Is it just me or…..

[Specializedjon]

Did we go from September to December in a week??

Holy smokes it's flown by

I've hunted exactly zero times. Being behind on taxidermy hasn't helped my cause. Every waking hour I'm not muling stuff….I mean working , I'm in the shop workin. Not complaining, it's a blessing, just seems like the last 4 months flew by really fast.

We'll all be buying mulch soon….

Hope y'all have a Merry Christmas

 

[backyardtndeer]

Yes, it's flown by. Merry Christmas.

 

[Gravey]

It's called AGE! Remember when your parents would say the older you get the faster it goes and you'd roll your eyes (maybe that was just me). Well turns out it was true. Feels like we just had Christmas last year and here we are again. Merry Christmas!

 

[BSK]

Every summer, it seems like hunting season will NEVER get here. Then all of sudden I'm setting out trail cameras and running around like a chicken with its head cut off try to get fall plots in order, move stands, check all my equipment, and generally not being ready for the season. Then I blink my eyes and the season's over.

 

[Specializedjon]

It's called AGE! Remember when your parents would say the older you get the faster it goes and you'd roll your eyes (maybe that was just me). Well turns out it was true. Feels like we just had Christmas last year and here we are again. Merry Christmas!

Very true

 

[BSK]

Did we go from September to December in a week??

Holy smokes it's flown by

I've hunted exactly zero times. Being behind on taxidermy hasn't helped my cause. Every waking hour I'm not muling stuff….I mean working , I'm in the shop workin. Not complaining, it's a blessing, just seems like the last 4 months flew by really fast.

We'll all be buying mulch soon….

Hope y'all have a Merry Christmas

Yadda, yadda, yadda. Quit complaining and get back to work! There are deer heads to be mounted!

Not like I have a vested interest in that or anything...

 

[fairchaser]

I'm not sure the technical name, but it's your minds perception of how many days you have left relative to the total number of days. I've had maybe 50 hunting seasons but may have only a few left, if any.
Merry Christmas !

 

[DoubleRidge]

It's called AGE! Remember when your parents would say the older you get the faster it goes and you'd roll your eyes....

Yes! My parents would always say:

"one of these days when your at work you'll wish you was back in school"

And

"Older you get the faster time goes by"

They were correct on one out of two.
I'd much rather go to work and earn income than sit in a classroom....but wow does time fly by these days!! And to add to that Thanksgiving was nearly a week later on the calendar this year so Christmas just seems to have gotten here extra quick this year.

 

[UCStandSitter]

Come to work with me. Everyday feels like a thousand lifetimes burning in a torturous hell. That'll slow it down for you. Every meeting makes me wish for the sweet release of death. I'm pretty sure hell is just gonna be corporate life day to day…

 

[Bone Collector]

It has flown by in a blink. Merry Christmas!

 

[DMD]

November flies by especially. Every year - I think "I've got a whole month to get it done" - two minutes later, it's January!

 

[ETN Deer]

Did we go from September to December in a week??

Holy smokes it's flown by

I've hunted exactly zero times. Being behind on taxidermy hasn't helped my cause. Every waking hour I'm not muling stuff….I mean working , I'm in the shop workin. Not complaining, it's a blessing, just seems like the last 4 months flew by really fast.

We'll all be buying mulch soon….

Hope y'all have a Merry Christmas

Yes sir straight up fact! Hope you all have a blessed Christmas also brother!!

 

[DeerCamp]

Every summer, it seems like hunting season will NEVER get here. Then all of sudden I'm setting out trail cameras and running around like a chicken with its head cut off try to get fall plots in order, move stands, check all my equipment, and generally not being ready for the season. Then I blink my eyes and the season's over.

And what's crazy is that we have one of the longest seasons in the country as it pertains to muzzleloader and firearms.

I think a few states in the South may have longer total seasons.

But when I tell my work friends from places like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania how long our season is, they about have a stroke.

 

[DeerMan66]

Come to work with me. Everyday feels like a thousand lifetimes burning in a torturous hell. That'll slow it down for you. Every meeting makes me wish for the sweet release of death. I'm pretty sure hell is just gonna be corporate life day to day…

Sounds like a good time to send out some resumes...

 

[Snake]

Come to work with me. Everyday feels like a thousand lifetimes burning in a torturous hell. That'll slow it down for you. Every meeting makes me wish for the sweet release of death. I'm pretty sure hell is just gonna be corporate life day to day…

Success has it's flaws .....be glad for them.

 

[BSK]

And what's crazy is that we have one of the longest seasons in the country as it pertains to muzzleloader and firearms.

I think a few states in the South may have longer total seasons.

But when I tell my work friends from places like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania how long our season is, they about have a stroke.

We ARE lucky to have such a long season. However, for hunting on my personal property, "hunting season" for us is basically only 3 weeks: MZ season and the first week of gun. We do not bow hunt because it's hot, buggy, and bow hunting in the past was very low odds of success, yet we were placing a lot of hunting pressure on the bucks before the best time to hunt arrived (peak of the rut). Hence, we no longer bow hunt (which has dramatically increased our success during MZ season). However, because of the local herd dynamics, our peak of the rut is earlier than surrounding areas. So, we draw all of the bucks in the area for the peak of our local rut, but as soon as our local does have gone out of estrus, there are estrus does in surrounding areas and all the bucks leave, not to return until the following year. This happens right at the end of November. Hunting in December is basically an effort in futility.

Personally, I would love for MZ season to open a little earlier - say November 1 - because that would allow us to hunt the peak of buck activity for the year (generally around Nov 3). Some years, when MZ opens the 3rd or 4th we catch that peak, but in the years like the last two when MZ opened Nov 8th or 9th, we miss the peak. All that said, I wouldn't want to take any firearms hunting away from those along the southern tier of counties who have a very late rut.

 

[KTS]

At 84 the days are like the white lines on a highway doing 70 mph.

 

[megalomaniac]

I've just hit the halfway mark of my season...

1st rut should be kicking off in 10-12 days down in south MS...

And mid Feb hunting is some of the best for older starved bucks.

 

[DeerCamp]

We ARE lucky to have such a long season. However, for hunting on my personal property, "hunting season" for us is basically only 3 weeks: MZ season and the first week of gun. We do not bow hunt because it's hot, buggy, and bow hunting in the past was very low odds of success, yet we were placing a lot of hunting pressure on the bucks before the best time to hunt arrived (peak of the rut). Hence, we no longer bow hunt (which has dramatically increased our success during MZ season). However, because of the local herd dynamics, our peak of the rut is earlier than surrounding areas. So, we draw all of the bucks in the area for the peak of our local rut, but as soon as our local does have gone out of estrus, there are estrus does in surrounding areas and all the bucks leave, not to return until the following year. This happens right at the end of November. Hunting in December is basically an effort in futility.

Personally, I would love for MZ season to open a little earlier - say November 1 - because that would allow us to hunt the peak of buck activity for the year (generally around Nov 3). Some years, when MZ opens the 3rd or 4th we catch that peak, but in the years like the last two when MZ opened Nov 8th or 9th, we miss the peak. All that said, I wouldn't want to take any firearms hunting away from those along the southern tier of counties who have a very late rut.

It's surprising to me that you don't have any late season opportunities over your food plots!

I believe you, it's just interesting that your deer almost seem micro-migratory. What is it about your area that drives this?

 

[megalomaniac]

It's surprising to me that you don't have any late season opportunities over your food plots!

I believe you, it's just interesting that your deer almost seem micro-migratory. What is it about your area that drives this?

Not bsk...

But I guarantee there is no chance late season/ post rut because the does claim the small food plots and push off ALL bucks from them late season. Does get the best food late season and hoard it.

If you want to kill bucks on plots late season, they need to be huge plots (5 acres or more (preferably 40 acres or more) is best) where multiple deer can feed and not bother each other... OR on very low density deer areas (like south MS).

 

[BPhunter]

Did we go from September to December in a week??

Holy smokes it's flown by

I've hunted exactly zero times. Being behind on taxidermy hasn't helped my cause. Every waking hour I'm not muling stuff….I mean working , I'm in the shop workin. Not complaining, it's a blessing, just seems like the last 4 months flew by really fast.

We'll all be buying mulch soon….

Hope y'all have a Merry Christmas

The older ya get the faster time goes. At least that's the way it seems to me.

 

[Popcorn]

Time does seem to slow up for me from Thanksgiving thru January. I cater to a group of older duck hunters who are either retired or took 60 days off just for duck season. They want no stress successful duck hunting no matter the effort. I am responsible for this, anything shy of altering the weather, I have all the gear!
Did I mention I hate being cold, have no interest in duck hunting, dogs don't like me, I prefer to sleep in?

 

[BSK]

I believe you, it's just interesting that your deer almost seem micro-migratory. What is it about your area that drives this?

How my property is laid out in comparison to the surrounding area. We are at the center of a big "U-bend" in a major river. My place is an "island" of ridge-and-hollow hardwoods surrounded on three sides by massive agricultural bottomlands. We do have a resident deer population that lives there year-round, but that population pales in comparison to the population that lives in the agricultural bottomlands during the summer. However, once the crops are harvested in fall, all of those bottomland deer migrate up into the hilly hardwoods of my place to access both cover habitat as well as the acorn crop (if we have one). Add in the expanded ranges of bucks during the rut, and we can have a shocking number of deer using the property for a brief period (late October through November).

2023 was a prime example. Our summer buck population was 19 unique bucks. However, with the bumper acorn crop we had that year, eventually we photographed 70 unique bucks using the property during hunting season. That's a lot of bucks for 500 acres! However, many don't stay for the winter. Once our early rut is over, bucks leave to chase estrus does with a later timing nearby. And they don't return after that estrus is over. They all show up to take advantage of our early rut, then leave for later estrus does nearby and don't return until the next October/November.

 

[BSK]

Not bsk...

But I guarantee there is no chance late season/ post rut because the does claim the small food plots and push off ALL bucks from them late season. Does get the best food late season and hoard it.

Bingo!

Looking at video from our food plots (none larger than 1.5 acres) right now, all I see is big groups of does that spend all their time kicking the crap out of each other. Makes me wonder how they ever get anything to eat. They spend far more time beating each other up rather than eating.

 

[DeerCamp]

Not bsk...

But I guarantee there is no chance late season/ post rut because the does claim the small food plots and push off ALL bucks from them late season. Does get the best food late season and hoard it.

If you want to kill bucks on plots late season, they need to be huge plots (5 acres or more (preferably 40 acres or more) is best) where multiple deer can feed and not bother each other... OR on very low density deer areas (like south MS).

This makes sense. Never really considered the size of the plot impacting late season success

 

[kubota]

All of my plots are 1-1.5 acres. It's always the does kicking butt 24/7. My does can be bedded down and smell a buck in the food plot and go crazy. It's game over for him. It's funny cause my large doe groups are very vocal. They will blow like crazy at bucks before running them off. I've only ever seen one buck that they either left alone or have been afraid of. He was the biggest deer that's ever been around in my 25 years of hunting that property. I've always wonder if other people have very vocal groups of fighting does?

 

[TNTreeman]

I spend a lot of time in a tree from late October till January. I rarely see the does being territorial . My smallest plot is an acre and go up to 8-10 acres. I've seen as many as 35-40 deer in fields in late December not acting like they have a care in the world or worried about hoarding the food. Is this behavior more prevalent when food is hard to find? Don't believe I've ever seen does run bucks out of food plots before .

 

[trout]

I see it when there is a concentrated high quality food source like the apple trees in my front yard with crazy doe fights often when the fruit is ripe. In the deer woods I see a dominant doe move toward another and the intruder typically walks or bounds a few yards away. If not, one flailing hoof is enough to create some space quickly.

 

[DeerCamp]

I spend a lot of time in a tree from late October till January. I rarely see the does being territorial . My smallest plot is an acre and go up to 8-10 acres. I've seen as many as 35-40 deer in fields in late December not acting like they have a care in the world or worried about hoarding the food. Is this behavior more prevalent when food is hard to find? Don't believe I've ever seen does run bucks out of food plots before .

Can only speak for us, but we had one doe in particular that was mean as hell. Not sure how old she was but definitely mature.

Shed blow at everything. Stomp at everything. Beat the crap out of small bucks.

Wife finally had enough. This doe was so dominant she had big stinky, dark tarsal glands like a buck and would scrape more than I've ever seen a doe scrape.

I had to check her multiple times for no balls to believe it.

 

[TNTreeman]

Can only speak for us, but we had one doe in particular that was mean as hell. Not sure how old she was but definitely mature.

Shed blow at everything. Stomp at everything. Beat the crap out of small bucks.

Wife finally had enough. This doe was so dominant she had big stinky, dark tarsal glands like a buck and would scrape more than I've ever seen a doe scrape.

I had to check her multiple times for no balls to believe it.

Dang, she was a mean ol heifer.