Need to Be Really Alarmed Yet??? 3 Weeks and no deer on cams any longer

I hunt on 150 acres in caldwell county and This is my first time to get cams out this early. I have had them out 6 weeks along with feeders. On the fourth week i had 4 bucks show up two nights. Since then nothing - zero. Thre are still two very very small pockets of water left. I am pretty sure there is water on some adjoining property but not certain. I have kept the cameras on the 3 feeders and have been moving two others around and all I have captured are hogs (the hogs are coming out in the daylight which I have never seen before - its also pissing me off cause that and crows are all that is eating the corn (cant afford pens - yet). If I am seeing deer eating the corn just as much as hogs I can stomach it a little better).I am wondering if I need to be panicking at this point because I think we all know that the rain situation isnt going to get any better before October - rain (lack of water) is the only thing I know that could be causing this lack of movement (or possible abandonment). This is my second season on the lease and last year I didnt put up cams and feeders till 1 week before October 1st.

Has anyone else been going through this?

got same problem on San Marcos ranch but i think it might be the land owners dogs running the deer off not sure

It is 110 outside. Things will be fine

sounds like you need to go on a porkchop run

If you have some water then you're fine. Deer will not move much at all in this heat. They don't require or want nearly as much food as they do when it's cold. So there is very little need to move.

I wish I could - If it wasnt so dang hot and I had everything done at the lease that I needed to I would definitely be doing some hog eradication. My landowner bought a trap door for a hog pen he was going to build but it just has been to hot - not to mention the fact that I can only get up there on the weekends so couldnt use the trap anyway.

I hear that this heat is going to persist till October and what little rain we will get this year is not going to come till November. I am only 39 but this is the worst heat and dry spell I can ever recall. Had a gamecam that said 114 some of the pics last week. It was in partial shade but down in a draw. Unbelievable

Deer do move at night or early/late most of the time when it is hotter. But with bucks growing antlers and does are lactating raising fawns they both are eating a lot of forage right now if they can find it or if you are providing it. The highest months of feed consumption are May, August, October and the first month post rut in most areas.

I would move a camera to the water that you have or on trails where you see some deer sign and see what you find.

I have the exact same problem at a place close to home. I wont lie, it has bothered be some. But I know they will be there later. I have water, cover, and forage. You will be fine.

I would be a little concerned. However, the single most important thing IMO that you need to do ASAP is shoot the pigs off of your feeder. If you don't get rid of them the deer won't come.

ye i think when it is super hot the deer dont move much and prob finding food else were you should be fine

Good to hear someone else is starting to stress out. I have my stuff on a property that hasnt been hunted. It does have some water, but not much deer sign. I put my feeder and camera out around the end of July and have only had a couple cows come in.

We have 4 feeders out and only one is getting pics of deer,its in the lowest part of our land,it has water and alfalfa,they're tearing it up.The other three-nothing,an occasionall pig,it WILL get better,it always does about mid-october.

I sure hope so - I just dont know how much longer the few water holes that are left will remain. However, I am pretty certain the adjacent landowner has tanks due to all of his cattle. I feel a lot better hearing your stories and support. I have never experienced anything like this - however I have never been in a drought like this nor have put out feeders and cams this early either. I hope it will cool down before October so I can get out there kill these hogs that are coming to the feeders.

I have the same problem and figure with the heat and drought, the deer just aren't moving much now!!!

I wouldn't be too concerned at the moment. If you have water close by and with the food available those deer will not travel far away from that. The heat has everything staying put. Heck even I don't like to eat much in that heat. Animals are no different. WE haven't seen any deer in weeks but I know they are a few at least there as I saw some tracks the other day. But I never catch them on the cam.

All I have on camera from my ranch since the fire is Javelinas and ALLOT of them.

As bad as I think I have it, I really feel for you all that got a double kick in the nads this year - fire and the drought. What a year.

Sorry to hear that Csddarden. How many fried javelins can one eat before you get sick of that crap. Don't give up hope maybe the deer will show up by the fall and you get a nice buck.

What kinda camera you running? On some cams, the infrared motion sensor is affected by this heat - can't detect body heat from high background heat.

Also, IR flash or strobe on cam?

For sure - need to git rid of the porkers.

Also, from another thread, deer are hitting mesquite beans hard right now . . . .

Running both IR and strobe. UPDATE - "A" buck showed up one night this week on one cam. Others were blank. Was out working and took a break and walked the creek bottom a ways and found a few more holes of water. Will just keep my fingers crossed.

Man I wish I could get out there and shoot the pigs but any and of all the time I have to get out there (1/2 day every saturday) is getting stands up so I will be ready for Oct 1st. I hope to be done by 9/1 so I can may be get out there a weekend or two befoer opening day in order to knock out as many pigs as possible.. The landowner talked about putting up a trap earlier this summer but he hasnt been able to. unfortunately i live too far away to do much about the situation. Wish I could afford hog panel pens for all my feeders but out of the question this year.

Sorry to hear about all your bad luck with the hogs man....HOPEFULLY your deer will start showing back up when you're able to kill some of them!!

No worries, no deer on my cam either, just pigs. I turned the feeder off, I will start it back up in mid Sept., hopefully the pigs will move on and it will cool down. I just can't stand to sit around waiting for pigs when its 100 oustside. Things will change with cooler weather

I have been feeding for a month now and all I have coming is 2 doe and maybe a buck. And only one doe comes every day. The buck was barely in the pic once. Im hoping yall are right and that they will come when it gets cooler. Right now I have tons of corn on the ground under the feeder and no deer.

Just my opinion, I would spend one of those week ends dealing with the pigs, if in fact they do run the deer off. I don't have pigs to deal with at my house. Only ones I've had to tolerate on one lease where Javelina, and they weren't a problem for us.

My area doesn't have "tons" of deer, but I have quite a few using my feeder. More than ever, maybe it's the combination of what I have out? Like 16% pellets, this is the first year they have taken them with any real "gusto", now it's all I can do to put out enough. I also have water out and mixed in some electrolytes, corn, Alfalfa (not getting much attention), mineral and salt.

Deer wont travel as much in the heat, sure, but they have to eat and will likely do what they have to do to find forage. You may have something actually growing on your lease that they prefer right now, dunno. I just think as dry and hot as it has been, if there is food and nearby water, the deer will be there.

My feeder by the house.

Had another thought you may want to try. I would remove the corn from the feeder ( save it) and replace with different corn, may be something in it they don't like.??

I don't know if I am right about this but I know everyone says corn is not very nutritious... has like I believe 6% protein or somewhere around that it's pretty low...but yes deer usually love it it's like candy to them so it's the best bait most of the time! But...it's also considered a carbrahydrate and deer I believe know when they need the peotein like when Bucks are growing antlers and Does are growing babies
and lactating, then when it starts to get cool they know they need the carbrhydsrates to help their bodies to stay warm. That's why I don't think they eat corn as well when it's hot weather plus usually they are getting what they need in forage but with the drought I would have thought they would be eating just about anything they were given. We are still feeding 20% protein and our feeders hold 250 pounds and they are emptying our feeders in one week. It's getting pretty expensive but I'm afraid we are going to be feeding them for awhile after hearing the news tonight... they are saying this drought could last way into next year maybe longer! Sounds really scarey to me especially for wild animals.We usually start feeding corn sometime mid - late September and it sometimes collects under the feeder intil it starts to get a little cool...

Sorry, I've edited my reply because I missread.

My guess would be that the hungry pigs are waiting for the feeder to go off.

Might try some alfalfa hay in a feeder off the ground. Wouldn't hurt.

And I'd put the hay far enough away so that pigs don't scare the deer off if they come out at the same time.

i hunt in coryell county and iam getting 2500 pics a week. i have a group of does that hit my feeder everyday between 1230 and 130 in the afternoon. iam throughing alot of treats out to. carrots and apples. but if you have pigs, sometimes they will run your deer off to. from personal experience. feeder intensifire works real good to.

As long as you have food, water and protection they will be there come winter. Our deer are doing all kinds of crazy things right now. I see them in the weirdest times in the weirdest places!