deer had good range this year. they were not hungry and so the corn had limited pull. sometimes when the deer are hungry and does are pulled to the feeders more heavily then the bucks follow as well. the deer we killed so far have all still had a lot of green forage in the belly. lots of browse available. we've only just now had a freeze. the last couple weekends here might be the best for stand hunters. other than that the best part of our rut still seems like it was early-mid dec. never seems to change. and unfortunately mostly documented on game cams as its difficult for me to hunt that time of year.

I believe the "rut" happens about every 28 days. Which "rut" is the most active, can vary.... I think the heat and food crop availability may have pushed it later than normal in the north Texas Post Oak-Savannah region where I spend most of my hunting time. I do agree it was screwed up to say the least. We saw deer chasing, and not chasing, off and on, from mid-October through Christmas... I'm just hoping that allowed for a really solid pregnancy rate.... maybe none of those shy doe got passed up this year.

My rut observation:

Central Texas (Bastrop/Caldwell County) seemed to start in the middle of November for our place.

South Texas (Dimmit) started mid December.

Both places I was there when a cold front blew in and the next morning, it seemed like a lot more were chasing than the previous few days.