The spotted fawn in April pic made me think of how screwy the FL rut is.

That's pretty accurate for where I'm at on that map. I'm about an hour west of Tallahassee with one spot only a few hundred yards from the Georgia line and my other two properties fairly close about 10 minutes south of the Georgia line. I've started to see a little rut activity the end of December but it seems like the prime time is about the second week of January til about February and sometimes on into February depending on the weather.

They say a fawn is born every month of the year here in FL.
Rut is pretty much over here by Muzzle loader season. ( Oct. 20th in N. Central)

Dang. A buck in the central part of the state willing to travel 50 miles could stay busy for half a year.

What is the history behind the Florida deer herd?......Has there been restocking efforts in the past?

Quick check of FWC website mentions no past stocking efforts like AL.
Uncanny how different it can be.

A lot of it is due the intense interstate and highway system that has developed

Could be. Cain't train em'

Wild

I live in the blue spot north of Tampa (zone B) deer don't rut at all until Christmas time. From then until the end of season (3rd week of January), is when you need to be in the woods. The most exciting hunt I remember was on February 14th on a special late youth hunt my daughter went on.

Odd thing is, another WMA 25 miles to the west is in Zone C and has an early season. Deer rut hard there around Halloween.

Fl rut and seasons are screwed up for sure, but it can sure make for a long season.

I do know deer were stocked in the 50s or so, but you never hear much about it except from old timers whe we're around back then, and I don't know where they came from.

Rut in NW Florida starts about the 15th of January.

Deer are also often "stocked" when a tree falls on a fence. Florida is no stranger to that. There's game farms everywhere.

Map is almost correct. It's within a week or two anyway...

When I hunted N FL for 3 years - it was starting mid jan and peaking 20-22 and they would kick in again early Feb and I hav seen them chasing very end of Feb - big deer I killed in FL I saw him year before chasing does last few days of Feb - killed him the next year on Jan 13 in full rut crossing road

Month of October seems correct in my area of Seminole county. Saw a fawn that looked to be born about 2 weeks ago yesterday.

Louisiana has a similar rut spread out like this.

Where I hunt in N Escambia Co. starts around mid Jan.

Same here.

Good read:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/UW121

After talking to an old timer a lot about the deer herd that grew up during the great depression he had some interesting info. He stated he was not sure of exact period, but in early 1900's there was one buck left about 10 miles south of his home that someone shot and there were no deer near his home for sure. Then there were no deer for ten years or more. Hard to think no deer within 20 miles or more and closed seasons. Hard times back then for sure when you hear how people struggled trying to put food on the table. Wild hogs were a staple back then and each person had their hogs marked by notched ears. If it hadn't been for hogs a lot of folks would have not had any meat. Now folks in certain areas can't kill them all cause they don't want folks on their property to let all the deer grow! Kind of funny if you think about it all. By hearing the old timer talk the hogs wondered throughout all property and if it stayed on anothers you were called to retrieve it. Very interesting ideology when you see how dirt poor some folks were, but still worked together. We need more of that!