Well the Missouri rifle deer season ended last week and this was without a doubt the WORST seasons I have ever had. Only saw three total deer. Did get a small 7 point. Son saw seven smaller bucks. Amazing thing was ZERO does. Still have an antlerless season, muzzleloader, and archery season but generally those seasons fair poorly for us. Have very little deer meat in the freezer.
Hope to add some pork when my son & I head down to Texas in about two weeks. Prefer venison, but can only eat what the good LORD provides.

You killed a deer and this is your worst season? Sounds terrible. And I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that you invoked the good Lord’s name as though it were His fault. I do hope I’m mistaken.

The warm/cool/warm again weather and a lot of endless fall food has made it an odd season here too.

In your own words (...three total deer...did get a small 7 point.) you killed 33 1/3 % of all the deer you saw.

Do come to Texas.
We are overrun with them.
Can't have a garden or fruit trees for all the bitches in the yard.
The up side is the bucks come to chase the bitches so don't even have to go to stand, just pick your meat-on-the-hoof.

Edit: This is a joke but a yard full of does every evening isn't!

Congrats and good luck on the trip

If you shoot small 7 points you’re not gonna be seeing as many deer. Sounds like East Texas.

We have experienced the same in hill country this year. Can count on 2 hands the number of different deer we have on cameras. Past two years have been 10-20% the numbers we are used to seeing. Would love to see TPWD deer survey reports and what overall it says across state. We’re at a loss as to what is driving numbers down that significantly.

X2. This is the 4th season I’ve had my place. Prior owner was a shooter and the first two season were great. Last year was a bust and this year I’ve seen very few deer come to feeders. Lots of sign but deer sightings have been scarce. Yesterday evening I only saw 3 deer. Usual number seen at that stand is 12-15

Haven’t heard near as many shots either.

I’ve only hunted 3 times but, so far, have seen one deer that needed a couple more years.

I guess I am lucky because we have seen more deer than I can count this year both on camera and from the stand on opening weekend.
There have been a number of 6-8 point bucks at the feeders all year.
Opening weekend I hunted with my friend and his daughter. The three of us shot an 8, a 9 and a 10. We saw a number of 6-8 point bucks. Deer continue to show up on camera. My friend plans to go out this weekend. It will be interesting to see if he sees as many as opening weekend.

I’ve seen more deer than I’ve ever seen this year. 25 one day, 15 one day….. yes in East Texas.

Drought last two out for three years is probably starting to show the low recruitment #’s. Also less mouths means less dependency on corn

Finally had a good hunt yesterday evening. Normal number of deer sightings.

Duffed 3 shots with my bow, but hey, deer were there.

^^^i believe this to be true in many areas and for sure ours. We always see a good many deer but relative to our norm, we are seeing less. They just arent as hungry as an average year. Good news is that easy food is good for the long term health.
Other good news is we appear to have close to a 100% fawn crop. Saw triplets yesterday and counted 6 doe and 7 fawn.

What do horns taste like? Are the bigger ones more tender?

They taste about as good as a Backstrap mounted on a wooden plaque looks....

SNEAKY,
"You killed a deer and this is your worst season? Sounds terrible. And I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that you invoked the good Lord’s name as though it were His fault. I do hope I’m mistaken."
YES worst season- usually see anywhere from 20 to 30 on opening weekend alone. Most are sublegal bucks (must have minimum 4 points on one side to be legal). Family (oldest son and I) shot total of 5 last year on my property (all on first weekend). Had 203# boned out meat plus another 30# +/- in summer sausage (mixed 50/50 with pork).
YES, you are absolutely wrong. Invoked 'Good LORD's Name' for luck, not as a put down or statement of disgust. I know NOTHING happens without my LORD's grace.

SUPERDUTY,
"What do horns taste like? Are the bigger ones more tender?"
NOPE, both are just as inedible. I am a meat hunter. Don't get me wrong, if a nice buck comes by and I am given the opportunity for a shot- BONUS= I have sausage meat. Wild meat and fish are what my family lives on. Only have about 15# of boned out meat &12# sausage from last year's 5 deer left.

Our deer tend to have smaller racks and bigger bodies. I know some will call BS, but most does I harvest field dress between 150 to 180#. My 7 point this year dressed at 160#. My biggest deer (10 point) dressed at 207#.