ORIGINAL: timbercruiser
Strange how the original question of when is the rut in Alabama has strayed.
The time of the peak rut varies throughout the country and it doesn't seemthere is agreementwhy it does occur at a certain time. No given theory fits all deer peak rut times.
The rut occurs at a certain time everywhere, IMHO, when it allows the optimum timing for off spring to survive. As I stated in one of my earliest posts, evolution. In fact, dare I say[:'(], TR repeated much of what that post offered, which is par for the course.
In our neck of the woods, peak of the rut happens to be at, near, or during the second new moon after the fall equinox. There is simply no arguement to refute it. There was never an attempt to say, at least by me, that it was governed by moon cycle. It's simply the number of days that follow the equinox. Like JPIKE stated, the lack of minutes in a day starts the clock ticking.