Deer Activity

Anyone else have a lack of deer activity.

Only have one or two deer coming to feeder now.

Have a ton of birds in the morning and ten coons, a possum, a rabbit and a bunch of mice at night.

Going to deal with the coons but strange there are no deer hanging around.

In my area of South Texas it is very green with the winter rains we have had. Deer are chasing winter weeds and grasses right now. My food plots are getting ahead of the deer. My protein consumption is off 75-80% right now from what it was in October. I had to turn my corn feeders down and move the feeding to before daylight and at dark to keep the corn from piling up. TC pic numbers are down about the same as feed consumption. Mother Natures is better at feeding deer than we are. I trap coons year round so my numbers are always very low.

That does make sense.

I even see wild clover back there , never seen it before.

The birds and other critters are sure enjoying the daily feed.

Thanks

And I am LOVING it, keeps my Bill to Lyssy & Eckel down for at least another 6-9 weeks

For the last three years in my little spot in east Texas I don't see much activity during the deer season, then just after the season is over they start coming around.

Northern Brown county/southern Callahan county, next to no deer activity at, or away from feeders. Neighbors and friends report the same. Can no longer blame it on acorns, or other browse. Appears almost certain that overall deer numbers are way down in our neck of the woods. I have confirmed through trail cams, and personal observation (I am the owner and spend the majority of my time there), that I have 3 does, 2 yearlings, and 1 buck that spend the majority of their time on my little 300 plus acre place. Another handful that venture onto it. For the math challenged, that's a deer per 50 acres. Myself, and one neighbor that is of the same mindset as myself, have started making drastic changes to our philosophy for upcoming season. Prior to this last season I would kill one or two does for my brothers, no longer going to do that. Neighbor, and his family, did not kill a deer this season.

I've only got deer movement in one area consistently, at least according to the cameras. Tons of rescue grass and clover all around the area where they frequent. Oat fields are about 1-2 acres or so and don't have cameras set up there. Lots of tracks though. I do still have deer eating corn, just not as much. Hogs have vanished, at least for the time being. Turkey are coming around on a daily basis.

Haven't had a deer on camera at my protein feeder in 2 weeks! It's not very entertaining, but you got to know that Mother Nature is taking good care of em.

I have been watching deer grazing twigs, if you look at the low growth, you will see that most of it is starting to grow and some have many leaf buds. My plums even had a few flowers until this last freeze came through.

My oats look great, but getting a bit tall in areas, except for the mixed in clovers, those have been hit pretty hard, so I may be shredding of it ever drys out enough. Deer clean up the corn and protein out of the spincast feeder nearly every day, but I have it turned down to 3 seconds now. just starting to get more preferred browse starting IMO.

You're doing the right thing IMO. We don't have a high density either. No does have been killed on our 400 acres in 16 years. Not about to start now. Funny thing is just a few miles away I have a place I hunt that's covered in deer. The habitat looks identical.

Every property is different. It amazes me when people will just automatically assume that you need to start hammering does without having done a census count. Some people try to justify their killing doe without knowing chit from shinola about a place.

Lots of deer on the wheat in the pm..bucks are at the feeders..patterns have changed since the season is over..we saw more deer this past season than last year..all of the 3.5 yo bucks we pasted on made the season.If we can get some rain in the spring antlers should be outstanding.

One of my best friends, also in Brown county, has a 20 acre winter wheat field. In years past, it would be nothing to see a 100 plus deer in it, now he says he rarely sees a half dozen. The deer are concentrated along the Colorado river, Pecan bayou, and Jim Ned Creek. Every step you take away from those areas, the less deer you will have. Up to around three years ago I had 2 family groups of does that bedded on my place, each with 6-8 deer, counting fawns. I would also regularly see 15-20 different individual bucks over the course of a season, as they moved thru from surrounding areas during the rut. This past season I saw 6.

All the deer must have migrated to Mills county. Our numbers are up everywhere I travel in north central and western Mills. We pulled our spin feeders three weeks ago as we do each year but there is plenty of new winter grass/forbes and brush is budding. Deer are in excellent shape here going into Spring.