On Dec. 4, the second day at my lease in Texas, I was fortunate to kill a big deer still on the prowl for a hot doe. My rapid success there let me leave a couple of days early to visit Realtree.com Editor Will Brantley, and I got to hunt a big buck Will had captured on camera while he was in Texas during Thanksgiving.

While I was freezing my tail off in a ground blind in Kentucky, I got nonstop photos from a couple of Texas outfitters who had successful hunts. Two colleagues were in Bandera, Texas, where the rut seemed to be winding down, but they still had bucks roaming in daylight, checking for any does still in estrus.

When they finished in Bandera, they headed to far southern Texas near Encinal. The story was different but brought the same results. The bucks were just starting to get frisky, with lots of rubbing and scraping and a little bit of seeking. They were successful, as mature bucks were starting to exhibit some rut behavior and showing up with does.

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On another ranch near Cotulla, I got video of a very large mature buck nosing a doe in a sendero while other deer tried to feed. He was feeling it. Southern Texas seems to be turning on pretty rapidly. I think the next two weeks will be your best two weeks for killing a big one now through the first of the year.

I managed to kill the buck Will sent me after, and it turned out to be a dream deer, exceptional in every way. It was an 8-pointer scoring more than 150 inches a stud by all accounts. Back in Texas, I have one more hunt to help with on my lease. This week tends to be tough in north-central Texas. The mature bucks are done, and many of them are in recovery mode, not showing themselves very often. Moderate weather lets them eat when they want, so they are not on their feet much during this period. In a few weeks, with colder weather and after some recovery, those bucks will start to develop a winter feeding pattern. But for some, it will be too late, as the North Zone season ends Jan. 4.

With most deer seasons in the Southwest finished, only a few are worth talking about. Jordan Christensen, who owns The Draw, keeps a pretty good finger on the pulse of New Mexico (and every other state). Nothing is really shaking up in southern New Mexico, but I expect it to crank up around the first of the year, he said. Mountains like the Gila are starting to see bucks cruising, and bachelor groups are breaking up, but in the desert, it s just not quite turned on yet. The archery season for mule deer starts Jan. 1, and the archery Coues deer season will come in on Jan. 15. The Coues deer should start cranking up around that Jan. 15 start date.

Southern Arizona and Mexico are on a similar program, with mule deer and Coues cranking up around the first of the year. I have always been a big fan of hunting Mexico around Dec. 15. It s usually a little pre-rut, but it s a great time to catch big bucks traveling. It s also a great time to kill a big buck as soon as he shows up to a herd, before he s had a chance to fight and break his antlers. With small groups of does, these bucks will sometimes breed what they can and move on within a few days. During the prime of the rut in the desert, it can be tough to keep tabs on a buck and even tougher to find one that s not broken.