bucks

[walker]

well the bucks are starting to gather back together, in hancock co anyway. never saw ant sign of a rut. first time i ever remember this in 30+ yrs!

 

[volunteer1]

Here too. im hunting anderson county. Saw some bucks cruising but thats it. No craziness I usually see. I killed a descent buck this weekend but he was a new guy that moved in our farm and he was eating in the evening. Been weird. Ive spent many hours on the stand this year as well. Oh well.

 

[Columbia Scott]

This afternoon was really good if you wanted meat. I counted 7 does at once. All big, mature girls. Saw ZERO bucks but still enjoyed it.

 

[Labboy]

Saw alot of does together coming home today. But guess what rain Sat &Sun what a shocker..

 

[landman]

I saw 7 bucks and 8 does this evening

 

[Vermin93]

Low T

 

[Todd Bell]

i saw two does and a spike this evening. he had his nose to the ground after something.

 

[walker]

Low T

naa! just ugly does. lol

 

[Bulldog25]

Saw alot of does together coming home today. But guess what rain Sat &Sun what a shocker..

What I was thinking. I work Monday through Friday and lately it's been perfect weather during the week and crap on the weekend.

 

[plinker22]

I saw ZERO rutting while hunting this year.

 

[Winchester]

The rut was very subdued and Muted in many parts of East Tn and even the whole state im being told. Odd year for sure as killing deer and decent bucks hasn't been impossible but the rut hunting sucked!

 

[BSK]

Yup, rut hunting sucked, but kill numbers sound good from those I've asked. Has anyone checked the statewide kill numbers recently? If so, up, down, the same?

 

[Winchester]

As of yesterday the kill #'s were down quite a bit BSK, maybe 12,000 total deer with 8k of them being less bucks. There is a thread here somewhere on it. Forecasted to be down over 15k if we continue on same path.

 

[BSK]

Wow, interesting... Thanks for the update Winchester.

 

[Vermin93]

I follow a thread on another site that discusses the season in Kansas. The majority of hunters posting are so down on the mature buck sightings and the rut this year that you would think the Kansas herd was nearly wiped out. Of course there are areas where this was not the case, but they seem to be the minority. Nobody has an explanation, but generally speaking they are blaming:

- the brutal drought in 2011
- a massive EHD die off in 2012 that killed many mature bucks
- an out of control coyote population
- rampant poaching
- too many nonresident tags
- too many doe tags
- habitat destruction via construction, development and too much farming

 

[TheLBLman]

I've "hunted hard" over most of the past few days in Stewart Co.
The observed deer behavior now seems to be the typical post-rut for this time of year, except most of the afternoon feeding in fields is still beginning after dark. My take is the deer (where I'm hunting) still have quite a bit of food resources in the thicker cover areas.

So far, the deer have hit the food plots less than normal, and mostly at night. But deer sign in terms of tracks and droppings appears above normal. By contrast, rut sign (rubs & scrapes) is perhaps the least I've ever seen.

At my local level, I'm observing deer feeding heavily on honeysuckle more than any other single food item. I know honeysuckle is not the most nutritious thing, but it's more abundant this year than ever before, and seems to be satisfying the deer at least enough to keep them out of the more open areas that human hunters prefer during daylight. Seriously, I'm finding lots of honeysuckle in thick pine where I never would have thought much anything would grow due to a lack of sunlight --- but it did this year.

Could excessive rainfall allow certain plants (like honeysuckle) to thrive without their usual sunlight requirements?

 

[BSK]

I follow a thread on another site that discusses the season in Kansas. The majority of hunters posting are so down on the mature buck sightings and the rut this year that you would think the Kansas herd was nearly wiped out. Of course there are areas where this was not the case, but they seem to be the minority.

I'm always fascinated by the trends that develop in deer hunting experience each year. These trends will be far too widespread to be caused by local conditions. Even weather patterns don't explain the trends, as obviously the weather is going to be quite different from a place like Kansas to TN. I have no idea what drives these trends, but they will often be experienced equally all across the whitetails range in a given year. This pattern of "no observable rut" is this year's trend, and is being reported wide-spread across the country.

 

[TheLBLman]

This pattern of "no observable rut" is this year's trend, and is being reported wide-spread across the country.

Good chance next year's "trend" will be just the opposite.

 

[RiverBuck10]

well the bucks are starting to gather back together, in hancock co anyway. never saw ant sign of a rut. first time i ever remember this in 30+ yrs!

Its crazy, I didn't either! And from what I have read, we are not the only ones!!