3 Places to Hunt Rutting Whitetails in January

By January, deer season is a thing of the past for most hunters. Some of us are glad — we’re worn out and ready for a break before spring turkey and bear seasons fire up. But other hunters aren’t ready to quit and are still dreaming of antlers and venison, and there’s good news for them: The season is still open in several states through January and into February, and in some places, the rut is just getting started.

For most of the country, the chances of finding a rutting buck in January are slim, but at a few Southern destinations, late season is prime time. Image by John Hafner.

Of course, you’ll be heading south for these opportunities, but nonresident licenses and tags are pretty affordable and easy to obtain in most of the states with late seasons. You’ll have to temper your expectations — you won’t find a lot of Midwest-sized monster bucks in the South — but if you have your heart set on chasing deer one more time this season, try your hand in one of these states.

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FLORIDA

Florida has an extended general firearms season that varies depending on which of the state’s four zones you want to hunt in. In Zone A, the southern tip of the state, firearms season closes Jan. 4, but in zones B and D, the season is open until Feb. 22, with a muzzleloader season in Zone D (the panhandle) that extends to March 1.

You might not find Midwest-sized monsters in the South, but some of these states hold surprisingly good deer. Photo by John Hafner.

The rut varies in Florida, with deer in Zone A rutting in July and August, believe it or not. In Zone C, which covers a good chunk of the peninsula, the rut peaks any time from mid-September to mid-December, depending on the local area. In the panhandle (Zone D), the rut is on from January through early February. Because of this wide variation, each deer management unit within each zone can have its own regulations, so be sure to stay up to date on the rules where you’ll be heading.

You can pick up a 10-day nonresident hunting license (not valid for turkeys) for just $46.50, and you’ll also need a deer permit for $5 as well as a $26.50 management area permit if you plan to hunt in a management area. Florida has more than 6 million acres of WMA land, and each unit might have different bag limits, closing dates, necessary permits or special-opportunity hunts, so do your homework. There’s plenty of public land, but not all of it is accessible or fruitful for deer hunting.

Although you won’t find whoppers here — Boone & Crockett records list only two whitetails from Florida, with the most recent of those from 1959 — you will find plenty of deer, with a population estimated at 500,000 to 700,000. The annual bag limit is five deer, only two of which may be antlerless (three in DMU D2). The daily bag limit is two, with a possession limit of four.

If you’re considering heading to Florida for a last-minute deer hunt, dig into the details on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission website, or check out Realtree’s Antler Nation summary of Florida deer hunting.

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ALABAMA

Like Florida, Alabama has an unusually diverse deer herd, so its rut and hunting season extend into January and February. Unlike in Florida, however, you have a better chance of finding a monster buck among the state’s nearly 2 million deer. Boone & Crockett records list 34 whitetails from Alabama. The Black Belt, a swath of fertile land across the central and southern part of the state, tends to produce bigger bucks than the northern and coastal parts of Alabama, and the rut peaks in most parts of the Black Belt in January. In some pockets of the state, the rut peaks as late as Feb. 8.

Zones A, B, and C will give you the best chance for hunting the rut, although C is farther north out of the Black Belt. In those three zones, you can hunt antlered bucks with a firearm through Feb. 10 on public land and either sex on private land. Firearms season closes Jan. 27 in zones D and E, which represent comparatively tiny chunks of land in the northern and eastern parts of the state. There’s also a CWD management zone (CMZ) in the northeastern corner that allows gun hunting for antlered and antlerless deer until Feb. 10.

The Black Belt of central and southern Alabama will give hunters the best shot at a rutting buck in January. Image by Dennis Donohue.

With a few exceptions based on specific WMAs, the annual bag limit is three antlered deer per hunter, and one per day. One of the three must have at least four points on one side. You can also take a doe every day of the season throughout the state (two antlerless or one antlered and one antlerless per day in most zones), which makes Alabama an excellent place to fill a freezer or three if you have the means to transport that much meat.

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Alabama has 721,000 acres of WMAs open to public hunting, as well as thousands of acres of U.S. Forest Service land. Much of the state’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land and Forever Wild land is open for hunting as well, but check to see if additional permits are required or tighter restrictions are in place.

A three-day nonresident license will cost you $173.90, plus a $22.75 WMA license if you plan to hunt public WMA land. A bait license runs $63.40 if baiting is your thing. If you want to stay a little longer, a 10-day license costs $246.60. Get all the information at OutdoorAlabama.com and check out Realtree’s Antler Nation summary of Alabama deer hunting.

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TEXAS

If you have your heart set on a late-season whopper, Texas is your best bet. The rut is pretty much finished everywhere but the South Texas Plains, where breeding can happen as late as Feb. 1, but the good news is that there are plenty of deer and plenty of big bucks.

In the northern zone, you’re restricted to antlerless and unbranched antlered deer from Jan. 5 through 18, but the southern zone is open for bucks until Jan. 18, with a special late-season (antlerless and unbranched antlered) until Feb. 1. There’s also a late muzzleloader season open until Jan. 18 for both zones. And those South Texas Plains where some breeding is still occurring is known for some of the state’s biggest bucks.

For late-season trophy bucks, Texas is the place to be. Image by John Hafner.

Bag limits and other restrictions vary by county, so do your research. The statewide bag limit is five deer, no more than three of which can be bucks. Some counties have antler restrictions, and you can’t take more than one buck with an inside spread of 13 inches or greater or with two branched antlers in one county. This means you’ll have to move around if you want to shoot more than one decent buck.

A nonresident license will run you $315, and if you have the time and the desire, you can add a five-day nonresident special small game and exotic license for $48 and go chase oryx, aoudad, nilgai, axis deer and more.

And now for the proverbial elephant in the room: Where are you going to go? Isn’t Texas all private land?

Actually, no, it’s not, although booking a last-minute hunt with an outfitter (if you can find a good one with an open spot) is certainly the easy and high-odds way to go. But Texas also has nearly a million acres of public land divided up into more than 180 hunting areas. You’ll need a $48 APH permit, and it’s going to take some real research to narrow down your options, but the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has an interactive map of public hunting land that will get you started.

The other good news is that Texas produces some real trophies, although it’s safe to say that many or most of them have come from private land. The state boasts 591 typical whitetails and 337 nontypical whitetails in the Boone and Crockett records. Start your research at the TPWD website, and check out Realtree’s Antler Nation summary of deer hunting in Texas.

You’ll have to hurry to bag a bruiser by Jan. 18, but with sound research and some late-season luck, you might come home from Texas with a trophy and a great story to tell.

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