Florida is very diverse in its breeding times. The theory is they rut so early in the South so the fawns can be able to fend for themselves before the summer rains flood everything. Like said, we just don't have a hard/defined winter to dictate a rut. The rut map is pretty close to accurate. A buddy of mine has three properties he hunts in Pasco county, which are all qdm managed, and all three have different ruts.
I think only properties that are managed well will have a true defined rut. Ive seen it 2x in Fla...once last season, and three years ago in my old lease; both had great buck/doe ratio's
Its what makes this state unique, and if you can kill a good one here, you have accomplished something
Al and Ga don't really have hard winters and the both have defined ruts. Al is Feb And Ga is usually Thanksgiving.I do believe the deer in the glades breed early because of the water,but the rest of the state there is no answer. And I think a biologist killed one doe in each area and came to his conclusions on that. I bet if he killed a dozen does in thoses areas they'd all be in different stages of pregnancy. There is no denying if you can kill bucks in Fl,you can kill them anywhere.
They also have decent game management practices in place.....but that is a different topic :rolleyes
They also have decent game management practices in place.....but that is a different topic :rolleyes
Al is a deer a day either sex for the entire season,at least it was when I hunted there 4 years ago. GA just wiped out a bunch of does to accomadate the auto ins lobby. Trust me Allen I have 0 problem with managing private land or leased land to improve deer hunting,but as long as Foley owns millions of acres,there aint gonna be no doe killing.Even if FWC changes the rules you know Foley will say no does. And when laws are passed where 4 points are not legal,how you gonna feel telling your son "sorry boy he's not a legal deer anymore."
i hunt on 4 different properties in north florida and the rut is different on each and all places are within 30 to 45mins of each other. On one area i hunt they rut the weekend of christmas and not even 10 mins down the road on another peice of property they rut early november. Its crazy. Seems to be a different rut every 7miles or so.
Iluv2hunt has given a good explanation of how and why the Game Commission has the state boken up in zones. I used to live in zone C, Orange County. I hunted there and also in south Lake County which is now in zone B. Bucks were rutting in those areas in November back in the middle 60's. Killed my 1st buck in South Lake County in '66 on what is now the Green Swamp owned by SWFWMD. Moved to zone D in the early 70's and found the rut didn't happen like it did in central Florida. In northwest Florida the rut seems to peak around the 3rd week of January(at least in Washington County). A FWC Biologist by the name of Arlo Cain, out of the Panama City office, explained the rut times to me and I have found his information was in line with the later starting season in our zone. He shared this with me way back when the whole state started deer hunting on the same Saturday in November. A buck is a whole lot easier to kill when he is cruising loking for a hot doe. Paying attention to the research that has been done certainley gives us a heads up on ol' buck. There is nothing concrete when it comes to rut times because so many variables the Good Lord allows us to experience. Today's weather , this year's growing season, rain, no rain, how many hurricanes we get, heat, cold, even the moon, all these things will come into play when we try to pinpoint the rut. Go to the woods when you can! Treefarmer
