By Eric Bruce

Rut Reporter Eric Bruce has been writing about hunting and fishing for newspapers and magazines for 25 years and hunts deer all over the South, including near his Georgia home. States covered: AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL.

Whitetail hunters know that one of the best times to see and harvest a mature trophy buck is during the rut. Whenever that is in your area, it will get a buck up and moving like nothing else. Old bucks that are normally noctural and hide in thickets all day will be out searching for does and exposed to hunters.

That is, if the weather is right. While rutting action will go on during peak times regardless, overall whitetail activity is dictated to a large degree by the weather. If a rain front blows through and the temperatures drop, that is the best time to be in the woods because virtually every deer in the woods will be moving.

On the contrary, if the weather turns unseasonablly warm, it puts a serious damper on all whitetail movement. You can be in a prime location during the peak of the rut, but if the weather is poor, the deer action will be slow.
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By Eric Bruce

Rut Reporter Eric Bruce has been writing about hunting and fishing for newspapers and magazines for 25 years and hunts deer all over the South, including near his Georgia home. States covered: AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL.

Florida has the earliest deer season in the country, starting July 30 in the extreme southern portion of the state. That region is better known for beaches, everglades, and palm trees, but deer hunters are out now pursing whitetails. The state is divided into four zones with the entire state getting in on the hunting action by late October.

With sandy soils and sparse agriculture, the Sunshine state is not exactly a hotbed for Boone & Crocketts, but it does produce some handsome trophies. Every year Florida hunters bag bucks scoring over 130 inches all the way up to 170.

The Florida Buck Registry keeps track of the biggest bucks taken in Florida each season. In the 2010-11 season, there were 48 bucks taken that scored over 130 inches, with five scoring over 150.
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By Eric Bruce

Rut Reporter Eric Bruce has been writing about hunting and fishing for newspapers and magazines for 25 years and hunts deer all over the South, including near his Georgia home. States covered: AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL.

The Sunshine State is known for a lot of things, but trophy deer hunting is not at the top of the list. It does, however, have a huntable deer population, and a few trophies are bagged each season. Florida has four zones-- A,B,C, and D-- each with its own seasons. Zone A is the extreme southern part of the state and the season started there on July 30.

"The rut takes place in most of south Florida in July and August,” says Florida Biologist Corey Morea. "With the tropical environment and year-round food, the water levels are the driving factor in the rut. In an everglades and cypress habitat, fawns need to be born before February so they're mobile by the summer rains.”

In this unique environment, the rut is already on even though it is hot as blue blazes. Most of the hunting in south Florida is by spot-and-stalk. There are very few tall trees to hang a stand in. The ample ground brush, and palmettos allow for sneaking around and trying to get in range of deer. While most of the country imagines cool weather and colorful falling leaves with the whitetail rut, in south Florida the deer action and the weather is hot.
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By Eric Bruce

Rut Reporter Eric Bruce has been writing about hunting and fishing for newspapers and magazines for 25 years and hunts deer all over the South, including near his Georgia home. States covered: AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL.

Georgia's bow season began on September 10th and Peach State archers were greeted to relatively mild temperatures in the 50's, which is somewhat cool for early September in the deep South. While the pleasant cool temperatures helped, hunters also had to contend with a bright moon that was within a few days of being completely full.

Some hunters who saw no deer were able to blame it on the moon. However, many bowhunters did see deer movement and some successfully harvested some early venison. Those who saw deer were primarily hunting over prime food sources. With the rut being months away, and even pre-rut and any significant buck activity still in the future, hunters have to seek out and locate deer foods and hunt them.

Main food sources include persimmons, muscadines, and acorns. Persimmons are deer candy and if you can find a tree heavy with the sweet orange fruits, hang a stand there. Muscadines,... [ Read Full Post ]

By Eric Bruce

Rut Reporter Eric Bruce has been writing about hunting and fishing for newspapers and magazines for 25 years and hunts deer all over the South, including near his Georgia home. States covered: AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL.

While hunters most of the country are practicing with their bows, checking trail cameras, and anticipating the opening of deer season, it is already underway in South Carolina. The deer opener in the Palmetto State was August 15, in the heat of the summer. While you will definitely have to endure some blistering temperatures, you also have a decent chance of harvesting a trophy velvet-antlered buck.

Rob Freyer of Maryland discovered the SC early opener a few years ago and booked a 3-day hunt with Buck Run Hunting Lodge. The hunting consists mainly of sitting in stands over agricultural fields in the afternoon waiting on a buck to show before dark falls. Rob's first two seasons were unsuccessful, but the third season it all came together.

Despite a full moon and highs in the lower 90s, one hunter shot a nice 8 point buck the first morning and a management buck was taken the second day. Rob opted to hunt over some standing corn for the last afternoon. As the sun set Rob began hearing shots ring out, and at 7:45pm, things started happening.

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By Eric Bruce

Rut Reporter Eric Bruce has been writing about hunting and fishing for newspapers and magazines for 25 years and hunts deer all over the South, including near his Georgia home. States covered: AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL.

Jan. 10: Louisiana hunters have good reason to rejoice. Not only did their LSU Tigers win the Cotton Bowl over Texas A&M, but the whitetail rut is on in the Bayou State and the bucks are active.

January is rut time not only in Louisiana, but Mississippi, Alabama, and parts of Florida and Arkansas are seeing rutting bucks during this first month of 2011. Reports are coming in of great bucks being seen and killed in the mid-South states.

Ken Bordelon of Vick, LA killed a whopper whitetail in the Avoyelles Parish on January 3. The giant non-typical green-scored 242 inches and was nailed in a food plot.

Hunting at Thistlewaite WMA, Chris LeBleu scored on an 18-inch wide eleven-pointer (above). The hunter saw the buck along the road before dawn and sneaked in that afternoon and shot the 220 pound bruiser. Thistlewaite is an 11,000 acre WMA in St. Landry Parish. There is a report about a huge buck with a split G2 killed on the Red River WMA.
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