We’ve found 23 deer carcasses the freeze apparently killed so far and it’s been a stupid wet year all over Texas so my prediction is a lot of guys will be complaining the deer won’t come to the feeders for easy kills this season allowing more mature deer to make it through the season since so many guys depend on feeders to kill deer. In my experience of wet years up here the following year after a really rainy season is the year for the giants to fall in large numbers so what’s your predictions for this years hunting season after the big freeze and all the rain?

We’ve apparently lost several big deer to the freeze but we’ve also had a few big deer show up out of the blue but their not holding any sort of pattern right now which is pretty odd. Generally the mature bucks hold pretty tight to their small home range this time of year but right now the area is covering over 3 miles which really isn’t a lot but for old mature bucks it’s absolutely huge for us.
I’m curious if anyone else is seeing the same thing this year where your at?

Gonna depend on acorn crop. Most big bucks aren’t killed at feeders anyways.

In South Texas, the wet spring into summer rainfall makes for record years. The key is timely rains...rut to post rut being critical. There was an article written in the late 90's that sited the key month for rainfall in South Texas was March. That allowed bucks in post rut enough time to gain back the weight they needed to start the antler growth off. Where I live now in the Hill Country, the rut and post rut was pretty dry. Then the snows(3) and hard freeze hit. That put moisture into the ground but did not grow a lot of new growth till it got into March. What helped this area a lot was the timely rains from April till this week. Then throw in the fact that a lot more people supplemental feed now. Survival rate was pretty high post rut. I think there will be a lot of really big deer seen and a lot killed in this area. I have not seen much for acorns yet but they could be a factor for hunting success this year. Will it be as big as some of the years past? I think it could be as big or bigger.

Didn’t you kill your big buck at a feeder?

Oh snap.

I killed my biggest deer at a feeder too.

Not I. My biggest was killed on his way to a feeder.

Yes
Mine typically show up about 27 seconds after it stops spinning so I get in the stand about 3.5 minutes before it goes off.

Leaves plenty of time for me to settle in an open a cold beer without spooking em off.

I predict a lot of large fires will be burning and lots of beer will be consumed. Most likely some good times will be had and maybe a few deer taken.

I always get there way early , I’m gonna adopt your method

I understand that to be true all areas of the state. Plenty of natural browse translates into healthy does and fawns and better antler development when it's most critical. Timely rains during the summer translates into a better acorn crop.

And typically a bumper fawn crop with plenty of cover to keep em safe which pays dividends a few years down the road