Where they at?

[gobbler32]

The last eight times I have hunted I've seen absolutely nothing; not a doe , a yearling or anything. Since archery season and through muzzleloader and gun I've only seen 5 bucks total. Im hunting three different farms to keep pressure down but it's like they've disappeared altogether.

 

[TheLBLman]

Probably just enjoying the acorns, while not worrying about being pestered by young bucks & hunters. They really have little need to move around much right now in most TN places.

In my Stewart Co areas, cams are going days without getting a single deer pic. I have one cam on a large red oak, that is apparently still dropping fresh acorns. Several deer appear to be bedding within 100 yds of it, and feeding under it periodically. Most cams on food plots have gone days without getting any deer pics (no turkeys either).

 

[backyardtndeer]

Been a bit slow here too, but still seeing a few. Not many acorns left around here. Watched a few this morning grazing on pasture grass. Then bumped a couple more after I got down.

 

[Creek bottoms]

Lot of acorns left, but they're coming out in wheat fields about dusk. I guess they want a variety.

 

[TIGGREM2]

The last eight times I have hunted I've seen absolutely nothing; not a doe , a yearling or anything. Since archery season and through muzzleloader and gun I've only seen 5 bucks total. Im hunting three different farms to keep pressure down but it's like they've disappeared altogether.

When you find the answer please let me know ! Im here in west tn !

 

[megalomaniac]

Right now is the worst 2 weeks of the year to hunt my farms. Cameras with a dozen different deer on them mid Nov are dead. But it will be great again in 2 weeks.

Now if you haven't seen deer all season long, you need to look for other places to hunt.

 

[gobbler32]

Right now is the worst 2 weeks of the year to hunt my farms. Cameras with a dozen different deer on them mid Nov are dead. But it will be great again in 2 weeks.

Now if you haven't seen deer all season long, you need to look for other places to hunt.

Seen some here and there but honestly I think the population has dwindled. For years it was rare to hunt and not see anything but its fairly common now.

 

[megalomaniac]

Seen some here and there but honestly I think the population has dwindled. For years it was rare to hunt and not see anything but its fairly common now.

Something has changed... figure out what that is... could be good.

One of my farms I used to see 20 to 25 deer per hunt. The very next year, it went down to 1 or 2 deer a hunt. I figured somebody got a depredation permit nearby and wiped them out, but the farmers all denied it....

Regardless, the population crashed, but the few bucks remaining started growing the biggest racks this farm has ever produced. Nothing giant, but that farm went from 110in mature bucks to 130in mature bucks.

 

[killingtime 41]

Dwindled in my usual area also. I've hunted the same public for many years. Not the only public I hunt. But it's kind of my local stomping grounds. For a long time just a few of us deer hunted it. Not until your apps coming out with pin point accuracy did lot more people hunt it. And the doe's for the last 4 years or so have been decimated. Oh well part of it I guess. Still have just a tiny bit of hope to bag a buck before it's all said and done somewhere.

 

[Harold Money jr]

I have a buddy who has a small wood lot beside his house. He has a 2yo 8 point in there that he can glass up 9 out of 10 times. The buck stays within the couple acres at all times. I'm thinking that's what my bucks are doing as well. They're mostly resting waiting for the next hot doe.

 

[Flintlocksforme]

It seems like a familiar pattern to me. Maybe the good ones are laying up in the thick places away from the cameras with does this part of the year. They won the majority of the breeding rights hopefully and they are just enjoying the benefits of being a dominant buck. Maybe the does come to them even. A few weeks ago they were quite visible at all the licking branches and community common areas passing out business cards and smiling for the cameras. That first round will be finished soon and some will continue to look for more does. The smartest ones go back to a night schedule and start eating acorns trying to recover. Maybe next year we will have a hunting season break about this time like back in the old days.

 

[gobbler32]

I've been deer hunting for 40 years and I've never had a season like this has been.

 

[TheLBLman]

I've been deer hunting for 40 years and I've never had a season like this has been.

How many times have you seen this many acorns, along with moderate weather?

I also believe most areas have less hunting, which is providing defacto "safe" areas where deer are simply not disturbed.

 

[megalomaniac]

It seems like a familiar pattern to me. Maybe the good ones are laying up in the thick places away from the cameras with does this part of the year.

I'm like BSK... once you figure out how to run cameras and have enough cameras, there just aren't any bucks you kill that you didn't have pics of. Sure, it could happen, but we haven't killed a buck we didn't have pics of in over a decade.

 

[Soft Talker]

I'm like BSK... once you figure out how to run cameras and have enough cameras, there just aren't any bucks you kill that you didn't have pics of. Sure, it could happen, but we haven't killed a buck we didn't have pics of in over a decade.

 

[gobbler32]

I'm like BSK... once you figure out how to run cameras and have enough cameras, there just aren't any bucks you kill that you didn't have pics of. Sure, it could happen, but we haven't killed a buck we didn't have pics of in over a decade.

I run cameras and some are the cellular type. I personally don't like checking cameras constantly due to spreading scent and the intrusion. I do agree that fewer people hunting is one of the reasons that fewer are seen.

 

[gobbler32]

I run cameras and some are the cellular type. I personally don't like checking cameras constantly due to spreading scent and the intrusion. I do agree that fewer people hunting is one of the reasons that fewer are seen.

And yes I have and know others who have taken bucks we didn't have pictures of at all

 

[TX300mag]

In 2012 I went 12 consecutive days without a deer sighting. It was frustrating and I was coming up with all kinds of possibilities to blame.

Then one morning like a light switch I started seeing deer again every hunt. Sometimes it just doesn't come together the way we want.

Hopefully it gets better for you soon.

 

[gobbler32]

Something has changed... figure out what that is... could be good.

One of my farms I used to see 20 to 25 deer per hunt. The very next year, it went down to 1 or 2 deer a hunt. I figured somebody got a depredation permit nearby and wiped them out, but the farmers all denied it....

Regardless, the population crashed, but the few bucks remaining started growing the biggest racks this farm has ever produced. Nothing giant, but that farm went from 110in mature bucks to 130in mature bucks.

I believe what has changed is the influence of liberal doe limits(3 a day is ridiculous) and disease. Along with fewer people in the woods and in some cases predation permits being issued which is uncalled for imo

 

[Dumbluck]

They are hammering any remaining white Oaks, and are starting to hit red Oaks heavy.

 

[Ski]

starting to hit red Oaks heavy

Tis that time of season. If you can find a heavy drop red oak in or very near a good thicket, you'll find deer. Also still hitting locust beans very heavy.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

This year has mimicked last year. But two very different variables. 1) 2022 being the first year I never found an acorn on our property in the 24 years we've had it and 2) 2023 being the best years of acorns in the 24 years we've had it. Plenty of does seen in 2022 in the food plots, but nowhere else. 2023, not much has been seen at all! It's been dead - even the 2nd and 3rd week of November. Not sure what to strike it up as.

One thing is for sure - we are doing heavy TSI in the offseason to connect the dots of other logged areas in the past for thick cover "welding" together.

We saw a LATE rut last year and I believe that is due to the herds health from the lack of acorns. We saw a lot of activity on cams late October to the first 5 days of November this year - my only suspicion is that was natures way of "balancing" the breeding timing.

I'm just hoping next year is a "mediocre" or "average" year for acorns….with timely rains for food plots. And if we have a descent year next year with that methodology, that's what I'll hope for in years to come.

 

[redblood]

Right now is the worst 2 weeks of the year to hunt my farms. Cameras with a dozen different deer on them mid Nov are dead. But it will be great again in 2 weeks.

Now if you haven't seen deer all season long, you need to look for other places to hunt.

I dont what part of tennessee your in but here are a few pics from the last few days. Bedford/ marshall is rocking. Mature bucks are on the hunt for those last does. Trying to let all these except the palmated buck live.

 

[ZachMarkus]

I dont what part of tennessee your in but here are a few pics from the last few days. Bedford/ marshall is rocking. Mature bucks are on the hunt for those last does. Trying to let all these except the palmated buck live.

Prime time in Lawrence as well, they are on their feet covering ground in daylight hours. Haven't ran across one I want to shoot yet, being extra picky with my last tag. I did have a buck I would shoot come by a camera at 6:30 am, at 8:30 am he came by another camera 1.4 miles away. I love this time of year, never know when a non resident shooter buck is going to come by.

Also for the guys on here still hunting trying to fill a buck tag but are discouraged because they don't have anything on camera. Get in the woods! Cameras don't tell everything especially this time of year. A couple of mornings ago while on stand I saw 14 deer, bucks chasing does all around me. Only one deer tripped my camera, a few of those bucks were bucks I had never seen or gotten pictures of. I love running cameras as much as anyone but they don't catch everything.

 

[Deer Assassin]

Prime time in Lawrence as well, they are on their feet covering ground in daylight hours. Haven't ran across one I want to shoot yet, being extra picky with my last tag. I did have a buck I would shoot come by a camera at 6:30 am, at 8:30 am he came by another camera 1.4 miles away. I love this time of year, never know when a non resident shooter buck is going to come by.

Also for the guys on here still hunting trying to fill a buck tag but are discouraged because they don't have anything on camera. Get in the woods! Cameras don't tell everything especially this time of year. A couple of mornings ago while on stand I saw 14 deer, bucks chasing does all around me. Only one deer tripped my camera, a few of those bucks were bucks I had never seen or gotten pictures of. I love running cameras as much as anyone but they don't catch everything.

Great advice

Be in the woods

Like fishing you won't catch anything if your line isnt in the water

 

[Ski]

I dont what part of tennessee your in but here are a few pics from the last few days. Bedford/ marshall is rocking. Mature bucks are on the hunt for those last does. Trying to let all these except the palmated buck live.

Same here in Coffee Co. The OP looks to be in Centerville, which isn't far. My guess is what he's seeing is localized to his specific neighborhood and likely related to food sources and hunting pressure. If deer have unpressured food and cover nearby, that'll make it seem like there are no deer. If he or one of his neighbors is hunting too aggressively too often it'll push deer away. It's really hard to say what exactly is going on but lack of deer is the least likely scenario. They're just not where he's hunting for whatever reason.

 

[TNlandowner]

A group of 2 mature does and 3 yearlings have been staying around my house over the last two weeks.... We see them daily. Eating acorns and something from the brown Fescue grass fields.... crazy thing is food plots with wheat and oats are within a few hundred yards of them...

 

[Ski]

A group of 2 mature does and 3 yearlings have been staying around my house over the last two weeks.... We see them daily. Eating acorns and something from the brown Fescue grass fields.... crazy thing is food plots with wheat and oats are within a few hundred yards of them...

It's the tender new sprouts insulated underneath the dead stuff. Same thing happens in cut ag fields mid winter.

 

[gobbler32]

I dont what part of tennessee your in but here are a few pics from the last few days. Bedford/ marshall is rocking. Mature bucks are on the hunt for those last does. Trying to let all these except the palmated buck live.

Im in Hickman County and no I don't wait till my camera sends me pictures to go hunting. I have 2 days off a week but not in a row. I get in the woods every chance I can on my off days. I was just wondering if anyone else was having same issues. There definitely is a lower population I don't care what anyone or twra says

 

[gobbler32]

Im in Hickman County and no I don't wait till my camera sends me pictures to go hunting. I have 2 days off a week but not in a row. I get in the woods every chance I can on my off days. I was just wondering if anyone else was having same issues. There definitely is a lower population I don't care what anyone or twra says

Personally I liked it when there weren't trail cameras and you didn't know what was there until you hunted.