OK opinions , Whats up?

[growalot]

I have 3 cams that are getting literally hundreds of pics ...non stop, late afternoon through early morning(daylight) same small buck and dozens of doe and fawn..Hey I'm losing the food here with the winds...apples are thinning and oaks won't last much longer.. The 8pt came up out of the swamp on the lower section of property...I did see one new rub ..but with all these doe why no buck? They are leaving their scent all over the place..They are coming in from all directions..I have rotated spots and zones to avoid over doing it and really, I haven't been out too many times considering how I normally hunt...have, as today, avoided bad winds....All  farmers corn is still standing no Ag beans closer than 3 miles..BTW  they wiped out all my standing in the garden...

Now remember, I could understand this if the doe were doing what they've done the last 2 years...but they are out in day light ,so far, and here in way bigger numbers.

Any thoughts? Headed out to finish pulling garden trellises and tilling ground for next season...

[moog5050]

Grow

my honest opinion is that this warm weather has slowed things down.  The does are there.  The bucks will be too.  Give it a few weeks. 

[rob-c]

As moog said the heat ,plus the bucks are hanging in the corn, think about it - cover and  food all in one. 

[mowin]

Wait till the rut gets closer. He'll change is patterns.  I'd still hurt the wind, and  keep changing stands. You never know when he might show.  Can't kill em from the living room.  

[stubborn1VT]

I have a spot with clover/chicory in one plot, brassicas in another, as well as over a dozen mature apple trees.  Deer are in there every single day, sometimes all day.  6 does/fawns, a button buck & a spike.  Not a single picture of a legal buck.  I won't worry about it for another couple weeks.  It wasn't quite as bad last year, but similar.   Shot a decent 8 point with a sticker on October 27th.  It's just a waiting game, I hope.

[rob-c]

16 minutes ago, mowin said:

Wait till the rut gets closer. He'll change is patterns.  I'd still hurt the wind, and  keep changing stands. You never know when he might show.  Can't kill em from the living room.  

I agree 100% that you can’t kill them from the couch, but going and hunting when the deer are not moving and burning out your hunting grounds also is not wise. 

[stubborn1VT]

Yeah.  I never hunt my good spots until the weather and wind are right.  I only go into my honeyhole spots to check cameras.  I wait until I see a shooter on my cam, or when there are active scrapes.

[land 1]

well i noticed on my camera i have no good bucks if the temps is much above 50 degrees during day and all around deer movement goes way  down...and i was shocked this week i got two cameras on 90 acres my dad saw 3 small bucks and the way he described them i have no photos of them cameras have been out since at least july. and my  decent bucks ill get on camera for 3 or 4 days then nothing for 3 or 4 days... and i feel its alil early for the big guys to be paying  attention to does yet

[philoshop]

I like to keep in mind that until just a few years ago, today would have been the archery opener. Even then I rarely started hunting hard anywhere until the last week of October. The first 3 weeks of October are a transition time for bucks between summer and the rut. Trying to hunt that transition is usually an exercise in frustration, and spending three weeks doing it can cause very early burnout and a negative attitude.

[NFA-ADK]

I agree that it is early.  Don't burn yourself out, 2 more weeks and things will really kick off. 

[ATbuckhunter]

We have a whole lot of season still left! Id bet that its going to get better soon with all those doe around

[thphtm]

The end of this week things will start to pick up.

[BizCT]

9/15 should be opening day!

[philoshop]

17 minutes ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

9/15 should be opening day!

Actually Biz, 9/15 would probably work better because the bucks wouldn't quite be in transition mode yet, and they would still be working summer patterns, which are way easier to decipher than early rut patterns. Then again, they'd have velvety racks and relatively skinny necks which don't mount well.

[growalot]

All great points guys...Though if the wind(NW) is right and with there being rain tonight...no getting up and leaving late tomorrow morning... The head lamp goes on and I take a 3/4mile walk down to the swamp stand. The last time I said I'm going to the swamp and shoot a buck ...I did...but I'm feeling a bit jinxy  today so I'll be happy with a doe...seeing I'll be home alone...lol

Seeing I had the DR out anyways I Dr'd a few short trails to 5 stands and 3 ground blinds up here around the garden/plot area and to the new ridge stand...not as good as the leaf blower but OK for now...Maybe Mondays weather will loosen some of these leafs...wind helped a little

Edited October 15, 2017 by growalot

[mowin]

4 hours ago, rob-c said:

I agree 100% that you can’t kill them from the couch, but going and hunting when the deer are not moving and burning out your hunting grounds also is not wise. 

I agree 100%. That's why I said keep hunting with the wind, meaning don't hunt a stand if the winds wrong. That and keep changing stands as not to burn out one spot. 

 

Killed many nice bucks early in the season when deer we're supposedly not moving. 

[gfdeputy2]

On 10/15/2017 at 1:36 PM, philoshop said:

Actually Biz, 9/15 would probably work better because the bucks wouldn't quite be in transition mode yet, and they would still be working summer patterns, which are way easier to decipher than early rut patterns. Then again, they'd have velvety racks and relatively skinny necks which don't mount well.

9/15 is when we start in NH but was unusually warm this year till end of Sept we were in high 70's to 80's

Oct still in 60's - 70's until yesterday we dropped to the 50's but back into 70's end of the week

[growalot]

I can tell you one thing...I have checked the farmers corn...Stuff the deer have pull down... he needs to get up here and chop!!!!...lol

[Iluvracks1359]

I agree with many others the heat has def slowed things down, i saw a 4 pointer actively chasing 3 doe on Monday, so things are starting to pick up. If you have does, your buck is going to be there soon. Hold tight and be patient, I'm giving you the advice many others have given me in the last two weeks, haha.

[outdoorstom]

I've had no big buck sightings on my 3 cameras all year.....very unusual.  I'm confident I'll see some cruisers once we get into the rut since I've got lots of does.

[Robhuntandfish]

this time of year from the opener I just work on putting in a doe or two in the freezer.   I hunt a lot of field edges in the evenings and look to stock my venison supply really dont expect much for buck activity til after this weekend.  Usually from oct 25 to gun season.  

[growalot]

Same here but I usually at least see little guys..also really every year I have at least one basket 6 that finds me at every set, Not finds but shows up, like it's following me..I have over 40 different sets I can change to.I rarely get to them all each year.  This year with the corn still up and my planting manly for Turkey things. Have changed...That and Apple's ans acorns galore..