re: Heavy rain, cool front = dead

I think you’d be dollars ahead mounting cameras on each deer, with gps trackers. Piece of mind is worth it imo.

Got the exact opposite in Holmes County. They moving. Rut usually between 19 Dec and 9 Jan.

quote:

---

Nothing else on the other 15 cameras over the last 12-18 hours.

---

They are still somewhere…so use this to your advantage. Rule out the areas where the cameras are.

Stalk around and bump them up.

I have seen the most activity consistently when the barometer is falling hard, prior to a front passing. Deer and fish. A good strong front that aligns with early morning or an hour or two before dark will cause every cam to go off within minutes of each other and have been some of the best sits I’ll have all year, usually the bottom falls out on the way back to the camp. Fishing, it can be every cast, and you can see the dark clouds rolling in.

In the 12-24 hours post front while pressure is rising, it tends to be slow. Bass will absolutely go into hiding post front and stay that way. With deer, I find once the temp settles in cold and pressure is high but stable, they will start to move but the movement is throughout the day. They feel comfortable getting up, but also aren’t in a hurry. That said, this unseasonably warm and wet weather has made it hard to rely on any kind of pattern. There’s so much to eat they just aren’t having to go far. That’s all gonna change in about two weeks.

quote:

---

It’s the Grace of God that they are alive and we rejoice for that. Unfortunately, the other driver did not survive.

---

Good to hear ol boy,,, wife was telling me about it yesterday evening. She knew of the fatality but wasn’t sure the outcome of the other vehicle or who it was.
Small world sometimes.

I just purchased the property in April of this year. I’ve worked my butt off trying to get it ready.

I’ve got cameras everywhere trying to learn the land and what the deer are doing. I’m trying to figure out how they move through the property. It was cut 4 yrs ago and is a thicket in many areas. In the spring and early summer, I brush cut about 12 acres in 4 different places. Most of the brush grew back to 3-4 ft in height and the deer absolutely hammered it throughout the summer into early fall.

We had feeders out in 3 locations with cameras on them and there would be about 15-20 deer per night on the 3 feeders. That changed before Thanksgiving. There are at most a hand full of deer at feeders each day now.

On my cameras right now, I’m seeing my 3 mature bucks with some daylight activity, a fair amount of 1 and 2 yr old bucks, but the does and yearlings have almost vanished.

I’m sure they are bedded and feeding in this this cutover making the bucks work for it.

We are starting a 3-4 yr rotational burn next year. That will open up 40-50 acres per year and provide a ton of quality food for the wildlife.

Good news. It can all end in a moment

257wby,

You mentioned in your first post that maybe there weren’t many deer. I’m starting to come to that conclusion.

I have control over 370 acres, and then there is another roughly 140 acres that is next door and not hunted.

I’m friends with the landowner and we have the same goals. He’s not hunting it the next few years to allow deer to multiply.

The land to my north is about 250 acres that one guy and his girlfriend hunt (and a few neighbor trespassers), but he lives 3 plus hrs away and only gets up here at certain times. I’m next in line to lease it if he lets it go.

My south border is a dad and some sons that hunt and I’ve yet to meet them.

My east border is the problem. 40 out of the 120 acres has rights to run dogs and they do. They don’t have a right to be on the other 80 or my place but that doesn’t stop them.

Deer are pressured from running dogs, but there also aren’t as many deer as I originally thought.

I found out after purchasing the place that the same group had leased the property for 20 years. They basically shot everything they saw.

We are going to hold back on shooting does over the next 3-4 yrs and let the population grow. I have plenty of food all over the property for deer to eat. Food and cover is not an issue.