Hunting East Texas in late December

[wat1352]

I'm a little north of there but seem to see better bucks later in the season as well.

[GarGuy]

My experience in Crockett is different than what it seems everyone is saying. The rut occurred about a week or two before thanksgiving this year with several nice bucks checking does around feeders, but then they went nocturnal or went looking for other sources of nutrition as there is a lot of pressure in the area. Late season has never gone well for me in Crockett because the pressure catches up with em and they go nocturnal.

Blood Runner, those deer are somewhere during daylight. When you figure out where, they will never be easier to pattern. Have you tried a pile of vanilla corn in a thicket? The pressure is what makes the deer more patternable.

[chris1911]

Just walked around a fresh scrape this afternoon getting to my stand

[ajm2nac]

find the secret, and let me know. just over in nacogdoches, and the deer have been hard to find now. have seveal doe coming to feeder, and have spent countless hours in the woods. i know there still there, just finding them is the trick

[Bloodrunner]

Blood Runner, those deer are somewhere during daylight. When you figure out where, they will never be easier to pattern. Have you tried a pile of vanilla corn in a thicket? The pressure is what makes the deer more patternable.

I've heard this concept before and it seems self defeating. Patterning a pressured deer in a thicket requires scouting in areas where looking from a distance is impossible. So this type of scouting requires being in the woods and moving from place to place which would only serve to add to the pressure.

[GarGuy]

Ok. keep sitting the feeder and late season wont go well for you some more. I just pulled a card 300yds from my feeder in a thicket. Bunch of does on the feeder card. 13 different bucks on the thicket card with 4 being 5-8 years old.

[Bloodrunner]

Ok. keep sitting the feeder and late season wont go well for you some more. I just pulled a card 300yds from my feeder in a thicket. Bunch of does on the feeder card. 13 different bucks on the thicket card with 4 being 5-8 years old.

Sounds like you have a great place to hunt. Congratulations.

[ETXBow]

Ok. keep sitting the feeder and late season wont go well for you some more. I just pulled a card 300yds from my feeder in a thicket. Bunch of does on the feeder card. 13 different bucks on the thicket card with 4 being 5-8 years old.

My vote is here, once again.

[Christianhuff]

Scouting

Sounds like you have a great place to hunt. Congratulations.

Contrary to belief, scouting during the season in a thicket for a big buck is not going to move him out of the area for an extended period of time. The guy that is giving you this advice probably has more hrs. Logged public and private in the east Texas deer woods than anybody I am familiar with. I hunt eastern Oklahoma and grew up in east Texas and have shot very few mature deer on a feeder in either. The deer are there and I have shot some great ones, you just have to think outside the feeder pen.

[Bloodrunner]

Contrary to belief, scouting during the season in a thicket for a big buck is not going to move him out of the area for an extended period of time. The guy that is giving you this advice probably has more hrs. Logged public and private in the east Texas deer woods than anybody I am familiar with. I hunt eastern Oklahoma and grew up in east Texas and have shot very few mature deer on a feeder in either. The deer are there and I have shot some great ones, you just have to think outside the feeder pen.

Been hunting this particular piece of dirt since I could walk. The feeder pen has been thought outside of.

[lanced]

Just now started having shooters showing up at my place

[Bloodrunner]

Contrary to belief, scouting during the season in a thicket for a big buck is not going to move him out of the area for an extended period of time. The guy that is giving you this advice probably has more hrs. Logged public and private in the east Texas deer woods than anybody I am familiar with. I hunt eastern Oklahoma and grew up in east Texas and have shot very few mature deer on a feeder in either. The deer are there and I have shot some great ones, you just have to think outside the feeder pen.

On a side note, you're gonna sit there and try to tell me via internet land that an old mature buck, having survived multiple encounters with humans throughout his life, will be patternable even after he sees me walk through his core area? yeah man. sorry I don't take advice from people over the internet.

[q2xlman]

I've got nothing to loose! I'm going to try Garguy's advice! Seems to work for him!