It has been slow slow slow!

We need some COLD weather to get deer into plots more during the day

2021 Austin/Colorado/Fayette/Washington Counties Thread
 

Had a new buck we’ve never seen before and hes in there pushing does this morning. So go hunt if youre still looking for a goodun. As theyre moving.


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I ended up not hunting this past Sunday morning. My office Christmas party was Saturday night, so the thought of getting about four hours of sleep & sitting in the cold didn't really make me feel hellbent on going. My dad sat yesterday morning and saw four does. I'll probably try to sit a few more times before the season is over to see what happens.

Sat twice this weekend and had multiple bucks come to corn. None of them paid any attention to the does.

There have been tons of deer on their feet the last 2 days here in Bellville. Not sure why with this warm humid weather!

Sat yesterday morning from about 7:30-10:45 and saw 8 does. That wind was CHILLY :D.

We seem to have new bucks popping up here and there. Most showed up two to three weeks ago and have become regulars now. Guess we will see if they stick around through summer as theyre already starting to eat some protein. So hoping that will help them want to stay actually.

Anybody feed cottonseed? If so, where do you buy it at?


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I kept cottonseed out for over a year and could never get the deer to eat it. Finally packed it up and moved it out.I was bringing it from feed store in East Texas.

Im not real sure they’ll take to it. But if I could get them to, I sure would feed it. I guess ill bring some back from west Tx and try it out.


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Thanks to this thread I found out a few things. One neighbor that bitched about other neighbors killing young deer killed a young deer that I had been passing. Another neighbor wounded one and he’ll probably die. I just need to give up on trying to raise decent bucks.

Unless you have a few hundred acres there aint much point in trying. I feed em and hope one day to kill a nice deer, but in 4 seasons ive yet to pull the trigger on anything. The old bucks are old for a reason, and the youngsters disappear.


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I do have a few hundred acres and it’s still an exercise in futility.

To be clear, are you saying you saw deer you were watching that were posted on this thread?

There’s more than a little truth to this. A buddy of mine got a kick out of me saying I was letting a couple young up and comers walk the other day :D I’m just hoping they can make it to 4.5 to be honest. So far both of them are alive and well. I highly doubt either will make it longer than 4 tho. I watched a nice 4.5 year old tend a doe all morning a few weeks ago, I would have given my wife the green light on, but I chose to wait and see if something better will come cruising through. I may end up eating tag soup this year, but that’s alright ;)b

I saw it on the deer contest link.

Ive got a nice 8 I wanted to shoot. Hes younger though and won the cat and mouse game three times so I decided to try and get him through. Since then ive been putting out 100# of corn on the ground to try and keep him fed so he wont go get shot. Hopefully it continues to work as hes already on protein also so im hopeful he’ll hang around and be real nice next year.

But at our place in New Ulm there were some really big deer that would show up on cams at midnight. One deer was a legitimate 150” 10 point that I never laid eyes on one time. He was old. Had him on cams two seasons then disappeared. I think in 3 seasons there we might of had 2 deer in the 4-6 yr old range. They disappeared after the first season. Every other deer was under 4 and would never be there year to year. I guess they all got shot, or got smart and quit coming around. Was very frustrating as we never had a deer to hunt. Hoping for better at our new place….


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We have shooters. I just don’t see them during daylight. Think I am going to add a timed protein feeder after the season to see if that helps.

Gonna sit our place in Fayette County. this afternoon, for the first time this season.

I've been focusing on improving habitat more than anything else. Our main patch of woods is a 50/50 split between good, thick bedding cover & open woods. I'm trying to get the open woods to thicken up so we'll have a small, but thick bedding area. I've transplanted 15 boxelders & 5 cedars so far. I'm sure I'll do more over the next few months, but I guess all I can really do is let Mother Nature take over and see what happens.

We ended the year with just my youngest daughter taking her buck on youth weekend. Watched a lot of nice young up and comers tho...the next few years will be good IF the younguns survived the last few weeks and the next week ;)b we are out of town until next Sunday, so my season is over with all tags intact again :D

Sat yesterday evening and got a decent sweat going. Managed to see 7 different bucks but none over 3.5. Seems we have the same issue as most, once they go over 4.5 they disappear. Set a goal this year to not pull a trigger on anything that isn't 6+. Seems like this may be a multiyear goal at this rate. This is in Fayette County in the Cistern area

6 is our minimum age for trophies and would like to stretch that to 7 or 8 but pretty much a pipe dream. This strategy is responsible for lots of lost sleep and grey hair as we have only had a handful make it to 6 over the last 10 years. We seem to lose most at 5.