, they sure haven't left much sign. The does we saw still had cottonball hocks and the bucks were not even close to being smelly or swollen. Or maybe we were just in an area with weirdos. After the early am, we covered a whole lot of ground and found very little buck sign where the does stay generally. Maybe west of 33 it's different, but east of 33, wasn't much going on nor any real sign that there had been lately.

North or South Bankhead seems to make the difference in timing to me. I have also noticed less food equals less buck sign. Maybe they don’t won’t to waste energy...... I’m no expert by no means just my experience.

There is very little food in the woods over there. Found one place there we're still a few acorns, but looked like they were hitting the briars and mushrooms in the hemlocks more.

I saw a dandy buck yesterday morning on the North side of Hwy 20 @ Hillsboro , right across from the gin on my way to work about 6:30 a.m. He was right behind the little block house or building, he was definitely looking for love I’d think. Robinhedd

Please shhhhhh on that sighting.

Just going off 4 yrs of hunting a couple miles south of D.S. the best days to hunt are Dec. 16- Christmas week. Start rabbit hunting or fishing after new years.

Any ag fields near or in that area?

No. It's all scrub brush and Nucor plants