Lots of variables involved determining what might of went wrong. First of all, better planning for more hunting days in the field.

I'm confused by your post, in that you talk as if your season is over, but it shouldn't be if your hunting MLD properties.

Does will not come to feeders much in wet years when there is plenty of browse. It's not worth the hassle they have to put up with from bucks.

It may be you are hunting places that receive alot of pressure. If so, by the time the end of the season rolls around the mature animals are much smarter about being hunted. I don't buy into the full moon wind scenario. Deer have to eat every day. My daughter and I just hunted this weekend. We saw plenty of bucks and does. But the ranch we hunt is lightly pressured. Many times the way a place is hunted will be a detriment to the hunting itself. Don't get out of your blind and assigned hunting areas mean lots of traffic going back and forth to blinds all season. How many hunters per acre are you hunting? Places being over hunted with too many hunters are often times still "managed".

How much did you check reference wise on the leases your hunting? It could be regardless of what way you hunt there is just not a balanced deer herd with mature animals that exists. This should be your starting point for a good deer lease.
Step two is disturb as little as possible. Scout your lease on Google earth before you ever walk it. Find the water and where the travel routes overlap from different directions, ideally all four; north, south east and west.

I started hunting a new pasture this year, 5600 acres. Just my brother and I. He lives out of state so it was up to me to determine a game plan for where are sets would be. I pretty much knew where I was going to place all six set locations before I stepped foot on the pasture. The sets have been very productive so far. I don't check cameras during the season and I buy feeders that hold alot of feed so I don't have to visit the sets regularly during the season. I put out cameras and check before the hunting starts. And will start again in the off season.

I place my blinds at least 200 yards away from the feeder. This puts the odds much more in my favor my scent won't be detected. I put alot of thought into how I approach and where I park for as little disturbance as possible in the deers every day routine. Also, I don't overhunt one stand. Hunting one stand over and over is a recipe for disaster IMO. The deer are going to pattern you no matter how hard you try to prevent it.

I agree with the bulk of this... I don't want to check cards, feeders, fill feeders, etc until we are headed out or at least thru with that feeder for a week or so. I'll swap SD cards, fill and adjust feeders, etc, and get out quickly. Check the cards at home and plan the next hunt.

As for the wind, all true for close in, and near elevation. In the Pease River bottoms, we have a lot of places with vast elevation changes, and mostly gun hunt at 1st of November, so wind/scent is negligible.

Noise and strange vehicles bother me, and I think the deer too.

I've read nothing but your title, so here goes. This season was more nonrelaxed for the bucks than I've seen in decades. I'd see oneeewait!!, nevemind!! It was another cracked out runner. Edgy bucks in wild free range settings for sure. Lots of unstable air masses and fluctuating temps and crazy weather. Hell the moon patterns were even worthless. May be evolution, who knows.

Too wet and too much natural foods. Hunting pressure from neighbors on low fence properties. Low deer population on property. Being patterned by the deer. All valid reasons for the poor season seems most have experienced.

Being able to hunt a new 5600 acre pasture would be much different than what I experience.

the two MLD properties i hunt sometimes shut down prior to the legal end of their permit due to other commitments on the property that are non-hunting related;

the blinds are set along routes (to drive to) that may seem to lend them to be overused, but the number of hunters is limited for each hunting period.
One property is 8900 acres with about 25-30 ground blinds (open for +10 years); the other is 11,000+ acres but has only been open 2 years or so with less than 10 blinds.

I'm sure hogs have run deer off some feeders as that's the only tracks i see after filling the feeder (at certain stands); a management plan for
these is in the works. the only variable i'm not sure about is if other hunters spook the blinds by not being as careful with noise and all the other things that can spoil a spot.

thanks for all your comments; i'm starting to listen to some of the podcast posted by JKW & they are very helpful in shortening the learning curve.

IMO that's way too many blinds on 8900 acres.

Probably don’t have feeders on them and they road corn

Oh just re-read brown county, damn that’s a lot of feeders to keep up with.

Hunting MLD's Depends on "luck of the draw". You get a blind with heavy deer traffic, your chances for success escalate.
Use TP&W data to find the MLD with the HIGEST overall success rate...Go there.

Huh?

if you are hunting doe in Bastrop county, you better check regs.....

There are MLD properties that get permits for does in Bastrop county. I knew several people that hunted on MLD in Bastrop

What part of hunt the MLD with the highest success rate do you not understand??

Do you know what MLD is? You best not be trespassing on private property. I suspect you mean WMA's?

Deer Hunting is just like the ball sports. There will always be lean years when you have to focus on rebuilding for the future.

MLD was put into place to allow landowners to control numbers. The dumb deer have been killed off at the blinds and the smart ones know to avoid them during the season once the traffic/shooting begins. Throw in the fact that this year had a huge mast crops and then a lot of rain, the deer did not need to come to corn. If a ranch is has 25 blinds on 8900 acres and shooting 200 does, they are killing 8 does per blind. I would do my best to try to hunt any place but a blind at this time of the year. They need more blinds and rest them for longer periods between hunts.

It was the weirdest year in memory at my place in east TX. Movement of mature deer during daylight hours was practically non-existent until late in the season (which is usually a very slow time).

Many in deep east TX had similar reports.

I hunted many, many hours during October/November and saw one good buck - which I killed. He was chasing a doe and they were out and visible for maybe 20 seconds. If I had been on my phone or looking in another direction I never would have seen them.

Wet doesn’t begin to decsribe the water we have had. I’m sure that played a major role in the strange year.

If possible, try to hunt a blind where you can see in other directions, and not just watching over a feeder.
The feeder will keep the deer in the area, but I can't remember shooting a deer over a feeder in the last several years.
I might glance over at the feeder now and then, but I concentrate on the sendero's or lanes where I hand scatter corn, as that is where the deer prefer to be.
It's been a tough year with just too much rain, and too much of everything for the deer to eat.

My toughest/worst year ever just South of Bowie. The deer, for some reason went nocturnal prior to bow season. I've owned the place for about 35 years and never experienced that.