Personally, I'd rather hunt pre-rut when you can still pattern deer and bucks are following/chasing. Hunting the actual rut is an active period, but is a crap shoot as to where they are going to be.

I foget who said it but I hear it on TV. "Don't hunt where they are, hunt where they are going to be". Makes a lot of sense to me and knowing where they are going to be is tough during the rut.