Southeast Rut Report, Week 7: Warm Weather Stalling Buck Movement

Firearms seasons are opening across the Southeast right now, and hunters throughout the region are hoping the temperatures cool down a bit to get the big bucks up on their feet and moving during daylight hours.

Kentucky’s gun season came in last Saturday, and Michael Pendley and his family have hunted much of the week in the western end of the state, but without any luck.

“Mature bucks are fully locked down on does,” Pendley says. “The 1.5- and 2.5-year-olds have been cruising. Overall movement has been slow with the combination of warm temperatures, monsoonal rain on Sunday, and low barometric pressures likely to blame. We did have one mature buck locked onto a doe on Sunday, but they stayed in thick cover. The only time he stopped for a clear shot, a younger buck was blocking his vitals.”

Pendley says on Wednesday morning, a 2.5-year-old 8-point cruised through right at daylight and a 1.5-year-old bumped a group of three does out into a combined bean field around 9 a.m.

“We packed up at lunch today and headed up to our place in central Kentucky for a few days based on slightly better daylight trail camera movement,” Pendley says. “We’re hoping cooler temps and rising barometric pressure get them up and about this weekend and early next week. My youngest had a doe decoy out and twice had young bucks try to mount it — once right at dawn then again at dusk the following day. A good friend had a buck decoy set up in his backyard with a camera on it and has had two mature bucks attack it at night in the past week.”

CJ Davis says the deer sightings in South Carolina have slowed down. “Based on historical data, my area should be at the tail end of the main breeding period,” he says. “You have to get in the thickets with them to maximize your chances of seeing a buck when it’s the top of the breeding cycle.”

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Over the last couple of days, Davis says he’s begun to see scrapes being hit so the bucks should start roaming more in the next few days. A cold front this weekend and the peak breeding slowing down may up the deer sightings.

Outdoor writer Gil Lacky says each day is different in Tennessee where he hunts, but the cooler weather seems to have them chasing more.

“This past weekend was the muzzleloader opener, and I got some reports from other hunters,” Lackey says. “My friend and land manager Mike Arnold told me that mature bucks are on their feet, and a few does are in estrus. The rut is never postponed due to warm weather. The heat just translates to less daytime activity. He said anyone waiting for colder weather will miss the peak of the rut. Right now is the best time for calling, for using scents, and for seeing the older class bucks.”

Bert Moore said Alabama is still experiencing unseasonably warm weather, which is limiting success. “Hopefully, cooler temps and rain will be here soon and the deer will start doing deer things,” Moore says. “From my Moultrie camera photo surveys, I can tell that the deer feeding activity on corn feeders has diminished a little. It seems that deer are concentrating more on acorns that are dropping and the few persimmon trees that are still dropping. Approximately 90 percent of the feeder activity is nocturnal — mainly does and fawns.”

Hunter Sullivan, owner of Final Roost, says things haven’t changed much in central Florida over the past couple of weeks. Younger bucks are still chasing does throughout the day while the older bucks remain mostly nocturnal, but are hitting scrapes more frequently. Does have been holding tight to food sources and bedding.

“We’re starting to get a few more bucks daylighting. It looks like a cold front will hit Wednesday which should kick up some more rut action,” Sullivan says.

Things are looking good in Virginia’s Piedmont, where the rut is on and chasing should stay strong with the full moon waxing this week.

“Older bucks are moving especially well mid-morning, so stay on stand and vigilant until 11 a.m.,” outdoor writer Mike Hanback says.

Most of the southeastern states are expecting a cold front to hit this week, so activity should pick up as the gun seasons get going throughout the region. A bit of much-needed rain is in the forecast as well for parts of the Deep South where drought conditions have been an issue. Hopefully these more seasonable conditions will lead to more success in the coming weeks for southeastern hunters.