RE: Experienced rut hunters.....questions...
I think your questions are not easily answered as generalities. What is going on visibly is gonna vary state to state, and heck, even county by county. It is often the case that I have buddies and staff members just a few counties away that are seeing very different things in November. Fact is though, that year after year here in MO, the mean breeding date is Nov 15.
I also can tell you from about 15 years experience that what I see in North MO will be happening about one week later where I hunt in southern IL.
I saw a definite shooter last Friday on his feet coming right to me at 3:30 in the pm, while my bow and pack still lay on the ground...(whole nother story there). Last sat morning, one of our team shot a 140 buck and saw 2 other shooterson the movewith the last being around 10 am.
Yesterday, one of our guys shot a nice 130 8 pt at 3:00 chasing 4 does with temps around 75 degrees and mosquitoes unreal.
So...again, hard to give definite answers, LOL. I know if it is at least cool, from here on out, it is all day for me. This will be especially true starting about next Tues thru Sunday as the moon moves towards and is full.