I'm right above the river and it is fairly steep ridges and hollers with a creek running through the holler. Surrounded by thousands of acres of hardwoods and thickets with very minimal fields (2-3% field to woods ratio). Row crops in the river bottom that floods during winter that I don't have access to but overlook. I hunt 100 acres but there is virtually zero hunting pressure on the surrounding properties.
Odd rut timing western Middle TN?
- Thread starter BSK
- Start date
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
We got back up to TN for 2nd rut. Checked cams, bucks started reworking scrapes at night 3d ago. None in daylight. My son saw 13 bucks yesterday, all feeding. No interest in the does.
My daughter and I saw 5 bucks, one yearling chasing an unreceptive doe hard. She did kill one of our culls yesterday afternoon cruising through a food plot. Not much sample size from 1d hunting, but seems 2nd rut is a bit delayed here southeast of Nashville.
My daughter and I saw 5 bucks, one yearling chasing an unreceptive doe hard. She did kill one of our culls yesterday afternoon cruising through a food plot. Not much sample size from 1d hunting, but seems 2nd rut is a bit delayed here southeast of Nashville.
Southeast of Nashville by how far?
NW Williamson County. No acorns, we had a few does come in around 10-15th of November. The deer were bonkers Thanksgiving week, buck movement was good until the second week of December and has been shut down ever since.
We had almost no scrapes, I did watch bucks work licking branches and pee on their tarsals but very few bucks actually opened up the scrapes. The bucks I hunted (2 target bucks) barely moved, they both stayed in small pockets. 1 of them I believed didn't hardly leave approximately 50-60 acres but upon killing him he had a bad shoulder and was missing a hoof. Very few rubs.
If I was still hunting hard for a buck. I would be putting in lots of hours after Christmas.
I believed the bucks to be extremely stressed this year.
We have seen two different bucks that have lost one side already, indicating that this probably the case. Both appear to be healthy in body weight and no apparent injuries.
We had almost no scrapes, I did watch bucks work licking branches and pee on their tarsals but very few bucks actually opened up the scrapes. The bucks I hunted (2 target bucks) barely moved, they both stayed in small pockets. 1 of them I believed didn't hardly leave approximately 50-60 acres but upon killing him he had a bad shoulder and was missing a hoof. Very few rubs.
If I was still hunting hard for a buck. I would be putting in lots of hours after Christmas.
I believed the bucks to be extremely stressed this year.
We have seen two different bucks that have lost one side already, indicating that this probably the case. Both appear to be healthy in body weight and no apparent injuries.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Most of the large communal scrapes ive checked have been hit since the rain last Wed. The small incidental scrapes are dead. I haven't seen a true esteous chase, but the few 3.5yos we have left are def cruising in daylight. That being said, I'm seeing more feeding activity right now from bucks than I normally do during 2nd rut. Bucks look lean, but not unhealthy despite no acorns... just the typical weight drop caused by 1st rut and lack of desire to feed plus increased energy expenditure.
Be interesting to see how they behave with the next incoming front and temps dropping to single digits. I bet they feed like crazy during the middle of the day... just about have to.
Be interesting to see how they behave with the next incoming front and temps dropping to single digits. I bet they feed like crazy during the middle of the day... just about have to.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Interesting.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Very much agree.
It seems one conclusion that can be drawn from all of this is the humans aren't the only ones that are "off" right now.
Henry County: Nov 21 and 22 we had a buck bedding two doe in an area of the property the doe seem to run. Three different people confirmed seeing these were both mature does. I saw the buck, does, and the kids together one morning. Had a doe with triplets and one with twins living out there all summer.
Took an 8 point buck munching at the edge of a field higher up and further away from civilization on the 30th. There were two mature doe and a young deer with each in the same field. No feed plot or anything except clover around the edge of the field.
I have no knowledge of rubs or scrapes or where they will be on the property yet. Just starting to get to know the property and finding acorns.
Last November we saw 7 or 8 doe/kids every other evening out the front door in a shallow cleared valley and several in this year's doe area if we drove the lane after dark. Now we're not seeing any in the valley and only a couple from time to time in the doe area. Definitely less activity than last Fall. However, in mid August I was in the kitchen around 6:15am and selfishly prayed we would get to see deer in the valley for our anniversary. After making pancakes for my wife (my one obligatory time each year to "cook"), we were headed out on the porch to eat and stopped before opening the storm door to check for deer. Nothing. Clicked the handle and a head pops up about 50 yards away...young deer. So I quietly shut the door and start eating my pancakes while standing there and my wife whispers look to the left...directly from the other side of the slope that goes down into the valley was the first buck we had seen here...beautiful stud (do those two words go together? Maybe I should have written "beautiful rack"...those two words go together). Thankful to see them that morning. Not much there since.
Coyotes were 4-5 weeks late on starting to howl as a pack after dark compared to last Fall, but I don't know if this means anything because we've only had the property for 13.5 months.
Henry County: Nov 21 and 22 we had a buck bedding two doe in an area of the property the doe seem to run. Three different people confirmed seeing these were both mature does. I saw the buck, does, and the kids together one morning. Had a doe with triplets and one with twins living out there all summer.
Took an 8 point buck munching at the edge of a field higher up and further away from civilization on the 30th. There were two mature doe and a young deer with each in the same field. No feed plot or anything except clover around the edge of the field.
I have no knowledge of rubs or scrapes or where they will be on the property yet. Just starting to get to know the property and finding acorns.
Last November we saw 7 or 8 doe/kids every other evening out the front door in a shallow cleared valley and several in this year's doe area if we drove the lane after dark. Now we're not seeing any in the valley and only a couple from time to time in the doe area. Definitely less activity than last Fall. However, in mid August I was in the kitchen around 6:15am and selfishly prayed we would get to see deer in the valley for our anniversary. After making pancakes for my wife (my one obligatory time each year to "cook"), we were headed out on the porch to eat and stopped before opening the storm door to check for deer. Nothing. Clicked the handle and a head pops up about 50 yards away...young deer. So I quietly shut the door and start eating my pancakes while standing there and my wife whispers look to the left...directly from the other side of the slope that goes down into the valley was the first buck we had seen here...beautiful stud (do those two words go together? Maybe I should have written "beautiful rack"...those two words go together). Thankful to see them that morning. Not much there since.
Coyotes were 4-5 weeks late on starting to howl as a pack after dark compared to last Fall, but I don't know if this means anything because we've only had the property for 13.5 months.
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megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Well... 2nd rut here seems to be right on time... we've seen several 3.5yos checking does in daylight ignoring food.
This buck hit a scrape at the new 80a farm this morn at 5a, so we came to the 8ac plot 400y away to get a better look at him. Hasn't been here for 2 weeks, wasn't sure if he was 3.5 or 4.5 based on the first pic. Looks 3.5 in second pic. He came thru a bit ago looking for does and didn't even take a nibble from the plot. Not nearly as nice as the pics, only 3.5, so daughter decided to pass.
This buck hit a scrape at the new 80a farm this morn at 5a, so we came to the 8ac plot 400y away to get a better look at him. Hasn't been here for 2 weeks, wasn't sure if he was 3.5 or 4.5 based on the first pic. Looks 3.5 in second pic. He came thru a bit ago looking for does and didn't even take a nibble from the plot. Not nearly as nice as the pics, only 3.5, so daughter decided to pass.
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Same here. I've been getting new, older bucks on cam like I should be this time of year. They're cruising, too. Around here it was like somebody put up a dam & held the rut back until it couldn't hold it anymore, then it all spewed out at once like a dam breaking and is now flowing normal like every other year.
BSK
Well-Known Member
I'll be interested to see what's been going on when I pull cards tomorrow.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
Agreed with 3.5. Gosh he's tall and should be very impressive next year if he makes it.
We always see a great 2nd rut mid December, but with this year being as wacky as it's been, I've thrown in the towel. I don't normally do that, actually never have, if that tells you how bad this year has been. Not one deer on 622 acres worth going after. Typically, there are 6-12 worth going after on an average year. This year is for the birds.
Im guessing we are 1-1.5 hours west of your M TN farm and we are in "hill country" where the drought was slightly worse. Just a really bad year overall.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Our 2nd rut is usually very muted. probably because we have so many bucks versus does that the vast majority of does get bred the first cycle, leaving few for the 2nd cycle.
But I completely agree with you about the low quality of bucks in the area his year. Usually I've got 5 or 6 bucks on my "hit list." This year, I only had one buck I was excited about and he only showed up on camera 3 times the entire season. A second buck that was "shooter" to me showed up only once. The buck I ended up killing was the type where it was his huge body that got him killed, not his antlers.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Talk about no shooters/ trophies... I think I had 8 different 4.5 or older bucks using the properties. We killed 3, found one dead, the other 4 are no longer on cameras. Not a single mature buck over 130 this year. There was a 150in er that crossed my property one night back in Aug, never seen since, so I don't really count him as he wasn't using my property during hunting season.
But lower antler scores weren't from stress or lack of food, as the 3.5yos and 2.5yos are unchanged rack wise from prior years. Just a bad year where this entire age class of 4.5yos had already been high graded.
But lower antler scores weren't from stress or lack of food, as the 3.5yos and 2.5yos are unchanged rack wise from prior years. Just a bad year where this entire age class of 4.5yos had already been high graded.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Welp, another mature buck dead this eve. Bucks running does like crazy all day today... just as intense as 1st rut. Friend killed a 5.5yo that we haven seen since Nov out of the stand my daughter and I hunted last night. Only 3 mature bucks left I can't account for.
Crazy thing is... thats the 3rd mature buck we've killed out of this same stand.... the spot I killed the bully buck out of back in mid Nov.
Crazy thing is... thats the 3rd mature buck we've killed out of this same stand.... the spot I killed the bully buck out of back in mid Nov.
It was a beautiful evening hunt at my place. I saw 9 bucks and 3 does. Most of the bucks were young and just feeding . The third buck I saw was the biggest, a 3.5 yr old 8 pt but what was crazy is I've never seen him before. He was as red as a summer deer. He came out and grazed amongst the other two smaller guys and the contrast of color was incredible . Extremely white horns to. Hunt somewhere 5 to 6 times a week and still see something new- running about six cameras and he's not on them either.
CliffordN
Well-Known Member
The does I have seen in Bedford are all alone. No bucks following. No groups. Not sure what is happening.
Don't know if it matters but the buck I seen yesterday was chasing
