Deer are now HAMMERING my food plot, the same one that looked practically untouched just a few weeks ago. I told a good friend that it looks as if I had mowed it.

No question the added moisture we've gotten this year is paying off.

I suspect feeders are being hit hard now as well.

Good years for food plots typically mean good years for native food also. We have a couple acres planted that came up early and has had about 5 inches of rain on it growing great(oats and turnips) The deer haven't really paid it much mind with all the other goodies.

This is true.

Several good killing frosts appear to have left the browse shelves somewhat bare in our area of East Texas.

I have had great browse, a gazillon acorns and the deer have still kept my plot mowed like a golf course. The fertilizer has it growing great with recent rains. They hit my feeder a little, but have never seen deer just sit on one food source strictly all day (unless forced) They like to rummage it seems.

I was really dry with no acorns till November. My food plots did not start growing well till the past 10 days now. The deer were hammering feeders till the rains, now they have back off protein and not hitting corn till they graze into the feeder. They are hitting my oats/winter peas but they are spending more time chasing winter weeds which they prefer. Freeze won't kill the winter weeds and rescue grass. I have had one night with below freezing temps for a few hours that got some browse.

With more observation, time, and rain it is now apparent that the plot is growing well and the deer are keeping it mowed like a manicured yard. I stand corrected.

I would agree that right now is a good time for food plots in east TX. I would not characterize it as a good year for food plots, as they were largely ignored until the rest of the food sources went away starting 2-3 weeks ago.

Ours looked good till two weeks before the season , all the fields we planted looked like they where not even planted at all . Made us mad thats for sure all that work just went down the drain.

Checked our plots this weekend and the deer are hitting them pretty good it seems, but I put my cell camera in the one and haven't had a picture of anything in there save a couple turkey yesterday. Maybe the wheat isn't growing as fast or maybe they hit it soon after rain fall?

We did run a few deer out of my other food plot though, so I know they are hitting it. Plenty of chopped blades of wheat on both.

I put a cam on ours before I left also. Cant wait to see what its got on it!

I have a 4 acre food plot near waco. I always plant oats. This year I decided to plant 3 acres of oats ($11 a 50 pound bag) and one acre of Austrian winter peas, ($52 a 50 pound bag). The peas cost 5 times as much as the oats to plant. The deer are hitting the oats fairly good, but they are really hitting the winter peas. Some parts of the peas are just dirt now as they have eaten everything. They are eating my oats, but not nearly as much. Darn, it looks like next year I will plant 2 acres and 2 acres. I think my venison is now running around $1,000 a pound. lol.