Everything changes when it kicks in. I so enjoy hunting these mountain deer when they are wound up. From yesterday:

Nice buck...love the way the one brow tine curls back

Nice!

Your buck is certainly headed to the taxidermist I hope? Great old monarch..congrats.

sweet "2's" on that one. very nice

Dilly Dilly!

Thanks guys.

I'll do a Euro mount but that's it...I've never had one mounted, nothing against it, I just keep the horns in a pile and eat the meat.

Yeah, the one brow tine "fish hooks". Genetics in this location never seem to have long brow tines. First time I've seen a hook.

Yes, the 2's and 3's on it were pretty good.

Very nice!!

gorg buck... big congrats

Slick-looking buck! Congrats!

Damn! Which mountains are those?

Nice deer. What did he score?

I'm thinking in the 150 class, but that's just a guess.

DF

Early Rut for Bama

The mountains are the "foothills" of the Appalachian mountains, on the very Southern end, NE AL. Certainly not "high" mountains, just rough, steep, with lots of twists and turns.

Sorry, I have no idea how to score one.

It's a bit early, they are just getting started in this location. There's a lot of variation in the Southeast, especially in areas where there's overlap of locations deer were originally stocked from. Nice in that if you hunt different areas you can find bucks breeding from mid/late-Nov through February.....down side is that rutting activity isn't as "intense" as you'd see in locations that have a well defined rut. Does may be bred all the way through February, even early March....but even in a drawn out rut, bucks are moving more than any other time.

Wowzer! Super buck, congrats.

Very nice buck, what firearm?

It's the Fieldcraft special run 6.5 CM with the 22" #2 barrel. Really liking that rifle for my use/preferences. I believe there is one for sale right now in the classifieds. Can't say it's any more accurate than the standard light contour barrel but I do hold it more steady off-hand. Scoped with the S&B PMII 6x42....no dialing needed at this range but it seems a solid scope so far on several deer and a coyote. Have been using the 129 ABLR and it's performance has been excellent.

Thanks guys....

Congrats on that nice buck.

Heck yeah man! He'll make a mighty fine Euro mount.

Damn nice deer!! I love the rut too, sure is fun..

Nice buck for sure, congrats.

Anyone would be proud to shoot that one. Very nice!

Nice deer.

That's a fine buck!

I need to get down to Alabama for some late season deer chasing!

-Jake

NICE !!!

I am looking forward to my upcoming hunt in the Greenville AL area starting on the 19th. Hoping for some colder weather to help kick in some day time buck movement. Been a warm season so far in AL. Not to mention wet the last month.

Jay, you kill a good buck (or two) up there every year. Very impressive. They've started moving down here in lower Alabama, which is actually pretty early, normally it's the last two weeks in January.

BM123, I'm hoping for a little colder weather as well. I hope you have a great hunt in Greenville. It certainly has been WET here.....I'm not sure if I drug the buck down the mountain or if he drug me...it was about a 50/50 on who was pulling who. I slipped on the wet leaves so much that I finally got my technique down so I could do it smoothly....kinda like sliding into second base. By the time I got to the bottom of the mountain I had so much mud on my left hip and pants leg it looked like I'd been used by an elephant for toilet paper.

Hey Clint, they aren't going wide open yet but have started. I'm lucky to get to hunt this area. It's a club where it's open game on anything legal and most of the members are just there to take whatever they see....and I'm ok with that. If everyone was on board and really controlled for age it could be something.

Very, very nicely done!! Congrats!

Dang nice deer. Congrats!

darn nice buck there brother. looks like a river bottom instead of mountain to me. absolutely beautiful land there and hard to come by these days. I'm ya neighbor to the west in MS and they are chasing hard here now. my small,900 acre,camp has killed several since the week of Christmas all roaming looking for the ladies.
congrats,
Big Ed

Great buck Jay! Hope you and your family are doing well.

I'm thinking of trying some of those 129 ABLR in my Creed. I've been using the 130gr VLD's in mine and they have worked great usually leaving an exit wound the size of a golf ball or a bit larger, until this year I had a couple bucks not die quickly the bullet wasn't expanding just penciling.

Love that rifle. I ended up buying a 21" Fieldcraft in 6mm Creed since I already have a custom 6.5 and a Ruger American Predator. I'm very impressed with the accuracy, it shoots the Precision Hunter 103gr ELD-X under 1/2" @ 200yds. I know you haven't had much luck with the ELD-X.

Damn nice deer!!!

Very nice!

Wonderful buck!

I had no idea they rutted that late down there.

I've never hunt deer in the deep south other than near Augusta, GA and they were rutting in mid to late November

Very nice buck, Jay. Might have to try hunting down there someday

Wow. Nice buck!

Thanks guys. Been away hunting so I've gotten behind on the thread....




Hey Jeff, we're doing great. Kids are growing to fast and keeping us busy all the time. Hope you and your family are doing well. We gotta get together sometime. I saw the buck you nailed a little while back. NICE!

I'm liking the 129 ablr but I've only used it at 125 and less on 4 deer so far. If you'd like to try the 129's let me know and I'll send you a box or partial box of them so you can play with them.

I've got a 6 CM Seekins Havok that I've been shooting the 108 eldm facroty load in and it's so accurate it's scary. I think the 6 cm in the Fieldcraft will be a great combo. I picked up some 103 x's to reload in the brass.....may use them a bit on coyotes but it will be next year before I get to try them on deer.



It's a very late drawn out rut and varies across the state. A couple of years ago they extended the season from the end of January until about a week and a half into Feb because of how late the rut can be. I've seen bucks in March that still had their horns.




Hey Jason, good to see you posting. Let me know when you're going to take a trip down to hunt!

I have a brother that lives near Montgomery. I really need him to join a club down there that has guest/family privledges...

Yes sir.

The area I hunt allows guests/family to hunt.....up until January, then it's members only.

There are a lot of WMA's across the state that have good hunting. If a person is willing to travel to different ones and times it correctly he can be hunting in or very close to the rut almost the whole season. The down side of WMA's are dealing with public hunting.

I may just have to give it ago some January. Pickings are very slim around here that time of year. Hard for him to justify a membership, I guess, as he's a football and wrestling coach. Takes up a lot of weekends doing that...

Always interested in hunting in new places, "success" being measured in the amount of fun.

Still loving the January rut.

I'd be lovin' it too!

Great buck, where are you hunting to have the rut this time of the year? Texas?

I've got one of those with the same scope on it. It looks like you got yours CeraKoted?

That's another beauty!

How many tags do you get down there?

I’m gonna hide a GPS tracker in his boot heel. Another stud down 👍

Nice 👍

Thanks guys!



That model came cerakoted from the factory. There were a couple of special run models, some 22" threaded cerakoted with either a black or green stock, some 24" non-threaded cerakoted with green stock, some 24" non-cerakoted and non-threaded with gray stock, maybe a couple more. I used it on both bucks pictured as well as the one below from GA. I carry a lot of rifles but that one's my favorite....it also seems to be the luckiest.




Northeast AL. I'm really fortunate to hunt a place in GA with a mid/late Nov rut, my home/farm in AL with a mid/late Dec rut, and place west an hour west of my home that has a January rut.



3 buck tags in AL, pretty much unlimited doe tags. AL rifle season runs from mid-November through early February. I have one more buck in AL right now. It will need to be a solid older buck (or something that should be culled) before I'll shoot another.

I also hunt GA and it's 2 bucks...I think 12 does but I'd have to double check on that number. GA rifle season runs from mid-October to early January. The one below was taken during the area I hunt in GA's mid/late Nov rut this year.....lucky Fieldcraft again.






Make sure it's waterproof! Getting a lot of rain right now so the run-offs on the mountainside will be rolling today. May be getting this rare thing called snow!

Time to get going....today is going to be a still hunting day...raining, windy, and cold (at least for here). Tomorrow is going to be colder and less rain/snow so it may be a really good day.

Great bucks.

The rut here in MS has been hit and miss.

I’m sure the hot weather played a part in that.

Or the deer have a Monday - Friday rut schedule. 😂😂

Dang....nice. While most deer hunters are home and warm you're out there getting it done.

Congrats on your AL/GA Bucks. Very Nice.

January definitely agrees with you. Congrats!

Better than good group of Bucks you have there...Well done!!!!

Nice buck Jay!

Congrats! That GA buck is a stud!!!

Daaaaaayum!

Beautiful buck!

Nice buck!

Was quite surprised to see 3 bucks chasing a doe across my hay field this morning before the snow hit. A little late, but perked me up for prospects for next year.

Very nice, congrats

Very nice! Congrats!

Great buck!

Nice to see those January rut bucks, congratulations.

Congrats on that rut buck.

Nice mountain buck, congrats

Very nicely done!

Thanks guys.

The last AL Jan rut buck is probably the heaviest deer I've killed. Rack is ok but for around here his body was big. Of course body size is smaller in the south, these are all running mountains, and in the rut. That one was 200 lbs with it's head still on the ground....it was at the top of the pulley in the skinning shed with no more height left to raise. He's a big boy for around here. When I started dragging him I knew he was heavy....when I stopped dragging I was pretty sure he was 300+...grin...

Nice , I’m heading up to Greenville tomorrow for 16 days of Alabama rut hunting. They haven't started yet in our area. Anytime between now and First week of Feb.

Had young bucks grunting and chasing does around my stands three times over the last week. Lots of running or trotting tracks on and across our camp roads too. This is the first year I’ve personally heard a snort-wheeze and I’ve heard it twice.

Had young bucks grunting and chasing does around my stands three times over the last week. Lots of running or trotting tracks on and across our camp roads too. This is the first year I’ve personally heard a snort-wheeze and I’ve heard it twice.

Oops. Double post. Sorry.

Congrats. I am guessing you are in the South. The bucks in my area have already shed their antlers.

I swear I shot that things identical twin brother. Looking at the euro mount now.


Of course mine was probably just a little bigger ..........lol



Congrats - as much for still being out there as for actually getting that bad boy.

Nice job Jay. That's a beauty of a buck

Another good one Jay.

Congrats buddy

I got there on the 19th got hunting right after a two day rain. Got cold and the rut was on. It was real good for about five days then it got slow. I shot two bucks that first week one was a big deer with one two foot long antler big around as a baseball bat with 3 points and one two inch spike on the other side. Older deer. The other was about 3 1/2 year old 8 point. Nice deer but sort of wish he had another year. Muddy as heck. I got red clay on everything I had with me. Great time.

Good deal Boarmaster123, especially on the older buck. Glad you enjoyed your time in 'bama!

It's a drawn out rut in our area because of the poor buck/doe ratio. Not as intense as it should be and a lot longer than it should be. Colder days do make things get kicking a bit.

I've seen several younger bucks over the past couple of weeks but nothing I wanted to take. I'll hunt the evenings of the 9th and 10th of this week then it's over....and I'm glad. I've been going since mid-October in GA and I'm beat down.

Thats about the same on our lease. We likely need to take about twice as many does as we do. For about five days it was crazy then shut down. I would see a few small bucks a day and no does. I left Sunday but the guys still up there started reported seeing more does Saturday evening thru today. But no bigger bucks. I hated to come home but after 16 days I needed to get back. Honestly I could stay in Alabama from Nov thru Feb 10th if I could.
One things for sure there you want to be weatherproof head to toe and equipment as well. Its something to see water pour thru them drains like rivers. But man what a mess I got to clean up.

Yeah, it seems to rain more than it's dry during hunting season. I picked up one of the following on sale this year and I got a lot of use out of it. I wasn't sure if I'd like the extra length or not. It can be folded and buttoned to make it shorter, but I used it extended the entire season. Really good piece of raingear.

https://www.eurooptic.com/Sitka-Open-Country-Kodiak-Jacket-Optifade-Open-Country-50208-OB.aspx

congrats buddy!

Must be one O dem southern states, Bucks here in Mn are dropping horns for a week or so already.

Very nice buck!

Thanks guys. Yep, it's southern.

Hunted yesterday evening until the last minute of the season. I'm sad to see it end but also relieved.....hunting as much as I can for almost 4 months from mi-Oct to now in Feb takes it toil. Kinda like a buck in rut....I've lost 15lbs, a lot of sleep, and only get about 1/2 as many workouts per week in.

Like I say”another one in the books”. It will be a long summer. I an thinking about heading up to AL once before the foliage comes back in to scout around a bit. The place sure looks different in October and November than it does in late January.

Dang if that's an regular 'ol buck to you, your hunting in a super area !

Congrats !