Gonzales County Activity ?? Weather??

Thanks for the advice ranch dog I'll try & stick with it. Do you think hunting will get better towards the latter part of the season?

TxBuck, I can only talk about my place but we aren't that far apart.

My ranch experiences three peaks of breeding activity:
• October 15
• November 12
• December 10

These dates are based on some rock solid data, the fawn drop dates backed up a 200 day gestation period. I hunt and record actual drops as they take place in the spring and over the years it gives me some very reliable dates. Weather & temperature, food supply, or whatever isn't going to change it; mother nature dictates it. Those factors might influence what we see but it will go on whether we observe it or not.

The best days to hunt are about 4 days either side of those dates, hunt the does and you will see bucks. I take it further and define some specific times to hunt. The moon rise, transit, and set times are the best in my opinion. Here is an image from Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day...



December 10, will be an excellent day to be out there all day. Moon rise with sunrise and moon set with sunset! It is a very short day and might as well be spent on stand!

The breeding isn't distributed evenly across the does. Herd health and composition decides that. I have a very healthy deer herd and a very balanced buck to doe ratio. 10% of my does will breed in October, 80% in November, and 10% in December. A poor buck to doe ratio might string is out another month (28 day cycle).

Bottom line, I've missed the best opportunity to kill a buck by not shooting in November. The cover and acorn crop prevented me from seeing the activity but it took place never the less.

Ranchdog, Thankyou for sharing some of your personal hunting info. I'am gonna do my best to be hunting that weekend. Thanks again.

TxBuck... There is a little work to be done between now and then and very little time to do it! You need to find a "predictable path of movement" for the deer. It isn't and won't be to or from a deer feeder this year.

I have noticed more and more deer in my food plots about an hour after dark. All does. Over the next couple of days, I'm going to work around the food plots about 400 yards in diameter out to try to see if there is any notable places to intercept a buck monitoring those does heading to the fields. I'm going to guess the southwest side of the plots as me tend to have a northeast breeze. That eliminates a couple of the plots right off the bat but truly identifies one with flat bottom land along that edge. I'm going to be checking out this area and will report back!

You have any terrain features or food sources that may be you have over looked? Don't forget pecans. Deer prefer Live Oak acorns over Post Oaks. This is a years that you must rack you brain for the details

I was out in the Smiley / Pilgrim area the week before Thanksgiving. Saw around 6 does, one spike, one nice 8 point and one 10 point that I shot. Saw a lot more deer last year when it was dry. Lots of food out for the deer to choose.

The week before Thanksgiving, around the 15th (?), is a prime time for rutting behavior in this area. See my post several entries above with the dates.

I'm involved with a big buck contest in this area and a rule of thumb that is verified time and time again is that a winner isn't produced after Thanksgiving.

Your acorn experience and observations pretty well parallel mine. I'm far to the North of you in Montague County and high winds and rain/snow have done nothing to the acorns. We still have a bumper crop on the trees and deer sighting is hit or miss. Hunting is lousy for me but the deer are in beautiful shape. A friend of mine has a place about 20 miles North that is all mesquite. He is seeing huge bucks come to his corn feeders. Even the hogs aren't messing with corn on my place.

I decided to count my acorns today , see my thread

Acorn Count in Southern Post Oak Savannah

Feeders are still out of the picture. I've set up some tripods in the oak flats and I'm seeing some action, just haven't seen anything I want to shoot yet. The young bucks are trying to impress the ladies. I found three new scrapes today and I've started to see bucks out in the food plots checking the ladies out. I'm still calling December 10 (+/- 2 days) as the time to hunt in this area but I'm not planning on hunting feeders.

Here is a spot I really like, this is a flat between two creeks, only about 35 yards wide at this funnel. I'm seeing a lot of critters pass through here.

It was 25° when I walked from the house out into the pasture. Sat on the above tripod and didn't see a thing. Got down and started walking back home. I saw a very large buck cruising a oak flat looking for does. This deer is in the 155" to 160" range with some very notable characteristics (he was hit by a truck in the left shoulder 2 years ago late at night) and is 6 1/2 years old. I didn't see him last year and have only seen him in the past at night. He was about 250-yards out but I made no attempt to move on him as he was about 75-yards from the tripod I set up yesterday. He must be worried about loosing does to the small bucks to be out after sun up!

Ranch Dog,

I appreciate you sharing. I hunt in Cheapside (south Gonzales County) and I plan on being out there Saturday, Sunday, and possibly Monday. I don't get a chance to hunt as much b/c I live in Houston. I have the same acorn problem (depending how one looks at it). I feel like the deer can lay on their back and open their mouth and wait for the acorns to fall. The place is my in-laws and this is the first year I have hunted it, so I am still learning the travel patterns. It has a dry creek with good riparian cover that provides a natural travel corridor. That is where I have seen the most deer. I bow hunted the last weekend of bow season and the bucks I saw were chasing does in this corridor. I plan on setting up where I can watch the edge and a couple of small openings in the riparian area. I will keep everybody updated on what I see over the weekend.

Hunting is still slow. I'm walking to and from my stands in the dark without a light (up to a mile). I'm encountering about two to three times the amount of deer I see while on the stand! Even having some following be for a hundred yards are so!

Deer on my place have gone into hiding now. Seeing some small bucks looking around, but the bigger ones have not been seen in a week.

Its hot, its windy but I had a great evening. I hunted one of the tripods I place on a oak flat this evening. It was very slow, spending the time reading a paperback until 5:43 (keep in mind that shooting time ends at my locale at 6:01). At that time, I saw a 4pt come out of a thicket and it started to feed on post oak acorns. It found a couple of more rubs I hadn't noticed, licking them, and then put it's tail up and head down and hit the trail. It jumped a cross-fence I'm on and passed within about 5 yards of my tripod as it went back into the brush. Within a minuteI a saw a doe run across the flat at top speed. In minutes I had 2 6pts, 3 8pts, and 2 10pts running in circles in the flat in front of me. The doe ran past me and into the brush and all the bucks followed at top speed. The name calling and horn crashing started behind me. I was running out of time fast. A small 8pt ran out from behind me, made a circle through the flat at top speed and almost ran into my tripod. It stopped with head down, looked slowly up and me, and must have said "what the hell" as it jump back into the fight going on behind me. At 6:00, the very large 8pt hobbled out of the fray in front of me. I stopped him with a "blat" as he was getting ready to jump the cross fence, he is a 135 heavy horn 3 1/2 old deer, so I let me jump the fence 35-yard in front of me. My nephew and I saw this deer on Thanksgiving Day, he's hunting this weekend again, but the deer is too young. We take the AR rules further, only deer 4 1/2+. Anyway, back to the ruckus... My deer came out at 6:01, angling out in front of me. He is a 6 1/2 year old 10pt that was hit by a car two years ago and he travels with a bad hobble. I thought about taking the 80-yard shot but with the wind, the ambient light (very overcast), and the time I checked my "blat" and let him cross the flat.

Fellows, I will hold fast on my original December 10th peak date mentioned above. This action took place about 400 yards from the closest feeder! My nephew wanted to hunt a feeder and did not see a thing. I hope you have time to hunt hard!

I would also like to encourage each of you fellow Southern Post Oak Savannah hunters not to give up. This has been a tough year but the moon and stars are going to align and our future is going to be outstanding! We have the potential that can match anything South Texas has despite our small acreage lands. The AR rules are impacting the health of the herd, don't give up!

What I think I will see next year (I will use my property as the example) is that this mid December rut will be gone as the age structure of our bucks increases. I'm really anxious to do my fawn search next spring! The more mature bucks can and will accomplish the breeding in October and November. In the past, the young bucks have not had the knowledge or the stamina to get it done plus the fact that many, many got killed in the process.

Get your does in check and get ready for some good years ahead of us. The easiest way to meet the requirements for the doe tags is to enroll your property in a Wildlife Management Association. You do not have to be the landowner, get their blessing, but get the property in.

Friday afternoon full blown rut bucks everywhere chasing does! Sat absolutely nothing wind kicked up out of the south & temps went into 80's hunted 9 1/2 hours nothing. I wanted to thank ranch dog for sharing some his tips & personal hunting info on deer hunting in our area thanks Ranch dog!

I had a rough hunt. I hunted just outside of a creek bed that has a ton of oaks, but I did not get to hunt until Saturday and then hunted yesterday, it was hot. I did not see a deer and my dad saw one decent eight-point that he let walk. We did not even see a hog. I will be back out there Friday. The weather should be allot better! We did have allot of ducks on our ponds.

Still ongoing......saw two buck this morning lookin' for the ladies.

Also hunt ya'lls area. Daughter-in-law's family lives close to Waelder and her father has gotten several of us into leases south and southeast of town. We're going down this weekend and will let you know what we see. The leases are each about one section with mixed growth. Both have cattle.

I have been reading THF for a few years, tho' not posting much, and this is one of the most interesting and helpful threads I've seen. Many thanks to everyone and, especially, to Ranch Dog, lots of good info. In addition, was very interested in news/info on other parts of the area like from Dave Davidson's.

Last, talked with daughter-in-law's father about a week ago and mentioned "second acorn crop" I saw conjectured somewhere on the forum. He has 50+ years there and said he's never seen nor heard of such. He did say some kinds of oaks drop their acorns earlier than others and the weather makes the difference more pronounced in some years. So, once in a while it might seem there were two crops when it's really a gap between the drops from the different species of oak.

Man you guys got some nice country out there. Lots of creeks ... and with all the rains ,alot of them are running. not to mention all the ponds I see everywhere. I drive thru down 90 once in awhile for the scenery. I drive a route everyday from S.A. to La Grange. so I take various routes... I meet lots of good folks that always say "hi" or how u doin'. I don't get that here in the city. Guess thats why I'm out doors so much.I'll be hunting a buddys place out in Blanco County this weekend. Lots of deer out there, seen only one shooter but he never came in. Maybe this weekend I'll get em'.
Dont ask my why I just recently started taking pics of road signs everywhere I go.
I'd love to hunt out there...(clears thoat)

...just back from the family place.....

bucks after the does, still! very cold, 29, this morning.

saw several bucks, all lookin for does. hitting corn hard now!

I too just got back from Gonzales CO. Saw 4 does getting chased by 2 separate Bucks, looks like the season is picking up. I was getting a little leary with all the crazy weather/changing patterns. Corn feeders are still littered with old corn, and not much activity. Anybody else have an update on the Rut/scouting in Gonzales?

Prior to leaving on my mule deer hunt last Tuesday, the deer were really moving. 8th through the 10th, I saw 10 different bucks (Several legal on the big side). Back at it today and just walked back in from the pasture. Saw two awesome bucks; an 3 1/2-year old 8pt and a 4 1/2-year old 7pt. Calling the later a 7pt does not do the deer justice. It's brow tines are about 10" to 11" long with portionate main beams and tines. This is one of those 5 to 7pt bucks that the guys can't cull at age 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 because it is too narrow. Now at 4 1/2, this deer is going to score 135 and weigh 165 field dressed. It's worth the wait fellows! Being so close to the house, I'm going to see if my dad wants it. If not, it will only get bigger!

I was very tempted to return to my oak flat where I saw so much rutting activity last week but decided that it is now over and the bucks are going to want something that is tasty and good for them (that isn't corn). So, its time to hunt the clover.

I noticed yesterday evening and this morning that the deer are really on my food plots here at the house. I have several types of plants out there and what they are hitting is the Imperial Whitetail clover mix. The stand I hunted this evening is at a cross-roads of four food plots (60' wide by 750' long), all planted with different crops. The deer were in the clover ripping it out in huge mouthfulls. I was able to watch the two bucks come from about 300 yards away, straight to the clover. They both ate about 15 to 25 yards away from my tower blind for 30 minutes. There were does in the food plot with their yearlings and the bucks displayed no interest. They just ate like they were starving but I'm sure that they lost some body mass during the last several months of rutting. There is a corn feeder that they passed by 50-yards. They just went straight into the Imperial Clover. I didn't see a deer on the other three crops.

On the Wilson-Guadalupe line,we were out hunting I chose
to sit by my feeder with my son, my two nephews went towards
the tank they saw 4 bucks the largest a 10pt grunting and following a doe.They only had the bow deer was to far out,plus the cross-wind, a little after 6 a buck showed up at my feeder raised his head one time from eating nice rack but as like last year the 13" rule was in affect so I let him walk for another day.
It is allways great to have kids in the field my two nephews talked all the way home about seeing a big buck making the grunting noise following a doe.
Just like on t.v.
Price-less

My dad and I continue to hunt everyday. The rut is definitely long past and the bucks are really working the food sources. We have seen no activity at feeders, bucks wall right past them to get to:

• Acorns
• Clover
• Water

Both my dad and I have seen some very, very nice bucks. I really thought my dad might shoot this evening as the overcast skies prolonged "dusk" causing the bucks to move a little bit earlier but he did not see the wide racked 10pt he has seen the last two evenings. We will keep heading out.

I'm a big believer in the forecast offered by "PrimeTimes" software and the the peak days for this month are going to be 22nd and 23rd. So if you are going to your lease in this area, hunt a food source other than your feeder! In the details of the forecast, the software picks dusk on both of these days as being the most productive.

So the 10pt Saturday nite my nephews seen grunting nose to the ground following a doe- Is this the second rut?

RD thanks for sharing the information, I see alot of the same type of activity on the food plots at my ranch in limestone county. This next year I am going to try a chickory (sp) clover mix in open lanes thur the oak trees. Have you tried any mineral mixes? I have a receipe that the deer love, does and young bucks really tear it up in late winter and early spring. Can make about 200 pounds for under 50 bucks. Jury out on benfit to "horns" but horns of two billys on the place are huge now.

1 part rock salt
2 parts trace mineral red salt
1 part DI-calcium phospate
All come in 50 pound bags, I get mine at feed store that caters to Dairy Farmers.
I keep every thing seperated until I get ready to use. I dig hole about 4 feet across and 6-8 inches deep and mix everything with soil. repeat when "hole" is empty.
Can pour bottle of maple syurp on pile to get them "interested"

I'll give it a shot here at the house so I can watch deer react to it. Thanks!

hunted this past weekend fri morning I shot a cull buck he had no brow tines. sat saw nothing. sun morning clear & cold it was 21 at the ranch house. shot a big boar hog at 8:00am & 30min later 3 yotes come trotting out of a wood line I shot one of them. Our stock tank was loaded with greenheads & woodies. Still nothing coming to feeders but when I cleaned that buck he was full of acorns & had a little corn in him. I won't get to hunt again until the last weekend of the season.

Good job TxBuck!

Just back from the family place......
Got a real nice buck; 8 pt., 20.5 inch spread. Good heavy buck. Actually, the next morning, saw one bigger! These big ole boys are lookin' for does!

Happy New Year!

Congratulations! Nice lookin buck man!

Looks like a winner...nice job!!

Very nice looking deer!

Nice Deer!

I have not hunted since prior to Christmas. I saw a few young bucks, no shooters. This is the first year I have hunted my in-laws place. I plan on doing a ton of work in the off-season to improve blind locations and line of sight. Their blinds are either poorly located or the shooting lanes are limited. Also, there are some areas that could use a stand when the deer are not coming to feeders, like this year.

The good news is that I have free reign to do as I wish, so I am pretty excited about that. I appreciate everybody sharing their reports over the last couple of months.

One question, is it my location or are the coyotes really thick in this part of the state? I hear them every time I am out and see allot of tracks.

lots of yotes around gonzales 4sure!

Plenty of both here... The only good thing about deer season ending is that it coincides with the start of coyote killing. Now my twenty caliber Marlins come out of the safe and get to work (218 Bee and 219 Zipper)!

I also get plenty of feral dogs and cats to the call... no so many as time passes but they get whacked too.

Let's take another thread like this one and run with it again next year. Let's say we do a thread for those hunting the country bounded by Gonzales to the north, south to Cuero, west to Nixon and then back north to Gonzales. No real bounds, just a general area. Just like this year, hunting reports or any other BS you want.

February 2... Central DeWitt County WMA Buck and Coyote Contest Awards Banquet. 6:00 pm at the VFW.

March 15... CDCWMA sponsoring a Southern Post Oak Savannah Whitetail Deer Management Seminar. 9:00 am through 3:00 pm at the VFW.

Hunted all weekend & no deer. Called Sat eve called in one yote & gray fox. Yotes have definitley moved in again & seem to be thicker than usual. Eeven wonering about putting out snares has anyone tried this tactic any sucess? Well any year that your able to hunt is a good year in my book.