Well, this is my third year to hunt in Knox county just north of the South Wichita river (stream) and it can be a humbling and rewarding at the same time. On this ranch, from what I've learned, it's best to skip November and concentrate efforts on December, primarily late December. These deer really do not care much for corn but they do have to hustle when it really turns cold. The population is low but there are some nice deer if you put in the time. Large bodies and heavy antlers. I know the rut is November but in 3 years, I have yet to see any chasing.

Anyone else have experience in this area???

How big a place? Do you or the neighbors have any ag, particularly wheat? What do you have for cover?

You’re pretty spot on, though I would not skip November. I would feed year round and found that the local bucks would disappear come November. They start traveling looking for does. But new bucks would show up, though not easy to pattern as they were searching for does. The local bucks to our ranch that I would watch all summer and early fall would return in December and did have good success then, but you’ll have those non-resident bucks show up during the rut.

If you are not feeding year round, I definitely would. Hold as many deer on your place as you can. Pen your feeders to keep the hogs out so they don’t run off the deer. As you know, hogs and coyotes are prolific. Kill as many of them as you can. It’s a year round effort. The deer population is increasing and as you said there are some really nice deer.

Some good advice above. On places that have been as you describe bow season in October can be very good. feeding year round can help pattern them and hold them around and early October they will still be on the Summer feeding pattern, Try to get them before they start roaming so much looking for does. In lower population density areas bucks do roam a lot and feed sources can also come into play. One lease i was on the deer would be there during the summer and early fall then by November they would be gone for the most part and show up on a friends lease a mile to mile and half away, lots of grain fields over his way and they change food sources.

We have plenty of cover and water. The majority is cedar with some mesquite. A plant called "four wings salt brush" can be found through out the 1300 acres. A creek runs the entire length of the ranch. It does quit running in the hot dry summer but pools of water can generally be found.
We keep 6 free choice protein feeders going year round as well as 8 corn feeders. Due to lack of interest in corn, they are only running 2 seconds. Any longer and it really pulls the hogs. The feeders are not fenced which is good and bad in my opinion. We shot 25 hogs in November. That beat the hogs back pretty good. Only a few pic at night in December. I'm sure we will repeat the process this fall. You are correct about watching the deer grow all summer and disappear in November. We also had some new bucks show up this December. We have a high fence to the south, no hunting to the east, very light hunting to the north and a 30,000 acre ranch to the west. There is hunting to the west but their blinds are several miles away according to google maps. The deer population is growing as he have not shot any doe. I do not know the land carrying capacity. I would estimate we have 75 deer on the place.
We planted wheat October 01 but no moisture until the snow / ice fell around the end of October. Not enough to do any good. Soil samples sent to A&M and SFA shows we need DAP fertilizer. We may try the wheat again this fall and pray for rain.

What else can we do to improve conditions?

Good luck sir

I’d pen your feeders. The open feeders draw hogs which deter the deer. It makes a big difference. We had a tough time with food plots in that area. Keep feeding year round. A deer’s metabolism changes during the year. They seek more carbs in fall and winter. Feed protein late winter through summer. Corn fall and winter.

Also, our place sounds like it was very close to yours. Ours bordered a high fence on our west side. I found the high fence acted like a travel corridor and the best blind was set up a hundred yards off the high fence looking south.

Try rice bran along with corn feeders. I have found that it is best to put it on some type of table where the hogs can't get to it.