The cartoon “George of the Jungle” had a theme song that contained the phrase “Look out for that tree.”  Drivers had better heed the idea “look out for that deer” right now.

    Bucks are in full rut, chasing does with abandon, paying no attention to their safety, or yours.  They will run out in front of cars, as will the does they are chasing, without a warning.  A friend on Facebook posted about seeing 16 dead deer in 30 miles on a highway not far from here.

    Bucks also do no pay as much attention to hunters as normal. A usually wily buck that feeds only at night and hides in thick cover during the day will be out roaming looking for and chasing does all day.  The rut is the best time to kill a big buck.

     I was out at Jack Ridgeway’s house, getting a tire replaced on my boat trailer last week, when Keith Duncan drove up. He had a massive eight-point rack in his truck from a buck he had killed.  The pages and website of Georgia Outdoor Magazine are full of pictures of trophy bucks killed in the past couple of weeks.

    So many deer have been killed in the past couple of weeks that every deer cooler in this area was full last weekend. None of them could take any more deer to process until they worked through some of what they had, preparing delicious venison for hunters’ freezers.  

    The good news for drivers, and bad news for hunters, is the main rut is about over.  Activity will decrease rapidly in the next few days and both drivers and deer will be safer. So, if you want a big buck you better get in the woods fast.