What the heck is happening to all the deer. We have 17 hunters on our lease and not one deer was shot opening weekend. I shot 3 pigs Monday and took them to Rust for processing. I asked the gal that owns the place if they had a good opening weekend. She said that is was the worst opening they have has since 1996 when they bought the place. The worst before this year was 200 deer. This year brought them 120 deer. In fact, they give out caps to the 1st 120 with there company name and logo and I got one on Monday afternoon. I'm at a lose here. Is there a reasonable answer to what's goin on in this part of Texas?

Drought and over hunting?? Don't hunt there so
I don't know, but I read all the time about the nocturnal eastland county deer

The drought has been really bad, but you can go to places like Aspermont and there about with the same drought conditions and they are swatting them like flies. They are only 60 miles from us.

Acorns,acorns, acorns.....moon phase wasn't the best either.

And strong wind. I'm not settled in with these reasons. I'm not saying that anyone here is wrong. It just seems like something ain't right

Lack of deer? Do you still find tracks, trails or any other sign? Maybe they just aren't there?

Lots of tracks and trails around our place in Northern Eastland county, nothing but smalls and running does this weekend. Looks like the bucks are still nocturnal right now, but the second or third weekend has always been the most productive for us.

Of course, it's never been a petting zoo, and some years are better than others. This may just end up being one of the dry years.

Few tracks or any other sign as far as that goes. Just a few years ago is see deer EVERY time I went out. Now I get skunked most times I go out. Camera shows most activity at night, but even it's very little at best.

lot of small leases that direction with guys that just have to shoot a deer, that will thin out the population pretty quick.

I live in NE Eastland County, my brother 3 miles away is in Stephens County. We both have feeders and cams and both places the deer are almost entirely nocturnal. He has pigs and I don't. There is a very heavy crop of acorns. There is plenty of deer sign, especially after a rain like yesterday. I'll check for fresh tracks on several trails this morning.
The deer aren't gone or shot out. The regular bucks I see on camera have survived so far.

Tye is spot on as far as I'm concerned.
I hunted my bow stand in front of a corn feeder last Friday evening and saw nothing.
As I was leaving at dark the deer were out in the middle of a 25 acre coastal field eating acorns under an oak tree.
I assume the coastal has been fertilized well and the few oak trees in the field have better tasting acorns than the ones in the thick brush where I'm hunting.

But if you aren't seeing any tracks, that's not a good sign.

I've had the ranch here in southern Stephens county since 1998. Our fawn numbers have been way down the past 3 years. Saw 9 Does the other day and not one had a fawn. By my numbers our fawn crop last year was 15-20%. About the same this year. Deer numbers are just low due to the drought. I live on the ranch and watch all year long. That is my take on things.

Agree Stompy about the low fawn count. Three does I was watching on trail cam in May-June were obviously pregnant. I still see the same 3 does but none has a fawn. I only saw 2 fawns across three family properties and both of those were crossing a road. All those properties are occupied full time. Drought has really been bad, although I've gotten 2.7" in the last 24 hours.

We Hunt Northern Stephens Co. and We are having the same Problems!! ACORNS, WIND & MOON!! They quit hitting the feeders back in mid Oct., About the same time I started seeing all the Acorns dropping on the parking lots here in town!! Don't give up!! Hunting will get better when we get a Good Freeze and this Rain will help "Sour" those Acorns. Hopefully soon things will get back to Normal.



SK

Always glad to see an Eastland/Stephens related post.

We're on about 850 acres 4 miles north of the Eastland county line in Stephens and also use the Rust plant. I wouldn't say we're overrun with deer, but there are some. I've seen some kind of buck the last 3 times i've hunted, non were shooters though. But, non of them came to the feeder and wouldn't have been caught on camera, i had to be watching real close as they were gone quickly. They are all very weary and walking around in the brush around the feeder. The few mature bucks are going to be a real challenge to get on and we will have to hunt hard.

The 2 groups of 4 doe are on camera's and i think only one still has a fawn in tow.

What i will say is we have Zero acorns. For some reason, we were in a 4 mile wide Bermuda triangle for rain this year. Every time a storm hit the area it was either a mile or two north or south, but never on us. We finally got a bit of late rain and the place is greening up a little.

Opening weekend, i heard 1 shot in the local area. Last year I probably heard 6 or so. That said, our neighbors land opposite is for sale and the current leasee's have been sent packing which is nice because they were shooting young deer.

I've come to the conclusion that its just an average place to hunt and i'd rather have the convenience of a 2 hour drive from DFW than a 5 hour drive for better deer. Getting some serious rain for next year would definitely help though!

Good luck and keep these Eastland Stephens posts coming. We've probably sat right next to eachother in Mary's at some point and not realized it, i'm sure!

It was a slow opener for us in SW Stephens County, as well. A good acorn crop, bright moon and high winds this weekend made for difficult hunting. Saw 2 deer in 4 hunts. The other guys on the lease experienced a similar lack of deer activity. The extended drought is probably a factor, too. Game cams show a few decent bucks, very few does and all photos are at night. As the moon phase gets better things may pick up a bit, but I think it'll be relatively slow until we get a hard freeze or the acorns turn bad.

I appreciate all the input. I still see very little tracks, but I also don't spend my season trooping my area. I guess I'm just use to visually seeing more deer. The mesquite trees are thick and will loose their foliage soon. Maybe I'm just not looking good enough.

I'm on CR125 area in Stephens County and the deer left in the 2nd week of October. Rain should help,the tanks are very dry. Got to get them on the move because they are avoiding the feeders. Happy Hunting!!

Anyone seeing Bucks chasing does around??

I went out tonight, saw more deer during one hunt than I'd ever seen. One 8pt that was probably 11-12", a doe with two yearlings, a spike, another doe, then watched that last doe quickly get chased into the brush by a buck that I didn't get a real good look at. This was after going out last night and not seeing a single deer. Oh, and all but one were away from the feeder, the spike was hitting thrown corn, the last doe was munching on my food plot. All of them, save the doe with the yearlings, came in from different directions. I don't know if tonight's success was because I rode in on my dad's electric golf cart and walked the last couple hundred yards vs. riding the four wheeler to the same spot and walking. Guess we'll see this weekend.

I tried the grunt call towards the buck that was chasing the doe, but no dice. I'd say the rut is at least getting started.

So, while none of them were shooters for me, it was great to see the activity.

I don't hunt Eastland or Stephens, but I do know that after opening weekend I saw NADA. It'll change. The thing is, the bucks are cruising right now and not stopping at feeders. Don't be snoozing in the blind. Remain on point. A chitty season can turn into a great one within 5 seconds. This is what I've seen.

I am in Stephens County as well, I think this weekend the weather/moon had a lot to do with it. I set in stand late September and had over 30 deer in the road eating so I am pretty sure its not the number on our place, but this week when we hunted we were only seeing a few deer at the best stand, and where I set I saw 1-2 deer each set except Tue evening when the rain let up a little I saw 12.

Tough start to opening weekend when the weather has 40 degree change in less than a week and then it rains and wind blew pretty hard for the first time in over a month, to top that off with we had ful moon and acorns!

Hang in there its a long season and they still have lots of green to eat plus acorns, acorns should have taken a turn to the sour side with all the rain so I am expecting activity to pick back up soon!

I bought a small amount of land (10 acres)in Eastland county last month and I have seen alot of activity on camera both bucks and does still at the feeders as of Sunday and srill night time for the most part a few during the day.I am going back out there Thursday maybe there wont be so much wind.

I've got probably 23 hunts in at my place so far this season, haven't seen much of anything at all. More nights of nada than ones where I even just have one or two to look at. One of the other guys saw a nice shooter one morning, couldn't get a good shot, probably won't see him again. Tried the rattles, calls, tinks... nothing.

Getting frustrated, decided to call it early and head back to town.

Any of you Stephens county hunters had much luck yet? I've probably sat 12 times this season and seen 2 doe, 1 spike and 1 snall 7pt. Sittng 4 hours at a time morning and night.

We have 5 guys on 850 acres and the other guys are seeing nothing. There's tracks all over, young deer and does on cam's, maybe 1 mature deer on camera.

Just hoping we might get some late action with the second rut. Expecting it to kick in 10-14 days.

We have a place just NW of Cisco. We have four hunters. I have hunted all but two weekends so far and I am the only person on the entire property that has been seeing any deer activity. Two of the three others have yet to see a single deer. The third hunter has seen one deer all season. Of the deer I am seeing only two have come to a feeder. I think we have three problems. First, the heavy acorn crop has the deer not moving far to and from bedding areas (we have a lot of oaks and a creek bottom that has held water the whole season). Second, our neighbors that own a 40 acre parcel of land within the property literally shoot every deer they see. They have killed two bucks this year that I had on my camera that were maybe three year olds with great potential. Third, our hog population is absolutely ridiculous. No matter how many we kill the population gets bigger. I have pictures with upwards of 40 hogs at a feeder at once. We also may have a poaching problem. We have a vehicle on game cam that does not belong to anyone on the property, and we have found two dead deer carcasses.