Has anyone been mule deer hunting in west texas yet? How did you do? How is the mule deer herd this year? Does anyone run cameras or feeders?

I'm going next week and I hope that we catch the beginning of rut. What do the experts think? Thanks in advance

Jason

My brother shot a buck with a doe today. He didn't say if he was chasing her.

One word......sloooooooooooooow. I've hunted since Friday morning and only seen 6 different bucks as of noon today. Been out 3 hunts and not seen a single deer. Worst start to a season ever for me.

My buddies who were hunting north of us near Plains reported the same thing, slow and not lots of big deer seen

Y'all just hold up your britches!!!

I'm be down to there soon. Y'all just dont know how to glass

Bozo....speaking of glass....we may or may not have found a lost rangefinder AND a pair of binos.....

The big place we hunt is South of Plains by about 60 miles. Seeing big mature bucks is a very hard thing to do in this area of low deer densities prior to the rut kicking in, which over a 16 year period has averaged around December 10th. I'm having the same luck as those mentioned here.....VERY slow. Given the fact that the mesquites still have leaves, grass and weeds in most places are at least 4 ft tall, and the place is very flat with no agriculture doesn't help much. Hoping we get some cold weather in the next couple of weeks.

Damn. Youyyy found me potttt of goldddd pastureeee

^^^^^^ This, I have been out 4 times and only today did I find my first two mule deer………does I have had the sporadic young buck at one of my feeders over the last several months, of course none during the season, but this is not a common occurrence. Not sure if it’s the warm temps or the bad moon phases we recently passed through but it has been the worse year in 8 years for us.

Right on

What kind of feed? I've thought about trying something myself.

I don’t intentionally feed for mule deer. They don’t typically want to jump my hog panels to get to the corn feeders. I don’t hunt them over a feeder either. I glass and stalk the mesas, arroyos etc. They will eat corn, alfalfa, cotton seed and who knows what else. I don’t hunt them over supplemental feed though so I can’t offer any experience.

They love native pecans too. It's crazy because the nearest pecan trees have to be hundreds of miles way

It was slower than slow this afternoon...3 hunters in 3 different areas and only 2 does were seen

stxranchman, is the same area you have hunted in the past with success?

Yes

3 hunters out today and 18 deer seen total. Only 1 buck seen. It was 86 for a high today

Sheesh…that’s tough hunting

It's Clown weather....that's all we need is a freaking circus to make this season complete

Wait until after Christmas. They’ll crawl out from where they’ve been hiding and start chasing does. A lot more deer would die if they’d push back the season.

I think thats why they keep the season right where it is

Correct