Mills County Thread

Anyone have any luck in Mills County this weekend?

I am not far from the Mills county area and it was very slim pickings in our planted fields and feeder areas. I am hoping this next week will be better with the cold front coming in. I was able to rattle in a buck which is always fun

Bucks were chasing like crazy and mature bucks were on lock down with does. I did not see any that tripped my trigger.

Had lots of movement, some early chasing going on. It was an extremely hard summer and it shows at our place-I've seen a lot of deer with 20-30% less antler than they would have in a decent year. VERY few fawns, too-the coyotes and the conditions did a lot of work this year.

Our place is covered up in pigs. I shot a pig saturday morning and saw a bunch on deer saturday afternoon. This next weekend should be a good weekend, with the weather turning colder.

North of G'waite, plenty of deer in the area, just didn't see much around the stands Sat or Sun mornings. Bro in law hunts next to large land area planted with winter oats\wheat, he had a hillside full of does and young bucks. Had a little more activity Saturday evening, but nothing of any size and within shooting distance (bow hunting so I need 'em close).
glad to see a big crowd in town Saturday, those businesses really depend on the hunting dollar to support them.

Looks like some colder weather coming in this next weekend, will probably make another trip down.

We are just east of Goldthwaite. A lot of chasing right at daylight but seemed to slow down later in the morning.
I was surprised at the number of bucks we saw and that they were all chasing does.
We haven't hunted this lease for very long but isn't it a little early for bucks to be on the move like that? Thinking it would kick in closer to Thanksgiving.

Odd year so far. Feeders turned down two 2 seconds and the corn still piling up. Growing corn under feeders as well. Don’t recall having this problem before. Saw deer all weekend but not nearly like we usually do. None of the older deer seemed to move during daylight hours.

Sure hope things get back to normal!

Hunt in Caradan area.

nope, about normal for this area I would say. Usually see some early signs of chasing at the tail end of bow season.

First weekend of rifle season has always been full rut for us. I’ve watched numerous breeding occur over the years at this time. I’m not talking youngsters either. We see bucks of all ages chasing heavily. Watched a
known 7.5 yo on lock down with a doe Saturday and Sunday. I’ve seen breeding parties as early as middle October. However, it does continue into Thanksgiving and beyond because of the out of whack ratio. Furthermore, I hate the AR’s in our area. Our herd has really declined in quality since it’s inception. The up and comers get hammered and the lesser bucks get older because they are too narrow or no one wants to burn their single 13” + tag on a 14” wide 7.5 year old. Okay, done testifying lol.

Little man had some luck last weekend in Mills! We’re not seeing many at the feeders. We haven’t seen any deer chasing or on lockdown.

Working on my Christmas wish list. Taken off two spikes so far and have seen some young studs while waiting for big daddy.

We're SE of town and it's the opposite for us. Never seen better or more bucks running around. But we have light pressure around us from what I can tell.

We're SE of town and it's the opposite for us. Never seen better or more bucks running around. But we have light pressure around us from what I can tell. [/quote]

Overall, I like the law. I just don't like it for us. I was initially excited for it. But after 9 years of it, we've gotten much worse. It's the law and the pressure around us. Good thing you don't have much pressure. I could show you many mature bucks that we watch for years that are illegal. I think the pressure is too much for the one segment of the herd. I call our area "broken cover" country. Sooner or later, the legal bucks become visible moving from cover to cover. With the surrounding pressure, they don't have a chance. It's like running the gauntlet. If the law wasn't in place, I think the harvest would be more evenly spread out over many age classes. Yes, you'd lose some young bucks, but the weekend warrior would be tagged out at that point and some decent deer would be allowed to mature.

pressure around us is intense. The only bucks I even plan on shooting are spikes. Place across the road divided and sold so now there are 2 families of added hunters on small tracks. Plenty of does to shoot.

Anyone going to be in the woods this weekend? I work in Brownwood and there are some good deer being brought in to the processor.

Hope to head out this evening for the weekend.

Overall, I like the law. I just don't like it for us. I was initially excited for it. But after 9 years of it, we've gotten much worse. It's the law and the pressure around us. Good thing you don't have much pressure. I could show you many mature bucks that we watch for years that are illegal. I think the pressure is too much for the one segment of the herd. I call our area "broken cover" country. Sooner or later, the legal bucks become visible moving from cover to cover. With the surrounding pressure, they don't have a chance. It's like running the gauntlet. If the law wasn't in place, I think the harvest would be more evenly spread out over many age classes. Yes, you'd lose some young bucks, but the weekend warrior would be tagged out at that point and some decent deer would be allowed to mature. [/quote]

Same issue in Denton county where we hunt. Law is probably good but there should be some exceptions. I had a huge (now 200 plus lb) 5-6 year old buck in my scope Saturday morning for the third year in a row and can't kill him because he is too narrow. He is practically a spike on his left side with a very small fork at the end of his very heavy main beam which keeps him alive. His right side he is a VERY heavy fork horn and we can not kill him because of the law. His horns have grown mass wise but spread and points have not changed in three years.

Plan on heading down Friday after work. Looks like the weather is going to be great. Will be quiet down there, no others hunters going this weekend. I'll try and get by the processor and see what's being brought in.

I think they're moving pretty good, and both Sat-Sun mornings will be ~40 degrees. My dad said he saw two good chases this week and is out hunting tonight.

Ill be in the stand this afternoon. Im signing my son out of school around 2 and hopefully be in the stand by 3. Going to be an awesome afternoon to hunt with the sun coming out.

Awfully still this morning. Had frost on the windshield leaving Comanche and the temp showed 31 when I pulled in my gate. 6.5 miles southeast of Priddy, as crow flies anyway

Buddy got one in Mills last week.

Nephew got a pretty nice 10pt on my dads lease SE of Goldthwaite Sat morning