AE,We do have a trickle rut down here in SE coastal ga.It is nothing like north ga or other states like Illinois,or Missouri have.They start in late Sept,with the first peak being in Mid-October..during bow season.We find scrapes all season..I just found a fresh scrape 2 days ago,but I found my first pawing around sept 15th this year.Trickle ruts are not as fun to hunt as what ya'll have.We actually have around4 ruts.The strongest ismid-Oct,and the 2nd rut in mid-Nov.Alot of people like to argue with me about this,because they see rutting in Nov.I am out there with a bow from sept 10th or so on..I see the first rut.It's when gun season comes inafter late Oct..and there are more hunters in the woods that they see the 2nd rut,and think it is the "main" rut.My Uncle shot a big 9pt On Dec 9th back in 96 that was chasing a doe.I have heard of other people seeing them chase does in Jan.So basically you could go out from Sept to Jan,and see a buck chasing a doe...and that means that the "rut" hunting isn't all that good.<---IMO.Our coastal deer are strange for sure.Here is a study Ft.Stewart has done...As you can see does have been found to of been bred as early as Sept.20th.They do their anual fetus check at christmas.I feel the fetus' are not developed enough at that time for them to see that the does could have been bred after Dec 1st.

[ul][*]AVERAGE PEAK OF RUT 2004-2005: [/ul]
The First major peak generallyoccurs within the 2nd and 3rdweek of October but was a week earlier in 2004-2005.