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Opening day rifle season observations

I didn't hunt yesterday but only heard one shot yesterday, soon after legal light. Normally would hear a lot of shots. ( I worked outside most of the day.)

Saw big mature buck from my porch early morning claiming an assumed hot doe and fight off lessor bucks.

No shots so far this morning but I see sun reflecting off a truck window parked at next property down. Assuming they have cellcam and are after the big guy.
 
I think I heard two or three shots but had an eventful day . Two big does came in went in behind me and started blowing a little thought my day was over. About an hour passed and I was beginning to feel a response from mother nature but was able to hang in there a while longer . Heard a twig snap and here came a doe full speed with a decent buck in tow . They were moving fast and was in some thick timber so no shot available. About 15 - 20 seconds later here came another buck trailing the other two deer . I could see his antlers as he was moving slower trying to see the other deer . He was an OK buck probably a small 8 and could have poked one at him because he stopped a couple of times but he wasn't one I wanted to spend my last tag on or better yet drag out. My back is still bothering me from the other buck .
 
TboneD said:
Another thing is that although we typically think of too many acorns being a bad thing in regards to deer movement, little or no acorns left may have left a lot of guy's traditional oak flats and ridges devoid of deer.

I was in a spot I ALWAYS see deer and saw absolutely nothing from daylight to noon yesterday when just Monday I saw plenty, including my buck. I think the does finally have figured out it's not worth the calories spent looking for the last few acorns left, so they were mainly in fields and right of ways, etc, seeking sun and green browse.
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That can be very regional. It was dry here as well, but in the bottom land I own, acorns cover the ground and there is plenty of green too. My house is higher and it has been dry as a bone of the summer and fall. I've seen very few deer or even tracks in the open which I assume is due to plentiful food in the wooded areas. Must note, that the wooded areas are normally kind of sloppy and this year you can walk, rather than wade, through them.
 
Swampster said:
That can be very regional. It was dry here as well, but in the bottom land I own, acorns cover the ground and there is plenty of green too. My house is higher and it has been dry as a bone of the summer and fall. I've seen very few deer or even tracks in the open which I assume is due to plentiful food in the wooded areas. Must note, that the wooded areas are normally kind of sloppy and this year you can walk, rather than wade, through them.
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Yeah, I wish there was some bottomland where I hunt but even the best hardwoods are still relatively shallow topsoil with the occasional dry creek bed, which is typical for most of our county, other than the cedar glades, of course.

My buddy and I were in the woods all Monday morning and both saw deer, but we saw most of our deer after hitting the asphalt. We saw deer in fields all the way back to town, and then after my wife got a few pics at the house I went to the processor and then the taxidermist, both in Sumner Co which obviously has a lot better soil than we have. If it was a field, it was likely to have at least a couple of deer in it. They were out everywhere and my buddy's still been seeing the same this week. Of course last week was unseasonably warm and this week's been the opposite.
 
I only heard about 5-6 shots along way off from noon until dark on public land. I got to some public land about noon with my 6 year old with me. We got there early for the evening because I figured we would take it slow. We walked down an old logging trail with a no motorized vehicle sign. By 3 PM we had 3 vehicles drive by and they all parked at the end of the trail about 150yds from us and another vehicle parked beside our truck and walked straight down the ridge and set up right in front of us watching the same bottom. We had no chance since we were cut off from every direction. We picked our stuff up and started walking out at 3:30. We made our way to the main dirt road and decided to walk down to some cutovers and look around just to watch a couple guys on a side by side and a guy on a 4 wheeler road hunting up and down every trail out there. Not to mention the slow rolling trucks that came by with their windows rolled down since it was so hot yesterday. It really made me remember why I hate trying to hunt public land.
 
Muzzleloader buck harvest was down 14% in my county from last year, and the majority of that kill occurred in the last few days of MZ season. Opening weekend of gun season buck kill was up almost 40% this year over last. I think the delayed rut finally kicked in. Crazy chasing opening weekend of gun.
 
BSK said:
Muzzleloader buck harvest was down 14% in my county from last year, and the majority of that kill occurred in the last few days of MZ season. Opening weekend of gun season buck kill was up almost 40% this year over last. I think the delayed rut finally kicked in. Crazy chasing opening weekend of gun.
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I went this morning and stepped out of the truck right into a chase!
 
BSK said:
Muzzleloader buck harvest was down 14% in my county from last year, and the majority of that kill occurred in the last few days of MZ season. Opening weekend of gun season buck kill was up almost 40% this year over last. I think the delayed rut finally kicked in. Crazy chasing opening weekend of gun.
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Statewide or for your county?
 
I heard fewer shots for it being opening weekend of gun than I've heard in years, but that's been the case for a while now. January/February temps in mid November might have hurt the hunter turnout.

We saw quite a few deer, and managed to get my buddy a heavy bodied nine point. Had a couple of great chases going on, which actually is a week early for my hunting area.
 

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