Acorns...Same thing for my Cuz on his Llano co place....he turned his feeders off last Sunday and corn That was there is still mostly there. He has two 5ac or patches that actually caught a few showers at right time and has pretty good oats. Hes never seen less than 15+++ deer on those patches...he sat at each patch one hunt and saw total of 8 deer in two days. Before turkey day the oats were loaded with deer
Hes had that ranch 32yrs and says he’s never seen the deer behave like this....

We have had freezes, but not a good hard freeze that kills the vegetation. AS long as there is natural foods available the corn is just going to sit there.

Ya'll might consider adding something to the corn. I have the same problem right now. The dozens of deer have trickled to just a few but they still come for it. I mix a bag of "irresistible berry flavor" protein from Tractor Supply (record rack) with 4-5 bags of corn. The berry smell is pretty strong and I can smell the feeder when I walk up to it. Given that much smell I'm pretty sure it imparts some of that smell to the corn in the feeder as I kind of mix them up. This pellet is kind of expensive, though. It's like $14 for a 40-lb bag but they are little round dots about the size of corn and they throw really well and I haven't had it clog a feeder ever.

Maybe some need to really start hunting.

So what is “really hunting”?

I’m curious to know.

I’ve shot deer over and under feeders, over road corn, over oat fields, out of trucks, crossing roads, down senderos, running does, walking down trails and even rattled up a few ( though never took a shot personally )

So what am I doing that is not really hunting?

Coming back from a weekend in Llano Cty and it looks like the deer are still slamming the acorns. Feeders not getting anywhere near the action they had 6 weeks ago. The protein feeder used to be drained inside of 2 week (300 lbs). I went 3 weeks without checking and it barely needed 50 lbs to top it off.

Folks may be upset with Kmon1's statement, but it is valid. You cannot hunt or kill what is not there. You either have to go where they are (oaks), draw them to you (something more enticing than acorns), or catch them moving. The alternative is to continue to do what you have been doing and hope that the deer change their patterns to something more along the lines of what you are used to before the end of the season.

need a good freezing rain to hopefully spoil some of them

I have been there also where I have turned off my feeders and seeing no deer. If ya tell me to go hunt this place after telling me what you just put on the forum....I would try this first....put out cameras ...this will tell me if I am hunting in the right area...if no deer seen on the cameras....move them to a place where you have the most old and new rubs and also look for scrapes. If ya can't find any scrapes or rubs ...now this creates problems where ya have to look for just tracks or droppings. If ya can't find any signs of deer at all ..keep moving ya cameras til you do find some deer. If nothing works ....go Fishing instead.

good luck

Unless you hunt out west it can be virtually impossible to hunt a smaller place without sitting in a stand. Our place is so thick in spots all you would ever see is a glimpse of a tail while busting through brush. The only openings on us have been bulldozed. I'm all for changing tactics when nothing else seems to work, however, traipsing through the woods is a great way to run your deer into the next county. There is no, 'one size fits all' approach. Keep doing what you're doing. Acorns will be gone before long.

Unless you hunt out west it can be virtually impossible to hunt a smaller place without sitting in a stand. Our place is so thick in spots all you would ever see is a glimpse of a tail while busting through brush. The only openings on us have been bulldozed. I'm all for changing tactics when nothing else seems to work, however, traipsing through the woods is a great way to run your deer into the next county. There is no, 'one size fits all' approach. Keep doing what you're doing. Acorns will be gone before long.
BINGO!

Save your vacation for the last 2 weeks of the season. Acorns will likely be gone/spoiled by then and normal feeder activity will resume. I've seen 1 hog during shooting light the past 3 weeks and it didn't even look at the feeder. If they are at feeders, it's 100% nocturnal. The deer I have seen are not at feeders right now, sans a very small number that nibble for a minute and move on.

This. I have strategized, tried this tactic and that tactic, cussed and discussed what to do when the mature bucks hit the woods and don’t come out on my east TX place. After having seen and done it all, I simply realize that my options are limited. The woods are thick, the wind swirls, the deer can come from almost any direction, and getting in/out of the woods undetected is pretty much impossible. In short, 98% of the time hunting the woods is simply a recipe for blowing the deer out and ruining everything. I have a couple of options if conditions are perfect, but even they are extremely “hit or miss” given the limited visibility and unpredictability of the deer’s travel routes.

And if you think you are going to spot/stalk or still hunt the woods of east TX, you maybe should try it first. It’s dang near impossible in dry conditions and only marginally impossible during damp conditions. Basically it’s just ease and be still, ease and be still.......

I sat over 20 days last year without seeing a mature buck in the open. We had tons of acorns virtually all season. In late November, the guy below came out behind a doe that broke the woods running.

I know some are saying to themselves, “He just ain’t good enough to hunt it.” While that may be true, IMO very few would be.

Beauty of a buck, N P. Love the coloration of those east Texas deer.

Thanks EK, I was glad to see him. I took a photo of him as a 3 or 4 year old (not sure which) the only time I saw him the year before. Was hoping he would become a 10, but he didn’t.

acorns were starting to rot a bit when I went out on Thursday-- cameras showed more activity on feeders than we had earlier but no distinct patterns mostly because of the rut I think.

That is a great pic of a beautiful stud buck. It takes a lot of restraint to not pull the trigger on that. Obviously paid off for you though.

Why do people think that deer don't eat acorns after they get rained on/sour?

Ive shot as many deer as I have hogs over soured grains and similar. Ive caught many of them in hog traps baited with similar. Many times I have put out chum for hogs consisting of soured corn and put regular shell corn on other areas and had the deer come and eat the soured stuff first.

95% of whitetail deer hunting is sitting and waiting for a deer to stumble by.

The End

Statistically proven to be the most productive way.