I've had my place in Dickens for 11 years. Our hunting has seen constant improvement over our ownership. Deer sightings kept improving over this time frame from seeing an occasional deer in 2011 to having as many as 20 deer under our feeders last year at one time. Having a policy or 8 points or better has not made my family happy but our harvest over the last 5 years has seen an appreciable increase in rack size!!
The drought this year has made a dramatic change in our deer behavior!! Almost no interest in our corn feeders. We have only seen 2 different shooters on camera and none showing themselves during ether bow and rifle to date,
We had 2 flash floods on 8/22 and 9/1 (9" combined ) that transformed our dry and parched property into a thick jungle of vegetation. I'm believing the native growth is now preferred!!!
We have seen no fawn and or yearlings so I believe they were abandoned due to the scarcity of spring and summer browse.
Very few shots have been heard so I'm guessing we are not alone with the deer shortage.
Wondering if anyone else is seeing similar conditions??????????????
I've attached my best buck harvested last year

Yep, I'm in the county just north of you and It's the same here. LOT'S of coyotes though!!!! Probably had a detrimental effect on the fawn crop too>

Not uncommon at all for deer to not come to feeders when native forage abounds.

keep after it they are out there. If memory serves 2011 was a bad year in a string of bad years with some pretty wide spread fires as well. Not to tuff to see improvement coming out of that. My bet is not all is lost they just aren’t coming to their metered food.

We are having a very off year too on the Edwards/Kerr county line.

Didn’t ran at all from January to September. Was putting out feed and water to keep them alive.

No acorns to speak of on either the live oaks or the shin oaks.

Been seeing tons of does ( as I write this I have 8 in front of me ) but few buck sightings and no mature bucks at all save for one scraggly horned 5 point.


We have seen a decent number of fawns so that is encouraging but buck sightings have been way down.

Also noticed the Number of shots heard has been way down.

It’s been a good season here and I’m in the extreme drought area. Not much shooting around my ranch but that’s because pretty much all the other property owners have stopped leasing their land for hunting.

Same for us in Freestone County. Numbers seem off compared to previous years, but hearing a lot fewer shots as well. Corn feeders have a blanket of yellow under them and protein hasn't been touched since earlier in October. A huge departure from what we saw all summer.

Right now a deer can stop just about anywhere, drop their head, and there's food for them right there. Somehow we managed a decent acorn crop this year even though our pecans did horribly. Add to all of that, the rut, and it has made for some tougher hunting than usual.

I maybe be a bit optimistic, but I think late season will be better. Let that supply dry up, and the green browse die off, and we'll be getting those numbers back.

Psycho pretty well says it for me, a bit south, in Limestone County. This was a heck of a big year for the acorn crop, so it seems that’s where the deer and pigs must be. And I don’t have even one blind over an area with the acorns. Even before the acorns fell though, the wife and I were seeing less deer than in previous years. A contributing factor might be the huge number of hogs we have now.

The wife is constantly after me to shoot coyotes, but I can’t find them.

Same situation where we are, not seeing many fawns and perhaps not as many doe. Seeing a few 8 point bucks on camera late at night or in the early am hours. We do have a heavy crop of acorns this year. Hope they will be gone soon and things pick up.

I’m in Montague County, just South of Bowie and am hearing very few shots. I skipped bow season but others say they didn’t see much. I have seen 5 deer ; 2 doe yearlings and 3 bucks. The bucks have big bodies, thick antlers, but don’t make it outside the ears. I hear almost no shots. Others say the same things.

And yet, a processor South of me says he can’t take in any more. He is full. Due to drought, we have almost no acorns and I figured they would hit the corn hard. Nope.

I’ve owned it 38 years and seen this when acorns were abundant but this year has me scratching my head.

Cry me a river.

Give it some more times fellas, I think it will work out

I just walked in from hunting Oklahoma, I am getting my A kicked

I got in the stand at 1pm, stayed til dark...4 doe and 2 scrub bucks

Been running a camera since July, this year sucks

Beetched to my wife on the drive home of bad it sucks this year

Apparently I am not the only one

Hudbone, you are a cruel man. And, if anybody actually cries a river, come stand in my tank when you do.

I saw a great shooter buck the day before the season. Typical that I haven’t seen him since. Saw a young spike this morning, following the doe that passed me at about 100 miles per hour, but let him pass. If I had shot him, the wife mighta shot me. She says the freezer is full enough.

That’s all I saw today, just those two.

A bit more action this morning. Four doe came by on my right, walking slowly and eating a little grass. Shortly after, our big herd buck came out of the woods, also walking slow. Passed a doe or two and just ate grass. Probably tired from a night of chasing women. I let him walk.

Had two decent bucks chasing the girls around yesterday evening. Hadn’t seen that here in years, but maybe I just timed it right. One of them made a scrape right outside the pen and both were thrashing a tree quite a bit. Just does this morning. Got back in the blind around noon for a couple hours before I move to my other blind for the evening hunt. Time will tell before I make a call on the season in general.

Now that's funny . I have said the same thing when I hear people talking about so many acorns that deer are not coming to the feeders.
I hunted Sam Houston National Forest for most of my life where you better not get caught with any feed .
Where it's only you and the woods , no feeders or stands .And I did pretty good .
People get spoiled hunting leases. And it's not hunting, it's shooting .
Don't get me wrong I am on a lease now. And it is a slow year do to acorns ,But I got to old to hunt NF .

Especially if there is an acorn crop and from what everyone I know has said there is a huge one this year in most areas.
Hell, my cousin has a place between NB and Canyon lake. He said 2 weeks ago he'd have 25-35 deer at the feeder he has set about 200 yards from the house that he watched from his 2nd floor office.
He said right now there is corn piled up under it!

We are in Mason county and they are not really coming to feeders either. Cleaned out under oak trees from hogs and deer. Went to a section of the lease no one hunts not far from the house and there was a pile of deer out under oak trees in the middle of the pasture. Lots of coyotes also.

Same thing where we are at in Dickens county. Late rains have the deer working the natural browse which isn’t a bad thing. Deer sightings at feeders are down but still seeing deer while glassing areas. Antlers are down quite a bit but the deer are currently in great shape.

Whitetail are fat on my place in Mills county, but all bucks have pencil horns. No mass at all and we feed protein nearly year round. Spring drought really hurt us.

There are ebbs & flows in everything. Hunting is no different. Bad days hunting are, well, really not that bad. A day with little animal activity can still provide lots to be thankful for.

I suppose that’s true. Yesterday morning I saw 7 deer, 3 coyotes, one bobcat, and the hog in my trap. It was a good morning.

In Navarro County, we've seen much fewer does, and only 1 fawn all year. Zero big bucks, even through the summer when they were hitting protein. Think I might take a spike for meat, and leave the does alone this year.
In Clay County, I've seen quite a lot of does, and some nice bucks. The 2 bruisers up there have successfully dodged me so far.

Well, we were supposed to hunt Thanksgiving morning but now my son is in the hospital and I blew my knee out yesterday afternoon. Awesome.

That is a lot of bycatch!