Southeast Rut Report Kickoff: Hurricane Helene Alters Habitat, Causes Early Acorn Drop

As archery season gears up, deer throughout parts of the Southeast are navigating a drastically altered landscape due to the chaos left behind by Hurricane Helene. The Category 4 hurricane made landfall in Florida on Thursday, September 25 and traveled north plowing through Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. It’s yet to be seen what the full impact of the storm will be on deer and other wildlife in the region.

CJ Davis, who lives in Edgefield, South Carolina, says the deer are trying to figure out “what the heck happened to their woods after the hurricane.” According to Davis a lot of trees are down, including oaks, so the ground is covered with acorns in a way that’s not normal this time of year.

“I’m sure the deer are enjoying the early acorns and the additional cover provided by the downed treetops,” he said. “I haven’t made it out hunting yet, but I’m wondering if any of my stands are still there after the storm.” Davis predicts that many of the areas with traditionally low deer numbers will become much better habitat as more sun hits the ground and produces browse.

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Outdoor writer Gil Lackey recently took a nice buck with his bow on his Tennessee farm, but said Helene has left her mark there as well. “Not only did the storm wreak havoc on waterways, but it blew a bumper crop of acorns to the ground,” he says. “Hunting might be a little slow until the pre-rut as the deer don’t have to move far to fill their bellies with nuts. The deer will likely prefer to feed in the woods rather than the fields until the frigid air of late fall sets in.”

During time spent on the stand, he’s observed nursing fawns with faint spots. Most of the bachelor groups have disbanded, and some of the bruisers on his trail camera hit list have moved on to their winter ranges. Lackey feels there should be an influx of new bucks arriving to offset those that have left.

In central Alabama, where I live, I’ve seen a number of very young spotted fawns. Bert Moore says he’s also seeing brand new fawns around his home a bit farther to the west in McCalla, Alabama. It’s yet to be seen if this is a sign of a longer rutting season to come.

Moore says the young fawns are unusual for the central part of the state this time of year, but not for Alabama’s Black Belt region, where he normally hunts. In that region, the deer are just now coming out of their summer pattern. The bucks are still in bachelor groups, and the does are still nursing spotted fawns.

“Normally, the bachelor groups will start breaking up later into October, and the does will be weaning fawns,” he says. ”I have Moultrie cameras out in Dallas County and in McCalla, as well, but I am not seeing much additional activity.”

Timber 2 Table editor Michael Pendley hunts one farm in central Kentucky and one in the western part of state and says he’s seeing similar activity in both locations. “Bachelor groups have mostly split up,” he says. “Hard-antlered bucks are traveling mostly by themselves. White oaks are starting to drop and bucks are moving off of bait stations and hitting acorns pretty hard. I’ve witnessed no rutting activity in mature bucks, but some younger bucks are starting to sniff around and harass the does. I’ve noticed some scrape activity along some of the main trails, and I’ll be moving some cameras to scrapes soon.”

Realtree.com Editor Will Brantley lives and hunts in southern Kentucky on the Tennessee line. He said Tennessee’s archery season opened September 28, but it was a washout due to Hurricane Helene. Kentucky’s bow season has been open for a month, where it has been extremely dry, especially in the western part of the state, but the rain from the hurricane has helped.

Brantley is hearing reports of EHD in Kentucky and has personally found three dead deer so far this year. “I don’t think we’ll have a big die out,” he says. “But it may be more severe than normal. My fingers are crossed that it doesn’t get much worse.”

Brantley says the drought has stunted crops and he delayed planting his food plots because of the lack of rain. “So far, the mast crop has been pretty good with the black and red oaks producing well. I’m not seeing as many white oaks this year, but I haven’t walked in the timber much.”

In Kentucky, the deer have been hard antlered for a few weeks now and Brantley assumes there’s a few scattered rubs, but not many scrapes yet. “Things are right on schedule,” he says. “It looks like there was a good crop of fawns.”

Realtree’s funny man Michael Pitts has been hunting around his home state of Georgia and says deer movement has been decent and consistent since the season opener, but it’s starting to slow up a bit as the deer are going nocturnal.

“They are still in bachelor groups, but I’m starting to see a little tussling going on,” he says. “They’re probably starting to claim their turf and will start separating soon. I have seen some scrapes on the ground for about a month now, but I think it’s just the regular year-long communication and not rut activity. The rubs are more likely from rubbing velvet off. It will probably be a couple of more weeks before we start seeing cruising and interest in does. Acorns are starting to fall right now so deer are really zeroing in on them.”

Realtree’s Tyler Jordan said he’s only had the opportunity to sit in a stand once so far, but according to game camera footage, many of the bucks have transitioned off of protein and on to acorns. “I’d say that deer activity in front of the protein feeders has kind of gone cold the last three to five days,” he says. “Many deer have moved to corn as well. The weather has been hot with temperatures in the low- to mid-80s. We’re expecting a little bit of a cold push next week with temperatures in the mid to high 70s. The mornings are expected to be in the low 50s.”

A number of notable upcoming dates for the region including:

Oct. 15: Mississippi, the second split of Archery Season for Southeast Unit

Oct. 12-13: Kentucky, two-day youth rifle season

Oct. 19-20: Kentucky, two-day early muzzleloader season

Oct. 12-18: Georgia, Primitive Weapons/Youth-only firearm season

Oct. 15: Alabama, archery season opener

Oct. 18: Arkansas, muzzleloader season opener

Oct. 12: Louisiana, Primitive Firearms seasons open (select units)

Oct. 11: South Carolina, gun opener for Game Zones 1 and 2 (private land)

Oct. 12: North Carolina, gun opener in the Northeast and Southeast regions