shootem, yes we are comfortable with genetic diversity. Not only do I trust the breeder, who is a long time valued friend, who assured us there were no potential problems, we consulted with Auburn University on the matter. You know the saying, trust but verify.
Regarding the rut, you are exactly right on Oct - Jan rutting activity in parts of Alabama. The deer in the fence were rutting when I started this thread on Oct 20 and rutted continuously through early February. This is the first week that I've not seen a hot doe. Yes, the later it got, the more it began to trickle, and a lot of the trickle was the second cycle, but there was a hard rut from late October through early January.
Interestingly, when the rut started to a trickle, at times with only one hot doe (how do I know only one hot doe? Because all five of the dominant bucks were within 100 yards.) there was no one buck consistently on the hot doe. It seemed to be a different buck each time. Whoever found her first did a good job of keeping the others at bay. It appears to me that there is no one dominant buck and they are all about equal.
