Where are the deer?

I've been out 4 days since the opening and have seen one deer total - I've got feeders & foodplots to hunt over.

Our crew (5 hunters) were out in full force last Sat - Monday evening. I shot a 10pt on opening morning, but that's all I saw the whole rest of the hunt. All of the others got skunked big time. One guy hunted hard and only saw one deer the entire weekend. We blamed it on the full moon. This is Llano county by the way. Very, very rarely do you get skunked. It was a rough start to deer season. Hope it gets better.

I'm hunting in Fort Bend, and used the moon excuse for Saturday, Monday & Tuesday. But I hunted again today and didn't see anything again. After the hunt, I checked one of the other feeders, and they didn't go to that feeder either.

Oh yeah, when is the rut?

We saw a couple in SE Palo Pinto opening day. Took a curly horned spike, since we have AR. Today saw two bucks and a doe. only took a tom. We have seen more this season than the previous two seasons we had this lease. We even saw a doe on the FM road near the deer crossing warning sign. That is another first.

7 hunters on my lease and all are spending lots of time in the woods, after 7 days of hunting one guy killed a wounded doe. There coming to the feeders but it's at 1am. I'm blaming it on the moon and the weather, Eastland County.

It was slow going for us opening weekend in Mason county also. Deer aren't coming to our feeders yet. Too much other food for them right now. I did see some spikes chasing does hard and the 9 pointer I got was tending a doe, but they weren't ready quite yet.

My grandpa hunts near Sam Rayburn on a huge lease and he didn't see anything at all. His lease is 11k acres and they only took 9 deer for opening weekend.

Very slow indeed.

All last week the moon wasn't right and the deer were up during the night. Yesterday was the first time we spotted some up prior to getting dark. It is going to get better this week I bet on that.

Our taxidermy studio hasn't received many deer this week due to the fact that the hunters aren't seeing anything. Be patient, the season is about to bust lose. At least that's what I keep telling myself. LOL

I'm in a blind in Taylor cnty this morning , one shot so far and it,s 8:30. No moon , thought it would be better. I, m on a hill and can see for miles and not deer to be seen just two foxes chasing each other .

Hunting in Coryell County.. Son has yet to see a deer this season. We have had this place since 1995... Never anything like this. Hopes it gets better.

I hunt Lamar, Fannin, and Delta counties almost everyday and Im not seeing near the numbers Im used to...did see a buck running a doe this morning in lamar county, maybe its about get good with the cool coming in...

Anything new in Jack county this past weekend any rut activity?

In the lower eastern panhandle we saw a lot of activity this weekend. It seems that all of the bachelor packs have broken up. I can't say the rut is on full bore, but it's close if it isn't.

We've actually had more decent bucks on our place this year than any of the past 3. The funky looking 12pt I shot was chasing 4 does when I hit him.

I hunted all weekend. Saw nothing and heard 3 shots in the 2 days. They were a long ways off.

Thanks for the thread! Frankly I am glad that we, guys on our lease, are not the only ones who are seeing little to nothing. You talk about being frustrated I have been very frustrated this past week. Last year it was not unusual for me to see as many as 20+ deer during a hunt. So far the most I have seen has been 9 and none of them were shooters. I also did not see them at my box blind but set up a tripod and saw them crossing a telephone highline. The one thing that has seemed to help has been throwing corn out. They have not been coming to my feeders hardly at all but they have came to the corn that I threw out around the tripod. I will be going back this coming Friday and hopefully it will have gotten better.

As for why we are not seeing much I believe it is a combo of things which is primarily driven by the amount of natural food out there for them to eat.

Good luck to you all the rest of the season!

We were up this weekend in Bracketville and saw good numbers of deer and some decent bucks. Does are skittish right now. No one is pulling the trigger yet except for exotics and does.

Pretty slow in Leon County this past week as well...

I hunted last weekend and this weekend and seen one deer. Plenty of deer sign all over the place just not coming to feeders. To much food on the ground. I also hunt in coryell county .

I hunted in brown county this past weekend all the deer came through about 10 min. before dark and did not see alot of rut activity except when driving back to lease.

Only saw doe 10 min before dark or around 8 am in the morning this entire weekend. They barely hit the feeder, instead, I watched them eat tons of acorns or just pass on through.

Game cam has picks of several bucks, one nice 9, and all of them along with several doe pictures have been at night, between 6pm-6am.

East Texas, Cherokee County.

I had a slow opener also, Crockett Co. It was windy and the area is still green. I believe the bucks are transitioning from bachelor groups to getting ready to rumble. I was walking back to the truck and heard a buck in the brush huffing and puffing. He was following the scent of a doe and he was trying to inhale every last drop because for some stupid reason I followed them and got within 15 feet. It was too dark to see his rack and too dark to shoot but I was curious and I wasn't seeing much. I'm on a low fence property.

Thanks for the responses. Glad to hear that my lack of deer seems to be the general consensus. Hope it turns for the best.

Hunt in Kimble County. We are usually overrun with does, but I have seen as many bucks as does. The bucks have been decent, but no shooters. I am only seeing an average of 3 does and 3 bucks per sitting. It is weird right now the number of deer I am seeing and I am seeing the same younger bucks pretty much at each sitting if I sit in the same place. It has been a weird year so far.

Very slow in Red River county. I haven't seen a deer yet. However, a doe was spotted this weekend right at dark. Kind of depressing if you ask me!

I had a big 8 chase a doe at my house yesterday at 11:30 am!!! Went hunting last night and saw a doe and a big guy running her but it was almost too dark to see and way to dark to shoot. This season sucks thus far. JMO