I recently read an article in the little rule book that is free at walmart. This article says says that the game dept. did a sample harvest of pregnant does and apparently through autopsy determined the date they were bred. This study showed that these does were bred between the middle of Dec. through the middle of Jan. So I guess this is the peak according to the game dept.The herd in AL was transplanted from all over and apparently the descendants of these transplanted deer breed around the time their ancestors did. I've personally seen bucks chasing does from opening day to the last day of the season. So I try to be in the woods every day I can because you never know when HE will walk out.