What’s going on this year

[saltwater]

My season sucked!!! What’s going on?? I’m in hardeman county and I didn’t even get good pics during the rut. Seems really thin this year. Anybody else? We have seen deer, but few and far between, we have feeders and food plots! No shooters on camera after archery season. They just upped and disappeared. Usually went nocturnal on my place quickly, so early is better, but bam, gone.

[whakm]

You're not the only one brother. I have heard from ALOT of guys this year that this year sucked. Talked to a guy this morning who told me that the last 8 sits he didn't see a thing and that he always sees deer every sit ( even if it's just young ones) Guys on my old lease said that they saw deer but nowhere near the numbers that we'd seen in the past. Seems like it was feast or famine.

[flywise]

I didnt see a buck worth picking up the bow all year. Still have not shot anything.
Another guy on the lease shot the only buck this year. I did however see plenty of good up and comers

[txpitdog]

Hunted at least 15 times this year and did not see a thing. Figured out what was going on at the end of the season but this year just plain did not work out


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[bloodstick]

Im sorry to hear it didnt go as well as you hoped it would. From my experience every year is different in terms of sightings. Its almost impossible to judge one season from the next.

As for us, we had the best season we ever had. I got my biggest free range buck, cull, and a doe. My wife had opportunities for a buck but didn't connect and scored a doe. I guided my nephew on our place and he shot a doe (unfortunately didn't recover) and guided my brother on his first archery buck ever. We are normally good for lackluster 1-2 deer total over the whole 500 acres. And ended with 6 shot deer (5 recovered) and missed opportunities on 3 other mature bucks. We all quit hunting over Thanksgiving holidays to let them rest up and get comfortable again and i'm still getting lots of pictures.

Now its time to put a hammer down on pigs and coyotes. Song dogs are getting thick.

If winter isn't too hard on the herd and we get another wet summer, things should look up for next year.

[Hoss163]

Yeah we didn't have the year we hoped for either just across the river from hardeman and quanah early season was pretty good as far as seeing bucks but after about the 3rd weekend of November it started going down hill from there the farmers didn't plant wheat in the fields that bordered us so I think that had a lot to do with it because just down the road in the fields that did get planted were full of deer !

[jerp]

I'm sure it varies from year to year depending on what part of the state you hunt. I saw an article by outdoor writer Ray Sasser saying TPWD reported much lower success rates in north Texas this year. The info was from their survey of processors. It was certainly the case in the area where I hunt - not just us but a lot of hunters in the area telling the same story. Our camp sits on a hill where we can see a neighbor's 400 acre wheat field. Usually in the evenings you can glass it and see dozens of deer. I think I saw one deer over there this year - weird.

[jjaimes]

Same here I logged a lot of Hours into the stand this year with minimal activity on cameras or while on the stand. I hunted Creek bottoms, Oak Flats, Pinches, you name it and nothing saw a few young deer but that's about it. Same results for a lot of people

[Codie]

I saw 1 mature deer on our cameras (which are only setup at feeders) but hunted away from the feeders on almost every sit and ended up seeing 4 shooters during the season but not getting within bow range. I went back to not hunting feeders this year and REALLY enjoyed it a lot more than looking at a feeder and ended up seeing more shooter bucks because of it. Watching the deer in their natural state passing near you instead of all hyped up and spooky coming into a feeder was just like the "old days" when I grew up hunting on ranches that did not have a feeder on them anywhere

[saltwater]

Well it’s not just me then!!! I had some great deer on camera early season and was expecting a spectacular year. My buddy on the lease hunted early and got two decent shots on deer. I haven’t even seen junk bucks for my boys to shoot. I Was thinking it was because the fields where still planted late this year so deer never traveled. Sure hope winter comes earlier this next year. I have never seen hogs in daylight at my place, maybe a handful of pics of them in years during the daytime. Late dec they started coming everyday. Not what I want to see but like haveibg something to shoot at.

[BURTONboy]

No it's not just you. No mature bucks on camera after mid October until after Thanksgiving. Even then all the usuals were nowhere to be seen. Thanksgiving week was terrible all around. Not sure if they were still locked down in the rut, or acorns on the ground or what. But it sucked hunting wise. That was our first trip of the year and it was beyond slow. We hunted again the week of Christmas and it was much better. But any bucks seen were new to the area. And shortly after Thanksgiving pigs showed up and started hitting most of the feeders which had the deer on edge a bit I believe. Just a weird year all around.

[Still Hunter]

Llano County Game warden stated it was a slow year all the way around. Numbers were down due to the warm weather & abundance of acorns. Deer just not moving. Started picking up the last few weeks of December. Overall the lease harvested much fewer deer this year and fewer good bucks than the last three years.

[myway]

For mature deer 4,5,6 range we are feeling the back end reslts of the 2012, 2013 drought. If you recall we basically had zero fawn crop those years and lost a substantial amount of deer as well. The good news is the next few years were decent to good in regards to rain and you should be seeing a lot of up and comers. I also saw a lot of nubbin bucks this year along with multiple twins. So just cross your fingers for more rain. This was in Briscoe and Kent county so not far from you.

[txyz]

We’re in Hardamen and it was slow for us too. I saw a bunch of young bucks and does but never had a shooter on camera.

[rcm719]

1 doe and 1 buck were harvested on my lease this year, 12 hunters and only 2 deer.