buckshot...First off, Welcome to the Forum!!!
They're plenty on here from NC...
Now, it really depends on how you define the rut...Actual breeding depends on the does coming into heat which occurs about 5 1/2 months after the fawn drop in the spring...This happens a couple of weeks earlier in eastern NC than it does in the Piedmont simply because their winters are milder and spring comes a bit earlier so the fawn drop is a couple of weeks earlier...
The pre-rut as you know is when we all see bucks crusing during the middle of the day, more road kills, more bucks chasing does and responding to agressive grunt calls...From what I've seen over the past 40 years this starts about mid-October depending on the weather down east and the last week in October or the first week in November here in the Piedmont...
If you are thinking about taking vacation for the hottest time then I'd go with the last week in October until Thanksgiving week...That's the hot time to be in the woods...
Good Luck...