I need some advice from you guys that know better than I do. I'll be taking a week off to hunt sometime between now and the end of the season. My question is this; I hunt in Shackelford/Callahan county and we will no doubt be in full blown rut startign this coming weekend and the weather for the week of nov 15-20 looks colder than normal. with the balance of winter expected to be above normal would you...



1)hunt peak of the rut with below normal temps while having to fight the full moon?

or

2)wait til later in the season when acorns and natural browse are down and the deer are having to come into the fields for oats/wheat and are hitting feeders more knowing theres a good chance temsp will be above normal?



thanks in advance for your input.

Peak of rut is when the big mature bucks get careless and is by far the best time to kill a really nice deer in my area.

I hunted Shackleford County for a few years, but haven't in about a decade. Seems like we had most of our success at feeders late in the season.

If its meat you are after go late, if its a nice buck go during the rut.

I've been skunked on taking off for the rut but I still enjoyed the hunts.

when i was younger befor the wife and kids, i would quit my job and just hunt as much as i wanted! now that isnt a good idea but i still laugh about it every now and then!

Hunted just south of you this weekend did not see a mature buck come to wheat or corn rattled small deer in and have several pics of deer with broke main beams we struggled to even find does this weekend bucks are definately chasing hope this helps

No doubt the full rut. After that you face broken antlers and what not.

I hunt in knox county and tend to see mature bucks around the middle of november or beginning of december. Ill be there this weekend though.

I've hunted Shackelford county for 17 yrs now. As a whole, all of our 140+ deer have come between the 2nd and 3rd weekends of the season.
That being said, if i could, i would take off all of next week.
I'm ready for this weekend already...rain this thur/fri. they will be out running the girls.

I have also seen some good ones in mid December, but just not in recent years.