It makes perfect sense to me. The TX map would look much the same. Whitetails and mule deer in the far N TX Panhandle rut a full month before they do further south where I live, and even later down in far S TX. It's the length of daylight (photoperiod) that triggers the rut IME, regardless of the genetics involved. Deer evolve to their habitat....mother nature takes over, at some point.
I was hunting deer in the far N TX Panhandle in mid November and the whitetails and mule deer rut was side open. The muley rut here is just winding down, and started mid December.
Last edited by JGRaider; 01/14/20.
