I had a similar experience as @retrieverman this morning. I had high hopes, but I saw 2 nubbin bucks while on stand, and jumped 2 does and 2 young bucks while checking a pasture for tracks. I was shocked at how few tracks were in my general area. I saw four last night, all very young. Trail cams seem to mirror my hunt observations. Not sure where I’m going tonight, but it won’t be where I’ve been going.
I have been to three blinds/stands in an hour. Wind is too brutal so am just parking deep in the woods in a blind.
Lots of does but only 1 fork horn buck. Was holding off for a buck but a doe is an option tonight - trying a new ground blind. Wind does need to die down some.
It was bright last night, and by the number of tracks I saw in the snow this morning, the deer took advantage of the natural night light.
It was pretty nippy sitting in the tripod this evening only to see 7 does and a 3 point. I’m waffling on whether or not I’m going in the morning, because if the temperature difference between the forecasted and what it is on the river holds true, I’ll be sitting in single digits. I don’t really have clothes for that kind of weather and am really just not that mad at a deer.
I hunted for a couple of hours this morning with only seeing a few does. I went back out this afternoon without much better luck. I did get to watch two young six point bucks fighting. It was worth it just getting to watch them go after each other. I was hoping that it would bring out the big boy, but he was a no show. With the moon, he’ll probably be out cruising around tonight.
I think I almost hit a deer on my way to a doe hunt. I heard a weird noise while driving and saw in my side view mirror a deer doing a u-turn in the highway. I stopped and look and didn't see any damage but was a pretty close call.
Had deer all over the fields starting at 1pm this afternoon. The full moon is definitely causing this low morning movement.
I had to go to another location to fix a feeder around 11 am today. I noticed no deer coming to it, so figured something was wrong. Hope I corrected it. Tested it a couple times with success. An hour after leaving it, there was a spike buck feeding from it. Doesn't take them long to find it.
On the 1/2 mile ride out of there on the 4 wheeler, I saw coyote tracks along the waterway, then the tracks heading out into the wheat field where there was a mess of tracks and torn up snow. Have to speculate it flushed something out of the waterway, into the wheat field and had a party chasing it around. That was in three different locations.
I had to go to another location to fix a feeder around 11 am today. I noticed no deer coming to it, so figured something was wrong. Hope I corrected it. Tested it a couple times with success. An hour after leaving it, there was a spike buck feeding from it. Doesn't take them long to find it.
On the 1/2 mile ride out of there on the 4 wheeler, I saw coyote tracks along the waterway, then the tracks heading out into the wheat field where there was a mess of tracks and torn up snow. Have to speculate it flushed something out of the waterway, into the wheat field and had a party chasing it around. That was in three different locations.
Reconyx recently improved their AI image tagging. This graph is for my large gravity feeder. It shows that in the last week daylight deer only come at about 8:15. I think it’s the same doe and “baby”. This is the same feeder that often had 8 deer around it in mid-September. What the heck happened (acorns, rut, switched from protein to corn because that’s all I could get for/from my nice neighbor who filled it for me)? I’m never dumping another bag of corn in it! Bought 31, 50 lb bags of 20% protein this week. I was surprised how empty it was as camera activity plummeted after switching to corn. I’ll be waiting for them in the AM. I do not want to get “skunked”.
