Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency biologist Ben Layton - formerly the state's deer project coordinator before going to the Region 3 office - backs up what Adams and others say about the rut in Tennessee being an ongoing affair. One reason for that is the bucks are ready to find some does but the does aren't quite there yet. "Every year we see that certain areas are rutting and others are not," he said. Adams counters that's not necessarily the case. So maybe the state's rut does turn off and then turn off at about the same time weather you're hunting in West Knoxville or West Tennessee. "It should be the best weekend for movement of the whole season." "I'm going to Wayne County this afternoon," he said Thursday. For years Powell's Terry Lewis has been on a lease in Wayne County and will be there this weekend. "If you asked me if they are rutting right now I would say yes, they definitely are."īut Tennessee's a long state and what may be true in East Tennessee isn't necessarily true in West Tennessee. "We started hearing reports of it getting hot the week after the juvenile hunt," Adams said.
Cutting up about 3,000 deer a year means there's a lot of opportunity to hear the tales of hunters and see the bucks that are brought in.įor the past two weeks he's being seeing a lot of bucks with swollen necks and darkened tarsal glands and talked to a lot of hunters that shot a deer while it was courting. There are few people in the state who see more deer or talk to more deer hunters than J.O. In Tennessee things aren't quite so specific.
In some states - Illinois and Ohio for example - the rut appears to be a "hard rut." For two or three weeks the big bucks go doe crazy and make themselves nice trophy-sized targets for hunters. Others say the rut is a moving target and you're just as likely to see bucks chasing does right before Christmas as you are right before Thanksgiving.Ĭonsensus? The people are just about as evenly split on when the rut is happening in Tennessee as they were during the election last Tuesday. Some say the rut will be on and the bucks will be moving. Depending on who you talk to this is either the best week to be deer hunting in Tennessee or it's like any other week of deer hunting in Tennessee.