I'll try another way in a minute. Too big I guess

Biggest we've seen. I had a shot at him but he was chasing two doe and ran off before I could get a good shot.

My son took this one two seasons ago

The crazy thing about it is that most of these deer went through one of the most severe droughts in decades. In another two years it is raining the way it has, the mature deer will be bigger and better. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

That is a cool deer!

Thanks guys good looking deer appreciate all the input! Now the waiting starts.

Here are a few more game cam pics from the past few years. Season cant get here fast enough!

Txhuntr2, how much land are you on?

My lease is a couple sections on a much larger ranch.

S.A., I read that y'all have the feral goats too. I've seen them here or there across a canyon but never up close. They would be fun to shoot. Will they hop over hog panel pens or do the pens exclude them?

It's crazy, our herds are sometimes up to 75 animals. Everything from Spanish goats to sheep. They are rag tag group for sure. If they find your feeders the will knock it over or camp out for weeks. The good thing is they will not jump a fence so cattle panels work just fine. They will walk around the perimeter, but won't jump.

I have a bunch of pictures in the Val Verde thread from my place. I'm about 30 miles North of Comstock. Average mature bucks have been in the 120-135 range the last few years, and we have been recovering from drought.

The deer that are coming 5 years old this year are the fawns that were born at the tail end of the drought. We should have several good years in a row ahead of us. The deer are super healthy. I have been feeding free choice protein for 5 years now. I am excited to see what the deer look like that have been on protein their entire lives. I am hoping for an overall 5-10 inch jump.

JHeflinland, how is the October hunting for y'all? Last year was tough for us but I'm hoping it was bc of the heat and ample natural food. Y'all tend to have mature deer (bachelor groups) at the feeders then?

Txhuntr2, in the dry years I would see bachelor groups at the feeders in Oct, they would split in mid Nov. The last two years I haven't seen any at the feeders. For the most part they just pass the feeders by. Only youngbucks would approach the feeders. Just too much food out there.

That makes sense. Pretty much mirrors my season last year. I'm still getting VV figured out after hunting hill country deer for so long. We rarely had a shortage of deer at the feeders unless there was a big acorn crop. Now there aren't hardly any trees where I hunt! Last year was really wet at our place. The pastures were still green very late and late season was the best hunting for us. I know there are monsters out there though based on trail cam photos. Here's to hoping they show themselves early!

Yeah, my thinking is they would much rather eat forbes, because the get moisture from them in an area that is pretty dry. Now in the dry years they have no choice but to eat corn, and or protein. In Dec if you have the ladies at your feeders the bucks will follow. Good luck, let's hope for a dry fall.

October usually sucks. A lot of deer that hit protein all Summer will start disappearing from feeders in October. It's usually hot, green, and we have tons of acorns. Deer are usually pretty nocturnal that time of year too.

With that being said, you can still pattern quite a few bucks with game cams up to Thanksgiving-ish. Most of the mature bucks in our area will frequent the same feed stations at least once every five days until they start getting rutty. Then they become completely unpredictable.

The big bachelor groups will start to split up in October.

Overall deer sightings are always lower in early season, but you have an advantage with them being a little more predictable. They are more likely to stay in their core area.

If a man could put in the time to sit and wait on a certain deer for a week or two I would say October would be worth it. I don't ever have the time though.

You always have to get lucky, and it just seems to me like it's easier to get lucky closer to rut. I like the last week of November and the first couple weeks of December. And I like it cold.