Yes, I hunt on a Wilson Hodge ranch. We all had our fill of hunting in the rain this year. It's weird how some deer are addicted to corn and some just walk right by it. We did alright overall. Whereabouts are you hunting?

We are about 7 miles Southeast from the Wilson Hodge headquarters. We hunt on part of their ranch as well. This was our 4th season there. Had a couple of guys down there during all that rain. The weather this year made it a weird year for sure.

The deer definitely weren't interested in the corn this year. The ground looked like a green carpet. It was totally covered by 1-2 inch forbes. Even after the freezes we had. I was certain that the Temps would kill all the forbes, but boy was I wrong. We ended up taking a broken up 8 pointer and a doe. Not the best for us.

Count your blessings about the forbs. Almost total protein for them. That type of forage will get your bucks back on their feet after the rut and give a good/great head start to the embryos. The longer they last the better off you will be next season and in the coming years because fawn survival rates should go up.

I certainly agree with you guys. It was a good year for the deer, not so good for those of us that were hunting them.

I'm starting to notice some patterns on our place. We have a good mix of canyons and flat high ground. I always get a lot of good bucks on camera during the warmer months in the canyons and they vacate the area during the winter. It's like a complete switch to high ground and we see more deer overall on our grassy flats up top during deer season.

I'm guessing it's because of the temperature difference. I have noticed it can be considerably cooler in the canyons.

Any of y'all have any thoughts on this?

I don't notice the same pattern on our place. They seem to stay around the same place all year. Of course the exceptions are the top end bucks that just disappear entirely.

I see feeder pens in your pictures. How tall are they? do they keep the goats out?

One thing my brother and I do is put game cameras at the water troughs in August and September. They might not come to a feeder but they will go to water if it does not rain for a while.

Most of the pens are 36". I have some that were 48" and we cut them down to 40". I like the 40" ones better. 4 inches actually makes a difference. They do a decent job of keeping goats out if you have them braced pretty good. They push them over and get in if they have flex in them. We doubled up on t-posts with all of our pens this summer because goats were pushing them over.

My take on this was always that the canyons on places I guided always held more water, in wet years, for longer periods of time, than surrounding elevated "flat" areas. Deer are like humans, they do not want to expend any more energy than is absolutely necessary for food or drink. If everything they need is right there in the bedroom they really have no reason to leave. The only time that goes out the window, especially for bucks, is during the rut when food and drink are not the number one priority.

Yep, stacking a good year on good years,weather wise will pay dividends eventually.

Headed down tomorrow, and I just realized that a few of us hunt of blue hills road. Blindcowboy we share a fenceline

Hadn't been on the forum in a while and just saw this. We're down here now filling feeders and things are looking good.

this

Which fence line (out of curiosity—I'm blindcowboy's wife, btw)?

It was incredibly green out there this weekend, which isn't a bad thing.

We just had from 4-5" of rain in the area around Lake Amistad last weekend. it will take us into June now.

Excellent, and the weatherman is predicting more. Keep it coming!

Just got back last night. Green stuff everywhere, must of had one hell of a rain event because it cleared all the rocks out of our ravines. We should be set going into summer.

Here you go.

For you Val Verde County hunters; I just made a trip down to Del Rio yesterday via 277. Not much sign of rain from Sonora down to the Edwards/Val Verde county line but south of there, the Dry Devils River was flowing and every canyon had water running in it. There was still some light rain when I came back last night up until the southern cut-off to Rock Springs. More rain was expected today.

I am headed out in 2 weeks and will report back then

Valhunter, cb09 has some monsters!

Anyone get that bad hail storm that came through northern VV around the beginning of May? Some guys on our place had a camper totaled and there were reports of baseball sized hail.

I have not heard anything about that. I do know, however, that it rained about 6 inches at our place over the course of May 27-31.

Deer are going to be super healthy and I bet we have another hellacious acorn crop this year.

Let's hope it doesn't stay warm through December again. I like healthy deer, but I sure would like to see them!

I live in Del Rio and rain was hit and miss as usual. We hunt just below the lake east of the loop off Hamilton Lane and we had a total approaching 5", it is dry dry dry now.

Yep, this is a good time NOT to be at the land! 100 degrees but feels like 110.....

Well some of my hunters will be at our camp this week, and we will most likely set a few trail cameras. A little earlier than normal, but I figured it wouldn't hurt anything. I'm really anxious to see how these guys are going to look this year:

Hard to see, but the last one is a super young 12 point that several of us saw on the hoof last year.









Any of you guys have any you're looking forward to seeing this year? I always like seeing progression pictures from one year to the next.