south texas deer hunt

I am lucky anough to be invited to hunt some whitetail down south in cotulla texas. I am going to go the 2nd weekend in janruary. I have a few questions. 1. I know the rut is usually around Christmas down there, but is there a chance there still may be some bucks looking for some does...2. Also will there be a lot of broken bucks this time of year

I don't hunt south Texas and never have, but I have some buddies that hunt down there. They say that the rut lasts into the middle of January. You'll be there 3 weeks after the usually peak of the rut, and IME you should still be seeing some rut activity in that time frame. If there's a secondary rut it shouldn't have happened yet, so I would think the bucks would still be showing rut behavior. There's probably a better chance that some bucks may have broken times, but that depends a lot on the buck to doe ratio. If you have a lot more does than bucks than the bucks won't be fighting as much, but a ratio that is close to even would mean a lot more competition for does and more fighting. Good luck and hope you enjoy it.

And ...

Thanks for the info it will be nice to hunt somewhere where the deer are bigger. I hunt the hill country and it had ben slow this year

What I have found is some of the younger does get hot about the middle of January. Action is usually good until late In the month.Broken tines is more common at this time especially on well managed property.
You'll have a blast, and good luck.

This ranch is my brothers n laws and is 500 acres and my brother is pretty much the only one that has hunted it this year, and only has been a few times

I'm also curious what I should let walk and what would be a good buck in the area only going to be there 3 days

The rut usually starts around Christmas in a lot of La Salle County. I shot does in early Jan and found very few bred at that time for a couple of years. Rattling works great around Jan 1st or later for some reason. It works better then that earlier. I would focus on a mature buck and not point or score count. Bucks can be really broken up in some years also at this time of the year. Mature bucks traveling in from other ranches after the first rut can improve your odds also.

Good luck.

Hope you shoot a big un

I'll be hunting in Cotulla this weekend, I'll give you an update on Monday.

don't pass one on the first day that you'd be thrilled to shoot on the last day. nothing wrong with shooting out early.

If he manages the ranch, he'll let you know what to shoot and what not. If not, and it's just a place to hunt for him, if you like him, shoot him.

talked to my buddy where im hunting next week, and he said they full blown rutting, fighting and chasing does right now.

Yes, the rut is going good. Saw lots of deer and got a 13 pt with a droptine. Heading back tomorrow so my fiancé can fill her tag.